Our death!

[Rock'N 4 Rabbitry]

We had a 4 month old Champagne die yesterday. I thought it was due to heat. But really not sure why. It was like 90 degrees at the time. She went into convulsions and I brought her inside and gave her some ice. At this time she is still with us. And then like 10 mins later she went into convulsions again and then died. She had been in her cage and nothing out of the normal was wrong.

Any idea's??

 

[eco2pia]

no ideas, but I am sorry to hear of your loss. I have very little experience with high heat...

 

[MaggieJ]

We don't usually get excessive heat either, but the convulsions are consistent with what I have read about heat stroke in rabbits. You might want to fill some pop bottles with water and freeze them for those hot days.

Very sorry you lost her... especially like that.

 

[Rock'N 4 Rabbitry]

We have done that. Today we lost another one. Also, moving cages around to help prevent this from happening again. We were in the middle of making new cage stands for them.

 

[MaggieJ]

Are they in the sun? That will kill them faster than anything in hot weather. They need shade and a breeze. Spritzing their ears with water is a good emergency cooler, but it won't save them if they are exposed to high temperatures and sun.

Is your weather hot and humid or hot and dry? Is it breezy? Hot, dry and breezy can be fixed with burlap, soaked down and hung to block the sun. Leave the bottom end in a tray of water (wallpaper tray or windowbox etc.) so the cloth wicks up the water. The evaporation is very cooling and it helps provide shade too.

You may have to move your rabbits indoors temporarily until you get good cooling measures in place. This is assuming that it is the heat causing these deaths and not some illness. Are there any other symptoms?

 

[Rock'N 4 Rabbitry]

No they weren't in the direct sun, it is hot and dry here not real humid. And it wasn't even that hot just 90 degree's. We have three rabbits inside today. We will keep a good eye on them, we have traded there frozen water bottles once they melted.

 

[MaggieJ]

It's real tough in a hot climate, I know that.

You know, we may curse our winters here in Southern Ontario, but really we are very, very fortunate to be spared most extreme weather. I feel very fortunate.

 

[Rock'N 4 Rabbitry]

We had bunnies last year and didn't have any trouble.

 

[SatinsRule]

We had a 4 month old Champagne die yesterday. I thought it was due to heat. But really not sure why. It was like 90 degrees at the time. She went into convulsions and I brought her inside and gave her some ice. At this time she is still with us. And then like 10 mins later she went into convulsions again and then died. She had been in her cage and nothing out of the normal was wrong.

Any idea's??

Sounds very similar to the way I lost Lizzy earlier this year. She never showed the first sign of any kind of illness, but was in convulsions when I came home from work one evening. I tried everything I could think of in an effort to get her breathing and everything else back to normal, but she literally died in my arms while I was trying to care for her.

The only conclusion I could come up with was that she had some some of heart condition which finally got the best of her. After talking with the breeder I bought her from, he told me the same thing. It happens in rabbits as often as with people, or with any other animal.

Sorry to hear about your loss, though. It's never easy, especially when it's a rabbit that's a big part of your present or future breeding program.

 

[akane]

You know, we may curse our winters here in Southern Ontario, but really we are very, very fortunate to be spared most extreme weather. I feel very fortunate.

While cold may be better for the rabbits who didn't seem to notice -20F having experienced heat stroke, hypothermia, and frost bite I'll take the heat. Far less painful and happens a lot quicker. I went from kinda tired feeling to unconscious and that's all I would have known if I hadn't gotten cool, then I woke up and felt fine, versus hours of numbing, tingling, burning, shivering, and trying everything to get warm to then face hours of pain as blood flow was restored, days of random sharp pains whenever blood flow was interrupted, and years of instant numbness followed by burning when exposed to cold water. It's a risk every winter storm here that power will be lost and you'll be stranded to die a slow death of hypothermia or kill yourself with an unsafe substitute heat source. In the heat so long as you have water, stay out of the sun, and aren't too active there are only a few places on earth you will die from it barring a health issue. There aren't near as many deaths when hot areas lose electricity as during winter storms in the north.

If you have an animal suffering heat stroke submerge the whole body in moderate temp water (not real cold or they'll go in to shock) and then get a cold washcloth or for larger livestock entire towel over the skull. Keep that cloth/towel cold.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

okay-- next to cooling off ears if the rabbit gets too warm-- put a cold pack inside the thigh= those two veins that can be used to feel for a pulse carry a lot of blood, and can be used to cool down a rabbits body very effectively.
And as Akane said-- submerging in tepid water is good- cool or cold is bad. It is very easy to cold shock an overheated rabbit. I did that-- once-- and knew almost immediately what I had done-- but I was so frantic trying to make sure that rabbit lived, I lost my common sense-she was doing okay with the cold pack between the thighs, but I wanted her feeling better, faster-- and wound up Killing her.

 

[Miss M]

ILoveBunnies brought Thumper back from listlessness once by holding him in her lap and curling the insides of his ears around ice cubes. She had read this in a book, and it worked.

I'm sorry for your loss, Rock'N 4 Rabbitry!

 

[Tom in Kingman]

Here in AZ heat is a way of life in the summer . We stay about 10 degrees cooler than PHX but it still gets warm . I have a swamp cooler in my garage where I intend to locate my rabbitry . A breeze was mentioned . Swamp coolers WILL circulate the air . The temperature of 85 degrees was mentioned as well as the "red flag" for rabbits .The other side of our double bladed sword is our humidity (or LACK thereof) which sits at about 4-7% much of the summer . I have a plan . My swamp cooler with another fan working the entire garage . Water frozen in 2 liter bottles for each cage . I will also have a cover over all the cages so as to keep the cool air in as the swamp cooler feeds it. My garage is made of steel so it will heat up a bit just through the heat emminating from the walls . The cages will be at least 6 feet from any wall . The morning sun is on the other wall (15 feet away) and another building shields the afternoon sun . "On paper" I seem to have all my bases covered . Any other hints or tips would be greatly appreciated . I'm going to e-mail some other AZ rabbit folks as well . You CAN't be too well informed .Thank you .

 

[curlysue]

I have seen heatstroke.the rabbits get wet around the mouth and nose.we wet them down with water and they were ok.one kid lost one at the county fair.it was too far gone and they lost him.

 

[MaggieJ]

While cold may be better for the rabbits who didn't seem to notice -20F having experienced heat stroke, hypothermia, and frost bite I'll take the heat.

I think your winters must be a whole lot colder and more dangerous than ours, Akane. Temperatures of -20 F. do happen here but usually only once or twice a winter and they don't last. We are close to Lake Ontario and that moderates our temperatures year round. Winter power outages are scary, but they are quick to fix them... In the ten years we have been here the longest was about 4 hours. We have a kerosene heater for emergencies but what we really need is a wood stove.