RIP: Scrawny Sickley healthy baby?

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JAK Rabbitry

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So I bred Artemis to a cute chocolate buck and she had 3 blacks and 2 chocolates and all were healthy and lovely. This was her 3rd or 4th litter. So I decided after her break she'd be bred to this same buck.

She had 2 blacks and a chocolate. And chocolates are adorable so I was thrilled to get one.

As thew grew I noticed the chocolate was the runty, but it didn't concern me much since there were only 3 and Artie is the best mum I have.

Around day 9-10 the two blacks opened their eyes and started doing that adorable squinty Asian thing. But chocolate didn't have his open yet and by this time he was seriously tiny, but he doesnt' feel boney at all. So I opened his eye for him and he thanked me by peeing all over my thigh.

they're now like .. .15 ish days old and the two blacks are enormous and could double as paperweights. The chocolate is at best 1/3 thier size and maybe 1/4 their weight. He eats fine. He poops. He's active, even starting to binky a little bit. He's just seriously so small and doesn't look right....almost down syndrome-ish if you know what I mean. Like he can function normally but he doesn't look right and his overall appearane and developement has been a little off.

I took some pictures of runty next to his siblings and my cell phone for comparison. And I am aware that I have low battery, thanks.

cellphonecomp.jpg


And also because this is the most adorable charlie-marked Dutch i've ever had occur..
Monroebaby.jpg


So what's up with my runty? Anything I should do? Has anyone had a baby like this before that just wasn't a normal runt?

-JAK
 
The only suggestion I can give is to take the other babies out and get mom to give the runty one an extra feeding once or twice a day.

Do dutches carry the dwarfing gene? The little on almost reminds me of a peanut.

--Dawn
 
No, no dwarfing gene in Dutch.

I have taken runty and ARtie out together to see if he'll eat a little more but he's never hungry. But he's obviously eating or he'd be very much of the dead. He looks like a little zombie Dutch.
 
Yeah, I didn't think they had a dwarfing gene, but doesn't hurt to ask!

I honestly don't know what else to do other than offer other feedings.

I've also had some babies fatten up and catch up with siblings once they start eating solid food.

--Dawn
 
Oh Jesse!! :cry4:

That's not fair...not when you just started getting more ideas on how to help him...:(

I was so hoping to hear that he would pull out of being so tiny and underweight...I was rootin' for that little guy!

Call me if you need me, ok? And let me know if you need the number again...
 
I am sorry for your loss. He was a cute little thing. At the shelter, we get kittens that simply have a failure to thrive. Most of the time we can't find the reason. The assures it could be one of 200+ problems. It's probably the same for bunnies. You never know what's going on with their internal organs. Again, I'm sorry for chocolate boy's passing.
 
Yeah i'm not terribly mortified over his passing, in the back of my mind I ckind of expected it.

If he died then there was something wrong with him, and he would have had a rough life living with those problems. Its for the best.

I would like to breed Art back to the same buck in a few months, they have been throwing some sexy chocolates together.

chocolate bunny is ok now wherever he is.
 
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