Why Do Baby Rabbits Die Suddenly?

We have had our fair share of rabbits, right? But one thing that kept us thinking is why a baby rabbit dies all on a sudden. In this article, I will answer why do baby rabbits die suddenly and several probable causes.

Baby rabbits can die for several causes. Some of the major causes are fear-related heart attacks, not being able to live outdoor, swallowing a sharp object, Pre-existing health condition, etc. But the most common cause is the heart attack due to being frightened by loud noises.

A baby rabbit is actually very delicate when it’s born. During that time, it can die for several reasons, while the above-mentioned reasons are the most common ones. They can also die of many different reasons as well. But chances of dying of those reasons are pretty steep.

So, in this article, I will briefly discuss the 4 major reasons. You can learn about the usual diseases from your vet because other diseases will show many symptoms. But in this article, I’m only talking about the diseases that don’t have any symptoms and that cause the baby rabbit to die.

So, let’s get started!

4 Main Reason of Why Do Baby Rabbits Die Suddenly?

Fear-Related Heart Attack

Rabbits are actually very gentle creatures. They are also very timid. That’s why they get afraid of the simplest noise that they are not used to hear regularly. For example, if they hear the sound of a firecracker nearby, that makes them afraid of predators and raises their heart-rate which usually results in heart failure in most cases. Rabbits get the idea of getting hunted by predators even if they are born and brought up in an indoor facility. Because it lies in their gene.

But firecrackers are not the ideal example. You’ll be surprised to know that a baby rabbit might get a heart attack just by hearing a dog bark! So much for a gentle animal, huh? They are really timid creatures. Even mature rabbits can die of fear-related heart attacks. So, it’s important to make sure your baby rabbit is far away from the reach of sounds that are unusual to them.

This can also happen for mature rabbits. Though mature rabbits won’t die due to noises like dog barks. But they might die hearing the sound of a firecracker. Now think, baby rabbits are far more delicate that mature rabbits. So, you have to be very careful about the surroundings of your rabbit to keep it from not dying.

Misfitting in Outdoor Conditions

If you bought your baby rabbit from a pet store, to be more specific if you bought a baby rabbit that was born at a pet store, then there’s a big chance it died because you let it outside. When an animal is raised in nature, it creates immunity to a lot of damaging things available in nature. But when a baby is born in unnatural conditions, it’s obvious that they will not be immune to natural threats.

You can take the example of a human baby. Though human babies are more delicate, still if you let them be themselves without care, they might end up being sick. So, you have to keep your baby rabbit indoor till it’s mature enough.

Even sometimes mature indoor rabbits cannot even sustain in the outdoors. So, you have to be sure of being more careful about your baby rabbits.

Swallowing Sharp Objects

An animal can die due to swallowing something that it should not swallow. You might have seen that documentary where it’s found that wild Albatross birds died because they swallowed plastic. If an animal swallows something sharp, it can cause internal damage to the stomach and eventually bleed the animal from the inside.

In this way, you may not know what caused your rabbit to die, but it will be very painful for them. They are mute animals, they will suffer in silence.

Baby rabbits can swallow sharp objects if they have access to that. Because face it, they are just babies, they don’t know what’s safe for them. So, when you’re feeding your rabbits, do double check their food to see if there are any sharp objects in them or not. Otherwise, you might be the one who’s responsible for killing your rabbits.

Pre-existing Medical Condition

Your rabbit can have some medical issues from the beginning that your store owner didn’t tell you about. This actually does not happen on a regular basis. Because if store owners did that, other rabbits would’ve been infected by the same disease that caused your baby rabbit to die. That’s why they keep only the healthiest rabbits at their store.

But you should be conscious of your rabbit’s health anyhow. So, you have to give it the necessary medication it requires. Otherwise, not only one rabbit but also other rabbits might get infected if anyone has any disease. So, there are actually very fewer chances of you buying an infected rabbit.

There’s one last reason that is much known to all. It’s actually one of the most common reasons that people explain. Sometimes, rabbits get sad due to separation from their partner or a family. Thus it stops eating and doing any usual things it did, resulting in death eventually.

Some rabbits suffer from many different types of diseases. But it’s sometimes possible to understand those medical conditions. Thus you can take the rabbit to the vet and they will tell you what to do if it’s infected with any of the curable diseases.

Final Words

These are the most common causes of a baby rabbit’s death. Apart from these, there can be several more causes. That’s why none can be sure of why baby rabbit died. But if you’re aware of the things that might have happened around your rabbit’s surroundings, you might get an idea of what exactly happened to your baby rabbit.

You might think that if a rabbit is so delicate, what the use of giving it all the medications is. As you can never be sure what the main cause was, you should take all the measures that are available. Giving it proper medication is one of them.

So, I hope by now, you know why do baby rabbits die suddenly and can take proper actions against any misfortunate event like that.