Dying rabbits

[proebsting]

Hi. I had a yard with 10 male rabbits in it. Overthe past 2 days 3 have died of unknown causes. Does anyoneknow what it could be? They all died with thereeyes open, there heads tilted sideways, and the lower intestine wasemptied of droppings (one actually had gass bubbles in it). They alldied quick, there was no telling that anything was wrong until justbefore they were dead. THe spleen (long pink/red thing insideit) was dark purple, almost black. the rest of there organs looknormal.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Daniel

 

[bumperbunny12]

How old were they? Are they allun-nutered bucks running around in the yard together? do theyhave a cage? are they wild? what do you feedthem? could you give some more info on them and theirsurroundings?

 

[pamnock]

I am sorry for your loss.

It sounds like they died of enterotoxemia, possibly brought on by aviral/bacterial infection. It hits very quickly and isusually fatal.

Out of over 100 rabbits, we may loose only 1 per year toenterotoxemia. At any time when there is anunusuallyhigh number of unexplained deaths, itisvery important to have one sent to the state veterinarianto deterimine the cause.

Pam

 

[proebsting]

How old were they? about 6 months

Are they all un-nutered bucks running around in the yardtogether? yes but they didnt fight each other

do they have a cage? No they lived in a concrete floored shed (3m X 4m) with an outside run of the same size.

are they wild?No they were Newzealand X Rex and NZ White , NZ Red

what do you feed them? Grass, horsechaff/mix, rabbit pellets, apples, carrots, broccoli, tagatase (treelucern) etc

Thanks

 

[pamnock]

It's impossible toaccurately determinethe causeof death over the internet, but your rabbits are atthe age that is most susceptible to viral/bacterialenterotoxemia. You would need to have a vet do a necropsy andrun some tests on the contents of the intestines to identify thepathogen. Common pathogens are Clostridium, spiroforme and E.coli.

Also, different diseases affect rabbits in different parts of thecountry/world. Location can also be a factor in diagnosingillness.

The spleen is normallyvery dark colored. In thecase ofenterotoxemia, the cecum may be enlargedenlarged or the walls reddened to to hemorrhage. The contentsof the cecum may also be foamy.

Pam

 

[proebsting]

The haveall died now.

It is fast, from the time they look sickly to death only takes a few hours!

My pen/yard with 10 females of the same age are all healthy looking atthe moment (touch wood). they are about 5 meters away from where themales were.

thanks

 

[cirrustwi]

That is so awful. Sorry for yourloss. I would definitely take them for a necropsy.I had a similar incident back in October, but Basil, the only bunny Ihad then was unaffected. I lost 3 ferrets, 1 rat, 1 hamsterand 7 degus in 3 weeks time. (The degus all went within 24hours.) My vet was baffled. He did a necropsy onone of the ferrets and 1 degus and decided they had some sort of viralinfection. I just felt lucky not to lose everyone.There wasn't anything to be done because antibiotics don't do anythingfor a virus.

Did you some sort of necropsy?? How did you know about their organs?? I'm just curious.

Jen

Good Luck with your girls. I'll send out a little prayer for them tonight and *HUGS* from me and the buns.

 

[pamnock]

I am so sorry.

You most certainly need to take one in to have a necropsy to rule outVHD -- a highly contagious, fatal disease of rabbits. Due tothe symptoms, I'm really not suspecting VHD, but you do need to findout why all the rabbit suddenly died. It's unusual to loosethat many for unexplained illness.

Pam

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Was any chemical sprayed nearby?

What type of plants are in their space?

I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

[Carolyn]

So sorry, proebsting.



-Carolyn

 

[proebsting]

Did you some sort ofnecropsy?? How did you know about their organs??I'm just curious.

Jen

I looked inside them myself, they were supposeto befor eating, and a few were suppose to be kept for futurebreeding.


Was any chemical sprayed nearby?

I don't know.


What type of plants are in their space?

Not muck at the moment, just some grass, a fewdandilions, and there were a few pattersons curse/salvation jane plantsthat looked nibbled on, which I initially thought was the problem, buthave been told that they are used for cattle forrage.

 

[proebsting]

Just an update. The females have started dyingtoday. They lay on the ground, and twist there head, thenthey squeal, throw themselves about a meter in the air, and then startto flip around like a fish out of water so to speak.

 

[pamnock]

We can't be of more assistanceuntil you get one of the rabbits to the vet for a necropsy.

I wouldn't advise bringing any more rabbits onto the property until youfind out what's going on, so you need a proper diagnosis.

Pam

 

[Buck Jones]

Any peach tree leavesor pits(both poisonous) around that they may haveeaten? We had an Aussie member lose her rabbit to thatparticular problem.

Buck

 

[dixonsrabbitry]

They need to see a rabbit savy vet. M.E is easilytreatable. Ive had plenty of bunnies bounce back from an M.e.infection. If you dont see a vet and get them on medication, you aregoing to lose all of them.

Also its not a good idea to keep 10 fully intact bucks together afterthey turn 12 weeks old. Reguardless of wether they get along or not,they will eventaully get territorial with each other and fight. Sincethey were 6 months old, fighting could have been a factor in theirdeaths.

The best thing to do is to get everyone in their own cages and see a vet.

 

[pamnock]

Mucoid Enteropathy (ME) generally effects youngbunnies. Antibiotics can sometimes help curb anoutbreak. In this case, the rabbits are too old tosuspect an ME outbreak.

Enterotoxemia generally affects fryer age to 6 month old rabbits and kills so quickly, there is usually no chance for treatment.



Pam

 

[dixonsrabbitry]

Have they been vaccinated for vhd?

 

[proebsting]

Have they been vaccinated for vhd?

no

 

[ariel]

proebsting wrote:

What type of plants are in their space?

[/color]Not muck at the moment, just some grass, a fewdandilions, and there were a few pattersons curse/salvation jane plantsthat looked nibbled on, which I initially thought was the problem, buthave been told that they are used for cattle forrage.
[/color]

Hi proebsting, maybe the pattersons curse could have somethingto do with it.(I'm no expert and I'm not saying it definatley is thecause but I feel it may have contributed to the problem)
I'm in NSW.

Pattersons curse was the cause of death for one of my uncles potty calfs once.

Maybe if you can try moving the rabbits away from the weed.

I suggest moving the rabbits rather than trying to kill the pattersonscurse and hoping you have got it all and go through this all overagain. By all means kill off the weed but I still think moving therabbits would be a good idea too.

My uncle tried using Round up on Pattersons and the bugger of a thing still grew back!

For those of you reading this who don't know what Pattersons Curse isI'll pop in a link ( It is a major pain in the preverbial for farmers)Although I have heard of people in the cities selling it as a flowerLOL ( why I dunno, probably just to make money)

http://nb.au.com/nswweedsoc/NoxiousWeeds/pattersons_curse.htm

 

[dixonsrabbitry]

Sounds like vhd could be the problem since it isused to control the wild rabbit population where you are at. You needto see a vet.