What would cause a whole litter to die? Update-new thoughts?

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macksmom98

macksmom98

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Trying to find the cause of death, in 2 years this is the first time we have lost a whole litter. They are about 3 days old, and had yellow runny poo. Not sure if that's an after effect or cause of death because they weren't like that yesterday. Everything looked fine with all 7 of them. Pretty sad scene to see all 7 of them stiff together......anyway opinions and thoughts are appreciated!
 
Yeah, she had a successful litter 10 weeks ago, and not much has changed. Just trying to figure out if I should treat it or need to worry about moms health now.....
 
Only whole litter losses we've had were first litters to does that didn't feed them. You seem to have a different situation, but the loss is always hard. Hope you figure it out and have healthy popples soon.
 
I think the cause of my litter loss was e-coli. It' s happened to me twice with 26 litters in between (I went back through my records and counted). The first time the doe had successful litters before and after. I don't know for sure it was e-coli but they had watery, mucusy diarrhea which fits the symptoms of e coli and having no other litters affected or having no problems before and after? There aren't many things that have that MOI. The first time 4 lived (out of 10) and the second only 1 (out of 10).

I believe this was caused by either myself handling the young babies after working in the garden or my young son holding a baby after he had been playing outside. I have now instituted a handwashing protocol for touching kits before they open their eyes. Since the kids and I handle older kits all the time (but the babies not as much) I think the older kit's immune systems are more developed so that they don't catch anything.

It's a terrible way to lose kits. I hope my experience helps someone else to avoid this.
 
Yes it is! And I just had one of my daughters teachers text me during the day to ask about them, and chose a brown and white one. Hated having to text that happened. Although you never know, but it's not fun. Do I need to do anything to treat mom? They were little, not as much difference in size as some litters, but looked fed, although no one was chubby really. But for us it looked like what's normal for a larger litter. Poop was yellow and mucussy for sure, although I only saw that after they had perished.....
 
Ok, we will clean good and think about re breeding if signs are pointing to something other than her. There were also mosquitoes and maybe ants around, but I never saw bites on any of them.... <br /><br /> -- Sat Jun 10, 2017 2:07 am -- <br /><br /> Could pinworms cause this? I hadn't noticed any problems but our puppy (who has been wormed) has diarrhea and it got me wondering if there is a connection, because she's always nosing around under the cages in the poop. And when I cleaned up after she pooped in the house (super runny poo) I could see rice like worms, a couple were moving. If this is the case I will treat with Ivomectein and breathe a sigh of relief that it's nothing worse....
 
Aren't those worms highly host specific? (Wikipedia refers only to human parasites under "pinworm", so whatever spiecies effect dogs, I'm pretty sure those are not the same that can thrive in rabbits, right?)
Also, wouldn't 3 days be very fast to effect them all, considering they didn't eat solid food?

I have no idea how ants or mosquitoes could cause this symptoms in the whole litter that fast, but our wildlife is pretty benign compared to other reagions. :shock:

I think e.coli or mastitis is much more likely, or whatever bacteria can be distributed in the litter easily by sharing nipples, or being exposed to infected poop.
 
Roundworms, pinworms being just one species found in humans, is amongst many zoonotic worms that can be passed from one animal to another including humans.

What UFCreel said about it sounding like tapeworm is very probable. Tapeworms are some of the most often found worms thanks to the fact that you don't need a microscope to see those egg cases. They do in fact look like grains of white rice. Deworming can help if you are positive that they are the source of the worms. I would look at all animals you have one the property as well as the animals that are closest to your property to find the source of the puppy's worms.

Preitler also makes a very good point in that it could be an E. coli infection or possibly mastitis in the doe. I would check the doe over very well to make sure it isn't mastitis and really look at the water sources of the rabbits and where you get their forage to make sure they are not getting something from those sources as swell.
 
Thanks for the thoughts and opinions. I'll be sure to ask the vet during our shot appt this week about the dog. Momma bunny seems ok, not extra not, no inflamed or red teats. I would think 3 days would be early for masteitis, but maybe not. Anyway don't think that's the culprit so looks like signs may still be pointing to E. coli.
 

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