**URGENT**GRAPHIC** Flystrike in Kit!!

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BunMama928

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My doe pushed all her kits out of the nest today. Two were dead with obvious signs of flystrike. This is the last remaining baby. What can I do to help him? His poor behind smells rotten. I went ahead and cut out all the fur around the wound after taking the pic and removing the maggots/larvae that I could see. Do you think he even has a chance??
 

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Really hoping he/she pulls through. Yesterday I used some saline flushes I had from work to flush out the wound and clean it as best I could. My neighbor had some vetericyn so I sprayed that on the wound for now until I can get more supplies. I noticed this morning it’s little behind didn’t smell as strongly of decaying flesh, like the smell is almost gone. He ate great last night but this morning only ate about 3mL. Other than that he’s/she’s a curious little one and seems fairly active. Hoping that’s a good sign
 

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BunMama928 said:
Really hoping he/she pulls through. Yesterday I used some saline flushes I had from work to flush out the wound and clean it as best I could. My neighbor had some vetericyn so I sprayed that on the wound for now until I can get more supplies. I noticed this morning it’s little behind didn’t smell as strongly of decaying flesh, like the smell is almost gone. He ate great last night but this morning only ate about 3mL. Other than that he’s/she’s a curious little one and seems fairly active. Hoping that’s a good sign
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Awwww, what a cute baby
 
BunMama928 said:
Really hoping he/she pulls through. Yesterday I used some saline flushes I had from work to flush out the wound and clean it as best I could. My neighbor had some vetericyn so I sprayed that on the wound for now until I can get more supplies. I noticed this morning it’s little behind didn’t smell as strongly of decaying flesh, like the smell is almost gone. He ate great last night but this morning only ate about 3mL. Other than that he’s/she’s a curious little one and seems fairly active. Hoping that’s a good sign
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What an absolutely beautiful bunny. As long as a rabbit is trying to live, I usually support the fight. They can be incredibly resilient little things!

You're doing what I would do in this situation: clean it out and give him sanitary and nutritional support. Once he's healing, when the doe doesn't smell death on him, you may be able to put him back with her to nurse, but he looks like he's maybe 2-3 weeks so feeding him by dropper/syringe is at least doable.

Something I'd do whether or not he goes back in with mom, is to make sure he has hay, a few pellets, and some of mom's poops in his box with him, to encourage him to start nibbling on something other than milk. He's nearly certainly going to be one that is weaned earlier than normal, and you want his little gut to get primed as early as possible.

I am wondering how or why the whole litter had this problem with fly strike? I thought fly strike happened when there was a significant problem with unsanitary/wet conditions, or an existing wound in the animal that gets infested. (I am not accusing you of neglect - you obviously pay attention to and care for your rabbits. I am just curious since it's not a problem I've ever dealt with.)

Nice job pulling him through so far!
 
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Alaska Satin said:
What an absolutely beautiful bunny. As long as a rabbit is trying to live, I usually support the fight. They can be incredibly resilient little things!

You're doing what I would do in this situation: clean it out and give him sanitary and nutritional support. Once he's healing, when the doe doesn't smell death on him, you may be able to put him back with her to nurse, but he looks like he's maybe 2-3 weeks so feeding him by dropper/syringe is at least doable.

Something I'd do whether or not he back in with mom, is to make sure he has hay, a few pellets, and some of mom's poops in his box with him, to encourage him to start nibbling on something other than milk. He's nearly certainly going to be one that is weaned earlier than normal, and you want his little gut to get primed as early as possible.

I am wondering how or why the whole litter had this problem with fly strike? I thought fly strike happened when there was a significant problem with unsanitary/wet condition, or an existing wound in the animal that gets infested. (I am not accusing you of neglect - you obviously pay attention to and care for your rabbits. I am just curious since it's not a problem I've ever dealt with.)

