John and Jill's Kits @ 28 days

[MKirst]

I took some pictures again today. I play with them everyday on the table grooming and all and check to see if I can tell male from female yet. :?

This morning I noticed 3 of the bunnies (Little John is one of them) have smeared behinds. Like diarrhea or something but I don't see any in the litter box. I cleaned them up but them don't seem themselves all active and running around this morning. The 4th bunny is acting normal with no smeared behind. What does this mean ? The only thing I can think of is last night for supper I made chicken noodle soup and while the bunnies were hanging out in the kitchen with me I gave them some celery bottoms, they didn't eat it all but did eat some. Could this be why the smeared bottoms ? Will they be ok ?

Here are some pictures of this morning. It appears Little John isn't a Little John the more I check his privates, his parts are different than the other 3, I think he's a girl. How do they look ?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

They look like little black rocks! The only giveaway is their sparkly eyes.

I don't think the celery would have caused the diarrhea since it was such a small amount. It may be that they got chilled last night. I would take their pellets away and feed hay and oats until their stool firms up again.

 

[skysthelimit]

:yeahthat:

Be very attentive. This is the age they die from enteritis. Poopy butt is one of the first signs. Usually getting chilled is a trigger.

 

[garden lady]

Are they weaned?

 

[MKirst]

Good Morning.

Rocks ? That's not good then I take it.

No they are not weaned yet, they still go to mom twice a day. I do notice though she moves away from them not letting them drink and they resort to feed and hay in moms cage.

While not with mom they have been drinking alot. I fill a 16 oz. bottle and the 4 of them together drink 1/2 threw out the day. They didn't drink this much before yesterday.

3 of the bunnies still get smeared behinds (since yesterday) and they have a foul order. They have almost solid pooh, not quite diarrhea, but like brown water mixed with almost solid pooh. It's not gel like or plug like described on the enteritis websites.

The 3 sleep alot and only nibble feed/hay, with the 4th bunny always running around, eating both feed/hay and wanting out of the cage all the time.

3 of them just are not acting normal since yesterday morning. Do you think this is enteritis ? I dunno, but they are not acting like they did before yesterday.

I hope they get over this ok.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I would put them on hay, oats and water and get some Probios or Benebac paste to give them. Watch for bloated, "sloshy" sounding bellies....if you see this, you need to give them baby gas drops or GasX strips ASAP! I wean mine at this age and I give them all Probios paste for a few days and it seems to help ward off enteritis issues. I would not give them celery at this age, too much risk of enteritis anyway.

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

Rocks ? That's not good then I take it.

That was meant as a compliment. Like solid bricks....AKA Nice meat / commercial type rabbits. I am sure there was no insult of the bunnies intended. They look great!!! <br /><br />__________ Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:45 am __________<br /><br />Stick to hay and oats for a few days and get the stuff OAF suggested and they should be ok.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Thanks for clarifying, TM.

Yes, no insult intended. They aren't big enough to be "bricks" yet, but they are nice solid little bunnies, and they look like smooth round black river rocks.

I haven't had issues with weaning enteritis, but I think a heat source would help them. If you have any screw top bottles or jars, I would fill a couple with hot water and put a sock on the jar or bottle so it is comfortable for the babies to lie next to. I would also give them electrolytes in place of or in addition to their water. I like the suggestions in number 2 of this link:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5875270_make-el ... ution.html

 

[skysthelimit]

Yep. I've brought back kits from the grips of enteritis several times. Needless to say, I did eventually cull the entire line except one very promising kit, and the moment she shows any problems she's gone too.

 

[MKirst]

Thanks for the replies and clarifying the rock comment.

I called my horse vet to ask him to drop off some ProBios but he's not coming this way till tomorrow morning. He told me to do this from my kitchen til then. :x

First, keep them warm at all times.

gather up some of moms - plus my most active and healthy rabbits pooh berries

put them in an old blender with a little warm water

add a spoonful of freshly opened plain yogurt - he mentioned Greek has more whey (all culture) and I should use that

Blend all that up.

He said there are 3 ways to administer this. I'm going to do all 3 till tomorrow morning.

Put the mix mentioned above in a dish and sprinkle with (oatmeal) whole oats, sit in cage as feed.

Or (this one will be messy) with the mixture mentioned above, dip the babies behind into the mixture. Wash off a hour later if they didn't already clean themselves off.

Or add a spoonful of molasses, another spoonful of yogurt and more warm water and blend till watery thin. (to use in the water bottle)

I'm going to do all 3 with the 3 babies, because their behinds are already smeary and my boyfriend took the truck hunting and the Mustang is being inspected.

But, that's what he told me to do till tomorrow morning.

I hope this works.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Thanks for the replies and clarifying the rock comment.

I called my horse vet to ask him to drop off some ProBios but he's not coming this way till tomorrow morning. He told me to do this til then. :x

First, keep them warm at all times.

gather up some of moms - plus my most active and healthy rabbits pooh berries

put them in an old blender with a little warm water

add a spoonful of freshly opened plain yogurt - he mentioned Greek has more whey (all culture) and I should use that

Blend all that up.

