Baby bunnies dying

What can cause a sudden death? There were seven bunnies and now we're down to three, and I have no idea why. There's no warning, no marks or injuries. I dont think its too hot, and theres nothing that should scare them to death (unless picking them up can?)

They're about 7 weeks old and its been happening since they were about 4. They're so big, and I genuinely dont know how to prevent it. Any ideas?

This isn't the same doe that was being aggressive to her kits right?

Are you seeing any abnomalities before their death; such as unsteady gait when walking/hopping, loss of balance, or the head frequently arching back? Any signs of mastitis with the doe? Any lesions on her vent or around her face? Any mucous in the poop, mushy poop, or odd colored poop? Any signs of blood around the face or anus after death? Any swelling of the face prior to death? If you have more than one doe with kits, any signs of abnormalities in the other does or their kits? Have you had any reoccurring and/or persistent reproductive issues with the does; like difficulty getting the does pregnant, or does you thought were pregnant reabsorbed their litters?

How hot is it there? Stress can kill youngsters, especially during the transition from nursing to eating pellets etc, and yours are in that transition stage.

What kind of rabbit breed are you breeding?

Mini Lop Mama said:

What kind of rabbit breed are you breeding?

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They're holland lop/lionhead mixes.

majorv said:

How hot is it there? Stress can kill youngsters, especially during the transition from nursing to eating pellets etc, and yours are in that transition stage.

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My area doesn't get too hot. Our hot days just started, so our hottest temp so far has been about 85 Fahrenheit. They do have a lot of fur (half lionhead) but so does their dad and he's been fine.

JBun said:

This isn't the same doe that was being aggressive to her kits right?

Are you seeing any abnomalities before their death; such as unsteady gait when walking/hopping, loss of balance, or the head frequently arching back? Any signs of mastitis with the doe? Any lesions on her vent or around her face? Any mucous in the poop, mushy poop, or odd colored poop? Any signs of blood around the face or anus after death? Any swelling of the face prior to death? If you have more than one doe with kits, any signs of abnormalities in the other does or their kits? Have you had any reoccurring and/or persistent reproductive issues with the does; like difficulty getting the does pregnant, or does you thought were pregnant reabsorbed their litters?

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No, this is a different litter and mama. I try to keep my distance from them because I don't want to scare them too much, so I might not have noticed everything.
A few days ago I did notice a bit of inactivity compared to his siblings but I didn't really think too much of it. In a couple of the ones that have died there has been a lot of poop stuck in the fur on their bottom, (this one didn't.) When mama bunny had her last litter the milk never came in so we had to hand feed those ones. (They also died one by one, but I'm pretty sure its something WE did wrong) No swelling, no blood, no strange poop that I saw, and the kits from the aggressive mom are doing fine.

With most of these, I find the dead body suddenly when I go out to feed them (they live in a pen outside). I don't usually see them a whole lot so I don't have information immediately before the death. For what its worth, there is a cat and a few mice that come by but im pretty sure they leave each other alone.

Akiosecret said:

They're holland lop/lionhead mixes.

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Hollands have birthing issues and loose quite a few kits at birth. Your doe is the Holland, correct?

Mushy poops stuck to their bottom could indicate they had enterotoxemia. This is a pathogenic bacteria. Most often it will happen in baby rabbits fed a high carb diet, at weaning from the stress, a diet too low in fiber, the wrong antibiotic being given, and/or other environmental stressors. If they all were having signs of mushy poop(all poop mushy, including fecal balls) in the week before passing, this is the likely cause. Which means everything should be thoroughly disinfected with a rabbit safe disinfectant.

(WARNING: LINK CONTAINS GRAPHIC NECROPSY PHOTOS)
Medirabbit: weaning enteritis/diarrhea

If you don't think it was enterotoxemia, some other possibilities are a toxin in their environment that they are getting into but not the mom, a critter killing them(if they show any abnormal marks), or possibly vitamin toxicity in the feed(hypervitaminosis A) or bad feed with other problems(kits will be more prone than an adult rabbit). Though with a feed problem, it would affect all rabbits that are fed it, and all kits, so you would see a problem with all of your rabbits.

