Whats going on with my bunnies?

[Himalayan]

For the last month I have been losing rabbits left and right! Mostly my kits. Some of them get really skinny, but eat normally and are normal other wise weight lose. Some of them die but then others will all of a sudden do a 360 and gain weight, and be happy healthy bunnies again. Other will be perfectlyfine and then an hour later be dead. This had effected several adult rabbits to. This many different breeds. I have Flemish Giants, Dwarfs, Dutch's, Mixes, Lion Heads, and I had some Rexes.

I feed them Blue Seal rabbit pellets, timothy/Orchard grass hay with a little Alfalfa in it, and they normally get put out on grass for an hour or so every day. I also give them each fresh vegetables everyday and a daily vitamin that I put in there water bottles. They get fresh clean water daily, and sometimes twice daily if it's real hot. they all live outside. And most of them are on wire, but the pens get cleaned out every other day.


I called a vet about them but they want $200 per rabbit just to walk in the office, and $80 to examine them, and they said I need to bring in all my rabbits. I have 17 rabbits right now. I don't have $4,760! In most cases it's too late went i find them anyway. Most of them are dying in only a days time some in only an hours time. i told my vet that there just up and dying and they are getting drastically thin in only 24 to 48 hours. Everytime I've called them about one of the thin ones and told them that have been dying with this time frame they always give me an appiontment in a day or two and by then it's to late!

Thank you anyone that give me some kind of advise!

 

[tonyshuman]

Are there any symptoms such as runny or discolored stool? The rabbit's GI tract is very sensitive, especially around the time of weaning. Baby bunnies can get intestinal parasites such as coccida or overgrowth of toxic bacteria in the GI tract, which leads to diarrhea, mucoid enteritis, etc.

I've already mentioned in your other thread that your vet is ridiculous and you need to find a better/cheaper one.

Discontinue the vitamin--that's not doing anything. Diet sounds fine, although I don't know much about that brand of pellets.

Since you have a larger-scale operation, I can move this thread to the Rabbitry if you don't get any satisfactory responses here. Many of the breeders on the forum have experience with the diseases that can affect baby bunnies, whereas few pet owners do.

 

[Himalayan]

If you could move it that would be great! (M first day here. I haven't figured out where everything goes yet.) I need all the help I can get. I was thinking the same hing about my baby bunnies but I've lost a few adults to. I have one now that actually seems to be recovering. I think I may have found another vet, but I have to wait until Monday to call theres no one at the office on weekends, but they have an emergancy numer I can use if I need to. As of right now all my rabbits seem normal and fine, but I just lost two 3month old kits in the the last to days unexpectedly to. The one passed on Thursday afternoon. she was fine when I left for work at 9:30 but my mom called me at 11 and said she had died. Then the other one I lost this morning. She was perfectly fine at 1:20 this afternoon, and then dead by 2:15. By fine I mean she was hoping around the pen, eating, drinking, and being her courious little self. I even had her out on the grass for about a half hour with her buddines and she was eating and playing just fine.

 

[clevername]

Get a necropsy on the freshest specimen you have. Some universities who have an agriculture colleges do them on the cheap. I live 10 miles from Penn State and their Animal Diagnostic Lab will necropsy up to 3 rabbits for $40-50.

BTW, my condolences on the problems with your herd. I had some cases of mucciod enteropathy pop up on when the weather changed drastically (and apparently I wasn't alone). Its so hard when you're loosing rabbits and you don't know what's causing the illness.

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

How do your rabbits feces look? Mucoid enteritis usually has a white to clear, jelly like substance in their feces. Also, are their pinworms present in the feces or on the rabbits anus?

Sorry to hear about your babies.

Sharon

 

[Himalayan]

Thank you. I will deffinetly check into that.
In the last month I've lost 15 rabbits (thats including a litter of 5, my buck Flemish to heat stroke, and my one Flemish doe to the fox) , and my mom lost 4. She has since given up and sold all her stock to me. really it's just completely devistating. I love all my little bunnies. There not just breeding stock, there pets. I'd have them all in the house if it wasn't for my dog and my parents dog would try to eat them.(Jack Russel and Jack Russel cross)

 

[Himalayan]

Starlight Rabbitry wrote:

How do your rabbits feces look? Mucoid enteritis usually has a white to clear, jelly like substance in their feces. Also, are their pinworms present in the feces or on the rabbits anus?

