I had a New Zealand doe, about 4 yrs, who seemed less interested in water, pellets, and fresh grass (we'd cut and put in her cage.) Also seemed to be breathing harder. This went on a few days, then I noticed (and feel awful that I didn't see it sooner) what I'd call "bumblefoot" on her back feet, one foot worse that the other. From my reading, it seemed that this foot infection might be what was causing her to be miserable. We've had this in ducks before and I dealt with it by soaking in warm epsom salt water over several days, opening the scab, cleaning it out, disinfecting. The ducks did recover, so I thought I'd do the same with the rabbit. The first day I did this she tolerated it, but the second day she basically started kicking (I think it was death throes) and died in my arms.
I opened her up to see what I could tell, and there were a few things odd: there was a lot of clear liquid in her abdominal cavity, outside of any organs. There was also more blood than I was expecting as nothing had been cut.The liver had a bunch of smallish off-white grainy spots, but the bile duct looked normal and the spots didn't appear to be pussy. I've been looking at autopsy pics and realize that I don't know enough to have picked up on everything that may have been weird, and I didn't think to use my camera to show you all. She had no diarrhea, she was pooping and peeing still, so I'm thinking not coccidiosis or gut blockage. I am thinking that even with liver coccidiosis there would be diarrhea? There wasn't any outward sign of pasteurella. I didn't see any worms in her stomach or intestines or any pin worms in poop (thought she might have gotten them from the grass.) Of course I might have missed something.
I have limited internet access (time and bandwidth) so I haven't looked all through the boards. Maybe the answer is already up here. Anyways, I'd like to keep experimenting with meat rabbits (we have a really good quality buck still) but of course I want to keep this from happening again, or spreading to anyone else. Thanks so much, everyone. It may take me several days before I can get back on here- it's going to be cloudy this week and our reception is beyond poor!
I opened her up to see what I could tell, and there were a few things odd: there was a lot of clear liquid in her abdominal cavity, outside of any organs. There was also more blood than I was expecting as nothing had been cut.The liver had a bunch of smallish off-white grainy spots, but the bile duct looked normal and the spots didn't appear to be pussy. I've been looking at autopsy pics and realize that I don't know enough to have picked up on everything that may have been weird, and I didn't think to use my camera to show you all. She had no diarrhea, she was pooping and peeing still, so I'm thinking not coccidiosis or gut blockage. I am thinking that even with liver coccidiosis there would be diarrhea? There wasn't any outward sign of pasteurella. I didn't see any worms in her stomach or intestines or any pin worms in poop (thought she might have gotten them from the grass.) Of course I might have missed something.
I have limited internet access (time and bandwidth) so I haven't looked all through the boards. Maybe the answer is already up here. Anyways, I'd like to keep experimenting with meat rabbits (we have a really good quality buck still) but of course I want to keep this from happening again, or spreading to anyone else. Thanks so much, everyone. It may take me several days before I can get back on here- it's going to be cloudy this week and our reception is beyond poor!
