If ever there was a time for help

[chia_pet_06]

[align=center]Okay.... From the beginning...Sorry this is going to be a little frazzled but i am freaking out rightnow.... I just went outside to start my evening chores... I took careof the chickens... I move on to the rabbits where i was going to dumpout the waterers and get fresh water like i do every time ifeed. I open up the first cage and i notice that red isn'tcoming to meet me... I look up and he is laying theredead. I go and get a bag, take him out... I justfigure he got to hot because his cage isn't in the best spot foraircirculation. I run inside wash my hands off andeverything and go back out. I move on to the cage with my 9week old buns and i dump out their water and about that time i hear themost god awful sound...I quickly realize that its coming from my bunLenny's cage... It looks as if he is having a seizure..when iactually get to his cage he is just kind of sitting there panting... ipick up his cage and take him out of the shed and sit him where thereis a little bit more of a breeze... He starts to look a little bitbetter so i go back in and start chores again... After two more cages..i go check on Lenny and he is dead... I look at him a little bit moreclosely and onthe fur on theunderside of his jawand on his paws is soaking wet. I go inside and get some likeantibacterial hand sanitizer and start checking out my other buns,cleaning my hands after each one... My Junior Satin doe andmy senior crossbred doe are both fine... no runny noses, wet paws,etc. My senior satin doe's paws are wet, but she also has ahabit of playing with her water. My Junior satin buck seemsto be just like Lenny, the fur around his nose and his paws are soaked,however I watched him for about 10 minutes... his nose wasn't runny andhe wasn't sneezing or anything. My crossbred doe with thelitter has wet paws, but once again, she has a habit of knocking herwater over... As far as my 9 week old buns... several them are wet, buttheir water is also soiled and they play in it as well...Does anybody have any ideas/advice as to what is going on with mybuns... Please help.... Before posting i ran ice bottles outto everybody just in case it was the heat... Late this morning when iwas out there there was a nice breeze and it was fairly cool in thebarn they *bunnies* are in, otherwize they would have had ice bottlesall day... My indoor bunny seems to be doing welltoo....[/align]
[align=center]requesting your advice[/align]
[align=center]~*Chia*Pet*n*Reeses*~[/align]
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[rabbitluvr04]

OMG im so sorry, I would try to help but I don't want to give you the wrong advice.:?

 

[rabbitgirl]

Now, I hope someone else weighs in on thisbecause I'm not sure.....but I know that my rabbits sometimes used todrool in the heat or under stress on the way to the 4-H fair. It waspretty significant amounts of saliva and they seemed to be in distress,panting with lips drawn back in a snarl over the teeth. It alwaysscared me, but they were fine when the carstopped moving andthey cooled down, so I don't know....

Really scary, especially since it sounds like the heat situation wasunder control.....so sorry.....wow, hope someone has better advice.....

Rose

 

[TinysMom]

I just now checkedwww.weather.com to see what thetemperature is where you are. I suspect heat stroke orsomething because it says that right now the temperature is 92 degreesbut it feels like 97 degrees.

Of course, someone else might have a better idea than I do but that was the first thing I thought of.

I'm so sorry about your losses.

Peg

 

[chia_pet_06]

[align=center]My mom just got home and she isgoing to help me move some of my cages outside to get a breeze..Anyways... please, if you have any more suggestions, keep posting...I'll be on later after we get everybody moved and report backif anything else happens![/align]

[align=center]~*Chia*Pet*n*Reeses*~[/align]

 

[dajeti2]

It definitely sounds like heat stroke. Iam so very sorry for your loss. Read the How To Cool your rabbit stickyat the top. It has a lot of really good ideas in it.

Try putting ice cubes in their water.

Tina

 

[naturestee]

I'm so sorry for your loss. It's superhot up here, not to mention humid. It feels like I have topush my way through the air. As has been suggested, read thesticky How to Cool Your Rabbit. Are you able to set up fansby your rabbits? That will help cool them off, as will thesuggestions of ice in their water. If you use water bowls,they may have been putting their feet in them to cool off.

