Entire Litter of 4 week old kits impacted?

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Rabbit Talk Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
DaytonHillRabbits

DaytonHillRabbits

Well-known member
Joined
May 3, 2015
Messages
136
Reaction score
4
Hey guys... just wondering about this litter of Hollands I have..

There's a litter of (5 ) 4.5 week old kits who ALL have what I call an impaction (external, not internally) where their poop is all lobbed into their furr and gunks all up if you know what I'm talking about. We are in the middle of a terrible snow storm and cold snap, so I cannot bathe their bottoms as they would chill too quickly but is there something I'm doing that is causing this? They are fed standard rabbit pellets (COOP brand), plenty of hay, and have access to fresh water at all times, they do not get any treats or veggies at all. I just today took Mom out as she is done with them and they are huge and fat and ready. I've experienced this before with Hollands but not usually more than one or two in a litter and not usually this badly... what gives?

Any advice would be appreciated! Also, is there an easy way to dissolve this other than soaking their bottoms in warm water/soap?
 
The does weaning at 4 weeks may be a contributing factor. Longer nursing times have been shown to reduce enteritis.

Another thing that comes to mind, is if unfamiliar children have been handling them. Occasionally, people report weanlings getting sick shortly after a neighbor's kid, or a more distant family member plays with them. My theory is that they pick up immunity to the common strains of bacteria that their owner's family carries, through their dam's milk.
Which is why they never seem to become ill from routine handling.
If the dam had not previously been exposed to some bacteria (e-coli for example) on a new kids hands, then the kits would have zero immunity.

Mold toxins in feed or hay, even levels far to low to affect adult rabbits can cause it.

Adding soluble fiber to their diets can help in some cases. Maybe see if offering oats helps bulk their stool?

Baby wipes or a warm moist cloth can be used to clean them, I'd strongly recommenced not using soap on a rabbit ever, even if you needed to rinse one. Soap will break and natural barrier they have to prevent them being soaked to the skin.
 
The hair and poop is really solid and stuck now, so I'm not sure if I can really remove it without washing.. I have to run in to work so I'll pick up some animal wipes and see if that will work , but i'll likely need to use shampoo.. we do sell a small animal shampoo so maybe I'll grab that? Or do you think just water and trying to pull it all apart will be better for them.
 
I would suggest that you might want to take a sample of the poop to a vet for a fecal float to see if your kits have coccidia which can also be transmitted by kids that have handled dogs or cats which can carry the eggs on their fur.

If that is the case, your vet might recommend Corrid which can be syringed in the mouth to remove the parasites.
 
When I had Hollands, they pretty much always did this. What I would do is VERY CAREFULLY cut the hunk out, and make sure to trim any nearby unaffected fur to prevent it from happening again.
 
Ours get this often. We comb it after using wipes to try and get it out. I thought about cutting it. Is it true weaning enteritis if it is just sticky? I almost wondered if it was them starting to have their own cecotropes, although I have no idea when that kicks in, but that's what it looks like stuck to their hair!
 
Is this Hollands? My Hollands always did this. None of my other breeds, in the same conditions, same feed did this. Hollands are just a mess
 
My kit as had this a couple times, I just cup a bit of warmish water on my hand and pour it on, and then use baby wipes to get it out, rinsing with more water after. It kept happening for over a day so I treated the herd for coccidiosis and took him off pellets, only giving him hay for a day. So far it has cleared up.
I would just clean it up and give some old-fashioned oatmeal.
If it doesn't clear up maybe look into treating for cocci or worms.
 
This is Hollands yes and that is the only breed I've experienced it with.. my Nethies have never run into this issue.. sigh. I got some animal wipes and "dry small animal shampoo" and worked it all out, they're happy back out in the barn clean for now.. I did end up trimming their behinds significantly lol!
 
Listen for teeth grinding for the next few weeks. If you hear that, or smell an icky, poopy smell you need to treat for coccidosis. You are not out of the woods just yet.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top