bloating and skin wrinkling, then death, of 1-4 day kits?

[JessiL]

Hi folks. Normally things cruise along quite nicely over here in Flying Fossil Farm, Reno, NV, but my latest three litters have been throwing me for a loop.

So I'm one of those people who asks my rabbits to breed year round, hot or cold, and usually they do just fine. Two of my experienced does had their litters last weekend in the peak of the most recent heat wave (upper 90s to low 100s, but very low humidity), and things seemed fine at first. 10 kits in one litter, 8 in another. Very quickly I noticed that many of the kits had wrinkled skins (kind of gave the impression of those crazy rex cats that are basically hairless), and then the death started. I pulled several dead ones out every other day or so. Most would seem super-bloated, and it wasn't just decomposition setting in quickly - I've found a few live ones bloated to ridiculous proportions, to the point they cry when touched. I've tried stimulate those to urinate/defecate, but haven't had any success. The worst episode so far has been a third litter, started at 8 born on the 17th, but yesterday I pulled out 5 freshly dead with 1 more hugely bloated yet still alive.

Any ideas? Is it dehydration made worse by the heat? It's actually been much more reasonable the past few days, but the deaths continue. Moms seem fine, most of the live kits seem otherwise normal.

All are also on pasture, and the worst death rates are happening on our awesome large pasture, which is just loaded with alfalfa, clover, and birdsfoot trefoil right now. Could it be that the moms' rich diet is transferring through the milk and affecting the kits?

Thanks for any ideas. - Jessi

 

[Zass]

First two questions:
Do they have access to minerals?
Have you examined their livers?

 

[Dood]

I would suspect a problem with the mothers milk.

During high temperatures and drought plants can have higher levels of anti-nutrients like tannin, nitrates and prussic acid which can immuno compromise animals or even cause death.

I would offer any pregnant does pellets and hay to see if a diet switch fixes the problem.

 

[Marinea]

I have read that high protein plants like alfalfa and clover can cause problems for horses during the high summer as they can cause the animal's temperature to rise, leading to dehydration and heat problems. Could that be happening as well?

I agree with Dood, I would switch to pellets and grass hay.

*fingers crossed things improve quickly*

 

[Miss M]

You might switch to old-fashioned oatmeal and hay first, as they may take a hard change to that more easily. After a few days to stabilize, you could start moving them to pellets and hay.

 

[JessiL]

Sorry I didn't reply quickly, crazy days at work!

Anyway, most of the deaths are hopefully over - just lost one more a few days ago. I still don't know what was up exactly, though I am quite sure it was not coccidiosis (I imagine that's why someone suggested checking out the livers). These were kits well under a week old, so not even touching grass yet, and there are a dozen plus fryers growing out in pasture cages right next door who are the pictures of health. When we last harvested fryers from pasture, maybe 4 weeks ago, livers and all else were clean as whistles. Knock on wood, we haven't had parasite problems yet.

I can still see some wrinkling/corrugation on some of the surviving kits. Here's a picture first of Champagne d'Argent kits, from one of the worst affected litters, and then my litter of Americans, showing a little bit of the weird fur/skin thing.





Sorry, I should have specified, all of my pasture rabbits are still offered at least some pellets. Mothers get all they want, growouts a limited amount, probably about half what they would get in a caged situation.

Here's a picture of the pasture cages in the field; it might be hard to tell exactly what's going on, but I mostly wanted to show how lush and verdant the forage is right now. Alfalfa, clover, and trefoil are almost knee-high in places. You'd think it would be ideal.



Anyway, here's to hoping this was just one of those things. I plan to consolidate Champagne litters today or tomorrow - there are only 3 in one box, and 4 in another, so I think it will be best to rebreed one of the does and have the other raise the blended family.

 

[Zass]

Somehow, I missed that the kits were only a few days old. Wrinkled kits generally indicate dehydration. I have no experience with wrinkling and bloating simultaneously though. hmmm.

This is just loose speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.
But, it sounds like it could it be something being passed from their mothers milk. Maybe something causing gas? That has been known to happen with human infants. Possibly making their bellies bloated and in pain, leading to kits that refuse to nurse. Hence the dehydration. :shrug:

 

[michaels4gardens]

when rabbits get too hot, you can get that problem also..any temp over 80 in the rabbit area should be watched closely , and temps of 90+ in the nest box have caused this problem for me.

 

[B George]

I was having a similar issue but it wasn't heat. It has been a very cold summer in Indiana. 50 nights and 70 days, a few days in the 80s. I think my issue may be the birthing box itself. I am using purchased ones from the internet today. One has already pulled hair this morning. I made some boxes using dimensions in my rabbit raising book as a guide. This was fine for the first 2 years but my new Zealand whites are big girls now. The tops of the wooden boxes that I made were too long. The internet boxes have this area only 3" long. I am speculating that the box top was preventing mamas from proper nursing because they couldn't get in the box far enough. This rabbit raising isn't an exact science and every little thing seems to matter. The babies were obviously not getting fed. They would bloat some and die within 4 days with shriveled skin. No hair would grow and they weren't moving correctly. I will know very soon if this was my issue.

 

[JessiL]

I have hesitated to provide updates, because the last time that I did, I apparently jinxed us. Lost another group of baby rabbits within 24 hours of posting. However, we have been stable since then, and I am cautiously optimistic. At least in the case of the few remaining Champagnes... the American litter is still seeming not quite there, they are messy.

At this stage, I'm thinking it's some sort of communicable disease, with the little ones more susceptible due to dehydration and heat. I was losing kits from two different pastures, both the really nice one and the one with only grass (i.e. our front yard). I had a similar bout last year in one of my caged litters - we went from 10 kits to 4 in about 18 hours, with an additional one withering away over the next 4 or 5 days. Never figured out what that was either (Tizzer's disease?).

Interesting idea about nest box construction details, but these are my standard boxes that each of these does have successfully used before. If anything, there is a little more room than usual since I didn't keep stuffing straw in the boxes to refill them after the girls had little parties the first day. So I don't think it was anything like that.

Wish us luck. I do hope the death has really stopped this time, we now have only 3 Champagnes and 4 Americans from those litters...