Is there a particular reason you would need to keep your distance from the kits? Baby rabbits need to be socialized with people right from the start, so they dont' become skittish.

JBun said:

Mushy poops stuck to their bottom could indicate they had enterotoxemia. This is a pathogenic bacteria. Most often it will happen in baby rabbits fed a high carb diet, at weaning from the stress, a diet too low in fiber, the wrong antibiotic being given, and/or other environmental stressors. If they all were having signs of mushy poop(all poop mushy, including fecal balls) in the week before passing, this is the likely cause. Which means everything should be thoroughly disinfected with a rabbit safe disinfectant.

(WARNING: LINK CONTAINS GRAPHIC NECROPSY PHOTOS)
Medirabbit: weaning enteritis/diarrhea

If you don't think it was enterotoxemia, some other possibilities are a toxin in their environment that they are getting into but not the mom, a critter killing them(if they show any abnormal marks), or possibly vitamin toxicity in the feed(hypervitaminosis A) or bad feed with other problems(kits will be more prone than an adult rabbit). Though with a feed problem, it would affect all rabbits that are fed it, and all kits, so you would see a problem with all of your rabbits.

Is there a particular reason you would need to keep your distance from the kits? Baby rabbits need to be socialized with people right from the start, so they dont' become skittish.

Click to expand...

If this is the cause, how would I go about weaning them properly? I've been leaving them be and letting them wean themselves at their own pace, and they usually start eating pellets first. (As opposed to grass because they're usually inside until they're big enough)
They've eaten kale and a few other fruits/veggies, so could that be an issue? I've heard it could be bad for them to eat those early on, but I figured they were big enough.

Also, thank you for helping out so much <3

It depends if the mom is fed veggies and the babies are exposed to that from birth because the mom gets them. The mom helps pass the proper digestive bacteria to her kits to be able to tolerate eating veggies and properly digest them, while still babies. However, I wouldn't feed fruit or any other high carb foods(grains, carrots, etc) regardless, as baby rabbits digestive tract isn't developed enough to properly digest carbohydrates, and it can easily become overwhelmed with an excess of sugars and carbs, leading to serious enteric illness. But because this litter has been having issues and dying, I also would hold off on veggies now as well, even if they are used to getting them with mom, just in case the veggies and/or fruit could have lead to this happening.

The best thing for a rabbits digestive tract, is a medium coarse grass hay. Fresh grass that is soft early growth, can be too rich of a grass, especially for baby rabbits. They need a more mature growth with plenty of fiber in it, though still leafy enough for them to eat easily. It's the fiber in hay that's what helps regulate a rabbits digestive movement and microflora, which is what promotes good digestive health. If you don't currently feed a good quality grass hay, it's what I would do, start feeding a good grass hay.

https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?meta=&pId=11147&id=3846185
I can't guarantee that nothing else will happen if you feed hay, or that this(enterotoxemia) is the cause, as there just isn't enough in the way of symptoms beforehand, to help point to a more definite cause. Since mushy poop is the only thing you observed, and none of your other baby rabbits have gotten sick, that's my best guess as to what these kits may have possibly died from. The only way to know for sure would be to have a rabbit vet do a necropsy on one of the recently passed kits, and even then it can sometimes come out inconclusive.

The kits are best left with mom until at leas 7-8 weeks old, before getting weaned, if at all possible. The only reason I would wean any earlier is if she became aggresive with them, or if she is found to be the cause of her kits dying, due to passing on something like bacteria through nursing, or if she was found to have rabbit syphilis. Then I would wean immediately. So it would be a good idea to check your doe over very thoroughly, looking for any signs of mastitis, and checking her genitals and face for any sign of lesions or odd bumps.

If in doubt, and you have more rabbits dying, it would be best to consult with a knowledgeable rabbit vet, to try and find the cause. Espeically if you start having any adult rabbit fatalities.

JBun said:

It depends if the mom is fed veggies and the babies are exposed to that from birth because the mom gets them. The mom helps pass the proper digestive bacteria to her kits to be able to tolerate eating veggiesand properly be albe to digestive them, while still babies. However, I wouldn't feed fruit or any other high carb foods(grains, carrots, etc) regardless, as baby rabbits digestive tract isn't developed enough to properly digest carbohydrates, and it can easily become overwhelmed with an excess of sugars and carbs, leading to serious enteric illness. But because this litter has been having issues and dying, I also would hold off on veggies now as well, even if they are used to getting them with mom, just in case the veggies and/or fruit could have lead to this happening.

