Some advice needed...

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K

Kez-bunniemom

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I'm sure you've seen me around other topics in other places so I won't bother with the whole history of my rabbits AGAIN.
We've had a pretty bad couple of months actually, well, for us anyway.Before June, we had no baby deaths whatsoever in nearly two years andall were happy and healthy and sold like lightning.
On the 23rd though, two newborns died. Then, a few weeks later, a6-week-old died also. We think this may have been because he was therunt, although he had caught up in size with his siblings and seemed inthe prime of health until I saw him lying dead :(

Anyway, the litter in which the two newborns died are all 5 weeks old now and are ok.
Except for one, a lovely albino by the name of 'Sugar' who quicklyturned out to be very small compared to the others and now is at leasthalf the size of her siblings. We took her to the Vet after she seemedto be lacking in energy and rather 'floppy' when I picked her up, shealso has a slight toilet problem which I clean up for her daily.
The vet says she has a heart problem and that she has a 1 in 20 chance of making it to adulthood.
My question is:

Has anyone else been in this situation?
What should I do?
Is there anything I actually CAN do to help her?

Thanks :)
K x

 
Sorry to hear about Sugar. I had aBelgian Hare that developed fluid around her heart and began to breatheVERY heavy even while resting. I had to put her tosleep. I would recommend talking to your vet as to what youroptions are for this little guy.

Good Luck...sorry, I can't be anymore help. Maybe someone else knows?

Sharon
 
Well, the vet said she most probably has a holein her heart and it is stopping the oxygen from going around her bodyproperly, thus resulting in her stunted growth. He also said that atthe moment, she isn't suffering and has a 1 in 20 chance of gettingover her heart problem.
He also said that because she isn't suffering, it would be best to takeher home and give her some TLC and if she gets worse, consider gettingher put to sleep if she is suffering.

Sugar herself seems to be fine. She certainly doesn't seem to mindbeing smaller than her siblings and seems to have more courage thanmost of them! She enjoys skipping around on the floor and playing the
'I'm being chased, I have to run away REALLY fast from absolutely nothing'
game, which is very hilarious to watch as she is so tiny, with undersized ears bobbing up and down as she moves.
She also seems to be an aspiring lemming, leaping from whichever raisedsurface she is standing on at the time, quite obviously bored withsitting still waiting for me to put her on the floor.
Usually this is my arms, I have to keep a very close eye on her in such situations :)

I am trying not to get too attached, although it is quite irresistible in her case.

 
I am not too upset about her situation as I have been loaned a black mini-lop to mate with one of my two does.
This should result in solid colour kits, not the broken colours thatare rampant in my garden because of the one broken buck we have and areannoying me slightly. Even though brokens sell better, I think solidsare somewhat nicer to look at. This has cheered me up a little :) I'mlooking forward to her solid colour litter next month.
 
Kez-bunniemom wrote:
I am not too upset about her situation as I have been loaneda black mini-lop to mate with one of my two does.
This should result in solid colour kits, not the broken colours thatare rampant in my garden because of the one broken buck we have and areannoying me slightly. Even though brokens sell better, I think solidsare somewhat nicer to look at. This has cheered me up a little :) I'mlooking forward to her solid colour litter next month.
Click to expand...


I am glad that Sugar is not suffering and is still enjoying life. :bunnydance:

However, the above quote is confusing me a little. Are youannoyed with the brokens because they are running rampant? Orare they mean? Or you just are annoyed at theircolor? I am a little confused.

I am glad that your friend is loaning you a solid buck to use since you want to concentrate on getting solids.

BTW, I would love to see a pic of Sugar. I have this funnylittle picture in my head of her running around with those littleears...lol

Sharon
 
Well, I wasn't being entirely literal with thatstatement :) I basically meant that I have had so many brokens thattheir colour is no longer very interesting to me so I'm annoyed bytheir lack of originality :)

For some strange reason (perhaps because I have had two litters at oncefor the first time) I have not taken ANY pictures of Sugars litter.Thanks for reminding me, I will go and take some pictures right now andput them up ASAP.
Oh, I don't think I've mentioned that Sugar is a REW so the picturesmay show her pink eyes in a somewhat ugly light...which is a shame, asshe is so beautiful in person.
 
Well, here she is :)

I run these through Tinypic but they still come out huge, I apologise for the size.

We started inside but the light wasn't very good soI moved intomy back garden.

261zp95.jpg


261zv69.jpg


261zw5z.jpg




Her: 'Oooh! I wonder what's down there' pose.

261zwqo.jpg


And finally, a perspective shot. This is Sugar with Spice, her brotheror sister. Note the size different. Also, when you hold them, youimmediately feel the difference in their muscles quite drastically.

261zzhg.jpg



 
In the perspective shot, you can see her familyin the background. The chocolate lop is her mother, Cadbury. The blackand white broken lop is her father, Bob and you can just make out twomore of hersiblings, Apple and Blackcurrant.

Bob is also Cadburys father, the inbreeding might have been the reasonforSugars heart problem. In the picture where she is peeringover the edge of our bird table, you can just make out Honey, Cadburysmother and sworn arch-enemy. Honey is the one now expecting solidbunnies.

They try to murder each other when in close proximity, which is verydisturbing for me when they do. Luckily, there have never been anyinjurys. We keep them apart, obviously, but there have been a couple ofclose shaves in which eitherone of them have escaped into thegarden.
 
:bunnydance::bunnydance:CUTE:bunnydance::bunnydance:
 
Wow, definitely cute. I understandyour statement now...lol. I have been breeding Dutch rabbitsfor 15 years and I had to add in Jersey Woolies to the rabbitry so thatI had something else to look at but striped things!

Good Luck with them and let us know what happens.

Sharon
 
:bunnydance:Yay!:bunnydance:
 
Fantastic news!

Sugar has been growing quite well, she has put on a good amount ofweight and she is no longer so fragile. We went to the vet yesterdayand were told that her heart rate is now down to normal and she will befine!!
I'm looking forward to her having a long happy life. I'll keep my eye open for any changes for the worse though.

I'm so happy!
 
:bunnydance:YAY :bunnydance:YAY :bunnydance:YAY :bunnydance:YAY:bunnydance:
 
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