AmberLops
Herd Master
Oh good! I'm glad he's okay! 
LAST RABBIT LEFT NEEDS HELP!
- Thread starter Spring Flower
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #12
Spring Flower
Overrun with beasties
Oh good! I'm glad he's okay!
Hey guys little Charlie is doing well. I'm not having any problems with him but.....
Another litter on the other side of the property started dieing. I have been to busy to post about it but one by one this time over the course of a week five babies from this litter died. Before they die they are very lethargic but at the same time if you pick them up they try and fight but they seem really confused. Sometimes they hold their front legs out straight and thier head back and occasionally squeal. After they relax they gasp for air. What in the heck is going on! Their rabbit house is clean. Mom's cage is clean and mom seems healthy along with the baby's until we find them dieing and we check on them everyday
B&B Happy goats
Herd Master
@Bunnylady. @AmberLops Your help is needed, I have no idea....
AmberLops
Herd Master
The babies are definitely having seizures.
I just had a baby die from random seizures the other day too...but none of the littermates had the same problem yet.
Seizures in rabbits can be brought on by many things (cancer, toxins, blood clots, head trauma, parasites) and also eating a toxic plant. That's what I assumed my baby died from as it happened right after I bought a bale of hay from a different farm...orchard grass hay when they used to be eating timothy. I assumed mine died because he ate too much of a particular herb/flower because he had NO obvious symptoms until the seizures came along and I was watching him eat hay and play with his littermates and he just started seizing right in front of me and died a few hours later.
Were there any changes in food or hay for your babies?
Infectious Encephalitis is another thing...if your rabbits are outside or near a place where you've seen racoons. Do your babies ever hop around in the yard?
It's an infection of the brain tissues caused by parasites that are normally found elsewhere in the body...typically roundworm larvae.
I hope this helps and I hope this thing gets figured out soon!
I just had a baby die from random seizures the other day too...but none of the littermates had the same problem yet.
Seizures in rabbits can be brought on by many things (cancer, toxins, blood clots, head trauma, parasites) and also eating a toxic plant. That's what I assumed my baby died from as it happened right after I bought a bale of hay from a different farm...orchard grass hay when they used to be eating timothy. I assumed mine died because he ate too much of a particular herb/flower because he had NO obvious symptoms until the seizures came along and I was watching him eat hay and play with his littermates and he just started seizing right in front of me and died a few hours later.
Were there any changes in food or hay for your babies?
Infectious Encephalitis is another thing...if your rabbits are outside or near a place where you've seen racoons. Do your babies ever hop around in the yard?
It's an infection of the brain tissues caused by parasites that are normally found elsewhere in the body...typically roundworm larvae.
I hope this helps and I hope this thing gets figured out soon!
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #15
Spring Flower
Overrun with beasties
Sorry I've been busy you guys.
The first litter that died just suddenly I feed them weeds from the yard.. the same things all my other rabbits ate. I know there is somethings they can't have so I make sure those aren't it. Oh wait... About threw days before they died I gave them a little bit of a new plant I seen it on a list of plants they can have so I gave them a small hand full 7 babies had probably 12, 3 inch plants. But the rabbit right beside them and 6 meat babies had two big handfuls and nothing happens to them so I didn't even think about that. And they haven't been on the ground in....a week and a half.
The second litter that slowly died one by one instead of all at once(the last baby dies too, again not Charlie he is fine)
Still ate milk. The first two died a couple days before there eyes open and the rest died in the remaining 5 days of the week it took. That litter wasn't on the ground they were in a raised rabbit house. It's raised 4 inches so mom has shade and so water doesn't run in. But Mom, dad and Charlie's mom are on the ground. All of the adults are fine. Oh and Charlie is back down with his mom now because Im not aloud to keep him inside.
Edit: and my dogs did have worms a month-ish ago plus or minus a week. Could that be it...I don't know what kind it was we just treated for an assortment
The first litter that died just suddenly I feed them weeds from the yard.. the same things all my other rabbits ate. I know there is somethings they can't have so I make sure those aren't it. Oh wait... About threw days before they died I gave them a little bit of a new plant I seen it on a list of plants they can have so I gave them a small hand full 7 babies had probably 12, 3 inch plants. But the rabbit right beside them and 6 meat babies had two big handfuls and nothing happens to them so I didn't even think about that. And they haven't been on the ground in....a week and a half.
The second litter that slowly died one by one instead of all at once(the last baby dies too, again not Charlie he is fine)
Still ate milk. The first two died a couple days before there eyes open and the rest died in the remaining 5 days of the week it took. That litter wasn't on the ground they were in a raised rabbit house. It's raised 4 inches so mom has shade and so water doesn't run in. But Mom, dad and Charlie's mom are on the ground. All of the adults are fine. Oh and Charlie is back down with his mom now because Im not aloud to keep him inside.
