Baby rabbits dying - why and how do I stop it???

[Honeybun]

6 days old. They've been fed, and look perfectly healthy until one starts wandering away from its siblings in the nest. It has what looks like bruising down the insides of its back feet. It keeps wandering around the nest box, despite my returning it to its siblings, and after a few hours just gets weak and dies. Soon another one starts to wander - and the same thing happens all over again. We've lost 4 so far, all from one litter.

If I remember right, this happened to a litter last year, from a different mother, and all eventually died. Is it some kind of bacterial infection? That's all I can think...

Edit - not front feet, back feet.

 

[Susie570]

That sounds terrible... Perhaps something to do with their heart?
Did you figure anything out? Did any survive? Were they maybe too cold?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Whoa- this is a new one to me. Please post pictures so we have them for future reference.

The only thing I can think of is a possible Vitamin K deficiency. :?

http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/7- ... iency.html

Miss M saved a doe a couple years ago that had accidentally eaten some rat poison, and she offered to share some of the leftover tablets with anyone that had an issue. You might try supplementing the doe with them if Miss M still has her "stash"- or at the very least start feeding vegis high in K.

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/artic ... amin-k.php

 

[ladysown]

getting bitten by something?

The blue feet speaks to a blood problem... so rat poison makes sense. or something causing a circulation issue?

 

[Deer Heart]

or something causing a circulation issue?

Could they be getting tangled up in something or possibly having their legs get caught in the wire holes somehow?

 

[Miss M]

Miss M saved a doe a couple years ago that had accidentally eaten some rat poison, and she offered to share some of the leftover tablets with anyone that had an issue. You might try supplementing the doe with them if Miss M still has her "stash"- or at the very least start feeding vegis high in K.

Ooooooo... you know, I haven't seen it since we moved, but it might not be hard to find. :thinking:

 

[Honeybun]

Thanks for your replies everyone. Yes, it's horrible and heartbreaking.
We have 2 left and they seem to be doing fine; I pray they're okay.

OK, I've been thinking and I bet it's something in the goat milk. There were 10 babies in the litter and the mom couldn't feed them all, so I was supplementing some of them with goat milk from my goats. Only the ones that drank goat milk died.

I think of 3 things it might be. 1, the goats are eating a poisonous plant. 2, there is a bacteria in the milk. 3, the copper supplement I'm giving the goats is too much for the baby rabbits drinking the milk. That last one seems to match because a vitamin K deficiency is related to liver issues, and the liver is what fails when an animal gets too much copper.

This same thing happened to an entire litter last year - and the entire litter was given goat milk. But we successfully raised babies on goat milk after that. I just can't remember what I was giving the goats for copper at the time.

IDK why the babies would get poisoned from the copper; my goats are copper deficient and that's why I'm giving them the supplement. Seems like it wouldn't come through in the milk unless the goats themselves were getting too much, but I don't know.

FYI it's copper sulfate that I'm giving the goats. It can be extremely toxic even to goats if they are given too much.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

That last one seems to match because a vitamin K deficiency is related to liver issues, and the liver is what fails when an animal gets too much copper.

Good sleuthing! :detective:

Too bad, though. Not only because it's nice to be able to provide for your animals using the products of your own homestead- but I would be concerned about using the milk for human consumption at this point as well.

Time to start making goats milk soap, maybe?

 

[Miss M]