Worried about Dexterity

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weedflemishgiants

weedflemishgiants

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It might be nothing. But she had her litter of seven Sunday morning. All day sunday she had good poops. But then she started slowing down. She is hardly pooping at all today. Plus she is not eating her pellets anymore. I don't think she has eaten more than one cup of pellets since she delivered. However, she wolfs down dandelion leaves, raspberry leaves, grape leaves, roses, apple slices, carrot bits, any fresh food. Plus she will eat her grain conditioning mix. She just won't touch her pellets and I know there isn't anything wrong with them.



Is it normal for them to go off feed the first couple days after delivery?

Or am I seeing GI STasis coming on? She is two and a half. BTW- she has no fever, no mastitis.

Also she keeps on pulling hair everytime she feeds the babies. Is this normal? She is bald on her dewlap now. It's been three days and the hair is overflowing everywhere.

she is feeding the babies, though.
 
I don't think I would worry too much right now. Generally speaking, pellets are overfed by nearly everyone. The complicating factor here is that she is nursing. Dandelion greens are full of nutrition. Kale would be something that could be offered (in moderation of course). She should be offered alfalfa hay as that contains much more nutrition than timothy...but keep the timmy in the mix. Let her forage. Make sure she is getting adequate hydration. And remember that greens are mostly water and help with hydrations (again, greens in moderation). Romaine lettuce is a great veggie to offer. The primary concern is that she is eating and drinking...and making sure the greens she eats are nutritious. I would cut back on some of the things you are feeding...some of them....especially the carrots...have a lot of sugar. I would stick to healthy greens such as romaine, kale, dandelions. parsley and cilantro just to name some.

If she all of a sudden stopped eating the pellets...to be on the safe side, I would toss the pellets and start on a new bag. It could be moldy and they shouldn't eat moldy food and most will avoid it. It's not something you can see....but if you have allergies to mold, you might be able to tell it in your sinuses. We don't feed many pellets....but we have run into this with a premium nationally known brand and if it can happen to them, it can happen to any pellet. I would discard this bag of pellets just as a precaution....better safe than sorry.

Randy
 
She did get romain and dandelions. She also got today a good dose of peter's rabbit lax after she pooped out a necklace of poop balls held together by hair. I mean hello I know what that means. So, maybe I caught it in time, maybe not.

So she got the rabbix lax and two prunes and a large romain leaf. Let's see what tomorrow brings and if she gets diarrhea well, i still have two tubes of benebak.

But those necklace poops are just a dead give away. LOL

Ah poor baby. She is having a tough week.
 
Moving this to the Rabbitry, hopefully, you'll get more answers there!:)

No offense of course to anyone that posted. I just wonder if anyone in the rabbitry has any advice.;)
 
I find a few of my does can be like this for a few days before and a fewdays after! Feeding greens is the key they will wolf them down I will also feed redigrass a dried grass as a lot of times they will go for this over hay as well.

As for pulling still again because a lot of does clean the nest out when they are feeding and will pull fresh fur to keep teh nest clean. she will stop this in the nex day or so.
 
How is Dexterity doing today? Has she started pooping normally again? Is she eating? How are the babies? (Does she appear to have enough milk?)
 
Actually yes she is recovered. I spoke with some friends of mine down south who told me to give her 3cc mineral oil and two prunes. Cleared it right up ;)

But then Rose- you know Binker Stinker's mom? popped up with one incident of toothpaste pee. Binker got weaned so fast it made his head spin. Then I took her feed away and flushed her for three days with weak lipton tea, all grass hay and some romaine lettuce. Problem all gone. It was way too much calcium in the feed.

I am going to make some feed adjustments I think. I started the whole herd on Purina Advanced Nutrition Formula for Professional Breeders about four months ago.

18% protein and radical amounts of calcium. People with E Lops were using it with great results and I did not like my 16% Nutrena Pro. On the 16% the bunns got flabby with no muscle. But now on the 18% my intermediates are ALL muscle, very powerful animals, but no flesh, no fill in condition. And since I have started on the 18% I have had two litters in a row with one huge fetal giant born dead. I never had that on the 16%. Plus the 18 does not have enough fiber.

So....have decided to go half and half- 50% of the 16% and 50% of the 18% so I end up with 17% protein instead. Cut the pie here. Eliminate my current conditioning mix which is also loaded with calcium. I'm going to Winco today to get the stuff I need to make my own conditioning mix instead.

Now a couple people told me not to increase fresh veggies. But I think I will. Not as much as the house rabbit society recommends by any means. But I think I will put them at 1 cup at leastper day of chopped veggies until I get this hair and calcium issue worked out. The romaine and the carrots are really good ways of adding water to a sluggish urinary tract.

What do you think of that idea, blue giants? Plus the mature does really need to keep their prunes and papaya.

Anyway- both Dex and Rose are right as rain now. Eating, pooping AND peeing. LOL
 
I feed 17% most of the time. (Although I'm stuck with 16% for this summer...)... didn't like the 18%. Sounds like a good plan. The additional greens will help move more fluids through their system.

I've done the prune thing before. Works good!
 
About how much fresh veggies would you give say a 12 month 18 lb. rabbit? And would that be daily or two or three times a week?

I don't want to interfere too much with there pellets- just supplement for the water value and fiber.
 
You have to watch the rabbits and see what agrees with them. Start off slow if they aren't used to it. I wouldn't hesitate giving them 1/2 cup of greens, 2-3 times a week. Personally, I don't give them too many carrots. A little bit is fine. I really like Comfrey and dandelions for them. (And I want them to eat as much good hay as possible.)
 
What are you thinking about shredded wheat and rolled or crimped oats?

I'm trying to find a portion ratio in a mix. I am starting the mix with rolled oats and I want to add to that sunflower seeds and flax seed. But I am unsure of what the ratio of sunflower and flax seed should be to the oats.

I was using the only available conditioning mix commercially milled but my vet says it has too much animax, oyster shell, corn and molasses. So....got to make my own.

But you know hwat? The tea was the best thing of all. Better than romaine and better than prunes though I still use them.

I made them each a water bottle of weak lipton tea and added 1/8 teaspoon of sugar to it. They drank every drop so fast it was amazing. In the summer they don't drink much. I gave them a second bottle and their appetites almost doubled. Nothing left in the bowls when before they were way back on their feed. So after the second bottle of tea I went back to straight water and their appetites are still up. HUGE difference the liquids made.
 
I was talking about rolled oats. Watch the sunflower seeds. A few is good, too many may cause heavy moults and blown coats. (I don't feed sunflower seeds at all during the summer. Will start again in September.)

The corn in the conditioning mix is not good. You'll be better off without it.
 
Dexterity is still doing fine and the babies except one. One of the fawns is obviously a runt and i feel for him. A really scrawny rabbit compared to the others but just as lively. They all have their eyes open and no sign of infection at all. No enteritis. I just wonder why the one is so skinny compared to the others? Is that runtish or a sign of something else?

I checked all the sandies today and I have HUGE fear that unless something changes NONE of them are does. LOLOL
 
LOL! I had two Flemish litters last Spring... 8 boys in one litter, 7 boys in the other! UGH! Then I had a Mini Rex litter of 6 girls! Go figure!
 
:disgust:Don't tell me that. I really wanted a sandy doe out of this. That was the whole point of this breeding. But I looked this morning and I think they are all bucks.

There was a moment's hope when my son pointed out what he thought was dew lap forming on binker stinker. But when I turned him up side down nothing had changed.LOL

He is just fat.
 
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