On losing a rabbit

 Last June, I lost one of my New Zealand doe with the pink eyes for unknown reason, that was her in the forefront. This time, I just lost the other New Zealand doe with the black eyes, that's the one eating at the back. She would have been 5 months old this first week of August. The first thing we noticed with her was that she seemed to have lost her appetite and she would not eat the same quantity of pellets that we used to give her. She would eat the vegetables that we give her although it's not as much like she used to. So I called the breeder whom I bought the rabbits from because he's my neighbor and he came over. He told me that he'd lost some of his rabbits too when he first started and that's when he started to give them antibiotics only as needed. He gave us the name of this antibiotics that he gives to his own rabbits and we bought it. We diluted this powder with water according to the measurement indicated on the literature and gave this as a drink to the sick rabbit. She would drink a little and then she would eat some vegetables but she would not eat her pellets like she used to.

The next day, she was still looking lethargic but she was eating and her stool was normal, no diarrhea. It's just that I was worried for her because I don't want to experience another loss just like what happened to the other New Zealand rabbit last month. So I called the vet's office yesterday morning for a home service and the vet came over after 20 minutes. The first thing he checked was her stool and it was normal, no diarrhea. Then he went through all her ears and body to check for any cuts or mites but she was clean. He said that the rabbit may have eaten something that did not agree with her gut and that she seemed fine except for a slight fever. We told the vet that we have given her the same feed as usual and that we also gave her an antibiotics in her drinking water. He said that we did the right thing but he still wants to give her an injectable antibiotic and vitamins all the same. Since it was subcutaneous injection, it should take effect much faster than the antibiotic in her drink and it should help her get back her appetite. He gave us instructions that we are to give her another drink every after 3 hours and we did just as instructed.  

This morning when my sister-in-law went to feed the rabbits, the rabbit was still eating and nibbling on some vegetables. By 9 AM, she was dead! They woke me up to tell me about it and I was so saddened by the news that I called the breeder again to open up the dead rabbit to see if he could find what was wrong with her. He said he never experienced a grown rabbit to die just like that. Most of his losses were from the small ones who were in their tender age from birth to 1-month old but not 4-5-month old rabbits. Anyway, he saw something in the stool that he has never seen before so he took this together with some stool and kept it in a small jar. He said to ask the vet who came over our house if they can do a deeper analysis on this particular thing. The liver had some tiny white dotted spots on it too. I read somewhere that if the diet consists too much of sugar, it brings about this white thing on the liver. We do not give our rabbits any sugary foods at all. The only sweet that I could think of are the carrots which is given only sometimes as a treat. So anyway, my sister-in-law and her husband brought this bottle with the "thing" to the vet's office and the doctors said that they will have to culture it because they do not know what it is yet. So now, it's a wait and see situation. I would like to know what had caused this death to my rabbits so I can take the necessary precautions the next time this thing happens.