What to look for in necropsy? Graphic Pics!

[Amy]

The 7 wk. old kit that has had eye problems died over night, so I'm thinking I should open her up and look at the organs.?
I've never butchered a rabbit, so not sure what to look for- will it be obvious?
Maybe all along, kit had P? Her eyes never opened, without my help--they kept gluing themselves together. Seemed healthy other than the eyes. No one else has any symptoms, yet.

__________ Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:57 am __________

My sweet dog, Zoe is very concerned about this dead kit... She's just laying by it looking at it and then at me.

__________ Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:18 pm __________

Also, mouth was covered in drool and bottom had fresh cecal's that looked normal (maybe lighter in color than normal). These are probably just normal at death, but thought I'd add that.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

My sweet dog, Zoe is very concerned about this dead kit... She's just laying by it looking at it and then at me.

Aww!

I'm thinking I should open her up and look at the organs.?

Good idea.

I've never butchered a rabbit, so not sure what to look for- will it be obvious?

Take pictures and we can help you, but it should be fairly obvious.

You want the liver to be smooth and free of spots or discoloration, the lungs should be a uniform pink, the stomach will likely be engorged with food, as will the small intestine, which is the first section coming from the stomach, and the large intestine should have well formed bunny berries. There shouldn't be any liquid in that section, and the intestines should not be inflated with gas.

 

[Amy]

Just got done looking at organs. The heart, lungs, and stomach looked normal. The main problems look to be in the large intestines, as you can see in the picture there are no formed bunny berries there, just diarrhea.




Also, on the liver there is a bullet shaped thing, not sure if the pic shows well.
[attachment=0]Kidney.JPG[/attachment
Oops, I labelled it as kidney, meant to say liver.

Well, hopefully someone can give me an idea of what this could be.?<br /><br />__________ Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:36 pm __________<br /><br />

 

[Happy]

I can't believe I just had that reaction to those pics, but I've never opened the intestines themselves, either. Gross.

Anyway, tell us more about the bullet thing. It looks like a blood clot, but it's size doesn't make sense to me. That said, I'm not an expert, but I bet the experts would like a better description of it's texture and density.

 

[Amy]

Sorry it is gross..thought I should put a warning on the title, but don't know how to change it!?
Okay, my husband went and cut it open to give a better description.
Outside is charcoal black colored.
Texture is smooth, density- it's filled w/liquid which is reddish, brownish clearish. (sorry my husband gave this description)he said like cutting into a semi cooked steak, juice that comes out is bloody juice.
It is carrot shaped (although my mind still wants to say bullet b/c of the size..)

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

That is the gallbladder.. She must of eaten to much food at once or something. Over eaten her food.. give oatmeal to help with loose poops.. and that is allot of it. and lots of hay and only give so much pellets in the future. That isnt Pasturella. ..

 

[Amy]

Oh, the gallbladder ok, not some crazy tumor!
I don't feed pellets, just my own grain mix.
Is there anything else that would cause death from diarrhea other then overeating?
This rabbit is blind in both eyes, so she is usually the last to eat.
2 things I thought of:
1)Just got some new grass/alfalfa hay from my horse friend. So far no others have had any symptoms.
2)Been treating this kits eyes w/ prescription eye drops (for humans) as it was the only thing that seemed to help and I was desperate.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Sorry it is gross..thought I should put a warning on the title, but don't know how to change it!?

I changed it for you and also moved the topic to meat rabbits so we don't shock any pet rabbit owners. I just moved one of my own too- it was also in Rabbit Care. You might want to take a look at it as well:

graphic-necropsy-photos-of-two-rabbits-t10909.html

The portion of intestine you cut open is perfectly normal. The food has just passed from the stomach and is being digested and processed further. The bunny berries will be in the translucent section that comes after. Your rabbit appears to have gas and diarrhea in that section.

Kidneys are bean shaped organs, and there is one on either side of the rabbit's body, usually bedded in fat. What you are looking at is the liver (which doesn't look very healthy- it is too dark), and the structure you found is the gall bladder. It is a bile duct and if you plan on eating the liver (of a healthy animal), you must carefully remove it without allowing any of the bile to leak out.

I don't see any clear indications of the cause- it had enteritis, but I don't see any worms or signs of coccidia.

 

[Amy]

OK, thanks a bunch!!
Hopefully, all of the other kits will stay healthy....I haven't seperated them from mom yet as it's been so cold lately!!!

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Been treating this kits eyes w/ prescription eye drops (for humans) as it was the only thing that seemed to help and I was desperate.

Yes,,, I use polysporin eye drops .. for humans.. It sounds it had nest box eyes for a long time and never had them fixed .. She would of been blind in both eyse at that age.

