5week old bunnies died out of the blue? PLEASE!

[keowa]

ok, I had a litter of 7 dutch bunnies born about 5 weeks ago. Yesterday when I went out there there were 4 of them dead and thismorning another had died. they had not shown any signs of being sick, they were eating and there poo looked healthy and it hasent been too hot or cold. they ate the same thing all my other rabbit ate (there pellets and weeds) What could have caused this? i would really like to try to figue it out so i can prevent this from happaning again.

The doe has had other litters before that all servived. This was my first breeding with the buck but he seems healthy.

 

[ZRabbits]

So sorry for your loss. As my Luna will have babies one day, I went and did a search to see if I could find something for you. And also for me to learn as well. So sad to lose so many.

To really find out what happen to your kits, a necropy (autopsy) needs to be done by a rabbit savvy vet. But what I was reading was that this age (5 weeks) is when a kit still relies on Mom but starts eating solid foods. The article do talk about bloat. And bloat does come fast on young kits and can take them quickly. I was wondering if maybe the weeds might have set them off. I know most article I read stated kits were getting pellets and hay. Is this the first litter you fed your kits weeds? Maybe something in the pairing of doe/buck gave this litter a week digestive system? Or maybe it's just a fluke sad thing that happened.

Understand exactly how you feel not wanting this to happen again. But unfortunately bunnies at this age and until 12 weeks, some things can go wrong.

Again so sorry for your loss. Hope you really find out what happened. I'd see a Vet if you really wanted to know.

K

 

[keowa]

i have fed other litters weeds, I allways give my adults weeds and when the kits get older they start nibbleing the greens. the only thing that we could think of is maby a cat got up there and scared them or something. bur were not sure.

 

[ZRabbits]

keowa wrote:

i have fed other litters weeds, I allways give my adults weeds and when the kits get older they start nibbleing the greens. the only thing that we could think of is maby a cat got up there and scared them or something. bur were not sure.

As I was trying to find out about eating causes and sudden death, I did read about how sudden scares can also cause sudden death in young bunnies. Maybe the cat did scare them?

K

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

So sorry about your loss. :tears2::rip:

 

[keowa]

were gonna try to teach our cats to stay out of the rabbit area but im not sure what to do about the neighborhood cats.

and im not sure i see how a cat could scare them cause they are in a hutch that is like 3 or 4 feet off the ground, even if a cat was under there it would have issued taunting them.

 

[MiniLopHop]

Cats can jump very high. It would be easy for them to jump on top of the cage. I have a cat that will jump to the top of a 6 foot book case, streight up from the ground. He loves to sit on top of the fish tank and gerbil house, so I could see a hutch being the same sort of thing.

So sorry for your loss.

 

[BunMommaD]

So sorry for your loss!

And cat can jump really high, my dad had a cat that went from the ground still straight up to the top on the refrigerator! No sweat! Maybe you could rig up something on top of the cages so that cats can't get up there?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Sorry for your losses.

 

[tonyshuman]

I agree, maybe a large protective mesh covering for the hutch? Also, did the babies have any strange poo? Can you double check the weeds you gave for any that might be unsafe?

 

[keowa]

MiniLopHop wrote:

Cats can jump very high. It would be easy for them to jump on top of the cage. I have a cat that will jump to the top of a 6 foot book case, streight up from the ground. He loves to sit on top of the fish tank and gerbil house, so I could see a hutch being the same sort of thing. quote]


yea i know cats can jump high, i ment in order to taunt them, with the way my cages are set up they might have some trouble, but if they were determined enough they could.

 

[keowa]

We camet o a conclusion that it might have been a opposum trying to get to them. i guess one was spotted lastnight :/

 

[keowa]

tonyshuman wrote:

I agree, maybe a large protective mesh covering for the hutch? Also, did the babies have any strange poo? Can you double check the weeds you gave for any that might be unsafe?

nope, no strainge poo and the weeds were given to ALL my rabbits and another litter nothing happened to anyone eles. and im not sure where i would get a mesh cover thing...