To the OP:
This is Pamela Alley, the author of the Showbunny article that was recommended here. Not too much has changed since it was written, although I'm revising it this year for a few reasons.
First question: What kind of hay did they get? Any chance it was slightly old/molded at ALL or have weeds you would normally pick out?
When you see an entire litter that age go to diarrhea so swiftly, there are three things I think of first, especially if they are in good plump shape at the time:
1) Feed change is quite often a culprit, and your job is to counteract the gut's reaction to the change.
Give grass hay and check momma for signs of mastitis. You can give parsley to encourage intake of both parsley and hay. I would not worry about what KIND of grass hay as long as it's nice, clean hay that they will actually eat. Strongly encourage fluid intake by providing dishes instead of bottles or automatic watering valves; the water may be lightly flavored with Gatorade, Snapple Lemon Iced Tea (NO DIET LIQUIDS EVER!) or even with plain teabags.
2) Coccidiosis. It can hit very quickly, and 6 weeks is 'prime' age to see it happen. This is something that can be triggered by feed changes as well, and the first thing to do is get a fecal float done by the veterinarian to make sure that you know what you have going on. Treat with sulfadimethoxine as indicated for cats/kittens, but for a full 15 days' time.
3) Mucoid enteropathy. Common in young rabbits fed diets lower than necessary in long fiber, the cecum often becomes filled with fine feed particles, then for whatever reason, the rabbit begins to dehydrate--and then you have what is essentially modeling-clay-working-towards-concrete in the cecum. VERY difficult if not impossible to rehydrate and see successful recovery from.
I'm going to add a fourth issue here, and it's one that is relatively new to the US: Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy, ERE.
We don't know the exact cause or reason, although the scientists are looking at a definite pathogenic cause--if they could just find it definitively. So far, no luck.
However, this is a syndrome which affects the gut in a manner similar to Mucoid Enteropathy, but which has some notable differences in effect. A short article on it is available on the http://www.showbunny.com homepage.
Most noticeably, this disease involves severe bloating and pain in addition to the classic signs of ME.
*****
Medications used with apparent success for ERE in Europe include bacitracin; here in the US, neomycin sulfate (DriTail) and metronidazole (Flagyl) have been used.
I say APPARENT success, especially on the US cases, because no one is totally sure it is the very same disease as what has been described in Europe.
I do know that DriTail has been used with success in helping some rabbits with diarrhea recover; I am not aware of any uses of this drug where there have been negative outcomes. Doesn't mean there aren't any, just that I haven't heard about them if there are.
*********
As for diets: I'm a huge fan of balanced and complete, however it may happen that you get there. It is a zillion times more difficult to achieve this goal using a wide variety of feedstuffs than it is to use well-formulated, fresh pellets as your basis and work from there.
In my ~30 years of rabbit raising, breeding, and experimenting here and there, I have found that kits provided with a clean nestbox, clean cage, plenty of clean fresh grassy hay, a well-fed momma and plenty of fresh liquid water....all of these things are essential in producing a healthy, well-developed young rabbit.
But most of all, the kits must have access to a GOOD balanced and COMPLETE diet. If they are lacking, they can get anything from diarrhea to rickets to going bald as a billiard ball. (Or something more subtle that you may not see on the outside, too.)
Start with hay and pellets. The hay can be plain grass, or a grass-legume mix, as long as it is clean and readily available to them. I would not recommend straight legume hays, as kits tend to pick off the tasty leaves and leave all the good stemmy fiber bits.
Then you can give them a nibble here, anibble there of things like blackberry leaves, mature grasses, mulberry leaves, parsley....ONLY IN MODERATION. The main diet should still be that well-balanced and complete pellet with a hay chaser. After they have a chance to finish 'setting' the gut flora (about 8 weeks, 12 for dwarfs), they can have whatever mix you feel is appropriate, or they can stay with the pellets. Won't hurt 'em a bit.
In my experience, this is themost reliableway to ensure healthy kits--regardless of how they are housed or how that housing is enriched or not.
And now before this becomes a complete book, I'll catch y'all later.
Pamela Alley, Director, Rabbit Industry Council, Owner ShowBunny.com
http://www.rabbitindustrycouncil.com
http://www.showbunny.com
RNRQ at cncnet. com (you know what to do!)
