Okay, I need as much input as I can get here

I just got four rabbits. One I had already paid for, from Stump Acres (he is a GORGEOUS red NZ buck, beautiful) one is a VM buck I bought from her friend, also healthy and gorgeous. Two she gave me.

She was given these does, and had no place for them, so offered them to me. I gladly took them, ya can't beat free. One is a dilute tricolor. She is pregnant, due on the ninth. minirex. One is a Himi, and is extremely gaunt. I can't imagine how she got so thin, and am afraid she may die. The mini rex is about half the size of a minilop, judging by eye. Himi is same size but smaller.

I am putting ACV in their water to help them get enough fluid, and feeding them grains in addition to their pellets. I am also feeding them blackberry leaves, in case of an upset tummy, basically a precaution.

What else should I do?


Should I get a fecal done? I need some input.



I wanted to say, as well, that this was by no means a case of neglect or scamming on Stump acres part. She cares very well for hewr rabbits, and I am extremely happy in my dealings with her. She has always gone above and beyond to make sure everything is on good terms rabbit wise. I just needed some ideas.

Does the Himi have a good appetite? If so, you might want to try slowly enriching her diet with BOSS, pumpkin seeds, oatmeal, small amounts of carrot or beet... things like that. Don't overdo it... She didn't get skinny overnight and she shouldn't put on weight too quickly now.

Be sure to check her teeth. Sometimes rabbits with tooth problems are not able to eat enough to keep them healthy.

If she doesn't show signs of improvement, you may have consider having a fecal done, in case she has a heavy parasite load.

This skinny rabbit problem is not one I can recall hearing very often until recently. Lately, however, there have been numerous posts about it here and on HT. Not sure what's going on, but it is a trend I am trying to keep an eye on.

Are they in the same cage/hutch? Their positions in the "pecking order" may have gotten mixed up when they were moved and one may be bullying the other away from the food and water.

So when are you posting pics of Cedar? I'll trade you pics of my little Sir Winston (also from Stump Acres).

Sorry to go fftopic: ....Please return to regularly scheduled programming.

I will post tommorrow You better have pics of Sir Winston ready!


And thank you guys for your suggestions! I hope she will do fine. I'm sure she will. She just needs time, and good food, I'm sure. I can't wait to see what she looks like filled out!

Does breeding a doe stop her growth? I don't know how old the mini rex is, but she is very small and bred, and I am worried she may be too old/not fed enough gorwing up to get any bigger. Or that when she has this litter it will halt her growth.

Ok, so I got those does on Monday, so I'd only had them a day and a half. The woman that had them bred the himi to a NZ and she had 4 week old babies. I saw the babies and to be honest, they looked older than that, and they were healthy. The mini-rex looked pretty thin to me too and she had 7 week old babies (again, I think they were older) still on her. She is due on the 9th. The rest of the woman's rabbits were fat and healthy. I can't seem to find my SOP, so I'm not sure of the sr. weight for the himi, nor anything about the breed. I took them because...well, because I'm a sucker!

I'm so glad you like Cedar! His brother was an absolute baby, and I wish I hadn't lost him. My replacement for him isn't related and isn't nearly as sweet, but we're working on it.

I'm looking forward to seeing pics of Winston, as well. I would like to see how he is growing, as that litter went fast!

breeding a doe will not stop her growth. some mini rexes are only three pounds (and some don't even make that). What you see just might be what you get.

I'd give that skinny rabbit hay, pellets, oats, boss, pumpkin seed and so forth.

I also purchased a pretty skinny rabbit from someone that I KNOW takes good care of their animals. It turns out she wasn't hardly eating because of the heat at the time. Maybe that is a factor or like Arachyd said maybe she wasn't able to eat if she was kept with others. My doe gained all her weight back pretty quick after she settled in just with pellets/hay/the occasional treat- hope yours does the same!

Best of luck,

Lauren

Teeth are all good, I am posting pics today (I already took them)<br /><br />__________ Thu Sep 30, 2010 8:21 am __________<br /><br />EEEWWW, no offence if anyone like Himi's but I just looked at pics online and I am not attracted to the breed AT ALL. To me they look like starved Cali's. Which is why I probably had a heart attack when I got a good look at her. I was afraid she'd fall over dead. But, ya know? I still think she is dirty and underweight.

Just not as underweight as I thought. Interesting. No wonder you said you didn't know what you were going to do with them, Paula.

So, maybe she is small because she just weaned a litter of half bred NZ's. New question. What can you do to help a small doe care for a large litter with out losing condition? Sounds to me like that might be what this is. I mean, everyone else at the rabbitry was healthy and fat, she seems today to only be a little scrawny, according to the pics online of what they should look like. The mini rex seems fine, but way small. I had no clue some were that tiny. Mine were mini lop size. Well, not as blocky and round looking, but around the same size. So maybe it was the shock of not expecting what I got. The shock of going from great big meat rabbits to tin little things half the size of Spooky. lol.

LOL. I'm sorry! When you said you would take them, I didn't realize you hadn't seen the himi's before. It dawned on me this morning with your email that you didn't realize the cylindrical think. I didn't mean to send you a problem. I swear! I feel so bad now. I knew you were shooting for fur for your blanket and thought you might be interested. I know cage space is always at a premium and certainly didn't intend for you to use it up with rabbits that you weren't happy about. Forgive me?

Haha, no, I had never seen them before. I don't mind, I like getting to know different rabbit breeds. It helps me know what I'm talking about. ya know, experience and such

She's okay, shes just little and ugly. And skinny. Don't feel bad. How is one supposed to know what they like without experience? And her fur may turn out to be something special. If nothing else, I can use her babies to feed to my dog, because I am kinda into the raw feeding stuff...

I forgive you for the imaginary problem you sent me

After all, you sent her and the other doe for free. I have paid $20 before for a rabbit sight unseen, and got Loca. Now, SHES a waste of cage space. Ands then there's Blue One, the siamese sable lop cross buck that I really should butcher, as he has had a weepy eye since they opened. Now HES a waste of cage spoace. He's just very pretty.

Yeah, I'm gonna need alot of cages to get these pelts I need for my quilt. I want "prime as I can get being an amatur" pelts, so they'll have to grow up. Means I'm gonna have alot of babies for a long time. That could be a waste of cage space. It's all relative.

Thank you for the does. I like em. theyre just scrawny. Okay, I like the mini rex, but how am I supposed to know what I do or don't like if I never see them?

So there. No more apologies.

I can't wait to see pics. I thought I didn't like NZ's at all until I saw a red one, they are very pretty. I'm also in love w/ the dilute tricolor (tortoiseshell or calico) in cats, so I'm really looking forward to seeing a rabbit that color. It will be a long time before I have the room or money for my dilute calico Persian, so maybe a rabbit that color will tide me over. Congrats on you four new bunnies and I hope they are all in optimum health soon.

Okay, Mi_ku!!!

I am also a fan of dilute tortoishell/ tricpolour moggies! As in my avatar!

Are you talking about the breed Himi or a himi coloured rabbit?

http://www.himalayanrabbit.com/

The breed is quite long and tubular and is set flat on the showtable. It should resemble a tube with no hips sticking out etc. They are the total opposite of Cali's and other meat breeds and are shown as a Fancy breed. They should appear quite narrow in the body, but the ribs shouldn't be evident, so its hard to tell from the description if all is well with her. Good Luck!

its the breed, and she looks alot like the pics on the web. I am going to upload them on my blog, because it's easier for me. I will put a link up when I post them tonight.