8 weeks old and still tiny

[ida1416]

I had a lionhead litter born in November and they are now 8 weeks old. There were five of them, which is a bigger litter size for lionheads. Four of the kits are growing like weeds and doing great. Good weight and everything. But one of the them is half the size of her siblings and very thin. She eats, runs around, drinks water, snuggles and grooms her siblings. Everything fine but she wont grow or put on weight. My instinct is to cull her as I wouldnt be retaining her and it doesnt feel right to sell her to a pet home if something's wrong. But it's hard when she doesnt act sick. She eats plenty of pellets and hay. I could try giving her oats but I just dont feel that shes not getting enough calories, its just like what shes eating, her body isnt making proper use of or shes just stunted for some reason. What are everyone's thoughts?

 

[Alaska Satin]

I had a lionhead litter born in November and they are now 8 weeks old. There were five of them, which is a bigger litter size for lionheads. Four of the kits are growing like weeds and doing great. Good weight and everything. But one of the them is half the size of her siblings and very thin. She eats, runs around, drinks water, snuggles and grooms her siblings. Everything fine but she wont grow or put on weight. My instinct is to cull her as I wouldnt be retaining her and it doesnt feel right to sell her to a pet home if something's wrong. But it's hard when she doesnt act sick. She eats plenty of pellets and hay. I could try giving her oats but I just dont feel that shes not getting enough calories, its just like what shes eating, her body isnt making proper use of or shes just stunted for some reason. What are everyone's thoughts?

She could be a runt, in which case she'd probably be fine as a pet. But I'd give her her own cage, and see if she's just suffering the effects of being at the bottom of the heap, especially since it was a large litter. You don't necessarily see it in action, but gangs of rabbits have a dominance hierarchy, and the big dogs impress on the underlings that they're underlings by guarding food and water, among other things.

Over the years I've had a number of bunnies that were not keeping up with the rest of their litter, which when given their own cage and no competition, rallied beautifully (at least one of then ended up a Grand Champion). I don't really consider it an undesirable trait which I'd want to cull, since it usually goes along with a submissive and sweet temperament. All of my rabbits get their own cages anyway.

 

[ida1416]

She could be a runt, in which case she'd probably be fine as a pet. But I'd give her her own cage, and see if she's just suffering the effects of being at the bottom of the heap, especially since it was a large litter. You don't necessarily see it in action, but gangs of rabbits have a dominance hierarchy, and the big dogs impress on the underlings that they're underlings by guarding food and water, among other things.

Over the years I've had a number of bunnies that were not keeping up with the rest of their litter, which when given their own cage and no competition, rallied beautifully (at least one of then ended up a Grand Champion). I don't really consider it an undesirable trait which I'd want to cull, since it usually goes along with a submissive and sweet temperament. All of my rabbits get their own cages anyway.

Alright, I'll give her a couple weeks on her own and see what happens. I dont want to cull her. Especially in the pet breeds I try to avoid that unless somethings really wrong. And I was suspicious as well since shes a charlie and I was afraid there might be something wrong with her digestive system. But maybe I'm hopping to conclusions.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Alright, I'll give her a couple weeks on her own and see what happens. I dont want to cull her. Especially in the pet breeds I try to avoid that unless somethings really wrong. And I was suspicious as well since shes a charlie and I was afraid there might be something wrong with her digestive system. But maybe I'm hopping to conclusions.

If she's a charlie, it does increase the chances that she's got something wrong inside. The big health problem associated with a double dose of the broken gene <En> is megacolon. Not all charlies develop it, but when a rabbit suffers from this condition, the poops will look weird. The colon, being distended and lacking in tone, won't pop out nice round consistent poo. You'll see variable, large, and irregularly shaped poops.

I've never had a rabbit with megacolon, but here is an image that might be helpful. The top row is normal, while the bottom three are from rabbits with megacolon (from Megacolon - Long Island Rabbit Rescue Group)



One of the many difficulties with megacolon is that it can show up later in the rabbit's life, long after they're weaned and sold.

 

[ida1416]

Yeah, I have a rescue bun that has megacolon. It sucks because he is the sweetest rabbit I've ever seen. Jumps into your lap, always licking and nudging for pets, just the best. And it didn't show up until he was 3 years old, and the woman who had him (he'd belonged to her grand-daughter who went off to college) didn't feel up to caring for him. He changed my mind about charlies. This little girl happened because I decided to take a risk with this breedin but I don't think I'm going to do that again. Only brokens or charlies to solids from now on. And it's another reason I feel hesitant about selling her. Thankfully she was the only charlie in the litter and like I said the rest are amazing and healthy as horses. Three of them actually went to new homes today.

 

[ida1416]

Here she is with her brother for size comparison and I also included a picture of our dear megacolon buddy.