When Your Pet Rabbit Dies

I sometimes get emails from pet owners when their pet rabbits die. There are at least three different situations I see:

1. The owners haven't had the rabbit long and it died
2. The owners have just lost a pet after several years
3. The owners had to put their pet down

When pet rabbit owners haven't had the pet long, it is really important to try to determine the cause, if the owners want another rabbit. First, they should consider the source of the rabbit and try to determine whether the rabbit came from a reputable place. I have gotten several emails from folks who got their rabbits from auctions and carnivals. That would be a clue to me that perhaps the rabbit wasn't robust to begin with.

As you may know from Precious Pet Rabbits website, I recommend getting rabbits directly from breeders who are ARBA members, who breed for quality, and who do not sell their baby rabbits too young.

My own nephew got carried away in the enthusiasm of an auction and purchased a rabbit for $5. I couldn't believe it - he lives two doors down from me! I was out of town for the ARBA Convention at the time, and the rabbit was dead before I got home.

The next thing to do is check to see if your practices were sufficient. I do believe that pet rabbit owners owe it to their pets to read up on feeding and care, but sometimes we think that "common knowledge" is correct and do not even know there is a deficit in our knowledge. I'm afraid far too many rabbits are killed by diets of lettuce and carrots because rabbit owners do not realize they need additional information.

Rabbits are stressed by the move to a new home and need time to adjust. Sometimes in our enthusiasm, we can harm a rabbit, even to the point of death, by not giving him or her ample time to settle in before meeting a parade of people or traveling around. If you've read my Precious Pet Rabbits website, then you know I am a proponent of adopting older rabbits because they deal with the stress of moving much better.

The last thing to realize is that even a rabbit from a reputable source that was taken care of well can die from factors beyond anyone's control.

When pet owners have had their rabbits for a long time, they too are searching for the answer to the question, "Why did this happen?" I sense a lot of guilt and worry that they caused the death. The only way to know for certain what the rabbit died of is to have a necropsy performed. But I assure you that any rabbit that is not receiving proper care will not last for years in your home. If you have had a rabbit for years and it dies, it is not because of your care (unless you stopped giving the care that sustained him for so long).

Rabbits can succumb to cancer, pneumonia, and all kinds of things that are not related to the care they receive. This is an important concept to understand. You may make no mistakes whatsoever and still lose your pet bunny before the 7 to 12 possible years of his life have elapsed.

When you have to put your pet rabbit to sleep, it is heart-wrenching. But I commend anyone who has the strength to choose what is best for their pet over what is easier for themselves. In my opinion, pet rabbits don't just need life, they need to have a quality of life that is free from pain.

To read more about pet rabbit loss, visit Precious Pet Rabbits: Grieving The Loss Of Your Pet Rabbit.

Laurie Stroupe
Precious Pet Rabbits
Pet Rabbit Care Information, Rabbit Breeders, and Rabbit Fun