Rabbit Web Discussion Board

I had two little bunnies that died few days ago.
I can\'t find why. The bunnies were fine but when I put them outside on cages, the smaller one died the next day. Three days later the bigger one died too. If you can help me, these are the behavior it had: red urine, on the day they died: struggling, not eating, fell and couldn\'t get up, clicking teeth, whining. Must have been real hurt cause they don\'t usually make sounds. Then, they died few hours later. I think it might be the location of the cage. When I put the cage in garage, (temporary) they were fine.

Please help!

The red urine could be from eating carrots. They might have gotten sick from the heat. How hot was it outside?

What I suspect is heat stroke, based on your description and the fact that you said they seemed better when brought in. Absolutely NO sun can shine directly on the rabbits. It is a killer. Even in the shade, rabbits can succumb to the heat if the ambient air temp is much over 85 degrees. Rabbits MUST be kept cool. Wet towels or burlap sacs placed over the cage (if not in an enclosed building) help as do water bottles that have been frozen, being placed in the cage for the rabbit to lean against.

The red urine really is inconsequential. This is a common occurrance in rabbits and comes and goes. It seems to be linked to tannins found in various feed (though you will find that with several rabbits on the same diet, some will have red urine - some won\'t).

Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com