Worst Litter Ever.

[Kati's Holland Lops]

3/5 of the baby's in the litter have died ;-; and the 3 that died were the only brokens in the litter, they died when they were over a month old btw that's the mother so you can only imagine how pretty the baby's where :
;-;

 

[ladysown]

did you figure out why?

Entropathic illness?
Genetic defect?
problems with housing?
problems with your feed?

learning these things might help prevent a repeat.

 

[majorv]

Did they have any symptoms before they died? Youngsters that age can go downhill fast! I know some breeders will put sulmet or corid in the water of weanlings to help as a preventative for gut issues.

 

[Kati's Holland Lops]

We have never had this happen before, they like would just lay there... every now and then they would move. They would like make noises and extend out, it was VERY scary, all three of them died in my arms ( at different times) the first two died a day apart, and the last one died like 2 weeks later. There isn't a problem with the food because we have had numerous litters and this has never happened before. (We feed the moms and babies Purina show food, old fashioned oatmeal, and calf mana ( helps the mother get milk) and I give them plenty water. her in her nestbox these are the moms cages, we clean them every Thursday

 

[majorv]

Sometimes it happens, and you don't always know why. Have her other litters been healthy? Did you use a different buck with her than you used before? I would make a note of that buck-doe combination and try again. If it happens to the next litter then I wouldn't do those two again.

 

[Kati's Holland Lops]

Now that I think about it, we used midnight as the father, it was his first litter. Could that be why? Bad sperm? XD

 

[majorv]

Try him with a different doe. It might be environmental, but sometimes you have problems with certain pairings. 4-6 weeks - weaning age - is a critical time for youngsters. You might expect 1 to have gut issues, but 3? Unless there's a common issue causing this...any stress factors?

 

[Kati's Holland Lops]

No stress factors, we are a small rabbitry with the rabbits cages inside, they haven't changed food or cages or anything

 

[majorv]

Hmmm, were the mom and all 4 babies together in one cage? What size is it? I'm just trying to figure out what else might've caused it...we recently lost 3 out of 7 in a litter and realized that stress was doing it. As soon as we eliminated the stress we didn't lose anymore. Something I didn't think about causing stress, really did.

 

[Amelia1star]

Awe... I'm so sorry for your loss. I cant imagine how gorgeous they were with that mother!