4 week old kit bloated

[DitchDoc]

This is my first litter, have been relying heavily on all the good information here to get me through and so far all has gone well, until now. 4.5 week old kit, smallest of the litter, off by itself in the grow out cage last couple of days. When I pulled it out this morning it felt bloated to me, smelly backside with wet tail and a small amount of fecal matter matted on its coat. Immediately removed it from the cage and put it in isolation, oatmeal, alfalfa hay and water with probiotic added. The kit is lethargic but doesn't exhibit obvious signs of pain, though it sits hunched in a corner of the cage and doesn't move much. When I went by to check on it this evening( I'm at work tonight), it did appear to have nibbled at the oatmeal. A few tiny bunny berries
in the shavings, no obvious diarrhea yet. Any suggestions from y'all would be most appreciated! Not sure what else to do besides watch it and see how things progress. It's littermates are all fine at this point, fingers crossed it will stay that way.

 

[2 bun-owner]

Try and get it to eat hay as much as you can
If you feed hay. Hay is a good source to get things/
Keep things moving. Could try gas drops as well.

 

[squidpop]

I wonder if it would help it to put it back with the mother- maybe if it nursed a bit longer it would help it.

 

[Dood]

Bloated kits with diarrhea can be a sign of clostridium or possibly a heavy load of intestinal or hepatic coccidia.

If its as bad as it sounds I would cull but you can try supportive care.

 

[DitchDoc]

2 bun, the kit has alfalfa hay and oatmeal to munch on. Forgot about the simethecone, will get some in the morning. Thank you!

Squidpop, mom weaned them herself , refusing to let them nurse any longer. As they were all happily eating and drinking on their own at that point they went off to the grow out cage. Mom wont have anything to do with them at this point. Very much appreciate the input though, thank you!

Dood, haven't noted any diarrhea since the kit came inside, a few small bunny berries noted in the shavings but it's tail was wet and its backside did smell bad. My husband tells me it seems a bit more lively this evening, hopping about in the cage. What sort of supportive care would you recommend? As long as it doesn't appear to be in pain or obvious distress I'd like to give it a chance. Thank you!

 

[squidpop]

I think maybe Dood means Oxbow Critical Care maybe. It's supposed to be really good. http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/vets/p ... tical_care

 

[Dood]

smelly backside with wet tail and a small amount of fecal matter matted on its coat.

this pretty much indicates he's had diarrhea. Just as rabbits can form two types of poop, they can have two types of diarrhea, if he has normal bulk pellets then likely there is a problem with his cecotropes - this is not a good sign.

Supportive care is pretty much what your doing - bringing inside, feeding hay, trying probiotics. I would also try giving electrolytes or a at least a dehydrated bit of banana to get some potassium in him.

 

[MaggieJ]

Dood's suggestions are good ones.

Sounds like you are handling the situation well, but grass hay would be better than alfalfa hay just at the moment if you have some.

My thought was that the symptoms sound like weaning enteritis (weaning entropy). If so, the oatmeal and hay should help, unless the kit is too far gone.

Here, I would also offer the leaves of blackberry, raspberry or strawberry and the lawn weed plantain. They all help regulate the bowels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major

 

[DitchDoc]

Ah, ok., I understand what you're saying now. I'd just assumed it'd had diarrhea and it had stopped since there were small berries in the sawdust. Electrolytes/ dried banana it is then. Thank you sooooo much!

Thank you Maggie J! I don't have any grass hay ATM but that can be remedied this morning as well. We ran out of the coastal and I got a bale of Tractor Supply alfalfa to fill in. Could that possibly have attributed to this, the change of hay? We've got plantain in the yard, ty for the link , always wondered what that stuff was.

Appreciate everyone's help, will see how it's doing when I get home this morning.

 

[dangerbunny]

weaning is hard on the kit's digestive system. If there is a genetic weakness or a problem that is when it is going to crop up. If the kit does fully recover I would advise against breeding it in case there is a genetic issue there.

 

[Diamond]

rolled oats. Simethicone infant drops (Gas-X for babies). Dandelion greens and grass hay. I don't wean until at least 5 weeks and now am pushing it out to 6 or 7 because the kits thrive more and I do not need to rebreed my does right away (I have many to choose from!)

If you continue to have problems in the future with weanlings and growouts showing up with bloat, mucoid enteritis, and becoming listless and dying, reveiw my experience with e. cuniculi:
worth-sharing-here-thoughts-on-mucoid-enteritis-t17884.html

 

[OneAcreFarm]

The kit is lethargic but doesn't exhibit obvious signs of pain, though it sits hunched in a corner of the cage and doesn't move much.

That, in an of itself, is a sign of pain or at least extreme discomfort. Being prey animals, they don't really show it when they are hurt or in pain, as predators are drawn to the weak and unfit.

You have gotten good advice so far...hay, oats, water, probiotics, simethicone and electrolyte fluid as needed. I hope it pulls through. What percent protein is your feed, BTW? I found much less incidence of WE when I switched to 16% from 18%.

