Kits with Swollen Bellies

[DyemondRabbitry]

Please help me before I beat my head against the wall from that "mental block syndrom" when you just can't think of what something's called.

Oh, this has been driving me nuts all day. When you find kits dead in the nestbox with extremely swollen, hard bellies... what's it CALLED!! AGH!

I'm not nuts, please believe me.. lol!

 

[tonyshuman]

Mucoid enteritis?

Weaning enteritis?

 

[tonyshuman]

Here are some library articles that might jog your memory
Diarrhea
Coccidia
Megacolon

Could it be bloat/ileus?
moved to rabbitry, hope that's ok

 

[tonyshuman]

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/squirts.pdf

 

[DyemondRabbitry]

Problem is- kits were only 1 week old, no "runs" noticed...

 

[BlueGiants]

My first inclination would be to check the doe for Mastitis or infected teats. Even one infected teat could spoil the milk bad enough to cause bloat. I'd guess the milk supply was bad.

Has the doe been eating anything different? Different grass/hay? Anything that might have had poisonous plants in it? Milkweed or Pokeweed????

At 1 week old there wouldn't have been anything you could do for them. Can't give them meds at that age... even simeticone isn't recommended that early.

I'm so sorry for your loss...

 

[DyemondRabbitry]

I was taking that it was from the milk too though everything seems ok. Could it have been something in the feed? One of my other does just plain didn't keep her litter and I have one other rabbit who seems lethargic though I gave him a shot of Ivermectin a week ago and he seems fine now. Just seems strange to me. I took two of the babies off of her, 1 still didn't make it. The 2 I left with her are doing just fine now.. so it seems... odd...

 

[BlueGiants]

Check the teats individually. She could have mastitis in one teat, but not the others. Make sure none of them feel warm or hot to the touch. Pinch each one and check the color of the milk coming out.

 

[DyemondRabbitry]

Kathy, that's what is so strange- everything looks normal. No hotness, no swelling, no strange odors or colors in the milk though maybe slightly watery??? The other kits now are thriving though. The doe has always been a really heavy milker.. so we check her for mastitis.. sometimes I just get dumbfounded. It's just my luck these days.. of course it had to be my red momma

 

[BlueGiants]

Darn it! Always the special ones! (You sure she hasn't been in any strange hay? No chance she got some noxious weeds in the hay?)

Keep an eye on the two survivors and see what happens. Not much else you can do at this point.:hug:

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

If they're bellies were swollen, maybe she just wasn't stimulating them to "go". It sounds simple, but this can happen and when it does, this can poison the body and kill the kits.