I lost my rabbit today and I’m completely heartbroken.

As I write this, I’m trying to hold back my tears from a pain that feels impossible to overcome.
This morning, at around 8:00 AM, my girlfriend went to check on our rabbit. Suddenly, she screamed my name. When I reached his enclosure, he was lying on his side, as if he were resting — but he was already gone.

I can’t forgive myself for not saving him. Not knowing what caused his death hurts even more. Yesterday was a day full of things that might be relevant, and I want to describe everything to you.

But first, some background.

He was a Netherland Dwarf rabbit (at least that’s what the pet store told us), about 4 months old. We got him on November 29th, and from that moment on I went into full hyperfocus mode, doing everything I could to make sure he was comfortable and well cared for.

He had Tifton hay and fresh water every day, and I would give him “Funny Bunny” pellets as a treat during the day (I was advised not to give too much). He absolutely loved them — he would climb on me, stand on his back legs, and beg for them.

His enclosure was 2m x 1m (and I was planning to expand it), located in the living room. At night, we would sometimes let him roam freely.

—————————————————————————————————–

The day before his death

During the day, I noticed his water bowl wasn’t empty like usual (he used to drink a lot), but still had some water left.

On his mat, I found one poop that looked like diarrhea — it was a bit spread out and already dry. All the other droppings looked normal, and we cleaned regularly.

A few hours later, my girlfriend picked a very small strawberry (just a bit bigger than a cereal piece) from our garden and gave it to him.

That same day, because of a soccer victory, some neighbors started setting off fireworks, and I noticed that he got scared.

At night, we let him out, and we noticed he was very quiet, sitting still in a corner. Normally, he would run all over the living room. When I picked up the pellet bag, usually he would come running happily just from the sound — but this time, he didn’t react at all.

(I’m not sure if I imagined this or not, but I swear I heard his stomach make a small rumbling sound.)

I picked him up and brought him close to me, pet him a lot, gave him some pellets, and he started eating (the video mentioned above was recorded at that moment). While I was petting him, he sometimes ground his teeth, and I didn’t know if that meant happiness or pain.

After that, he seemed better. He started walking around the living room again. We put him on the couch, and for the first time ever, he even peed on it.

Later, we put him back on the floor. He climbed onto the couch using a box nearby (something he had never done before), walked over me and my girlfriend, then went to drink water. After that, he did a movement he used to do in his first days with us — he kind of threw himself onto his side to lie down. That moment felt strange to me, because he did it and immediately got back up.

I then put him back in his enclosure, changed his water, gave him more hay, and we went to sleep.

And the next morning… our world collapsed.

I can’t forgive myself because I feel like I should have noticed the signs and saved him. So many things happened that day that I don’t know what could have caused his death:

• The strawberry
• The fireworks
• The pellets I gave him

Or maybe it was all of these combined. Or maybe something had already been going on for some time.

Things I noticed over the weeks

• First days: He was shy and getting used to the environment. Our floor is laminate, and he would slip a bit. I got worried and started researching how to fix that. He didn’t eat pellets at first — he seemed to dislike them.
• Second week: When I tried giving him a pellet again, he loved it and became almost obsessed with them. Every time we went near his enclosure, he would see us and seemed happy. He always ate hay and drank water normally. I bought a rubber mat so he’d have better grip.
• Third week: He started peeing everywhere. My concern was that he would step on it (I cleaned daily), but during the night I couldn’t control it much. My solution was to add a surface with wood pellet bedding to absorb moisture. This also helped when he got his paws wet while drinking water.

On hot days, I would put a small ice cube in his water and slightly dampen some hay to help him cool down.

Heartbroken

Now I’m here, with my heart in my hands, not knowing what happened.
Was it those factors?
Was it the hay quality?
Did he start eating less hay because of the pellets?

A few days before, I weighed him and he was 480 grams. I don’t know if that was normal for his age (4–5 months). ChatGPT said it should be 900g+, but he looked normal for his size.

In the end, this is just a vent from someone who formed a very deep bond with such a loving animal. I’m brokenhearted and overwhelmed with guilt for not saving him.

Thank you to everyone who had the patience to read this.
I hope this pain turns into warm memories someday.

Thank you, Chubbie. You made us very happy. 🤍