1 week old kits with diarrhea

I have some 1 week old kits with what I think is diarrhea.

This is the second litter for this doe. The first she had 10 and raised them all with no problems. This time she also had 10 and I've lost 4. Part of this I think was my problem as she got sore hocks. I have 16 gauge floor wire, so not entirely her fault. I had also removed her resting board after the first litter because of mess. She resorted to resting in the nestbox. I thought that caused the loss of the first 3. I've returned her a resting board and she seems to be using it and her hocks are improving. The kits looks good but several of them have what appears to be diarrhea and irritation around the genitals. I have supplemented her a bit with BOSS maybe to much?

I really don't know what to think. Does anyone have advice?

Mom getting too rich of feed won't typically affect week-old kits at all. Unless she went potty in the box or something.
Hmmm...

It sounds like a bacterial problem to me.
I don't even know if bacteria that sometimes aggravates sore hocks can affect kits? Or maybe...Spread to her teats? :shock: You may want to check for signs of mastitis.

Sterilizing the cage, nestbox, and changing nestbox material might help too.

Zass":1yzaplz1 said:

Mom getting too rich of feed won't typically affect week-old kits at all. Unless she went potty in the box or something.
Hmmm...

It sounds like a bacterial problem to me.
I don't even know if bacteria that sometimes aggravates sore hocks can affect kits? Or maybe...Spread to her teats? :shock: You may want to check for signs of mastitis.

Sterilizing the cage, nestbox, and changing nestbox material might help too.

Click to expand...

I did check for mastitis right before I posted this. I will change out the nestbox and see if that helps. Thanks for the reply. This particular box does have wood in the bottom so it's possible there is something going on there. <br /><br /> -- Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:38 pm -- <br /><br />

Zass":1yzaplz1 said:

Mom getting too rich of feed won't typically affect week-old kits at all. Unless she went potty in the box or something.
Hmmm...

It sounds like a bacterial problem to me.
I don't even know if bacteria that sometimes aggravates sore hocks can affect kits? Or maybe...Spread to her teats? :shock: You may want to check for signs of mastitis.

Sterilizing the cage, nestbox, and changing nestbox material might help too.

Click to expand...

I did check for mastitis right before I posted this. I will change out the nestbox and see if that helps. Thanks for the reply. This particular box does have wood in the bottom so it's possible there is something going on there.

clean out the box..or just get them a new one.

if you have penicillin, drop ONE drop directly on their genitals and sometimes that will clear things up.

They may be getting too much milk.

I changed out the box to a sani-nest and I'm going to check them again in the morning

I don't have any penicillin bit I do have some comfrey salve I can try. Will do that in the morning.

-- Fri Jun 02, 2017 3:56 pm --

This is really odd. I've had another occurrence of this, different nestbox, different unrelated doe, different cage, different feed for that matter. The common denominator seems to be me and my kids. I did let my almost 5 year old hold one of the kits but I honestly don't remember if it was this litter or not. I've been really interested in what colors I would get out of this litter so I have probably handled them a bit more than the other litters but not significantly.

I kept a doe back from the first litter that had this problem and her kits have all been fine. She's had I think 4 litters now. Her dam has had several litters since with no recurrence.

I'm wondering if maybe the kids or myself had bacteria on our hands? If that is the case though why such a time distance in cases? Why this litter and none of the others? I have two more the same age without problems.

I don't blame you for wanting to get to the bottom of this! Horrid to lose kits that way.

Maybe it is a specific bacteria that you or the kids have on your hands only now and again, depending on what activities may have preceded the handling. Or maybe, in most cases, the kits immune systems are strong enough for it not to result in illness.

I think I'd put in place a hand-washing system and use it before tending any cages with kits. If you don't have running water, one of those 5 gallon camping barrels with a spigot, soap and a roll of paper towels should do the trick -- IF that is the cause of the problem.

I've always tended to think that diarrhea in nursing kits could be caused by cocci -- but it is just a hunch. It might be worthwhile to use ammonia on the nest boxes between litters.

I already use 409 to sanitize between litters. It's got a high PH and can be used as a disinfectant as well so I think it should be as effective as ammonia. I always wash rinse them well after use.

I agree with the hand washing. I was already thinking of implementing that.

It just blows my mind that I've had 26 litters since the first time and this is the first recurrence.

I don't know much about 409, just the name, but it sounds like you know what you're doing.

A lot of people use bleach, but I've heard that ammonia is more effective than bleach against coccidiosis, which is why I mentioned it.

Do you suppose it could be simply coincidence, the same thing happening again after 26 litters?

MaggieJ":2y08tqb3 said:

Do you suppose it could be simply coincidence, the same thing happening again after 26 litters?

Click to expand...

I suppose it could be but I've never heard of anyone else having this problem. When I try to google it this thread is the one that comes up. :?

I'm assuming it's a rather rare occurrence?