 

[naturestee]

From "Cooling A Rabbit", quoted from Pamnock:

"Since the rabbit cools primarily through respiration, we want toprovide air movement throughout the cage to evaporate the moisture fromthe rabbit's breath. In a serious situation of heat stress, you willnotice moisture around the rabbits face (especially around the mouthand nose) because the moisture is not evaporating."

 

HEAT STROKE!!!

get them buns oout of the shed andinto cooler area's oryou will lose them all. wet chin, pantingseizures are all signs of heat stroke ,

 

[cirrustwi]

gypsy wrote:

HEAT STROKE!!!

get them buns oout of the shed andinto cooler area's oryou will lose them all. wet chin, pantingseizures are all signs of heat stroke ,

This was my immediate thought too. They need to be somewherecooler. The shed must be holding way too much heat.I actually just put an air conditioner in the critter room windowtoday. Now they have the only air conditioned room in thehouse.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Definitely read up on the Cooling a Rabbit in Summer thread.

Jen

 

[chia_pet_06]

[align=center]I want to thank everybody fortheir replies... We moved all the buns cages that haveplywood roofs outside. I also set up two A frames withplywood boards connecting them in the garage to set my wire cageson. We moved the nest box with the kits in it intothe house for about an hour and a half until they cooled off sum aswell. About 20 minutes after my mom and i got everythingmoved around a storm front came off and it feals like it has cooled offabout 15 degrees. My junior buck that had all the moisturearound his mouth has since perked up alot and seems happy... He hascooled downa lot... Hopefully them being outside helpedeverybody a lot and they all stay in good condition... I really hopethat there hasn't been any permenant damage done! Thanksagain![/align]

[align=center]~*Chia*Pet*n*Reeses*~[/align]
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[align=center]By the way... the person who said someting about the shedholding heat was right... Thats part of the reason we had everybodymoved about a foot and ahalf to two feet away from the walls... thething just radiates heat... As far as the fans, the building doesn'thave electricity.. just an old 3 sided shed we keep hay in... as wellas in the past served as a run for our horses... a pig sty.... and nowmy rabbity and poultry... err actually just poultry barn.. The buns aregonna stay where they are at now... that is until my dad gets fed upwith them bein in HIS garage! lol...[/align]

 

[chia_pet_06]

[align=center]Anotherquestion...Thismay sound a tad bit "gross"... butihave to ask...After my mom got home she was lookinat my buns *before we even thought it might be b/c of the heat* and Redhasn't gotten stiff like most dead things do... whereas Lennie who diedafter red is already stiff.... I dunno...[/align]

 

[irishmist]

Rigor Mortis does not last long... Red hadprobably been dead a while before you found him. They losethe stiffness after a while.



Susan

 

[dixonsrabbitry]

any rabbits kept in a shed or a building shouldhave fans going on them. If thats not possible then you can try riggingup a sprinkler system of some sort over the top of the building. Thewater from that will cool off the roof, and take the temperature downinside the building. You can do that by using part of an old fieldirrigation system. Or point a sprinkler at the roof of the building.Let those run all day long on hot days.

Also instead of changing the water once a day during feeding, it shouldbe changed twice a day.Esp during warmweatherRabbits won't drink water that has been sitting therewarm for hours at a time, or has been soiled with poo. Like you or me,they have to have clean water at all times.

Its been a long time since I had treated a bunny for heat stroke. Butthere is a couple of things I do. If the bunny doesn't have it too bad,i mist down the ears with cold water from a spray bottle and set thebunny and its cage out in the shade. For a real bad case, I put someluke warm water in a tub or pan of some sorts. ThenI dunk thebunny in up to its neck for a few seconds. If you get the water toocold, the rabbit will die from shock. Even with warm water, and veryhot conditions a rabbit can still die after being dunked.

another way to prevent heat stroke is to take some old pop bottles,fill them with water, and freeze them. Then you can just take them outto rabbits during the day to give them something to lay against.