8 week old rabbits dying

[Links56]

Hello again, I have learned a lot from all of you, wanted to say thanks. The past week I have lost 3 8 week old rabbits, last week I came out to check on them and I noticed one of them that was very lethargic and secluded I tried to get it to pep up, but the next morning it was gone. Then today I was out there and 2 of them were laying sprawled out on the cage floor, I thought they were already gone but when I moved them they started urinating. The one was screeching and the other one was spasming or something. It seemed like they couldn't move. They would not eat or drink.

I guess I have 2 questions.
1. What do you think is going on?
B. Is there any last minute treatment I can try when stuff like this happens?

Thanks

 

[Nika]

We have quite a few posts about this sort a problem, you might want to search around in the health sub-forum.

8 weeks old are usually the most affected with "this" sort of thing, but it is often not really clear what "this" is. At this age they are being weaned (are yours still with the doe?) and every change in feed causes their GI tract to fail. You didn`t mention if they had diarhhea?

For now, you should clean their cage and possibly move them to another, but not far away so that they are already acustomed to environment and moving won`t be such a shock. Observe if they eat or drink and pee or poo (if the dying ones were urinating, they must of have something to drink). If anybody starts behaving off, you must put him in a warm place and feed him safe foods for their belly (yarrow, leaves of berries, plantain). In this situations baby drops for gas and homemade elecytrolite solution helps a lot. It is important that their gut is in movement so they need to drink and eat. If they feel bloated, you can gently massage their bellies a few times a day.

Coccidiosis, bloat, enteritis, GI stasis (I don`t know if the last two are one and the same..)

 

[Links56]

Okay, I didn't notice any diarrhea, should I not be giving them vegetable scraps along with the pellets? I have been ever since they could eat on their own. They are not with the doe. I'll search around on the forum some more. Thanks

 

[Rainey]

Perhaps others could help if we had more information. When were these kits weaned? What was the doe fed? When did you start adding vegetable scraps and what were they specifically and are you sure there was no mold on them?

My understanding is that the kits can eat whatever the doe was eating while they were nursing because they get the gut flora they need from the doe's cecotropes. Rabbits in general and especially recently weaned kits don't do well with any sudden change of feed. Introducing greens of any kind should be done slowly and some (plantain and any of the brambles come to mind) are easier on the digestive system than others so are good to start with.

I can't speak from experience because I do natural feed and have not lost any kits at that age--my losses were all in the first few days, kits that weren't feeding for whatever reason. I know how I feel when a kit that seemed fine yesterday suddenly isn't looking good and I hope you figure this out and are able to save the rest of the litter and make changes that will help with the next.

 

[Dood]

Can you open them up and post pictures of the organs, especially the liver and cecum ?

 

[Zass]

The others have given very sound advice. It sounds like a GI issue that you are discovering too late to help. Probably mucoid enteritis. Enteritis isn't the same as stasis, but one can lead to another.

The first signs would be soft stool, or even greenish mucous.. Even with the best treatment at the very first signs, a rabbit may not survive. Best to prevent the problem.

When I had it here it was mainly due to contaminated pellets an feed changes.

Never ever ever change up feed on weanlings if you can prevent it.

8 weeks old is probably the very worst age to start introducing vegetable scraps. Better to have the dam start on them before the kits are born, and then allow them to nibble along with her. They will be inoculated with bacteria from her cecotropes and cultivate the proper gut bacteria to handle it as they grow.

If this keeps happening even with no feed changes, make sure your pellets are being kept in a place where they can not become contaminate with mold (which can do this to weanlings even when adults do not react)
If you are sure there is no mold in the feed and this still happens, consider changing brands.

 

[Nika]

Severe GI problems (like introducing fresh greens for the first time at weaning) are without diarhea. They die before they can exhibit symptoms.

 

[Links56]

These rabbits were weaned at 4-5 weeks and I have not made any changes to the way I am feeding them, since they could eat on their own they have been eating the vegetable scraps which is mostly carrot peels and a few celery leaves here and there. If it happens again I will open one up and post pics. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary or change anything that I know of. Do you think I should stop letting the young ones have the scraps all together? Won't it be hard to introduce the scraps later also?

 

[michaels4gardens]

The others have given very sound advice. It sounds like a GI issue that you are discovering too late to help. Probably mucoid enteritis. Enteritis isn't the same as stasis, but one can lead to another.

The first signs would be soft stool, or even greenish mucous.. Even with the best treatment at the very first signs, a rabbit may not survive. Best to prevent the problem.

When I had it here it was mainly due to contaminated pellets an feed changes.

Never ever ever change up feed on weanlings if you can prevent it.

8 weeks old is probably the very worst age to start introducing vegetable scraps. Better to have the dam start on them before the kits are born, and then allow them to nibble along with her. They will be inoculated with bacteria from her cecotropes and cultivate the proper gut bacteria to handle it as they grow.

