Why is this happening??

[Bad Habit]

Just had to cull one of the NZ's for teeth grinding. Very bloated GI tract, full of liquid and gas, no solid poos evident. No food gone from last night and about 1/2 the normal water drank(normally do feed and water 2x daily for the NZ cages, and the dishes are pretty much empty each time). Liver, lungs, heart, kidneys all were normal.

Cage contains 4 NZ does, 7wks old, sisters. 2 of the does seem to have runny/watery poops. One seems bloated, one has runny poos but normal size, one seems fine. I did lose one 2 days ago for no apparent cause from the same cage. No other rabbits appear to be having any issues, and there's nothing in the cage that these guys would be accessing that other cages don't have. A different cage contains 5 bucks, brothers to the does. Bucks are eating normally.

Pulled and sterilized the dishes. At a loss as to what else to try. Pulled pellets and gave oats and a ton of hay - noticed them all eating hay as I left. I will not treat them with medication, as they are intended for meat.

 

[MaggieJ]

So sorry to hear about this, Bad Habit. I don't know what is causing it, but if the snow hasn't hit your town yet, try to find some plantain leaves. They may help. I remember one member (years ago) who dug through a foot of snow to find some and credited it with saving her rabbit. It certainly can't hurt.

Shepherd's purse, and blackberry, strawberry or raspberry leaves are also good, but they tend to drop off or die back in winter. You may be able to find wild strawberry leaves though -- I've often seen them in winter when there is no snow on the ground.

 

[Zass]

Plaintain, and the other herbs MaggieJ mentioned make for good first aid.

It sounds like it the root cause could be bacteria(e-coli?) or mold toxins to me.

You might try a different batch of the same feed to see if they improve on that. Probiotics too if you have them.

My experience is that anything wrong in the feed can mess up their ability to maintain a proper gut balance, which can make then susceptible to overgrowth of bacteria that they would normally have no trouble with. <br /><br /> -- Thu Jan 29, 2015 4:58 pm -- <br /><br /> Young rabbits especially seem a lot more susceptible than adults.

 

[Cedar Point Rabbitry]

Ohhh, I so dislike that! Dandelion and plantain help a lot. So do Probiotics. I found that they absolutely cannot have pellets. Grain/hay and gut friendly greens only. Cleaning everything helps too.

 

[Bad Habit]

Rooted around in the snow for a while, could find no plantain. I think it must be under the ice. Not sure what shepherd's purse is, but I luckily have a connection for raspberries(market vendors who strictly do raspberries) so I was able to provide some of those.

I find it hard to believe it would be the feed when it is strictly the one cage being affected. I've been working on this particular bag for about a week and a half now, and none of the other rabbits are affected - I have a batch of younger lions in the house, plus the buck kits from the same litter are still completely healthy.

 

[MaggieJ]

It's the leaves of raspberry (and the others) that are helpful, not the fruit. If you have a good health foods shop or herbalist, you may be able to get the dried leaves there. They are sometimes used as a herbal tea for people.

I agree -- it is a puzzle why only the one cage is affected. Do you feed anything besides pellets?

 

[Bad Habit]

hay, but they're all eating from the same bale.

sorry, I meant that I have dried raspberry leaves from the raspberry guys.

 

[MaggieJ]

That's great, Bed Habit. It's a safe treatment and no worries about medication in their systems.

 

[Bad Habit]

Lost another NZ tonight. Culled her for teeth grinding. Opened her up, same as the one before her - clean organs but GI tract bloated and full of liquid and gas. Beginning to wonder if this is some crazy full blown case of weaning enteritis, and I've never actually encountered it before.

Two left for the does, and they are both starting to have messy bums as well. They have access to oats, hay, water, raspberry leaves and willow, and tonight I decided that there was really nothing left to lose, and gave them back pellets as well. I actually saw them grazing at the pellets and water, so hopeful that these two might be strong enough to pull through.

Still nothing wrong with the bucks(5 full brothers to the does), they are still stuffing their faces and cleaning their dishes. No one else is showing symptoms of the same illness(the HL kits both have pus coming from their urethra due to a water bottle failure soaking their nest, and Zira still has a sore leg), everyone is eating as expected.