7 week old kit dead

[JessicaR]

I was feeding and watering the rabbits this morning when I found one of my sons 7 week old NZR kits dead! Don't know what happened other than she was laying up against the cage door and the other kits were sitting on top of her. No signs of illness, no change in feed, no weight loss, or loose stools, and the temps today have been cooler, 80 with 58% humidity. It figures she was the biggest doe in the litter I was going to keep her. So now we have 4 bucks and 1 doe left, and the doe that is left I am not very happy with her size.

So what do you all think? Just a freak accident, or maybe something more serious? I separated the rest of the kits, I put the 3 remaining solid kits in a cage and left the 2 broken kits with mom, since they are a bit smaller than the rest.

Oh forgot to mention the kits are all free fed pellets, and have 2 water bottles in their cage, both working and not plugged or anything.

 

[Miss M]

How odd! I think you would have to open her up in order to get any clues, because I can't get any from what you've observed outwardly.

 

[JessicaR]

internally she looked fine, a little bloated but I don't know if that was what killed her or if that was just because she had been dead for a little while. I am hoping it was just a freak accident, but I am watching the other kits closely!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Sorry about the loss- it is always the "keepers", it seems.

Sometimes they just die for no apparent reason. Maybe something panicked her and she had a heart attack. :?

I nearly killed a kit once just by rinsing off the dropping boards. It completely freaked out (blender bunny!) and then collapsed. I am sure it would have just died right there if I hadn't picked it up and started stroking it firmly to bring it out of shock.

 

[Lizardslaps]

I had a 6week old one die once in a similar way found out she got stomped by mom and broke its neck only time this has happened to me

 

[JessicaR]

I guess mom could have done it too, maybe they was rushing her trying to nurse and she accidently jumped on the trying to get away?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

When you necropsied the kit, did you skin it? You would see bruising along the spine at the point of the break.

 

[amandainohio24]

What are you feeding them? We just lost 5 babies in the last 2 weeks (all from the same litter between 7-8 weeks). The only thing we have been able to come up with ours was a possible bad bag of feed since we had not changed anything here either.

 

[Miss M]

I guess mom could have done it too, maybe they was rushing her trying to nurse and she accidently jumped on the trying to get away?

It's possible. :shrug:

Sometimes, even a necropsy doesn't show anything. Maybe it went "blender bunny" like MSD's kit.

 

[JessicaR]

MSD, I didn't think to skin it, just wanted to see if their was any gut issues or other obvious illness.

Amanda, I have been feeding Rural king brand food, so far all the other rabbits look fine. Hopefully it isn't the food, they have been eating from that same bag for 3 weeks now.

 

[amandainohio24]

That is where we buy ours too but the Manna Pro brand. I am looking into switching to either Pen Pals or Rowe (preferred and might be going in with a friend to buy a pallet to bring the cost down which would be nice)

 

[Miss M]

MSD, I didn't think to skin it, just wanted to see if their was any gut issues or other obvious illness.

Amanda, I have been feeding Rural king brand food, so far all the other rabbits look fine. Hopefully it isn't the food, they have been eating from that same bag for 3 weeks now.

If you draw out a handful of the food, does it look excessively dusty? Does it smell green, or does it smell musty? Are there clumps in the bag, or off-color spots on the outside of the bag?

Unfortunately, sometimes there just is no answer.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I always suspect feed first, but if not feed [as no other rabbits are sick] you might also suspect, coccidiosis, and heart failure, along with the things already mentioned. -- But-- sometimes when you raise livestock, you will just have to accept some unexplained losses.

 

[JessicaR]

Feed looked good, a little dusty but no more than usual for being at the bottom of the bag.

So far the rest of the kits look fine no more deaths. So I guess this was just a fluke and I will never really know what happened.

 

[Miss M]

Glad the rest are doing fine. I hate not having an answer, but sometimes that's just the way of it.