pic/7week kit/from litter I'm losing

[boundarybunnyco]

here's a pic of one of my kits from the litter that keep dying. I bought their ma and another doe already bred. they had 9 and 11 kits, and since they came, they've been dying here and there, out of the original 20 kits, I am down to 6, and a few of my other rabbits have been dying. we lost a kit from this litter today, and opened it up to check the liver. the liver and everything else looked normal to us. I originally thought the doe was stomping the kits. she's been taken out a week ago, and I've lost two kits since then. my flemish doe is sick now too, losing so much weight. she has mushy poop and is very thin. only eating BOSS. she won't touch oats or pellets. drinking some.
I finally brought the last 5 kits inside, to keep a better eye on them. hub whipped up a quick hutch and I put them in the dining nook. I ordered some corid and some pro-bios to treat them in case they have coccidiosis. so if they had it, wouldn't it have shown up in the dead kit's liver?

temp hutch in dining nook

kit 7 weeks

sitting next to wire cutters

kits just a few days old.

does anyone have any ideas what could be wrong?

 

[Peach]

Have you brought any new buns home without quarantine? Sometimes a rabbit that is introduced to your herd without properly quarantining can cause things like this.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I have no idea what might be wrong, and the older kit pictured looks healthy, as do the popples. So sorry to hear of your losses. Hopefully someone more experienced may be able to help.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

I brought home the doe that is these kits mother, and one other, while they were pregnant. I didn't quarantine them. my flemish doe fostered some of the kits because there were so many. now she's sick, and most of the kits have died. they look healthy one day, and then weak and sick one day, and dead the next day. the flemish doe is still hanging in there, but she's so thin I'm sure she will die. I also tried calling the lady I got the does from, and she's not answering my calls or emails. and not responding to any attempts from others to contact her, either.

 

[ladysown]

from the looks of the kit you have some type of a entropathic illness going on. If it's ERE you just have to let it run it's course. Treat everyone for coccidia in case it's the intestinal variety. the liver type you see in the liver with those white spots. but that kit looks like it has an entropathic illness.

Treatment - if it's not ERE - is hay, oatmeal, NO PELLETS.
In the summer here if I get a bunny with entropathic illness I give it prickly lettuce and that seems to pull them through. not much else does.
you need to force fluids if they aren't drinking.
Snapple ice tea mixed with water (1 part tea, three parts water) often acts as an appetite stimulant.
Gas drops if their tummies are bloating.

Overall you've learned something from this sad event.
1. quarantine everyone
2. entropathic illnesses are a heartbreak to go through
3. DO NOT breed anyone or anything that has contracted it EVEN IF they get better. just sell 'em as pets or eat 'em.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

ladysown, what about the kit looks like it has entropathic illness?

__________ Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:07 pm __________

none of the kits have diarrhea.

 

[ladysown]

looks like it has a somewhat bloated tummy. it could just be extra furry as I look again... but that's what immediately struck me as i looked it at. Might be the way it's sitting as well. It was late at night and I was getting pretty tired as well. I don't get diarrhea with mine if they catch it. never have... I get rabbits that go off feed, within two days stop pooping and then I have three days from the time they stop eating to get them going again or they just slowly starve to death. After three days I find no such luck in getting them going again.

When you touch and feel the kits what do you see? Are they pooping and peeing normally? Are they just suddenly getting thin? What are ALL the clinical signs you see? if they are doing everything normally and then just suddenly stop and die, then I have NO clue what you are dealing with.

It certainly doesn't sound like a good illness to be dealing with.

Now.... intestinal coccidia is supposed to be harder to get rid of than liver coccidia from what I've heard. But I don't think it reacts in a healthy one day, dead two days later type of fashion..but my memory may be miss serving me.

Not a genetic thing since it's spread to other rabbits.
Not e. cunniculi or VD - too rapid for that.
Not Tyzzer's since no diarrhea,
Could you be dealing with salmonella??? I don't know the pathology of that though.. E.coli can cause rapid death as well...A Staph disease? Some type of weird bacterial thing going on?

Have you done a THOROUGH clean out of your barn/rabbitry?
Have you managed to isolate any rabbit that is remotely touched by this illness?

If you haven't.. DO SO as fast as you can. You want to get a jump on helping your rabbits survive this outbreak.

You may need to just cull out the entire herd and start afresh AFTER giving everything a thorough cleaning with vinegar/water or bleach/water.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

isolated them, cleaned the barn and cages. brought the babies in the house several days ago. lost another one today. his tummy was huge. as of now they have nothing but hay and water.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

lost another one today. his tummy was huge.

That is terrible news! I am so sorry. ((Hugs))

I know it wont be easy, but you really need to open one of those babies up. You can't hurt them anymore once they are dead. If you absolutely can't bring yourself to do it, do you know any hunters or have friends with strong stomachs? You have to see what is going on inside of them to cause this! It could be anything -worms, impaction, lesions of some sort- and you must know what you are dealing with to protect the future of your herd. If you can't see anything obvious, take photos and everyone here will help! We are here for you!

 

[boundarybunnyco]

and one more gone today. out of the 12, we've only got 3 left. we did open up one last week. there was nothing unusual looking. no worms we could see, no obvious impaction, no lesions. the liver looked good.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

we did open up one last week.

((Hugs)) Ooops- sorry- didn't re-read the OP again before my last post.

I'm glad you looked even if you couldn't find anything- at least you know it isn't something obvious. The only things I can think of are giardia, coocidia, e coli, etc. We had a dog get e coli once, but I can't remember what the treatment was, but he was hospitalized and we had a huge bill. Have you taken a stool sample to a vet to be tested? They don't always find anything right away- I had diarrhea in my BarnCats one year and it took 3 separate stool samples before they found the problem, which was Giardia.

I hope you find the problem soon. You must be suffering a lot of stress not knowing who might be next to die.