Holland Lop baby with deformed mouth possibly

[jimmywalt]

On 11/27/14 we had 7 babies born to our first-time-mother Holland Lop. Unfortunately 4 of the babies died over the first 10 days. But 3 have made it this far.

They are now (as of 12/21/14) 25 days old. So just over 3 weeks. They are also 3 different sizes at this point. Large, medium and small. So they aren't all growing at the same speed.

The smallest is about the size of one of those little wind up chicks, so pretty small. He's the pure black one in the attached picture.

About 7 days ago we noticed that his mouth looked funny. Seems he had something stuck to it on the lower left lip. We carefully wiped it with a warm wet cotton ball. Whatever it was came off, but also made his lower lip look funny and no longer close all the way to the upper lip.

We notice now that when he lick his lips his tongue comes out a bit to the left side. We wondered if he might be having a hard time nursing with his lip this way and also because he's so small when compared to the other two.

So this afternoon we decided to see if he would be interested in drinking some of the goats milk mixture from an eye dropper. He ended up drinking about 1/2 tsp of this.

1/2 Cup evaporated goat's milk
1 egg yolk (kinda hard to cut in half, so...)
1/2 Tablespoon corn syrup

Now we are wondering..... Should we continue to feed him with an eye dropper a few times a day until he catches up to the size of his other 2 siblings???

He also likes eating the dried old fashioned oatmeal as well.

I'm sure he/she will make a great pet. We don't have any intention of putting him down, but will he be able to live that way and drink out of a water bottle and eat rabbit pellets?

 

[Prisma]

Even though it is hard some times to not want to coddle them, in this case I really wouldn't. If his mouth is not formed right there is a good chance organs are not formed right and that can be a slow agonizing death that you may never see signs of. If you feel you must, you might continue feedings until he/she's eating enough solids and drinking water to do "okay" if he/she was normal. I would *not ever* sell this baby though even to a perfect pet home as you really have no idea of any internal issues that may cause problems later in life and reduce his/her life span Very cute, good luck!

 

[Miss M]

It's possible that with a little help now, he might be able to live pretty normally later. It all depends on whether he has internal issues, like Rebel.Rose pointed out.

I'd continue the formula with him for a while, and try to wean him from it in a few weeks, more or less... your judgment. Just to give him the best chance possible. Once you wean him, I wouldn't give him any special treatment. If he can't figure out how to eat normal food, he will be constantly in danger of malnutrition.

I think, as long as he doesn't have internal problems and his lip is the only issue, he should be able to figure things out and come up with a way to eat that works. You may need to watch his teeth, to make sure they aren't getting overgrown. Sounds like he's already figuring stuff out, as he likes eating oatmeal.

He is very cute... tiny little black powder puff! I hope he does well! :clover:

 

[Dood]

A lip shouldn't look "odd" unless there is a scar or a problem with the underlying bone structure and I would worry about malocclusion.

Are his teeth worn evenly ?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

A close up picture of his mouth would be great. I have had cats get "cold sores" on their lips which make them look deformed for a while until it heals completely.

However, I wonder if something else is going on since he sticks his tongue out to one side. I would check him to see if he has a cleft palate. I have had a kit (DOA) with a very severe cleft palate before, so it is a possibility that he has a milder version.

 

[ladysown]

if there is something wrong with him DO NOT pet him out. ONLY the best, healthiest rabbits should be put into pet homes.
two reasons
1. many pet people are .. I want to say stupid but that's demeaning Many of them don't have the knowledge to deal with special needs bunnies.
2. the best bunnies should go as that helps people see pet bunnies in a good light rather than in the "he'll bite me" framework.

if you can't cull him (should something be wrong with him). ANONYMOUSLY give him to a rabbit rescue to handle. particularly one that's been around a while and has the resources to care for him.

 

[jimmywalt]

Yes his teeth look normal.

I really don't have a way to get a close up picture of his mouth. He's entirely black and it's near to impossible to see unless he's licking his lips.

Early on when the other 4 started dying we tried to feed the rest with an eye dropper. We used the goats mild mixture posted above. We are thinking that some of it (along with the egg and corn syrup) might have got stuck in the corner of his mouth. As he grew over the next week and we let the doe feed them, maybe this contributed to a deformed lower lip.......... Or so we think. We didn't notice this till a week later when we looked very close at him/her again. I used a warm wet cotton ball to remove the "bump" of whatever it was and that's when we noticed the left-side-lower-lip deformed.

This morning we fed him the goats milk mixture and he ate it up as fast as we could get it in him. About 3/4 to 1 teaspoon. So he's obviously hungry.

At this point (26 days old), shouldn't the does milk be turning off?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Miss M]

Some does just keep nursing... I caught one of mine nursing her 9-week-olds once. :shock: What a sight!

 

[Zass]

Some does just keep nursing... I caught one of mine nursing her 9-week-olds once. :shock: What a sight!

Most of my does still have milk at 8-9 weeks. I've yet to find one that was dry before 6 weeks.

You can check your does by reaching under them and feeling around, especially the day after a doe is separated from her kits. Teats full of milk are pretty easy to detect.

 

[jimmywalt]

Our little black holland lop kit passed away this morning. He was exactly 4 weeks old today.

Guess it was better this way for him. He would have probably had a hard life if he would have made it.

It's sad though.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Aww, sorry you lost him, Jimmy.

I know a lot of our members talk about runts catching up to their siblings, but I haven't really seen that in my own barn. He probably had some internal issues in addition to whatever was wrong with his mouth.