Stillbirth causes?

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Diamond

Diamond

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Just picking the collective brain on causes of stillbirth. I have had 3 proven does deliver what appear to be healthy newborns stillborn in the past month. I have also had just as many healthy litters without complications. Just trying to look at things from a holistic perspective. Anytime I see a trend I try to figure out if there is a common cause or just random chance at play.

First doe: NZ red, born May 2012, has kindled 7 live litters between 8 and 14 kits. Spotted blood for several days before delivering 7 stillborn kits. This happened about the middle of March.

Second Doe: NZ black, born June 2011, has kindled 10 live litters between 6 and 14 kits each. She is one I was 'slowing down' on breeding, she kindled 4 stillborn kits without any apparent difficulty about 3 weeks ago. Yesterday she started packing hay around and nesting. Has not been exposed to a buck since her stillbirth.

Third Doe: NZ black, born April 2013. Has kindled 1 live litter of 8. Kindled 6 kits, all died - I think this one was my fault- there was not enough hay for her to make an adequate nest. She had been nesting a week early and trampled the hay in the box, the nestbox was metal and we had a hard frost that night. This happened about three weeks ago as well (she and the other doe were a few days apart).

The other 2 does had beautiful nests complete with tons of fur. But all the kits were dead.

Some environmental factors: 1) medicating the herd with sulmethoxazine for coccidiosis. It was my last of 3 treatments, so far no adverse effects had been noticed as far as breeding, kindling, kit development or growout rate.

2) Feed quality control - my feed manufacturer started having problems with the feed not binding, and lots of fines were in each bag of feed. So I switched to Purina brand, which I found to have much poorer ingredient quality than my preferred brand

3) Weather - this spring has had fluctuations between very warm, and then very cold temperatures.
 
I am wondering about the feed, because there were so many fines in the other brand, could easily attract mold with just a slight amount of moisture.

Also wondering about pathogenic causes, if there is any type of communicable disease that can affect does beyond the usual suspects (pasteurella, rabbit syphhilis).


Have 3 does due to kindle in the next 24*, so we will see what happens.

The red doe has been bred again, looks fat and happy, and is due around the 5th. I have not rebred the other two.
 
Do you know for certain that the kits were stillborn? Could they have died shortly after birth from another cause like chilling, perhaps? I'm asking this so you can decide where to concentrate your efforts in sorting out what happened.

In my experience, true stilbirths often follow a stuck kit. I think the ones behind it sometimes suffocate due to the delay.
 
Stuck kit is the most common cause of stillborns. It slows everything up and they die before they can get oxygen. It usually only happens in first time does though. A delayed birth with stillborns coming out some time after healthy kits is often stress. The doe can delay the birth if she feels uncomfortable but it can kill the kits for the same reason as a stuck kit. I believe cocci treatments do say not to give to pregnant females. This doesn't really sound like bad feed. More like bad luck. I would try to reduce any causes of stress, bed the nestboxes better, wait until the cocci treatment is done, and watch the condition of the does before trying again. If a doe seems skinny add some oatmeal or boss and if they appear to be good weight they may actually have a little extra fat in the abdomen that you can't see. If they don't improve their litters a slight diet might help. obviously if they feel over weight, usually you tell by checking if you can feel the spine, they need a diet and some form of exercise.
 
I'm starting to suspect some stillborns aren't dead at all...just not breathing and very unconscious. :eek: Twice in a row, I've brought back hot floppy "dead" kits with some CPR. The first tipped me off when I tossed it aside fresh after kindle, and I think the jolt from dropping it spurred him to take a breath. It was freaky!
 
if I have a random stillborn, or even a random stillborn litter, I don't get worried, -- but if 2 or 3 have stillborn kits, [esp. if they are not first time moms--]---I would be getting very proactive on the feed quality inspection, and milling dates, --or --if I have had other rabbits around , disease
 
Well, I just had 3 large healthy litters born without problems, so I think it is a run of bad luck. One mama, the red doe, had signs of trouble before delivering her kits. The others were probably bad luck. Keeping my fingers crossed for the red doe, she is due in a couple weeks.
 

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