Good news, bad news and questions.

I know not everyone wants bad news first but, I wanna get it out of the way.. In the past about 2 weeks I've lost 6 kits, 5 were unexpected from a doe I had been trying to breed, the last was a little chestnut doe I had decided to keep. She started looking thin so I upped their food amount but she still never looked really full. I looked through all their poop never saw any worms. I brought her in the night she came to the front and sat there looking like she hadn't ate in days. Sadly I was out of pellets atm so I fed her some lettuce a small piece of tomato and some strawberry. (They had been getting a good bit of fresh and scraps before this as well) she seemed to perk up and was pottying. In the morning she had her head against her back gasping for air. If you know what causes or caused this please let me know, I've since put in a J-Feeder and check twice daily that they have food.

Onto the good news. The two babies from Butterball my REW mutt are gorgeous and hilarious! They love grooming and are getting huge, as well as the other 7 kits (I need to take new photos they are all almost 2 months old now!!).
More good news, the ACV recipe I tried worked. 6 weeks later and I had a ton of the mother settled in the bottom! What a score! Especially considering we got Apple sauce and ACV. I've already got my next two gallons setting up haha.

Now for questions.. Is it safe to breed Muta? ( I had been spelling his name Mootah until realizing I wasn't spelling it right..) but any who he's the one who hurt hos back last year in June or July I believe. He's since then grown which leads me to believe it wasn't a spinal injury. He's also a very happy, sweet bunny who goes stupid when getting pets. He'll stand up and put his nose into the wire and almost push into your hand when you rub right behind his neck.

In the morning she had her head against her back gasping for air. If you know what causes or caused this please let me know.

Click to expand...

That sounds like a serious respiratory problem. Rabbits sometimes do that when they are suffering from heat exhaustion, but a respiratory infection such a pneumonia will often make them show this same behaviour. They are, literally, gasping for air. I didn't understand whether the rabbit is still alive or not, but if it is, please keep it isolated from the others in case it is something infectious.

She was passing away her body was twitching and her legs were out stiff but she felt somewhat flimsy. Her head was laid flat against her back. Boyfriend told me he checked on her a few hours prior to that and said she was sitting up and looking fine. <br /><br /> __________ March 5th, 2017, 5:04 pm __________ <br /><br /> Unless she choked on water it couldn't have been that and we had brought her in for the night, not sure if I had mentioned and we were playing with her up until about 2 am and then he was up at 5 am and saw her and we woke up at 7am which is when I saw her

I don't really know much about this, but what you are explaining sounds just like what happened to one of our goats back when I was a teenager. She had tetanus and we weren't able to save her. Head thrown held against her back prior and in death. Not sure how your rabbit would have gotten tetanus, nor am I sure that's a common similar symptom. Just throwing it out there... so sorry Buttons

EDIT: I went ahead and read more into tetanus and yeah, not what your rabbit had though they coincidently shared an effect. Disregard this message, lol. Except for the last part, my condolences.

Loss sucks but I mean it happens. Right now I'm more concerned with the ones that have bloat. One entire cage is affected mom and kits. Nobody else in the entire rabbitry but them so I gave willow, and mixed ACV and a small chunk of garlic in their bottles. Most of them are looking better already but I believe I'll just go back to my old food because this stuff is not settling well with them for some reason.

ButtonsPalace":3r2kz1c5 said:

Loss sucks but I mean it happens. Right now I'm more concerned with the ones that have bloat. One entire cage is affected mom and kits. Nobody else in the entire rabbitry but them so I gave willow, and mixed ACV and a small chunk of garlic in their bottles. Most of them are looking better already but I believe I'll just go back to my old food because this stuff is not settling well with them for some reason.

Click to expand...

Buttons:
I have had a heck of a time lately in my rabbitry with similar issues.
Here are some of the things "oldtimers" aka "experienced" breeders have suggested to me:
A. consistency in feed/time of feeding is critical
B. sometimes a line carries "weaning enteritis" and there is no help except culling or letting nature take its course - other wise this will keep showing up in your 8-12 week old kits.
C. clean the cage daily.... don't leave any soiled hay in the weaned kits' cage ever
D. willow bark
E. weather change (the stress of weather change) will trigger this - like what we have had recently with 20+degree shifts in temperature in one day.
F. As soon as they look "off" take all pellet food away, grass hay only and open water to drink with electrolytes (watered down Gatorade works or a horse paste)
G. A VERY experienced breeder is having this issue right now and she has given her kits an injection of 0.10cc of "banamine" - pain killer and anti-inflammatory - used for horses and cattle - she said it seems to help combined with hay and lots of water.

I've been putting garlic in their water which is getting rid of the bloat, yesterday their was bubbles, today some had grown and no more bubbles or bloated babies. I'm hoping they all make it as they are very precious.
Now I have a question how would I know if breeding these two will cause weaning entiritis if that's what it is... Both of them are proven however this is the first time I put them specifically together

You should also take some poops to your local vet and ask for a fecal float (should be less than $50) to see if they have coccidia which has similar bloat symptoms (and IMHO is the cause of weaning enteritis), treatment is generally the whole herd with Corrid (cattle) along with torching all cages, jfeeders, water crocks and any other items in cages.

Another preventative that might help is to wipe down all rabbits with a vinegar/water solution to help clean their fur.

Everyone is bloat free now. It was probably a mix between crazy weather and feed change but as soon as I can I'll take some poop. Which I've been watching for worms and haven't seen any. The doe that passed was really skinny, I'm pretty sure her siblings were keeping her from eating because she was the smallest one. I noticed since she passed two others didn't quite hit the growth boom the rest were so I brought them in for free feeding, and have almost immediately found every problem possible with the way I set up their cage lol. From them slipping under were the pan should be to knocking over their food bowl and scattering the food all over. However those two are looking plumper already. Another day or two and they should hit a growth spurt. I can't burn the cages but I'll clean them with hot water and vinegar and leave them out to dry in the sun

No, the bigger kits didn't keep the doe that died from eating, she was sick with something that caused her to quit eating.

You will not see coccidia in the poop, it is microscopic. And the vinegar water and solarization will not get rid of the eggs, you need ammonia for that. I hope your mom has some in the kitchen cleaning supplies.

For all, IMHO folks need to quit with the shotgun approach and get confirmation from a vet as to what they are treating.

For bloat or even poopy bums, remove all pellets and feed hay and fresh weeds to help keep the guts working. Get a sample of the poop to the vet for a fecal float and then treat accordingly. Staph can also cause bloat and poopy bums but needs a different treatment. And treat the whole herd, not just individuals.

If it is coccidia, the doe has it too and likely her neighbors do also, so a whole herd treatment is required or you will be reinfested immediately.

Going out today for corrid, hay, pineapple juice as I've heard it helps so why not, and hay. I'll keep an eye out still after. Sadly I can't afford a vet, I looked into it and from the sounds of it she had mucoid enteritis, the symptoms all match up, never saw diarrhea but she lived with her siblings so it was hard to tell.