What's wrong with my 2 week old kit?

[Dulcy]

It's the biggest of the litter, nurses well, and seems quite content most of the time. But when it's not securely held or buried in the nest box, it flails around. Someone mentioned head tilt syndrome but it doesn't seem to quite fit. It's been like this for a while, maybe a week.

Anyone have any other suggestions? My friend says to cull it. I'm not sure if I should..

Video here of it flailing around.

 

[JBun]

There is definitely something neurological going on with it. But it's determining if it's congenital or if it's an acquired health issue like e. cuniculi. So a few questions to possibly help determine what's going on.

Any possibility it was dropped or could have sustained a head injury? Has this kit ever seemed to have a dome shaped or bulging head? Have you had any other odd issues with the other kits, like uncoordinated muscle movements or difficulty walking, or their heads arching back? Did you have any previous pregnancy issues with the mom before this litter, like problems getting pregnant, premature or stillborn babies, or litters that didn't survive? Do you have any cats and could the kit have had any possible exposure to cat feces? Does anyone in your family that has handled the kits, have any cold sores?

 

[Dulcy]

There is definitely something neurological going on with it. But it's determining if it's congenital or if it's an acquired health issue like e. cuniculi. So a few questions to possibly help determine what's going on.

Any possibility it was dropped or could have sustained a head injury? Has this kit ever seemed to have a dome shaped or bulging head? Have you had any other odd issues with the other kits, like uncoordinated muscle movements or difficulty walking, or their heads arching back? Did you have any previous pregnancy issues with the mom before this litter, like problems getting pregnant, premature or stillborn babies, or litters that didn't survive? Do you have any cats and could the kit have had any possible exposure to cat feces? Does anyone in your family that has handled the kits, have any cold sores?

It hasn't been dropped, but last week I found this kit in the corner of the cage. I assumed it climbed out of the nest box, and put it back. I didn't notice any issues before that, so maybe it got hurt climbing out.

No odd shaped head, and all other kits are fine. One did die early on. Mum is a tried and tested doe, no problems before. We do have cats but they're indoor, the rabbits are kept in our garage. No one has any cold sores.

Thanks for helping me try to figure this out!

 

[JBun]

It could possibly be a head injury, but if it is I don't know that there would be anything that could be done besides waiting to see if it gets better.

Otherwise, all that I can think of that might be treatable, is e. cuniculi, with fenbendazole(safeguard or panacur liquid suspension) 20mg/kg for 30 days, and if possible an anti inflammatory like meloxicam can also be helpful to give along with the fenbendazole.

http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/E._cuniculi_Series
But just speaking from what I've seen, the upwards head movement the kit is doing called opisthotonos, I've only seen in baby rabbits that had hydrocephalus from the mom being exposed to toxic levels of vitamin A from improperly formulated feed fed during or prior to pregnancy. And in these cases it almost always proves to be fatal eventually. None of the kits I saw with it survived.

Since no other kits are showing signs, yet, you may be able to rule out hypo/hypervitaminosis A. Though this kit could still have hydrocephalus for some other reason. But if any of the other kits start exhibiting similar symptoms or showing odd walking behavior, ataxia, or MD type muscle movement, then it would almost definitely point to a vitamin A issue.

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aalas/jaalas/2004/00000043/00000004/art00005?crawler=true

 

[Dulcy]

It could possibly be a head injury, but if it is I don't know that there would be anything that could be done besides waiting to see if it gets better.

Otherwise, all that I can think of that might be treatable, is e. cuniculi, with fenbendazole(safeguard or panacur liquid suspension) 20mg/kg for 30 days, and if possible an anti inflammatory like meloxicam can also be helpful to give along with the fenbendazole.

http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/E._cuniculi_Series
But just speaking from what I've seen, the upwards head movement the kit is doing called opisthotonos, I've only seen in baby rabbits that had hydrocephalus from the mom being exposed to toxic levels of vitamin A from improperly formulated feed fed during or prior to pregnancy. And in these cases it almost always proves to be fatal eventually. None of the kits I saw with it survived.

