Lack of substance in bunny

[ladysown]

I have a litter of five holland lop kits.

Four are robust little beasties.
One is not.

She eats well, drinks well, is full of energy.
She is much like her one brother in temperament...likes to sit back and observe before she commits herself. He is smaller than his brother, but the size differential isn't huge, but picked up in a hand he got "ooomph" to him.

The little girl on the other hand....if I hadn't raised her I would think she'd been improperly fed.

Six weeks old today.

The girlie in Question...good size for her age, just lacking in 'ooomph'. She is a total featherweight.


her two brothers --- I so wish the tort was a girlie....I was so disappointed that he wasn't as he's a delightful kit.


One of her sisters who is the same size, but has "ooomph".


So the quandary to me is....WHY? What causes this? A potential digestive issue? Hidden illness?

I keep checking her teeth...they are fine.
She had no weaning issues...not even any getting used to food issues.
She's had nothing so I'm at a bit of a loss.

 

[MamaMandy]

I had a Holland do the same thing. Seemed to be eating fine and everything. He was so much less substantial than his siblings though. I wasn't surprised to find him dead one day at about 6 or 7 weeks old. I've wondered what causes this too but don't have any answers either.

 

[dangerbunny]

Cute babies!

I had one like this in my last litter, she was the biggest at weaning and then gradually wasted away. Ended up half the weight of her siblings. I pulled her out of the group pen and put her solely on hay, she has recovered but I think I might cull her since she will always be stunted (not great for a meat rabbit) I had switched the kits over to pellets since that was what most people feed and I thought it would be best for selling them, really regret that now. I feel rabbits do best on a high fiber/low starch diet.

So I think I figured out what happened, little doe was really greedy and spent a lot of time in the creep feeder, I think she messed up her gut flora by overdoing the starches. It took about two weeks solely on hay but her poos are normal and she is gaining, I also dosed her with probiotics and that seemed to improve things.

I think they call non-specific gut and growth issues "rabbit weaning enteritis", hope you can find a solution for your rabbit.

 

[skysthelimit]

I have one like that I am watching now.

 

[ladysown]

Go figure...tonight I'm doing my bunny check and I thought the little buck had fallen out of the cage but nope...it was the doe. She's poofing up. She has a wee bit of "oomph" to her. Woot woot! Now to see if it holds steady.... She has a potential home if she does....