Edit: and my dogs did have worms a month-ish ago plus or minus a week. Could that be it...I don't know what kind it was we just treated for an assortment
- Thread starter
- #16
Spring Flower
Overrun with beasties
Another question how come it's just the babies? Like the adults have been there longer but how come they are fine but the babies all died.
AmberLops
Herd Master
It definitely could have been the weeds from the yard.
And it's just the babies because adults have stronger immune systems and babies are more susceptible to diseases/illnesses. The same way an adult can have the flu and be okay but a child can die from it.
It's possible that in a week and half (since they've been on the ground) they picked up a parasite/disease.
And it could be a parasite from your dogs if the rabbits were on the same grass that the dogs were when they had worms.
I have had a lot of babies die in mysterious ways and for unknown reasons...just today I lost a week old baby to seizures. No idea how that happened and it's sibling seems just fine.
There really is no way to know for sure unless a vet looks at your rabbits...that would really be the only way to know 100% and it might be worth doing if you're going to continue breeding rabbits.
And it's just the babies because adults have stronger immune systems and babies are more susceptible to diseases/illnesses. The same way an adult can have the flu and be okay but a child can die from it.
It's possible that in a week and half (since they've been on the ground) they picked up a parasite/disease.
And it could be a parasite from your dogs if the rabbits were on the same grass that the dogs were when they had worms.
I have had a lot of babies die in mysterious ways and for unknown reasons...just today I lost a week old baby to seizures. No idea how that happened and it's sibling seems just fine.
There really is no way to know for sure unless a vet looks at your rabbits...that would really be the only way to know 100% and it might be worth doing if you're going to continue breeding rabbits.
- Thread starter
- #18
Spring Flower
Overrun with beasties
Thanks alot you are alot of help.
Soo my mom doesn't like animals in the house so about four days after Charlie was doing well he had to go out of the house.
The only place for him was back down the hill where the last litter was. He was there maybe four days. Yesterday I wasn't able to check on him because I had to go help a neighbor and then as soon as I got back I had to hop in the shower and leave. This morning little Charlie was dead.
I don't know if it was the same thing as the last litter because I couldn't check him yesterday. But when he was alive before he went back down the hill I listened to his heart with a stethoscope and every other second it sounded like his heart would beat really fast and then slow back down. It's not like the other rabbits. I do t know if that has anything to do with it but I thought it was worth mentioning.
P.s my mom thought it could have been a defect?
Soo my mom doesn't like animals in the house so about four days after Charlie was doing well he had to go out of the house.
The only place for him was back down the hill where the last litter was. He was there maybe four days. Yesterday I wasn't able to check on him because I had to go help a neighbor and then as soon as I got back I had to hop in the shower and leave. This morning little Charlie was dead.
I don't know if it was the same thing as the last litter because I couldn't check him yesterday. But when he was alive before he went back down the hill I listened to his heart with a stethoscope and every other second it sounded like his heart would beat really fast and then slow back down. It's not like the other rabbits. I do t know if that has anything to do with it but I thought it was worth mentioning.
P.s my mom thought it could have been a defect?
- Thread starter
- #19
Spring Flower
Overrun with beasties
Also BB (she lives down the hill) had a cough for about a week, two weeks before the babies died. Could of she had whatever killed the babies?
And Now I'm supper worried because I don't have a place to move the. To but both BB and Spring are pregnant. They bred before the babies started dieing. What should I do to help give them the best chance?
Edit: Spring breeding was accidental. She jumped over the bucks divider to get to him.
And Now I'm supper worried because I don't have a place to move the. To but both BB and Spring are pregnant. They bred before the babies started dieing. What should I do to help give them the best chance?
Edit: Spring breeding was accidental. She jumped over the bucks divider to get to him.
AmberLops
Herd Master
I'm sorry about Charlie. That's so sad!
Rabbits pretty much never cough...so BB's cough may actually be sneezing. Have you looked at her front paws for matting? When rabbits sneeze they wipe their nose with their front paws and it mats onto their paws...that's a good clue. Also I would wait and see what happens with these next litters and if the same thing happens you may need to have them vet checked or cull them and start all over with your breeding stock.
Rabbits pretty much never cough...so BB's cough may actually be sneezing. Have you looked at her front paws for matting? When rabbits sneeze they wipe their nose with their front paws and it mats onto their paws...that's a good clue. Also I would wait and see what happens with these next litters and if the same thing happens you may need to have them vet checked or cull them and start all over with your breeding stock.