Sorry to hear about your babies.

Sharon

Once I seen clear jelly like feces on the wire of one of my pens. It was in my pen with my five little bucks (I normally keep bucks from weaning age untill 31/2 months old together unless one starts getting agressive). One of the Lion Head bucks did get skinny, but he then did a 360 and got better, he is now back to weight, and a healthy happy bunny again.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I'd worm them and also discontinue fresh greens.

 

[clevername]

I recommend Corrid for coccidia treatments and Safeguard (fenbendazole) for pretty much anything else...hookworm, pinworm and so forth.

Tractor Supply carries Safeguard, but I think I had to order Corrid from an online store.

It's possible parasites aren't the root of your problem but treating for them should help their recovery.

 

[Himalayan]

How much Safe Guard do I give them? I have that on hand. I rescue horses so I normally have some here. I just didn't know you could use it for rabbits. Thanks.

 

[polly]

If you can catch it quick enough we use Septrin as an antibiotic to treat it. We use Baycox as a preventitive but its a bit of a nitemare with the amount of cleaning out u have to do. once you do teh course tho that you.

Personally i would not give up greens if they are used to them I have pulled rabbits with cocci through on greens when they wont eat anything else.

 

[Himalayan]

Where would I find Septrin and Baycox? I'm very unfimiliar with having to find these kind of thing. Most of our pest shops around here have closed down, so I have to travel to find stuff, and being new to this kind of stuff I don't even know where to look.

Thanks alot everyone! You guys are great.

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

Is there anything sprayed on the grass that they are eating? Or sprayed where it would drift onto the grass they are eating?

It seems to be a common denominator.

Roger

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

Himalayan wrote:

How much Safe Guard do I give them? I have that on hand. I rescue horses so I normally have some here. I just didn't know you could use it for rabbits. Thanks.

Get a second opinion because I do not use horse wormer so I'm not speaking from experience.

But I have heard to give a pea size amount once daily for 3-5 days.

 

[Himalayan]

No there is nothing sprayed anywhere close by. They get to graze along a grass pasture that no ones touched for years along the edge of our property. None of our neighbors or us use any kind of sprays or chemicals. There are to many small kids and pet in the nieghborhood.

I know when you worm goats or sheep with safe guard you just put a blob on the tip of your finger about the size of a marble and you only do it once a month. I have some 3cc syringes maybe I could measure it out on the light side that way. Just give them very little for a few days, see if it does anything, then I can see how my rabbits amune systems react to it without giving them to much.

 

[tonyshuman]

I have heard of grass, especially spring grass, causing GI problems, especially bloat.

 

[polly]

I get a prescription from my vets but septrin is a paediatric antibiotic so i took the prescription to my pharmacy and they filled it for me. the bay cox you can get on the internet but you need a prescription as well.

I use panacur as a wormer

 

[Himalayan]

Thanks everyone. Certainly given alot to think about. I do not think it's the grass, because when they get sick it seems the ones that I basically put on strictly grass diets are the only ones to pull through.
Could this be a lack of something in there diet?

 

[clevername]

OakRidgeRabbits wrote:

Himalayan wrote:

How much Safe Guard do I give them? I have that on hand. I rescue horses so I normally have some here. I just didn't know you could use it for rabbits. Thanks.

Get a second opinion because I do not use horse wormer so I'm not speaking from experience.

But I have heard to give a pea size amount once daily for 3-5 days.

Would you use panacur? Its marketed to dogs but its still Fenbendazole....the same drug.

 

[fuzz16]

i dont know much about rabbit sickness, but last summer when the weather was really weird here i knew of two local rabbitries who had this problem. rabbits showed signs of cocidia and would die within the day of any signs...they found out later it was the food but something also to do with temp fluctuations.