Necropsies on my line..

[GoinBackToCali]

All right, I realize this is a grim subject. Perhaps even in the wrong forum.

All of the necropsies on littermates to my Rico, and the necropsies on other of JH253's offspring, that I did NOT own, have comeback. I also took the formerly sickly buck to the vet, since we have a new rabbit vet. Interesting to say the least.

My Rico's necropsy has not comeback yet. But after visiting with the vet, I suspect it will come back the same as his littermates.

She interpreted the necropsies for me, and what she had to say, in layman's terms is:

It's a suicide gene. In every instance, once the rabbit hit 6 to 7 months, the symptoms rapidly appeared. All tested negative for Pasturella. But all had a VERY enlarged left ear drum, with a lot of discharge buildup. Other than that they were normal.

When I commented that the owners of the littermates told me that the buns showed little to no symptoms, some even seemingly recovered, she told me that rabbits are predatory animals, and they will not display any signs of weakness, as in the wild they would be easily picked off by predators. She also said each rabbit is different, as are people, and each may show signs of illness differently.

As I said, I suspect Rico's necropsys findings will be similiar.

As for the sickly bun I have left, he tested negative for pasturella as well. But, you guessed it, huge left eardrum, lots of discharge. She allowed me to look, and it looked like a VERY angry eardrum. She took a *snot* sample, and sent it off to Texas A & M, to see exactly what it is, and what types of antibiotics it will react to or resist. I am awaiting the results. She told me that with me catching this one so early, mostly because he is the only one that ever displayed any symptoms of illness, aside from Rico's sniffles, that he may be treatable and still be a good buck, or he may possibly be on antibiotics for the rest of his life, but we have to wait and see what is up exactly with the test results.

As for Rocky, even if he is unbreedable, he will always have a home with us. I am contemplating getting him fixed and having a house bun. Never had one of those.

I was wondering if anyone had any input on the findings, or comments.. I personally have never encountered a *suicide gene*.

I did let the breeder know... he didn't really seem to give a rats..um.. derriere.. so he won't begetting anymore of my buisness.

Zin

 

[Flashy]

Wow, That's very interesting in a tragic kind of way

I don't know about a suicide gene, but I think I remember telling you that we had, at one point, a whole line of does who all died at the age of two (with one exception), and it took a while to realise that they were all disappearing at the same age, with little or no symptoms, so maybe that is a similar thing?

I am sorry that you are having to go through this, but it's great your little buck has been caught early and stands the best chance of beating this. Having a house bunny is a great experience, you should consider it

I know how hard this must be, and I hope things start to get better for you soon.

Take care of yourself.

x

 

[naturestee]

I had hamsters with a similar problem, but not with the ears. I bought the mom at a pet store and she gave birth a few days later. She died at 6 months and one of her sons died at six months. Suddenly they would be extremely cold and lethargic and would die a few hours later. Someone who adopted babies from us bred one of my babies to one of her hamsters, about half died at 6 months.

I'm shocked that the other breeder didn't care!:shock: Why would you not care about a suicide gene in your herd?

 

[pamnock]

Unfortunately, it's impossible to completely eliminate undesirable genes from a herd. We often find that such genes continue to be propagated because the line also carries outstanding desired genes. (Max factor in rabbits, hypp in the Impressive line of horses, etc.)

There are probably thousands of different "suicide" genes - just as in humans. Inbreeding/linebreeding often reveals these genes that are carried in particular lines.

Pam

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Yep, there are a lot of horses tha carry the Impressive gene, but unless they are bred together - it's not an issue.

My dunn mare is also possibly affected by a gene that could produce babies which don't have the elasticity to skin and it tears.... we have to have her tested before we ever would breed her.