 

[grumpy]

The kit's definitely uncomfortable. You've received excellent advice thus far.

I, too, am switching to a lower protein feed, thinking the one that I'm feeding may be "too-hot".
I didn't have issues last year like I am at the present. We'll see.

grumpy.

 

[ottersatin]

I got a bale of Tractor Supply alfalfa to fill in. Could that possibly have attributed to this,
Yes D D, Alfalfa is higher in protein,
what you want is Grasshay. I would stop the pellets
and feed more Grasshay, rolled oats and plenty of water.
You do not want the rabbit to become dehydrated.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[DitchDoc]

I want to thank each and every one of you for your kind and timely responses. I'm so thankful to have found this forum and all of you wonderful folks! I'm feeding Manna Pro, 16% protein, and found some really nice bermuda hay. Also bought the simethicone. Sadly, the poor little thing developed profuse, watery diarrhea this afternoon and began what appeared to be symptoms of wry neck, it's wee little neck twisting to the side. Listless. Culled it a few ago (also my first...cried like a baby) and took photos. I'm hoping the photos might help others who are new to this, and that the experienced ones can share insight into what they see.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

very gassy and gallbladder was huge

 

[MamaSheepdog]

In addition to all of the excellent advice thus far, I would recommend giving the kit a bedded shelter so it can get off of the wire. There was a thread long ago that discussed weaning enteritis in depth, and one of the possible causes discussed was chilling of the gut.

Found it!

rabbittalk.com/post69008.html

I use plastic litter jugs with shavings and or grass hay stuffed inside. Being able to hide will also relieve stress.



_______________________________________________________________________

When I hit Submit, your necropsy photos came up.

Sorry you lost the kit.

The cecum (the big thing attached to the intestines) is distended with gas. The rabbit's gut flora is WAY off. I would immediately give start all of the kits on probiotics.

The liver has a reticulated pattern, which is abnormal. The gall bladder is also quite large.

The link in this thread has necropsy photos of various diseases. Rabbit Hemorrhagic disease (about halfway down the document) results in livers with a reticular pattern. You may also want to bisect the kidneys and compare them to the photograph provided. Mucoid enteropathy is further down, under Miscellaneous Diseases.

 

[DitchDoc]

Dangerbunny: Thank you for the advice! If any survive this, they're destined for freezer camp. Had one promising doe, but ....sigh.

One Acre Farm: Thank you! Appreciate the advice. Feed is 16%, though there's some locally grown feed that's 14...I'm wondering if I should consider that instead for the babies....

Ottersain: Thank you! Your advice is appreciated!

Diamond: Thank you too...and for the link. Interesting reading...I still have so much to learn!

Grumpy: Have you had any better success with your change of feed?

Mary Ann: Kinda what I was thinking too, but my only experience with bunny innards have been the pics I've seen here. Thank you!


MSD: Thank you for the information! Love your jugs...bet the babies do too! I have a wire nest box that's too small for my SF and Am Chins, been using that stuffed with hay for the grow out cage. If I can find some jugs, may do what you have done too...I'll bet they love having those holes to jump in and out of. All the kits had probiotics in their water as soon as I realized one was sick. The kidneys looked normal once bisected...I forgot to take a pic :/

Maggie J...I'm curious about the amount of time it takes for you to gather the natural feeds for your buns. I'd love to try this approach but my time is pretty limited. Once I retire I'm hoping to branch out in that direction.


A second kit is now quite ill, same symptoms. I'll be dispatching it soon Thanks once more for all the grand advice here, at least I have some idea of where to start now.

Appreciatively,
DitchDoc

 

[MaggieJ]

Sorry he didn't make it, but when they are that sick it is best (for them) to euthanize. It was clearly suffering without much chance of a good outcome.

I don't see much wrong with the organs, except that the gall bladder is very full. The intestines are very full of gas which leads me to conclude it was probably weaning enteritis (weaning entropy) and that the kit was having trouble making the transition to solid foods.

The only other thing that comes to mind is the intestinal form of coccidiosis, but as I have not experience with this I am merely tossing it out there for further discussion.

 

[Diamond]

Wry neck = positive sign of e. cuniculi. The neurotoxins secreted by e. cuniculi cause gut stasis as well as wry neck. Little guys are very sensitive to it. Once stasis begins then the rest of the gut flora start to get imbalanced. E. cuniculi is very common among healthy rabbits and is kept under wraps by the immune system, but stress (especially during and shortly after weaning) can give it opportunity to become active and cause illness. As mentioned, fenbendazole is the most effective over-the-counter treatment and I am targeting my breeding does and weanlings with treatment in order to reduce the loss of kits to this type of enteritis and also to reduce the active form of the parasite in my rabbitry.<br /><br />__________ Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:41 am __________<br /><br />edit: I did not lose a single kit from 'weaning' for YEARS...... and then had a whole rash of kits between 7 and 10 weeks old develop mucoid enteritis with a 20% mortality rate, within a few weeks. For me, it was obvious that a pathogenic cause was at play in my rabbitry, leading to a lot of research......