Since no other kits are showing signs, yet, you may be able to rule out hypo/hypervitaminosis A. Though this kit could still have hydrocephalus for some other reason. But if any of the other kits start exhibiting similar symptoms or showing odd walking behavior, ataxia, or MD type muscle movement, then it would almost definitely point to a vitamin A issue.

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aalas/jaalas/2004/00000043/00000004/art00005?crawler=true

So if it had hydrocephalus would it have had no symptoms until day 10 or so?

I'm torn on what to do. Try random treatments that may or may not help? Separate it from the litter? Put it out of its misery? (although it seems quite happy really, as much as you can tell)

The doe was only fed rabbit pellets through and before pregnancy. So I'd be surprised if its that.

 

[JBun]

From what I've seen, it can be difficult to tell that there is anything wrong until they're more active and venturing out of the nest. But it's possible that it actually was fine and for some reason it contracted something that is causing the symptoms later on, or sustained an injury causing the symptoms.

As long as your bunny is continuing to eat well and not show signs of pain, I would be inclined to give it a chance in case it was just an injury. If it's an injury, you will likely start seeing improvement as any swelling and inflammation subsides.

In cases of hypo/hypervitaminosis A, it's a problem with the rabbit pellet food itself. What happens is for whatever reason, the vitamin mixture that is added in isn't the correct amount, and it can either be too low or too high. Resulting in inadequate nutrition or toxic vitamin levels.

Something like this happened here in my state several years back, but with vitamin D toxicity. The supplier of the vitamin mixture for some of the companies that made rabbit food, changed their vitamin D ratio but didn't make the necessary changes on the bags and instructions to these companies. It resulted in the rabbit food companies putting in too much vitamin mixture in the rabbit food batch, resulting in toxic levels of vitamin D. It ended up causing the deaths of hundreds of rabbits in this area. But unless you start seeing the other kits affected, I doubt this is what's going on with that one kit.

 

[Dulcy]

Update: 2 of the kits from my other litter (12 days today) have symptoms like this today. They did not have symptoms yesterday!

 

[Dulcy]

So in the short term, I can buy a different brand of rabbit pellets..

 

[JBun]

One thing you may want to be certain to rule out first, before going through changing feed and everything, is going over everything in the kits environment to make sure there isn't something else causing this. I would be looking for possible sources of a toxin, that could be ingested now that they are starting to nibble on solid food. This could be something to do with the nest box, the bedding, the hay, any cleaning agents used, anything that they would have access to now that they are mobile.

If you rule out any environmental toxin, and you're certain about seeing this in other kits, then yes, I would definitely suggest changing the brand/manufacturer of your feed(not just the type), and stop this current feed immediately if at all possible, once you have replacement food. If your rabbits are good hay eaters, it may even be beneficial to pull feed and free feed(unlimited) a good quality grass hay(no mold, no noxious weeds) for a week or two, to help try and stop the build up of vitamin A, then gradually transition them onto the new feed after they've had this short break.

But just know as for any treatment for the kits, there isn't anything you can do besides wait and see if it's something that may correct itself. Though it's my experience that this doesn't usually happen. This is because the toxic vitamin A levels caused genetic problems from conception. The only thing that can be done treatment wise, is for the does and bucks before any future breeding is attempted.

In the case of hypervitaminosis A, the article I posted mentions treating with a vitamin E supplement. This is to help get rid of the build up of vitamin A in the liver, which vitamin E helps assist with. Maybe this could be tried with the kits too, but I don't know as it wasn't tried in the article from what I remember. But if there is very little chance of them surviving, it may be worth at least giving vit. E supplementation a try. Now this is all based on my limited experience through a friend that had the problem, and through research. And it's always my suggestion to consult with a knowledgeable rabbit vet in health matters, and how best to proceed with treatments.

https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
As for what to do more than just changing feed. If you want you can even take it further, to find other breeders/showers that use the same feed and find out if they're having similar problems. If so, I would contact the manufacturer, though they won't always own up to the problem. I would also contact your state agricultural department. If there is a confirmed problem, the state may decide to do testing on the feed and further investigate the problem like they did with the feed killing rabbits in my state. But you would have to have more people submitting complaints for it to go any further.