lost a kit today, any ideas?

[boundarybunnyco]

I have some mixed champagne/chinchilla kits. they've had a rough go. started out with six. doe stopped feeding them. fostered the surviving 5 to my flemish giant doe. she did great with them but dried up when they were about 3 weeks old. they were looking really thin. I tried formula. two more died. the rest were doing really good and eating and drinking well. I finally moved them outside a week ago, putting them in with another doe and kits a few days younger. yesterday I came home to find 11 baby rabbits streaking around the barn. put them all back. today I came home and one was lying in the box, flat out. i assumed it was dead, but it wasn't. I took it out and looked at it. no blood or bite marks. it was very lethargic. I tried giving it water but no luck. i held it and warmed it up by the heater. it got a little more active, but was not breathing well. it would open its mouth and gasp. after about fifteen minutes it started to convulse. it threw its head back and got all stiff. this went on for several minutes, then it did it super hard and flipped over backwards. then it died. could it have been injured by falling out of the cage? by the doe and other kits lying on it? could it have gotten into something while loose?

 

[akane]

Could have been injured or could have been squished by the doe. You really should not mix kits over 2 weeks to a new doe with kits besides rare exceptions. They usually aren't that accepting of kits who by then have their own individual scent and no longer smell like babies. They may charge them and crush them.

Trying to formula feed 3week olds is a futile exercise as you found out but it should not have been hard to save them. They will not drink unless starving and by that age they are already eating solid foods for at least a week so will look for that first. Softened pellets and hay should be offered without any handfeeding. They will just refuse all handfeeding by the time their eyes open if they aren't already being fed. Mine actually regularly wean at 3-4weeks because in colony and for some does they get bred immediately after giving birth. Generally I give my cage does 2-3days but that's about it. They stop feeding about 5 days before the next batch to save colostrum and that's 31-34 days later so they ween at just under 4 weeks and I remove them to live with a very sedate buck or junior doe at 4weeks in time for the next batch. They will easily wean a bit earlier if necessary provided you give them appealing foods.

 

[MaggieJ]

It sounds to me as though the kit was injured during the escape, but it could also have ingested something that was not good for it. Unless it happens with others, I would just chalk it up to "one of those things", You are bound to lose the occasional rabbit and not know the reason why.

I agree with Akane. Another time, if the kits are eating solids, it is better to wean them than put them with another doe. I once had to wean a kit that was only 17 days old and it did fine on hay, moistened oatmeal and the same fresh foods it has access to when it was in the colony.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

ugh.....today another of the black kits is dead...}m down to one now. why is it just the black kits? i took the last one back into the house. weirdly enough... it's the teeniest kit. we'll see if he's alive tomorrow...