sick rabbits and spreading!

[justfine505]

I left on vacation and had my roommates take care of the bunnies for about 3 days. When I came back one died the next day of enteritis and a couple days later, two bunnies in a completely different cage, in a different location got sick with enteritis as well. I'm pretty sure it's becuase thier water bottle malfunctioned for several hours on a hot day. I separated them from the litter and put them both in a cage together. They are hanging on, but still really sick - just barely living for the last 3 days, still drinking a little water.

And today I found that two more from the same litter are showing signs of poo butt. So I took them out and put them in separate cages.

I'm worried about it spreading even further. And I'm wondering if separating the sick bunnies is a good idea or is it ok to keep them together. I think it might perpetuate the sickness if one starts getting better it might get stressed out by being on the sick ward. I'm also worried that they will get stressed being moved to a completely new cage by themselves.

Am I doing it right?! I'm am giving the sick ones water, hay, oats, and a little bit of greens.

The healthy ones have been getting pellets and lots of nasturtium.

Advice so I don't loose them all?!!

 

[eco2pia]

As far as I know you are doing the right thing. If it really is enteritis, I don't think it is something they pass back and forth? But there is no way to know for sure(unless you are a vet) with rabbits, one thing can look like another thing pretty easily, so I think better safe than sorry, and keep 'em separate.

Keep getting something in them however you can, maybe give pedialyte if available. How old are they?

 

[akane]

Are you sure they weren't given anything or too much of anything to eat that they shouldn't have? Put them all on hay and oats. Even the ones that aren't sick yet. Do not feed any watery or high sugar greens so only tough older items like edible leaves (berry bushes/vines are a good source) or none at all. No vegetables or fruits, no lawn grass, no flowers... Get a probiotic from the feed store or some acidophilus capsules from a pharmacy and mix it in water or plain oatmeal to give to them. That concludes the standard procedure for diarrhea or weaning enteritis I have heard from rabbit breeders.

However there are a few other things I know of from other animals that can help digestive upset. For guinea pigs we'd get fresh droppings from healthy animals, dissolve it in water, and give that to the sick ones as a probiotic instead of the commercial versions that are not aimed directly at each animal species. I'm not sure if that's a good idea with rabbits and it sounds disgusting but rabbits and guinea pigs both already practice coprophagy. All the bacteria they need to digest the foods they are getting weaned on to and adjust their digestive tracts can be found in the adults' droppings and even animals that don't normally ingest manure will do so when young or if they develop certain health problems that interfere with digestion. That's not possible in a wire bottom cage so this method of correcting their own problems is not available to them. Something else we did that I haven't seen a lot of rabbit people mention is the use of simethicone. That's the ingredient in gas x and other similar otc treatments. You can get straight simethicone in liquid for infants. It can relieve bloat and help pass trapped gas so the digestive tract keeps moving and the animal is less uncomfortable and more likely to eat and drink well. Apple cider vinegar especially the unfiltered not heat treated "active" kind can help digestive tract problems at a rate of 1-2tablespoons per gallon of water but make sure the animals don't go off the water because of the taste change.

 

[justfine505]

They are about 6 weeks old.

__________ Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:26 pm __________

I should probably mention what we have been feeding them. Lots of nasturtium and some corn on the cob...is the corn on the cob bad for them?! I thought that since I've seen it in rabbit feed it might be ok. We were also feeding some cabbage and kale and whatnot to them in smallish quantities. Just trying to utilize the scraps.<br /><br />__________ Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:15 pm __________<br /><br />So should I be feeding the rolled oats or whole oats?

 

[akane]

Type of oats shouldn't matter too much. Whole oats probably have slightly more fiber but that's it. Sweet corn is not feed corn. They might as well be considered different things like comparing oats to barley instead of calling them all corn. Close but not the same. Field corn that goes in to animal feed is a lot dryer (you'd break your teeth on the stuff) with less sugars. Wet items are also different from dried items. I'd probably not feed cabbage to young rabbits. Cabbage and cruciferous vegetables are warned against when feeding small herbivorous mammals (the guinea pig boards will not feed them at all) because they produce a lot of gas which can lead to bloat and occasionally set off more serious digestive tract problems. They are best fed in small amounts to adult mammals only. When feeding very young rabbits you want to make extra sure you are feeding consistently. Don't feed vegetables just once a week or something. Spread it out so they get a smaller amount daily. Right around weaning age they can still suddenly have problems with too much vegetables. Older grasses and tougher forages are better for young rabbits than vegetables. There's a safe list here safe-plants-for-rabbits-list-t55.html but make sure you ID forages properly. Sometimes young rabbits have problems right around weaning with just hay and pellets even when you aren't feeding greens. The more you can do to lessen the stress right around then the better.

