Hello everyone, I am a new member. My name is Su.

[Susie]

I am absolutely devastated. I bought two mini lops. My indoor rabbit Greeted them with delight. I was told that my rabbit was a girl but quickly realised it was a boy so his name is Harry. We have a two hundred foot garden so they all have free run. Anyway, my lop rabbit had kits all getting healthier by the day. Watching them grow enjoying watching. When they were seven weeks old, I found three dead. Every day I was losing one. I have no more babies. Then my Harry was dead within an hour. Two lovely vets came to see me and check the mom. Apparently mom has got a blue mark in her eye. I thought it was normal, my other one has the same blue dot in her eye. Have been told that it’s E Cuniculi. Vet will charge me £400.00 + for a check up and blood test. i Am absolutely heart broken and don’t know what to do.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Wait, you just let your rabbits fun free in your yard?

 

[ladysown]

e.cunculi can be treated, Look up Barbi Brown's treatment online.
source: wild rabbit pee, or contracted from their mom, or urine from an infected rabbit

 

[Albert]

I am absolutely devastated. I bought two mini lops. My indoor rabbit Greeted them with delight. I was told that my rabbit was a girl but quickly realised it was a boy so his name is Harry. We have a two hundred foot garden so they all have free run. Anyway, my lop rabbit had kits all getting healthier by the day. Watching them grow enjoying watching. When they were seven weeks old, I found three dead. Every day I was losing one. I have no more babies. Then my Harry was dead within an hour. Two lovely vets came to see me and check the mom. Apparently mom has got a blue mark in her eye. I thought it was normal, my other one has the same blue dot in her eye. Have been told that it’s E Cuniculi. Vet will charge me £400.00 + for a check up and blood test. i Am absolutely heart broken and don’t know what to do.

Your story is a real bugger, sorry. When we stated farming in the UK an old farmer gave me this piece of advice about vets. It doesn't always work but we've had great success with it.

They give you the stupid price. They are reliant on you loving your fluffy bunny and paying. Look them dead in the eye and say "Four hundred quid! I'll just go out and buy 10 more for that! What's the real price!?".

Vets rely on pet owners being soft, they know farmers are there to make a living. Just have the mindset of a farmer for 10 minutes and pretend your fluffy bunny isn't treasured and loved as much as it probably is.

Also if you're near the countryside find a farm vet not a domestic vet there's a huge price difference straight off the bat. We used to use a zoo vet because he loved doing our pigs and dogs instead of something that wanted to eat him.

Good luck

 

[Albert]

Wait, you just let your rabbits fun free in your yard?

Oh the temerity! English people don't have yards! They have gardens which are a tranquil oasis of calm and serenity. (And in this case fluffy bunnies bouncing about willy nilly).

A yard in England is a parking lot for a company's utility vehicles and storage for lumpy old stuff that isn't worth putting under cover.

There is no greater insult than to denigrate an Englishman's garden. So please continue as I find it really funny

 

[MsTemeraire]

When they were seven weeks old, I found three dead. Every day I was losing one. I have no more babies. Then my Harry was dead within an hour.

It may be RHDV2 virus which is endemic in the UK.

If the parents were vaccinated they will be OK but it's common to lose babies too young to be vaccinated (they can be done at 7 weeks with Nobivac Plus, but then there is a 3-week period before they are fully covered).

I wouldn't recommend free-ranging babies in your garden as they will be can be killed by cats and other predators - you have a duty of care under the UK's Animal Welfare Act to prevent this happening. They are also more at risk from the RHD2 virus which can be carried by birds, mosquitoes, flies, or on the feet of other animals such as hedgehogs, cats, foxes. It can also be brought in on human feet after walking in an infected area.

 

[MsTemeraire]

Apparently mom has got a blue mark in her eye. I thought it was normal, my other one has the same blue dot in her eye. Have been told that it’s E Cuniculi. Vet will charge me £400.00 + for a check up and blood test.

E cuniculi can be treated easily by yourself. Buy a bottle of Panacur 10% solution for dogs & cats (it is the same drug that vets use to treat it, fenbendazole). it will cost you about £20 or just under. The dosage is 0.2ml per kg and they will need treating for 28 days. This will rid the parasite but the eye marks will probably remain. A blood test is not necessary as most rabbits have encountered the parasite at some point in their lives; only some go on to be affected by it.

While EC can occasionally kill, it is more likely that the babies died from RHD2 as not very many conditions cause instant and rapid death in such numbers this close together. To confirm, the vet will need to send off a liver sample for PCR testing. It's recommended to cremate, not bury, any possible RHD fatalities as the virus can leach into the ground, and it's an extremely tough virus which can withstand high temperatures and freezing. As a precaution, put yourself into rabbit lockdown which means no rabbits in or out for 4 months from the date of the last death. There are only a few disinfectants that are effective against RHD - the two most easy to buy in the UK are Virkon S and Anigene.