Type of hay killing kits? Thoughts please

[WhWRabbitry]

We have been raising rabbits for a couple years and overall have never had any serious health issues. Well our current litter that is 2 1/2 weeks old have very wet bellies, yellowish green/slimy stuff (waste I assume) building up/coming out of them that smells incredibly foul! It about makes you vomit.

The only thing that has changed with this litter versus all our past litters is the type of hay in the nest box. We have usually bought a mixed grass hay from a farmer who no longer sells. A few weeks back the only thing I could find was an alfalfa hay at a farm store. I figured it was better than nothing. The adult rabbits had been eating it fine with no noticeable changes. This litter however has something nasty going on and one I even found dead a few moments ago.
Is it simply from the type of hay or is something else going on.
I removed all hay from their area yesterday but apparently it was too late.
Should I not be giving this to the adults either?

 

[MaggieJ]

I fed a mainly alfalfa hay to all the rabbits in my colony for years with no digestive issues. I am wondering, however, if the particular bale you are feeding perhaps has some mould or other contaminant, something the kits are sensitive to that the adults are not.
If you can get the grass hay that you usually feed them, it would probably be a lot safer.

Smell the hay for musty, mouldy odours and examine it for dustiness that could indicate the presence of mould.

Some old-fashioned kitchen oatmeal my help the affected kits.

 

[WhWRabbitry]

I fed a mainly alfalfa hay to all the rabbits in my colony for years with no digestive issues. I am wondering, however, if the particular bale you are feeding perhaps has some mould or other contaminant, something the kits are sensitive to that the adults are not.
If you can get the grass hay that you usually feed them, it would probably be a lot safer.

Smell the hay for musty, mouldy odours and examine it for dustiness that could indicate the presence of mould.

Some old-fashioned kitchen oatmeal my help the affected kits.

Thanks MaggieJ! We are not giving this hay to any of our rabbits now. I also added additional water sources to the cage, and some oats last night.
So far the remaining 4 are alive, so I'm hoping they hang in there.

 

[Homer]

Are they bloating? I ask because I'm thinking scours. The alfalfa might be too hot for them to be eating as youngsters.

TSC or Big R should have timothy grass. Pricey but better than what's happening now.

 

[WhWRabbitry]

Are they bloating? I ask because I'm thinking scours. The alfalfa might be too hot for them to be eating as youngsters.

TSC or Big R should have timothy grass. Pricey but better than what's happening now.

It does not appear to me they are bloating. Of the 5, one died on Tuesday. Another I doubt will make it through the next few hours. It is getting quite thin and inactive, and has a lot of mucousy/wet waste. Fortunately the other 3 remaining are looking pretty good, seem to have little to none of this unusual waste now...I think these 3 are going to pull through alright. I'm at least thankful for that.

I found someone local who has orchard grass hay. I plan to get that today. That's as good as Timothy hay, right?

 

[Zass]

Yes, orchard grass is also very good for buns.

Well our current litter that is 2 1/2 weeks old have very wet bellies, yellowish green/slimy stuff (waste I assume) building up/coming out of them that smells incredibly foul! It about makes you vomit.

The symptoms sound an awful lot like experiences I have had with mold toxins in the past.
Bacterial enteritis could also a possibility, especially if they have been handled by unfamiliar small children with unwashed hands recently. There are common strains of e-coli, relatively harmless to humans, but potentially fatal to baby rabbits. Young kits at that hand-licking-age seem to be most vulnerable.

Perhaps they inherit resistance to a family's common bacteria through their dam's immune system, but can be unprepared for strains she was never exposed to?

If any more pass away, you also may wish to check their liver and intestines for cocci.

 

[WhWRabbitry]

Thanks a lot Zass. I'm leaning towards thinking (as you've said) that it was mold or some type of contaminate in the hay... it seems directly related to the hay in one way or another.
They had been doing great until they got to the age where they started eating the hay from the nest box.

Besides the hay I used this time around nothing else was different and we've never experienced this before. So that seems to make sense.
I had always bought from a farmer before and this time I bought from Tractor Supply. I'm going back to buying from a farmer! I'm picking up a bale of orchard grass in a couple hours.

We have not had any new people or smaller children handle these kits.

Thanks so much for your time and help.