 

[ottersatin]

Akane has the right idea
and I agree but I would STOP any Corn, vegetables or fruits.
The main problem I would suspect is the Corn.
Corn is very high in sugar content and that is a rabbit killer.
Make sure your rabbit is drinking plenty of water
even if you have to syringe feed it. With Mucoid Enteropathy
[It is no longer called Enteritis] comes dehydration and that is what
usually finishes the rabbit. I would feed only Grass-hay, rolled Oats and water.
Water being the most important part. Yes some have fed Cecotropes from healthy
rabbits as a medicinal aid. I have never done it!
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[MaggieJ]

I agree with the others. Water, grass hay, oatmeal (old-fashioned/large flake kitchen rolled oats) and no other treats. There are plants that can help, but don't attempt them unless you know them. Leaves of blackberry, raspberry or strawberry help with diarrhea as do the lawn weeds plantain and shepherd's purse. Make sure they are from a clean, unsprayed location. All these are very safe greens for rabbits and help to regulate their poop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsella_bursa-pastoris

Sweet corn and cabbage are not good choices for young rabbits. I would not suggest sweet corn for rabbits at all and cabbage (and other members of the same family) can cause gas in rabbits. The suggestion for using simethicone to ease the gas is a good one. Akane made some very good suggestions about feeding. Rabbits are herbivores, not vegetarians.

 

[TeamHillbilly]

Humm kinda sounds like somebody feed a little grass and/or weeds to them when you were gone,just maybe oats and grass hay is a good ideal cool water is always a good ideal good luck

 

[JessicaR]

My son found out the hard way that you shouldnt give sweet corn to rabbits. He gave his bunny 3 inch long piece of sweet corn and the next day he had a mess to clean up :x He wont do that again! :lol:

 

[justfine505]

Thanks for the help everyone. I feel pretty dumb for my mistake but it will never happen again. Sticking to pellets, oats, blackberry and trees from now on. I force fed them some water and they all perked and and ate a few plaintain leaves. I'll keep it up and hopefully they can pull out of it.

 

[MaggieJ]

Sticking to pellets, oats, blackberry and trees from now on.

Trees. Depends on what trees you have in mind. Stick to those on the Safe Plants list or ask about them before feeding them to your rabbits. Many are safe but others are not.
:bunnyhop: :bunnyhop:

 

[justfine505]

Well, it's been a triple whammy or quadruple whammy maybe. Half of our rabbits are sick, with diarrhea, to the point of death. Each day it seems like there is another one getting bony and acting lethargic. Only one has convelesced. Here are the possible culprits:
1. The corn I fed them a week ago
2. Heat stress (it's been about 85 a couple days
3. Noise stress from the Blue Angels (they were screaming)
4. Disease?!
I was force feeding them water for a bit, but found their state (being covered in wet, sticky poop on the underside) to be to repulsive. Now we are quarentining them for a couple days and killing them off if they start seeming too far gone. Almost an entire 7 week old litter is gone, only 3 left out of 10.

The doe is about to kindle, she and the buck are totally fine. Should I worry about the new babies?

 

[MaggieJ]

It still sounds like weaning enteritis to me. Did you restrict their diet to grass hay, kitchen oatmeal and water? Plantain or raspberry/blackberry/strawberry leaves are fine too, since they help regulate the bowels, but the rabbits should not be getting pellets or other foods at this time. It may simply be that they are too weak and dehydrated to save at this point. It might be kinder to euthanize the remaining three if they show no sign of improvement, especially if you are unable to keep them clean.

Just found this article. It may give you some ideas of things you could try. It also suggests that a severe case of coccidiosis could be the problem.

http://www.thenaturetrail.com/Holland-L ... arrhea.htm

 

[akane]

Since cocci is ever present in small amounts having something trigger digestive upset and the mess being spread around may concentrate it enough to then add that problem to their already existing ones. Given warm weather I'd probably fill a container with at least room temp water and dunk their back ends in it and swish around, then treat them with liquids and probiotics, and then return them to their cages. I'd also wipe the bottom of the cages with bleach water or full strength vinegar daily because whether it's cocci or a bad bacteria you have got to be growing something by now if all the rabbits are that disgusting to handle. Make sure your pregnant doe and resulting litter are kept in a clean cage and sterilize well before reusing those cages.