speaking of ENTERITIS....did I make the right choice?

[LadyKarli]

My kids accidentally put a carrot in with my Red female NZ & her 3 week old kits. 3 of them are fine but 1 has a touch of carrot colored poo butt. I removed him from the cage & put him in quarantine on my porch. He is JUST weaned but I wanted to get him out of there before it spread. Was this the right choice. The rest of the kits look fine. I gave him fresh clean FILTERED water & hay only. Will get him some oats soon. Should I keep him quarantined for 24 hours (or til his poops look better) or put him back & hope for the best? He ShOUld be okay but......??????

 

[MamaSheepdog]

No experience to offer advice on keeping him separate or putting him back, but you do need to keep him warm. He may get chilled without the other bunnies to snuggle with. I would give him a box stuffed with straw or hay, and possibly even bring him indoors tonight if it is still cold at night.

 

[LadyKarli]

low tonight is 65 degrees but if you think that is too cold my house is always 77. I can bring him in.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

65 isn't very cold, but better safe than sorry! I would bring him in.

 

[MaggieJ]

Enteritis, as far as I know, is not caused by diet. If a toddler ate to much salad and had a touch of diarrhea, would you isolate him? I'd put the kit back with his family because stress is not going to help him. Carrot-coloured poop is nothing to worry about unless he has real diarrhea. You might want to put the whole family on hay and oatmeal for the next day or so, as a precaution, but I doubt very much that any serious problems will result.

Your kids need educating. They should not be giving the rabbits anything without your okay and you need to explain the reasoning behind your decisions on an ongoing basis so that they can learn what is good for rabbits and what is not.

 

[LadyKarli]

He has very runny orange poop. I had to clean him off twice. It is runny enough it is sticking to the bottom of the cage & I had to clean it off. Also I used this as a learning experience. They thought they were being nice to the bunnies & now they can see WHY we don't give baby bunnies anything Mom doesn't approve first. I will put him back & do as you suggest.

 

[MaggieJ]

No! You did not say he had diarrhea in your first post. You said orange poop. Best keep him in the house tonight with hay and kitchen oatmeal and a crock of water. Keep him nice and warm.

If he is bloated, give him infant gas drops (Simethicone) and perhaps a belly massage to move the gas along.

If you can find the leaves of blackberry, raspberry or strawberry or the lawn weeds plantain or shepherd's purse, then give him a good handful of them from time to time. These plants will control diarrhea without constipating. They are safe and good for your rabbits.

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

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

He dosnt have enteritis. Just give him hay and some old fashion oats . I think the whole litter should be treated this way..
He could of eaten more of the carrot than the other kits. I would also give him some probiotics if you have it.

 

[MaggieJ]

I agree it is not enteritis. He is suffering from injudicious feeding. All the same, he needs to be kept warm and if he is really messy the other kits do not need him pooping all over them.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The stress of having diarrhea could predispose him to succumbing to other disease present in the environment, or he may have a subclinical infection already that made his system less tolerant of the change in diet... in which case it could then possibly affect his siblings, so keeping him quarantined until he improves is the safest course in my opinion.

 

[skysthelimit]

I killed a 12wk old bunny that way, a long time ago. it's amazing how much I've learned.