Random Death of Rabbits??? Help!

Alexzandrya · Dec 8, 2017

I have had rabbits since February 2016 but still basically new (Was in Rabbit Limbo for a while) I have one New Zealand Red buck and three NZ does Black, Blue, and White.

The buck is about a year and a half old
The Blue has been bred and kindled successfully about two years old.
The Black and White were young but now about 10 months old.

The Black and White were bred at the same time but only the Black took and I was waiting to breed everyone all at once later bt she kindled successfully for her first litter and five survived to be about 4 months old (had issues so put off butchering for a bit)

THE PROBLEM

Black and Red NZ kits - 4 months old 2 black and 3 gray

1 black and 2 gray in one cage
1 black 1 gray in another cage

All were fed and had water had spots to get out of the wind and platforms to be off the wire and were seemingly fine two nights ago

Last night my dad calls me after finals that the three gray had died! They were plump and the only guess we have is the cold snap somehow but rabbits are supposed to be able to handle cold?

It's been 50s ish and then dropped down to 23 last night

I was going to breed everybody soon but now I'm worried there might be a time bomb with my rabbits!

Has any one had this happen before?

EnglishSpot · Dec 8, 2017

I have not but I sympathize. The rabbits should have been able to handle the cold snap. All three of the greys were related, yes? Perhaps there was a recessive that they all inherited that "went off" simulatenously? Were they smaller than the rest of their sibling/cousins and were failure to thrive kits?

In any case, I'm sorry that happened!! I'm sure others will chime in and have other thoughts on their passing.

MaggieJ · Dec 8, 2017

Glad to have you with us, Alexzandrya :hi: but sorry it's for such an unhappy reason.

Just to recap your post . . . Five fryers, 4 months old, all from one litter. Three grey and two black. All three grey bunnies died, but the black ones are fine. Correct?

I don't have any concrete reasons to give you, but the fact that all the dead kits were of one colour makes me wonder about an inherited weakness.

A couple of questions . . . Was there any difference noted in the dominance of the different colours? Is it possible the black ones were more aggressive about getting into a sheltered spot? What about the sexes of the rabbits? Did they also divide along the colour lines, or were there both sexes represented in both colours?

I don't think answers to these questions will lead to a definitive answer, but it does seem odd that the dead ones were all grey.

Alexzandrya · Dec 8, 2017

Yes the two blacks and three grays were all related everyone was about the same size (there was one runt two months ago failure to thrive but it was half size smaller even as they grew)

Their behaviors were similar the three would all come to the door at feeding time but they weren’t aggressive with eachother

The two have a smaller but two story cage and they would just run up and down swapping until the doors were shut

That was our other idea if it was something inherited I’ll double check the sexes though

Do you think it’s safe enough to skin and dehydrate the deads for dog treats or just bury in pots for fertilizer?

MaggieJ · Dec 8, 2017

Quite honestly, I don't know if it would be safe, because we don't know the cause of death. You could open them up and take a look at the organs - lungs and liver particularly - if you know what to look for. But personally, I would not use any animal for human or pet food unless I was pretty sure it didn't die of anything that could harm the eater. In a way, this is more important for pets, because typically meat for pets is served raw. Cooking kills most - but not all - disease germs.