This is Pamela Alley, the author of the Showbunny article that was recommended here. Not too much has changed since it was written, although I'm revising it this year for a few reasons.
First question: What kind of hay did they get? Any chance it was slightly old/molded at ALL or have weeds you would normally pick out?
When you see an entire litter that age go to diarrhea so swiftly, there are three things I think of first, especially if they are in good plump shape at the time:
1) Feed change is quite often a culprit, and your job is to counteract the gut's reaction to the change.
Give grass hay and check momma for signs of mastitis. You can give parsley to encourage intake of both parsley and hay. I would not worry about what KIND of grass hay as long as it's nice, clean hay that they will actually eat. Strongly encourage fluid intake by providing dishes instead of bottles or automatic watering valves; the water may be lightly flavored with Gatorade, Snapple Lemon Iced Tea (NO DIET LIQUIDS EVER!) or even with plain teabags.
2) Coccidiosis. It can hit very quickly, and 6 weeks is 'prime' age to see it happen. This is something that can be triggered by feed changes as well, and the first thing to do is get a fecal float done by the veterinarian to make sure that you know what you have going on. Treat with sulfadimethoxine as indicated for cats/kittens, but for a full 15 days' time.
3) Mucoid enteropathy. Common in young rabbits fed diets lower than necessary in long fiber, the cecum often becomes filled with fine feed particles, then for whatever reason, the rabbit begins to dehydrate--and then you have what is essentially modeling-clay-working-towards-concrete in the cecum. VERY difficult if not impossible to rehydrate and see successful recovery from.
I'm going to add a fourth issue here, and it's one that is relatively new to the US: Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy, ERE.
We don't know the exact cause or reason, although the scientists are looking at a definite pathogenic cause--if they could just find it definitively. So far, no luck.
However, this is a syndrome which affects the gut in a manner similar to Mucoid Enteropathy, but which has some notable differences in effect. A short article on it is available on the http://www.showbunny.com homepage. Most noticeably, this disease involves severe bloating and pain in addition to the classic signs of ME.
*****
Medications used with apparent success for ERE in Europe include bacitracin; here in the US, neomycin sulfate (DriTail) and metronidazole (Flagyl) have been used.
I say APPARENT success, especially on the US cases, because no one is totally sure it is the very same disease as what has been described in Europe.
I do know that DriTail has been used with success in helping some rabbits with diarrhea recover; I am not aware of any uses of this drug where there have been negative outcomes. Doesn't mean there aren't any, just that I haven't heard about them if there are.
*********
As for diets: I'm a huge fan of balanced and complete, however it may happen that you get there. It is a zillion times more difficult to achieve this goal using a wide variety of feedstuffs than it is to use well-formulated, fresh pellets as your basis and work from there.
In my ~30 years of rabbit raising, breeding, and experimenting here and there, I have found that kits provided with a clean nestbox, clean cage, plenty of clean fresh grassy hay, a well-fed momma and plenty of fresh liquid water....all of these things are essential in producing a healthy, well-developed young rabbit.
But most of all, the kits must have access to a GOOD balanced and COMPLETE diet. If they are lacking, they can get anything from diarrhea to rickets to going bald as a billiard ball. (Or something more subtle that you may not see on the outside, too.)
Start with hay and pellets. The hay can be plain grass, or a grass-legume mix, as long as it is clean and readily available to them. I would not recommend straight legume hays, as kits tend to pick off the tasty leaves and leave all the good stemmy fiber bits.
Then you can give them a nibble here, anibble there of things like blackberry leaves, mature grasses, mulberry leaves, parsley....ONLY IN MODERATION. The main diet should still be that well-balanced and complete pellet with a hay chaser. After they have a chance to finish 'setting' the gut flora (about 8 weeks, 12 for dwarfs), they can have whatever mix you feel is appropriate, or they can stay with the pellets. Won't hurt 'em a bit.
In my experience, this is themost reliableway to ensure healthy kits--regardless of how they are housed or how that housing is enriched or not.
And now before this becomes a complete book, I'll catch y'all later.
Pamela Alley, Director, Rabbit Industry Council, Owner ShowBunny.com
http://www.rabbitindustrycouncil.com
http://www.showbunny.com
RNRQ at cncnet. com (you know what to do!)
