Help! Sick bunnies

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lemonthyme

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I am stumped and need help. First a bit of background. I have a batch of 6 babies - they are 7 weeks old. About a week ago they (or probably their mother) managed to chew a hole through some wood in the back of their cage. Two of the babies fell out of the cage. I found them on the ground in the morning and don't know how long they were out - if it was all night or not. My dogs had come outside with me and the smaller dog grabbed one when he saw them. I screamed at him and got the rabbit away. I thought he had hurt it but after an hour in a box in the house it seemed fine and I moved it back into the cage with the mother. The other escapee seemed fine other then being wet and one eye was shut - looked like a little matter but nothing serious. I washed it out. They were bright and happy, good appetite and seemed to have suffered no ill effects. There was no sneezing or signs of colds. A couple days later when I went to feed I found the one the dog had grabbed dead. My thought was that it must have had a mild internal bleed or something. I didn't think much more about it until I went out yesterday and the other rabbit that had got out (or so I thought) was in the back of the cage and wouldn't come out. It seemed lethargic, had it's head down and it's eye looked blind. It was dead by afternoon. Now tonight I have another rabbit with the same symptoms - one eye shut (just the one in both rabbits) and staying in back of cage. These are rabbits that are scrambling to get to the food bowl 10 hours earlier - no signs of colds, runny noses, anything! The others look fine, eating happily, pooping, etc. I have looked at some rabbit sickness symptoms but cannot find anything that fits - especially this fast. The ONLY other thing that has changed is the piece of wood my husband used to patch the hole in the cage. It is not treated wood and is a new pine board we recently good from the home improvement store. I am stumped. Any ideas would really help. The thing that frightens me most is that if this is something contagious I have probably already passed it to the other rabbits as the first one to die was 3 days ago and I thought that was from an injury so wasn't practising sanitary precautions. Sorry this is so long.
 
This sounds vaguely familiar-- get some tetracycline based antibiotic into them ASAP!!! Lots of hay, and make sure they get lots of water into them. Do NOT let them get the least bit chilled.. you maybe experiencing some enteritis--they can fail so fast you never see the diarrhea..
 
Thanks! They do get lots of hay and but I will get some tetracycline tomorrow when store opens.
 
Update - so far, so good. The one who I thought was going to die seems to be recovering. It is eating and hopping around and the other 3 never did get sick. I guess I will never know for sure what it was but I am happy that whatever it was seems to have passed.
 
Glad things seem to be going much better. Sorry for the loss of the little ones though.
 
So glad things are improving with your little ones. I know it must have been scary to see them passing and not know what the cause could have been. Sending good thoughts your way that the babes will continue to thrive. :)
 
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