He said there are 3 ways to administer this. I'm going to do all 3 till tomorrow morning.

Put the mix mentioned above in a dish and sprinkle with (oatmeal) whole oats, sit in cage as feed.

Or (this one will be messy) with the mixture mentioned above, dip the babies behind into the mixture. Wash off a hour later if they didn't already clean themselves off.

Or add a spoonful of molasses, another spoonful of yogurt and more warm water and blend till watery thin. (to use in the water bottle)

I'm going to do all 3 with the 3 babies, because their behinds are already smeary and my boyfriend took the truck hunting and the Mustang is being inspected.

But, that's what he told me to do till tomorrow morning.

I hope this works.

Better would be if you can get the cecotropes, the small grape-like clusters that they eat...sometimes they leave them on the wire where you can get them. And I would feed the oatmeal dry, not add it to the mixture...

 

[MKirst]

Better would be if you can get the cecotropes, the small grape-like clusters that they eat...sometimes they leave them on the wire where you can get them. And I would feed the oatmeal dry, not add it to the mixture...

Ok, thanks. I put a pan under the cages too. In case I have to make a couple batches.<br /><br />__________ Fri Nov 02, 2012 5:38 pm __________<br /><br />That is helping. When I first gave it to them they didn't want to drink it, all it took was the healthy one to drink and then they all wanted to drink. After they all drank some about 2 hours or so later the 3 sick bunnies took turns at the feed bowls. One ate at oats bowl and two ate at the pellet bowl with the healthy one.

I hope this is a good sign.

 

[skysthelimit]

Eating is almost always a good sign.

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

Yay for bunnies eating. I hope they continue to improve for you.

 

[MKirst]

This is devastating. Little John died early this morning. How can they go from being so happy and energetic to sick then dead in 2 days. All the litters from now on are staying with mom outside, I'm not moving them, I'm not touching them or plan on doing anything with them and what happens happens.<br /><br />__________ Sat Nov 03, 2012 4:47 am __________<br /><br />Now Jill is sick and not eating and all last night she poohed what looked like clear jelly. I just wonder - If that breeder didn't bring something along from her rabbitry and got my rabbits sick? Is that possible? Because the night I made the chicken noodle soup is the night a breeder came over to look at all my rabbits and tell me which ones I can show. She was a flemish giant breeder I met online who lives in my area.

 

[Oceanrose]

So sorry to hear about the baby. It is really hard to lose little ones.

Not doing anything though, just makes bunnies you can't handle that stress out more easily. Unfortunately losing babies is part of the bunny game. Oats do help. I had better luck bringing babies who weren't doing well into the house, and feeding oatmeal than just leaving them alone.

It does sounds like enteritis. She may have issues herself making the babies more likely to have problems. Do you feed hay? New bag of food? Been wet or cold? This is a hard time of year for babies.

 

[garden lady]

This is devastating. Little John died early this morning. How can they go from being so happy and energetic to sick then dead in 2 days. All the litters from now on are staying with mom outside, I'm not moving them, I'm not touching them or plan on doing anything with them and what happens happens.

__________ Sat Nov 03, 2012 4:47 am __________

Now Jill is sick and not eating and all last night she poohed what looked like clear jelly. I just wonder - If that breeder didn't bring something along from her rabbitry and got my rabbits sick? Is that possible? Because the night I made the chicken noodle soup is the night a breeder came over to look at all my rabbits and tell me which ones I can show. She was a flemish giant breeder I met online who lives in my area.

I had a long post to this, but deleted it about horrible animal experiences I have had. Losing greyhounds with parvo. I have not got a new dog yet. I have always had a dog in the house, but our last one was put to sleep about 10 years ago and I just have not wanted to deal with it again. I had to put our 13-year-old cat to sleep 3 years ago and the only reason I was upset was I was not sure I did the right thing, but she was starting to suffer. I saw a cat hit on the road yesterday and had its head up and eyes closed. We did not know it was a cat until we were passing. It was 45 miles 4 lanes. I had my 2 kids. It would be dangerous to stop. I feel bad because I did not see human hands helping that cat and it was in pain, terrified and probably got hit again. Your little kits have you trying to help. I just do not want mine to be afraid or suffer, but I know things will happen to them. I hope you can get help for Jill and find out what is going on.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I'm really sorry, MKirst!

I would pull the pellets and give only hay, oats, probiotic paste, and electrolytes to them. Provide a heat source, or at the very least a box with bedding in it so they can huddle together off of the wire and keep one another warm.

There are greens that help combat diarrhea. Plantain, shepherd's purse, blackberry, raspberry and strawberry leaves are some that may help.

 

[MKirst]

Jill died this afternoon.

The vet doesn't know exactly what is wrong other than some kind of acute GI Stasis. He wanted me to put all the babies down (even the healthy one) right then but I want to wait and see if this Propulsid drug works. He'll be back tomorrow afternoon to see if I changed my mind.

This is just terrible for a first time experience.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Oh no! I am so terribly sorry! ((Hugs))