Nice job pulling him through so far!
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The mom had the kits in a burrow in our little free range pen 🤦🏻‍♀️ And unfortunately I couldn’t for the life of me figure out which of her burrows they were in to move them because out of instinct she buried the openings of all of them, when I tried to find it she bit me which she has NEVER been aggressive with me so I figured I’d just leave her in the outdoor pen and give her her space and let Mother Nature take course. Unfortunately we have had A LOT of rain followed by a week of really high humid temps which I believe sent the flies into overdrive.

He’s made it 24 hours so I’m a little more hopeful. Obviously no where near out of the woods yet. He’s still pooping and peeing so I’ll take that as a good sign! He scarfed down close to 15mL of formula last night but only had about 7mL this morning.
 
BunMama928 said:
The mom had the kits in a burrow in our little free range pen 🤦🏻‍♀️ And unfortunately I couldn’t for the life of me figure out which of her burrows they were in to move them because out of instinct she buried the openings of all of them, when I tried to find it she bit me which she has NEVER been aggressive with me so I figured I’d just leave her in the outdoor pen and give her her space and let Mother Nature take course. Unfortunately we have had A LOT of rain followed by a week of really high humid temps which I believe sent the flies into overdrive.

He’s made it 24 hours so I’m a little more hopeful. Obviously no where near out of the woods yet. He’s still pooping and peeing so I’ll take that as a good sign! He scarfed down close to 15mL of formula last night but only had about 7mL this morning.
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Thank you for the details - it's very interesting to me because I've never dealt with fly strike, and I've never raised rabbits in a colony situation either. It sounds like you were really on the ball, to catch him so soon after the "eviction."

I wouldn't be super concerned about him taking less formula this morning, as long as he's still pooping and peeing. Some does only feed their kits once a day, so his body may only be used to one meal a day. The times I've syringe-fed bunnies, I've noticed that there was often quite a variation in what they would take from one feeding to the next. I did usually feed them twice a day, though, assuming that what I was giving them was less nutritious/ideal than doe's milk. Keeping track, like you're doing, is a good idea.

We're all rooting for you. Good luck and God bless!
 
Alaska Satin said:
Thank you for the details - it's very interesting to me because I've never dealt with fly strike, and I've never raised rabbits in a colony situation either. It sounds like you were really on the ball, to catch him so soon after the "eviction."

I wouldn't be super concerned about him taking less formula this morning, as long as he's still pooping and peeing. Some does only feed their kits once a day, so his body may only be used to one meal a day. The times I've syringe-fed bunnies, I've noticed that there was often quite a variation in what they would take from one feeding to the next. I did usually feed them twice a day, though, assuming that what I was giving them was less nutritious/ideal than doe's milk. Keeping track, like you're doing, is a good idea.

We're all rooting for you. Good luck and God bless!
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Took your advice and have him (I’m calling him a he until proven otherwise) some hay, pellets, and moms poop. He came out of his makeshift burrow I made him to munch on some hay
 
Scooter1A said:
hot wet weather. dang. I would make changes for future litters to be born in. They probably stay much cooler in the dirt. Perhaps you could til that spot up and start a new one.
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This is very unusual weather for us especially for this time of year. The feed store I go to was just telling me that they have had several customers with the same issue and were telling me they haven’t seen it hit this hard this early in the season before
 
He survived another day🙌🏼 I’m not sure how much a roughly 2 week old lion head kit is suppose to weigh but I started weighing him just to keep track of his feedings. He has stayed the same weight from yesterday and today at about 3.9/4.0 ounces or about 110 grams. Although I noticed his droppings went from a normal color to a pale tan color some almost look like a very very pale light green not sure if it’s the change in diet or something else going on. And he isn’t using one of his hind legs hardly at all, I’m not sure if it is due to damage or do to pain. He doesn’t smell like death at all anymore so tomorrow I’m going to try and see if his mama will take him back (at least for feedings)
 
I put him with mom this morning she happily took him in and fed him and cleaned him. He gained a whopping 9 grams after eating with mom! He seems to have a little more pep in his step today after being reunited with mom.
 

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