The best thing for a rabbits digestive tract, is a medium coarse grass hay. Fresh grass that is soft early growth, can be too rich of a grass, especially for baby rabbits. They need a more mature growth with plenty of fiber in it, though still leafy enough for them to eat easily. It's the fiber in hay that is what helps regulate a rabbits digestive movement and microflora, which is what promotes good digestive health. If you don't currently feed a good quality grass hay, it's what I would do.

https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?meta=&pId=11147&id=3846185
I can't guarantee that nothing else will happen if you feed hay, or that this is the cause, as there just isn't enough in the way of symptoms beforehand, to help point to a more definite cause. Since mushy poop is the only thing you observed, and no other of your baby rabbits have gotten sick, that's my best guess as to what these kits may have possibly died from. The only way to know for sure would be to have a rabbit vet do a necropsy on one of the kits, and even then it can sometimes come out inconclusive.

The kits are best left with mom until at leas 7-8 weeks old, before getting weaned, if at all possible. The only reason I would wean any earlier is if she became aggresive with them, or if she is found to be the cause of her kits dying, due to passing on something like bacteria through nursing, or if she was found to have rabbit syphilis. Then I would wean immediately. So it would be a good idea to check your doe over very thoroughly, looking for any signs of mastitis, and checking her genitals and face for any sign of lesions or odd bumps.

If in doubt, and you have more rabbits dying, it would be best to consult with a knowledgeable rabbit vet, to try and find the cause. Espeically if you start having any adult rabbit fatalities.

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Alright, thanks again. I'll do what I can to give them a better diet and check everyone for anything wrong.

JBun said:

It depends if the mom is fed veggies and the babies are exposed to that from birth because the mom gets them. The mom helps pass the proper digestive bacteria to her kits to be able to tolerate eating veggiesand properly be albe to digestive them, while still babies. However, I wouldn't feed fruit or any other high carb foods(grains, carrots, etc) regardless, as baby rabbits digestive tract isn't developed enough to properly digest carbohydrates, and it can easily become overwhelmed with an excess of sugars and carbs, leading to serious enteric illness. But because this litter has been having issues and dying, I also would hold off on veggies now as well, even if they are used to getting them with mom, just in case the veggies and/or fruit could have lead to this happening.

The best thing for a rabbits digestive tract, is a medium coarse grass hay. Fresh grass that is soft early growth, can be too rich of a grass, especially for baby rabbits. They need a more mature growth with plenty of fiber in it, though still leafy enough for them to eat easily. It's the fiber in hay that is what helps regulate a rabbits digestive movement and microflora, which is what promotes good digestive health. If you don't currently feed a good quality grass hay, it's what I would do.

https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?meta=&pId=11147&id=3846185
I can't guarantee that nothing else will happen if you feed hay, or that this is the cause, as there just isn't enough in the way of symptoms beforehand, to help point to a more definite cause. Since mushy poop is the only thing you observed, and no other of your baby rabbits have gotten sick, that's my best guess as to what these kits may have possibly died from. The only way to know for sure would be to have a rabbit vet do a necropsy on one of the kits, and even then it can sometimes come out inconclusive.

The kits are best left with mom until at leas 7-8 weeks old, before getting weaned, if at all possible. The only reason I would wean any earlier is if she became aggresive with them, or if she is found to be the cause of her kits dying, due to passing on something like bacteria through nursing, or if she was found to have rabbit syphilis. Then I would wean immediately. So it would be a good idea to check your doe over very thoroughly, looking for any signs of mastitis, and checking her genitals and face for any sign of lesions or odd bumps.

If in doubt, and you have more rabbits dying, it would be best to consult with a knowledgeable rabbit vet, to try and find the cause. Espeically if you start having any adult rabbit fatalities.

Click to expand...

Oh, and one last thing. I just remembered it, but there was a rat attack about a month and a half ago. Could that have done anything? I don't know much about rat diseases and how fast they would kill a rabbit.