Skinny & Losing Fur

[BunnyTotem]

I gave a pair of my baby bunnnie, from differentlitters to a friend and her daughter.She called me upset thather doe, that is about a year old is skin and bones and is losing hairin clumps. She is not bred. Her droppings are fine. She iseating fine. She shares a cage with a buck that does not have anyprobems that she can see. The doe seems to be fine other whatI have mentioned. She has not wormed them. Shefeeds them pellets. She has since separated thetwo. She said the doe's stomach seems tight andround. We have ruled out her being bred. They havebeen in the same cage together since they were 8 weeks old, and theyhave never showed any romanic interest. ( I May Be wrong) I have bredrabbits foronly 3years now. (very littleknowledge) Her fur falls out when you pet her.Please Help. My girlfriend thinks I know so much about mylittle fur bunnies and I don't! Please share your knowledge.

BT

 

[pamnock]

There are numberous possibilities. WhenI have a rabbit that is not maintaining weight, I use a high calorieproduct called Nutri Cal for cats and dogs.

However, this doesn't explain what is causing the weight and furloss. The weak immune system may have triggered fur loss or amite infestation. There are also a number of congentialdiseases that cause fur loss. The rabbit may have a parasiteinfestation, may be suffering from a viral infection, may have acongenital disorder or may be suffering from an illness such as cancer.

Without having some blood tests and a parasite fecal float done, it is really hard for us to speculate on what may be wrong.

I would certainly start the rabbit on a high cal supplement such asNutri Cal and get it to the vet for a proper examination and diagnosis.

Pam

 

[BunnyTotem]

Thank you, I am familiar with NutriCal. I hope I can talk her into taking her to avet. Most Vets around here won't see rabbits and the onesthat do I don't place very much faith in. Some of theirpractices contradict what I have read in many rabbit books. Iwill ask around. I met a lady recently that raises showrabbits; maybe she uses a vet that she is pleased with.

Thank you again,

Linda

 

[Dwarf_Angel04]

I would like to add to Pam's advice.

I had a similar situation. :?

I had an affair back about 2 years ago where I had a bad bag of feed.The company had lost their contract with a company were they purchasedthe hay from. The new company that they signed a contract with ended upselling the feed company bad hay. Therefore, there was no nutrionalvaule in any of the feed.
When I just looked at the rabbits theylookedhealthly but once you put your hand in to pet them is when you found aproblem. The rabbits were nothing but skin and bones, you could feeltheir backbone quite well. At first I thought I was having a case ofworms going through my barn. So I treated each for worms and gotnegative results. I was also double feeding these rabbits and gettingnegative results as well. In the meanwhile we had contacted the feedcompany whom which never returned our concerns and phone calls.
Finally 4 less rabbits later, we determined that other people werehaving problems with this feed and switched feeds. Theserabbitswere moulting at the time so I couldn't tell if largeamounts of fur were coming out because of the feed or moulting.

This is from my experience, I wouldn't rule out the possiblity of badfeed.Here I was feeding my rabbits and come to find out therabbits weren't getting any nutrional value from the feed. So in otherwords, they starved todeath while still eating food.

I hope you find out whats wrong with these rabbits. :?

~*~Amanda~*~

 

[BunnyTotem]

Thank you for the advise. You very wellmay be right. She feeds them a different kind of feed thatshe gets at Wal-mart. I get mine from a local feed store inbulk. I've tried to get her to switch, but she does not feelthe need to buy 50lbs. at a time. I also think she may not ofbeen feeding them enough. The rabbit looks better since Isuggested to feed them more. Her fur is not coming outanymore and it looks as if she has gained some weight. Inoticed that you dwarf is named Angel? I have one that looksjust like her and her name is Angel also. She just gave birthto her first litter yesterday! She only had three.She is my only dwarf doe. Are their litters smaller thanother doe's? This is her first litter.

Thank you for your help.

Linda