A one off or a serious breeding problem?

Three of my grow outs have been sneezing a bit over the spring but, as several of my herd are allergic to Oak I wasnt surprised to have some sneezing. However, when we found one in serious distress, flat out and almost unresponsive it was a big shock.

No outward sign of problems other than one eye a bit wet and weepy but as it was that side down it could have been pressure that caused the wet eye.

When I dispatched him his gut was fine (mostly empty as it looked like it hadnt eaten for a few hours) kidneys good, liver spotless. In the rib area not so good. The heart was about double sized and the lungs were only HALF the size they should be. :shock:

I will be dispatching all the others in that pen to see if the half sized lungs are in more than one but has anyone heard of anything like this?

Most worrysome is I have sold several of that litter to other people!

Sorry you're going through this.

I have never seen anything like it, but would be interested in learning from some pictures if you find it in another bun.

It is probably just an odd one.

I'm just guessing, as I'm not a doctor, but if the lungs were undersized, it could cause the heart to work harder than normal to supply oxygen to the body. Which could have caused the enlarged heart. I would be more concerned that it might be a genetic issue than related to the sneezing. I supposed a chronic lung infection could have caused the stunted lung size, but seems like there would have been other symptoms if it was an infection.

Another one dead this morning.

If I had butchered it without knowing there was a problem I wouldnt have noticed anything wrong. The heart was larger than normal but not by much and the lungs looked smaller than they should but again, not by enough to jump out at you.

Quite a bit of blood had pooled into the chest area.

No weeping of the eye but some yellowish fluid around the mouth and down the cheek.

The insides smell totally normal.

I forgot to add on the last one that several of its nails were torn off and on this one too so that looks like it was fitting at one point, esp as it was both front and back feet.

Really stumped now and worried too. The plan is to butcher this lot as quickly as poss so as to not loose them all and watch the next kits really closely as they grow. It means I cant sell any though and that is a real blow, rabbit sales are important to us! <br /><br /> __________ Mon May 09, 2016 7:32 pm __________ <br /><br /> And now one has a huge abscess on his jaw! :evil:

From a distance this litter looks great. From close up this litter looks GREAT! Beautiful fur, perfect weight, great conformation, but I dont know if any are going to last long enough to get butchered.

Oh boy, what a mess I hope it's an anomaly and not something you will have to deal with past this litter!

Me too!

Tomorrow is butcher day for the entire pen and the two cages that back up to it. Shall then bleach it all down and leave it empty for a few weeks.

On the off chance that its the cage and not the breeding.

Will let y'all know how the rest of them look inside and try to get some pictures as well.