 

[Amy]

Would it be safe to feed it to my cats? actually, wondering if then my cats will want to eat my live bunnies??? I could try and compost it, don't like to throw compostable things away. What should I do with it?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You can feed it to your cats. My barn cats get rabbit frequently, and they do not go after the live rabbits.

 

[Happy]

This forum's buttons are in different places than my usual forum and I keep quoting the wrong person. :lol:

Sorry it is gross..thought I should put a warning on the title, but don't know how to change it!?

Meh, it's fair game in the meat section. Besides, I better get used to it if I'm going to end up doing it myself. i was just surprised it made me as nauseous as it did at first impression.

Okay, my husband went and cut it open to give a better description.
Outside is charcoal black colored.
Texture is smooth, density- it's filled w/liquid which is reddish, brownish clearish. (sorry my husband gave this description)he said like cutting into a semi cooked steak, juice that comes out is bloody juice.
It is carrot shaped (although my mind still wants to say bullet b/c of the size..)

MMMMMMMMM... bile.

Yeah, I saw you were answered, but the bile was obvious (to me) from the description of the liquid.

 

[Dood]

Here is a drawing of the rabbits digestive tract with lables and a picture of a normal cecum

The cecum is like the rabbit version of a rumen and your bunnies looks normal. The colon does look like it is full of mucus though.

What did the lungs look like? Pasturella looks like white puss in little bubbles on the lungs.

 

[Amy]

Well, while we're at it-here are more pic's...



Thanks for the diagram! That makes way more sense now...we thought it was just the small intestine and the colon..

 

[BroodCoop]

Rabbit digestion is tricky and at that age there is a risk of upsetting the natural balance. Documentation warns of a transition period associated with weaning and the reliance on solid food. An association with the eye problem doesn't ring any bells for me so it is cause to keep close watch on the herd for any other indications of problems.

I feed pellets and try to give hay in this period to help the transition. I am lazy about the hay and am past due now on a bunch of little guys.

Have you noticed the hay from the nest box disappear as the babies grow? They eat the nest box hay and when it is gone they want more.

I don't see anything alarming in your pics. Maybe intestinal block, immotility.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

the liver looks to dark for a 7 week old.. But because it was cut open and the blood all over could of darken it .. So i say everything is normal.

 

[Amy]

We haven't seperated the kits from the mom's yet....mostly b/c it's been below freezing (single-teens at nite) for 2 wks. straight and the does don't seem to mind. I want to rebreed them, but with the temp's they are not interested.
Since I feed them grain, they go through the hay sooooo fast, never does anyone have enough.
Maybe this kit's eye infection got sooo bad it died from it.?
It had a lot of mucous in the eyes, had to cut away an inner eye lash-either kit was born with it? or the eyelids were swollen so that the eyelashes were inside the eye area??? Once I cut that along with eye drops seemed to help, but never went completely away. This was my first experience w/nestbox eye so don't have anything to compare it to, but maybe it was more than that???
The liver may be darker than usual, we didn't cut it open the knife is just pointing at the gallbladder...
Well, whatever it is seems it's mysterious...and...hopefully not contagious!
Thanks for your help all!<br /><br />__________ Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:37 am __________<br /><br />Is slow growth a sign of anything? My 7 wk. old's are only 1.5 lbs. (avg.) they are Am. Chin. and SF mix. I'm assuming it's the cold weather and grain feed, but thought I should ask if this growth rate is normal under these conditions.

 

[Dood]

That growth rate is way too slow. There is something going on.

My weaned 5 week old purebred Am Chin's are 3lb 2oz to 3lb 5oz, they are outside in a colony and the temperature here (Ontario, Canada) has been hovering around 0'C (32'F) since mid December.

Do you feed pellets?

If not is your hay alfalfa or grass/horse?

If it's grass/horse hay then they are not going to get enough protein and are not going to grow.

Young rabbits need 17% protein in their diet and grains and grass/horse hay have around 12%

First cut Alfalfa has 16% and second cut has 18%, this is why it is the main ingredient in pelleted rations with added soybean meal to boost protein levels.

If you think they are getting enough protein then there is some underlying disease that is stunting their growth.

 

[Amy]

Hmmmmmmm....They are sensitive to Alfalfa hay when I give it to them, they get poopy butt. I don't feed pellets, do you?? The hay I'm feeding is a horse grass/alfalfa mix. Maybe after a few days on that, I could mix in more alfalfa to eventually transition into alfalfa only. Even my does have always been sensitive to alfalfa hay, they stop eating their cecals then they get diarrhea.
Any other way to increase their protein level?
The grain mix is oats, barley, wheat, 9 gr. rolled mix, BOSS.<br /><br />__________ Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:39 am __________<br /><br />What about fur mites? Sometimes I notice on the kits the neck fur is thin, but I've looked closely and don't see anything that'd resemble a mite. Think I read that could cause slow wt. gain. These are my first litters, so I'm pretty clueless.