I just had a littler of kits that got diarrhea at a few days old. They got very dehydrated and I had to bottle feed them. The diarrhea cleared up after a few days. I still have no idea what gave it to them. It was definitely frustrating! I have an idea that it might have been the heat. Is it hot where you are at?

It's been warm but I my first litter that got this was born in February.

It is definitely frustrating because until we figure out the exact cause it most likely will happen again. Do your kits look dehydrated?

Not really, but one was dead this morning and I culled another that was almost gone. I cleaned them all up and sanitized the nestbox but at least 3 more are affected. I'm just kinda holding my breath at this point. I had a Beige (chocolate chin rex) in this litter =(.

I did check the doe for mastitis as well, but didn't feel anything unusual.

That is disappointing. I hope whatever it is the rest pull through. I ended up loosing 3 but I think it was to dehydration.

After doing a bit of research, I think this maybe an E. Coli infection. It could explain why it has happened only twice and is probably related to my boy holding a baby after he's played around in the dirt or maybe even myself after I weeded in the garden or gathered forage. It's probably not enough to affect an older kit or us but it could affect a baby. I've already put some soap out at the rabbits, although with 26 litters between this one and the first, I doubt I'll ever really know if it makes a difference. At least I know it won't hurt.

This is all just conjecture on my part but It does make sense to me and fits the symptoms and why the doe whose litter was affected first, went on to have several successful litters with both myself and a friend.

E-coli makes sense to me. Darned stuff is everywhere, too.

I lost the little beige kit last night. It was already doing poorly so I really didn't have much hope it would make it. The good news is that while the 5 remaining kits all have some diarrhea, they all had really full bellies this morning so at least they are eating. I'm hoping it is close to running it's course now, although 3 of the kits are still iffy. *fingers crossed they all make it* There are two kits, that I think are cream and chin, that are still doing well in spite of having diarhea. They are the largest of the bunch. If they kick this and live, I will probably look really hard at keeping them. The doe I kept back from the first incidence of this had proved very hardy. She even got loose and lived "on the lam" for about 6 months before I managed to catch her.

At this time, I haven't done any interventive treatment except to cull a kit if I found it near death and to clean them up. I am going to clean them and the nestbox again today and put a bit of triple antibiotic ointment on their nether regions today as they are red at this point. While I'd rather them fight off the original infection on their own, if possible, I'd rather avoid any subsequent infections or fly strike.

-- Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:27 am --

Well, I'm down to one. I lost the other 4 yesterday. The good news is this one finally has solid poops. Poor momma is kinda confused though. I feel bad for her. She was being a really good first time mom and was successfully feeding 10 kits, when this whole mess struck.

The remaining kit did get a case of fly strike (the dead kits weren't affected so they died 100% from the diarrhea). I knew it could happen fast but I didn't realize exactly how fast that was. I literally check it over and cleaned it the evening of the 4th and applied some triple antibiotic ointment to it's red genitals. When I check again yesterday (the 5th) it already has 1/4" maggots. I did ponder culling it at that point but it looked like it was mostly just skin affected so I decided to give it a chance. I cleaned the wound and applied iodine and kept it in the house overnight and took it out this morning to feed. It looked MUCH better this morning and it ate good so I returned it to the house. I'll keep it inside until the wound is completely healed.

Here is a pic of the survivor. <br /><br /> -- Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:16 pm -- <br /><br /> Well, I lost the last little bit a few minutes ago. He had been doing well enough that I put him back out with his mom. She was doing well but I guess her milk dried up. I had worried about that with her doing down from 10 to one so quickly but she was trying to be a good mom. She even pulled more fur for the little guy. Then I noticed he looked poor yesterday and checked and he was dehydrated. I checked momma and it didn't seem like she had any milk. It's been hot so it didn't take long. I brought him back into the house and tried to get him to eat some goat's milk but I guess I didn't catch it soon enough.

It's also possible he had some internal damage from the fly strike that I couldn't see.

He would have been 3 weeks old tomorrow.

Awww, so sorry to hear that, Alforddm.

Sure hope that problem never surfaces again in your herd. It's heartbreaking to lose kits like that.

The first time doe that lost her litter had another litter 2 weeks ago. Although I was dying to post and update, I made myself wait until I was pretty sure they would all make it. They all have their eyes open and still no signs of diarrhea. So, this is yet another confirmation that whatever has caused the cases of diarrhea, it's not carried by the does. Both times this has happened, the does have gone on to have successful litters.

She had 13 her first litter (was successfully feeding 10 when the diarrhea stuck last time) and only 3 this time but this is coming off summer and is actually the earliest fall litter I've had. Most times my bucks are heat sterile.

So here are the little hippos. A beige (chocolate chin), a broken harlequinized chestnut, and a harlequin.

When I first saw the title of the thread, I thought "Oh, no, not again!" I was glad to see it was a happy update. What beautiful plump hippos - I mean, bunnies. Especially love the colours of the harlequin -- reminds me of our late, much-missed Marilla (the cat in my avatar).