Firewing124
Member
Hi all! I started my rabbitry about a year ago so im still new to a few things. I know summer in AZ can be brutal, but most of these bunnies were "made" to endure heat and most had survived az summers for years now. (of course with the support of shade, tiles, frozen water, dirt pail and the misting system)
I had around 4 does and their litters in a 90 sqft colony over a patio I made for them, the bucks caged nearby. we had around 30 kits, so with things heating up(late april) I somewhat expected I would loose a few(although I tried my best to stop it). They are on mountain sunrise pellets, a mix of their timothy pellets and the timothy & alfalfa pellets. unlimited pellets for the kits and does and the bucks got about 1/2 cup twice daily. every rabbit had 24/7 access to a mix of Bermuda and timothy hay, and the nursing does/kits got about 1/2 cups of calf manna to share for the entire day.fresh water always from both bottles and bowls. The fly issue is kept down with fly traps without poisons, and the cage was swept out when needed (which was almost always at least once a day).
Slowly over the course of the summer, I had kits dying. at least one a day until the only ones left where the grow outs from earlier that year. All the kits had no signs of distress and everything looked normal inside. Dead rabbits where removed as soon as I saw them. This kept happening until about 2 weeks ago when I had only 2 kits left. one was really close to death, showing signs of head tilt. he passed away in almost a seizure? The other one was kept in a quiet room with water and hay. (was already weaned) and soon started having seizures and floppy-ness. He passed away not many hours after showing signs.
After about 3 days my doe Bailey wasn't doing well. She wouldn't run up to eat like she did that morning. she was laying on the ground trying to stand up. She seemed thin and no stomach movement, so I immediately thought of GI stasis. so right away I got the baby drops and baby food (not crit care because I wanted to make sure she was hydrated for things to start moving.) She would not take any of it to the point I thought she was going to choke on it so I stopped. laid her down to stay comfy, as at this point she couldnt stand and didnt respond to any sort of touch really, with what seemed like seizures in between. I put her down because I knew she wouldn't fair well. after the autopsy it was confirmed to be GI with lots of gas bubbles, smelled horrible.
at that point I thought everything was just bad luck with keeping kits alive in the summer and GI stasis freak problem. The rest of the rabbits where fine and eating normally. No abnormal poops and a healthy amount if it. fast forward to around 3 days ago. Everyone seemed too loose weight overnight, but with still a healthy eating. I start everyone on gas drops and supplemented with critical care and veggie baby food. everyone's weights were going up for a little bit and I was happy. Poop still normal, no signs of worms in waste and everything was getting better. But it started happening with them like the kits. I was waking up to several dead a day. All had normal looking guts and no signs of heat stroke. Did a really deep clean and got out all the emergency cages. Still death. Now we are down to 3 rabbits (one being my indoor rabbit). My two outdoor are only the bucks who where caged.
I wanted to blame the food but no mold and the inside rabbit and guinea pigs show no signs. they ate all the same veggies too. all the food is in closing containers and is very fresh. the only signs ive been getting are weight loss and those close to dying being very week and having seizures. another breeder and I are thinking something similar to head down. if anything Im thinking I need to get the waste or food tested. I would love to know who to contact for this or if anyone has a suggestion.
As for vet, at the rate of passing I didn't think to contact one to help in time and not to mention loosing my job after getting them. So at this point i'm looking for someone to point me in the right direction for testing waste or food or someone who had a similar problem in their rabbitry. If everyone ends up passing I will bleach everything and wait to build back up and maybe invest in just cages. if it adds to anything, I do have chickens in the yard but they do not interact.
I had around 4 does and their litters in a 90 sqft colony over a patio I made for them, the bucks caged nearby. we had around 30 kits, so with things heating up(late april) I somewhat expected I would loose a few(although I tried my best to stop it). They are on mountain sunrise pellets, a mix of their timothy pellets and the timothy & alfalfa pellets. unlimited pellets for the kits and does and the bucks got about 1/2 cup twice daily. every rabbit had 24/7 access to a mix of Bermuda and timothy hay, and the nursing does/kits got about 1/2 cups of calf manna to share for the entire day.fresh water always from both bottles and bowls. The fly issue is kept down with fly traps without poisons, and the cage was swept out when needed (which was almost always at least once a day).
Slowly over the course of the summer, I had kits dying. at least one a day until the only ones left where the grow outs from earlier that year. All the kits had no signs of distress and everything looked normal inside. Dead rabbits where removed as soon as I saw them. This kept happening until about 2 weeks ago when I had only 2 kits left. one was really close to death, showing signs of head tilt. he passed away in almost a seizure? The other one was kept in a quiet room with water and hay. (was already weaned) and soon started having seizures and floppy-ness. He passed away not many hours after showing signs.
After about 3 days my doe Bailey wasn't doing well. She wouldn't run up to eat like she did that morning. she was laying on the ground trying to stand up. She seemed thin and no stomach movement, so I immediately thought of GI stasis. so right away I got the baby drops and baby food (not crit care because I wanted to make sure she was hydrated for things to start moving.) She would not take any of it to the point I thought she was going to choke on it so I stopped. laid her down to stay comfy, as at this point she couldnt stand and didnt respond to any sort of touch really, with what seemed like seizures in between. I put her down because I knew she wouldn't fair well. after the autopsy it was confirmed to be GI with lots of gas bubbles, smelled horrible.
at that point I thought everything was just bad luck with keeping kits alive in the summer and GI stasis freak problem. The rest of the rabbits where fine and eating normally. No abnormal poops and a healthy amount if it. fast forward to around 3 days ago. Everyone seemed too loose weight overnight, but with still a healthy eating. I start everyone on gas drops and supplemented with critical care and veggie baby food. everyone's weights were going up for a little bit and I was happy. Poop still normal, no signs of worms in waste and everything was getting better. But it started happening with them like the kits. I was waking up to several dead a day. All had normal looking guts and no signs of heat stroke. Did a really deep clean and got out all the emergency cages. Still death. Now we are down to 3 rabbits (one being my indoor rabbit). My two outdoor are only the bucks who where caged.
I wanted to blame the food but no mold and the inside rabbit and guinea pigs show no signs. they ate all the same veggies too. all the food is in closing containers and is very fresh. the only signs ive been getting are weight loss and those close to dying being very week and having seizures. another breeder and I are thinking something similar to head down. if anything Im thinking I need to get the waste or food tested. I would love to know who to contact for this or if anyone has a suggestion.
As for vet, at the rate of passing I didn't think to contact one to help in time and not to mention loosing my job after getting them. So at this point i'm looking for someone to point me in the right direction for testing waste or food or someone who had a similar problem in their rabbitry. If everyone ends up passing I will bleach everything and wait to build back up and maybe invest in just cages. if it adds to anything, I do have chickens in the yard but they do not interact.