If this keeps happening even with no feed changes, make sure your pellets are being kept in a place where they can not become contaminate with mold (which can do this to weanlings even when adults do not react)
If you are sure there is no mold in the feed and this still happens, consider changing brands.

If you can rule out feed problems, I would then try a coccidiostat [like CORID]

 

[ladysown]

8-16 week old kits can get entropathic illness for seemingly no reason.

Predicating factors that I have noticed

1. weather. I know.. seems insignificant but weather plays a huge role in gut health with youngsters.
2. change from one cage to another
3. change by removing parent or a litter mate
4. change in feed
5. a scare.. a GOOD scare generally but a good scare for one is a wee scare for another so this can sometimes be hard to judge
6. seasonal shifts in temperature
7. high winds that rattle and shake the building
8. dampness in the area
9. dirty litters
10. dirty cages

One can do their best but at the end of it, the best the VERY best thing you can do is breed against it and cull hard.

Clean your cages well. Watch for dirty corners.
Use water bowls with suspect litters to encourage fluid intake.

 

[Links56]

Thank all of you very much. Everyday is a learning experience, more so with rabbits.

 

[michaels4gardens]

8-16 week old kits can get entropathic illness for seemingly no reason.

Predicating factors that I have noticed

1. weather. I know.. seems insignificant but weather plays a huge role in gut health with youngsters.
2. change from one cage to another
3. change by removing parent or a litter mate
4. change in feed
5. a scare.. a GOOD scare generally but a good scare for one is a wee scare for another so this can sometimes be hard to judge
6. seasonal shifts in temperature
7. high winds that rattle and shake the building
8. dampness in the area
9. dirty litters
10. dirty cages

One can do their best but at the end of it, the best the VERY best thing you can do is breed against it and cull hard.

Clean your cages well. Watch for dirty corners.
Use water bowls with suspect litters to encourage fluid intake.

I agree with the above post, --
but- ,with that said, I have found it rare to get enteritis, without a mold/ feed issue, or coccidiosis, contributing...

 

[Swervesgrl]

I'm trying to find out why last night when I went to feed my rabbits I found 2-8wk old and my 12-wk old bunnys dead in the cage and the last 8-wk old all lethargic???

 

[MuddyFarms]

Hey there- did you change anything in their routine, feed, cage, etc? There are a ton of things that could cause something like this, including disease from being on the ground or in contact with other rabbits. It can be really hard to figure out.

 

[Susie]

I need desperate advice. Three of my eight week kits died in the night. They were well yesterday. Now my last remaining three are very lethargic today, their poop looks normal. The kit that’s in my arms has a pellet in her mouth and is not good at all. I need to save my other two

 

[MaggieJ]

I need desperate advice. Three of my eight week kits died in the night. They were well yesterday. Now my last remaining three are very lethargic today, their poop looks normal. The kit that’s in my arms has a pellet in her mouth and is not good at all. I need to save my other two

We need more information. What do you feed them? Have there been any changes in their diet recently? Do they seem bloated? You say their poop looks normal, but are the pooping as much as usual?

We want to help, but please give us something to work with. Anything that is different is worth mentioning. That has always been my first question when dealing with problems with livestock or pets. What is different now from a week ago.

 

[EnglishSpot]

When I would transition kits from mom to growout, in addition to not changing their diets in the least, I would also throw a small pile of mom's poops in the kits cage with them every couple days. If they had a cecotrope blob in the poop bunch, cool, but I noticed the kits would nibble on mom's dry berries too. I didn't have a problem with transition illnesses after I started doing this. Also, I would have oatmeal flakes available from the time they were crawling around in the nest box, which made bloat less likely on transition, since they still got oatmeal in their new cages. Poop and oatmeal, what a dietary combo, lol.

 

[Susie]

We need more information. What do you feed them? Have there been any changes in their diet recently? Do they seem bloated? You say their poop looks normal, but are the pooping as much as usual?

We want to help, but please give us something to work with. Anything that is different is worth mentioning. That has always been my first question when dealing with problems with livestock or pets. What is different now from a week ago.

Sorry for being late in replying. All kits have died plus my 18 month old Harry. Harry was dead within an hour. Just can’t get over it. The ladies from woodgreen rehoming animal centre said they had E Coniculi.

 

[MaggieJ]

Susie, I'm so sorry you lost them all. Such severe losses don't happen very often, thank goodness, but I can imagine how you must be feeling. It doesn't sound like there was much you could do in the face of such a fast-moving illness.

 

[MsTemeraire]

Sorry for being late in replying. All kits have died plus my 18 month old Harry. Harry was dead within an hour. Just can’t get over it. The ladies from woodgreen rehoming animal centre said they had E Coniculi.

This is not E. cuniculi. It sounds almost certain to be RHD2 virus. Unfortunately there is no cure, but there is a vaccine and it is recommended all rabbits in the UK are vaccinated against it as the virus is endemic in ALL of the UK, and has a reservoir of infection in the wild population.

This is an excellent resource about the virus, written by a (retired) vet
Rabbit haemorrhagic disease — Frances Harcourt-Brown