• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Pregnancy Toxemia

rabswood

Wise Old Thumper
When I took Bun Bun to the vets after I found her one morning collapsed and floppy in her hutch the vet said he thought it might be pregnancy toxemia.

It was not my usual vets practice which have rabbit savvy vets but I used this one because they are much closer and quicker to get to and a vet was available.

BunBun was only young, I was fostering her for BARC. She will have become pregnant with her first season as she was kept with her brothers and father before being signed over to the rescue. So basically she was a little scrap herself and didn't even look pregnant.

Newmum2.gif


I have read up on pregnancy toxemia and it says inadequate nutrition during pregnancy and can cause toxemia either during or after birth of the kits. Says they can die within hours. Treatment is with IV fluids and a dextrose drip.

I had BunBun for about 3 weeks before she gave birth to 4 healthy kits on 29th May, during this time she always had a bowl of rabbit museli which I had started adding SS to, to swop her over. As she was possibly pregnant she always had a full bowl but would selective feed from it. She always had hay in her hay rack and everyday would have apple or carrot. For the last week she had probiotic in her water. She was weeing and pooing as normal there were no signs of her being unwell and when free in the garden or run she would skip around. So basically until I found her there flopped out she had been fine and had been weeing and pooing during the night as the evidence was there (I changed her hutch am and pm as she didn't use a litter tray.)

The vet did put her on fluids and a drip and said he would give her a steroid injection but within the hour she had gone.

Any ideas re this floppy rabbit syndrome?

Rabswood
 
FRS is a term that covers a range of conditions namely because it describes a symptom rather than an actual illness.
Its known to be linked to a nutrient deficiency but which one is what causes the most controversy.

It's primarily believed to be Potassium but there are also rabbits (one of which I have had) which are Selenium/Vitamin E defficient.
Calcium deficiency also presents with the same symptoms.

Theres a really good article about it, I'll try and find it for you.
ETA- Here it is: http://members.iinet.net.au/~jabuck/WARCI/other_ailments.htm
 
Last edited:
FRS is a term that covers a range of conditions namely because it describes a symptom rather than an actual illness.
Its known to be linked to a nutrient deficiency but which one is what causes the most controversy.

It's primarily believed to be Potassium but there are also rabbits (one of which I have had) which are Selenium/Vitamin E defficient.
Calcium deficiency also presents with the same symptoms.

Theres a really good article about it, I'll try and find it for you.
ETA- Here it is: http://members.iinet.net.au/~jabuck/WARCI/other_ailments.htm

Thanx, will take a look.

While BunBun was at the vets I phoned Angie to say what had happened and she mentioned potassium deffiency also and said the same thing had happened to Sweet Pea and she was syringed tomatoe juice and she came round. If I had known I would have tried this before taking her to the vets but I just panicked when I found her, phoned the vets straight away and took her there, I didn't want to waste any time. I wish I had phoned Angie first and syrined her some tomatoe juice then took her to the vet :cry: and she might have come round.

Rabs
 
Really sorry Michelle theese thing's cant be help, you got her to the vet and did you best, Bunky free little bun:(
 
Thanx, will take a look.

While BunBun was at the vets I phoned Angie to say what had happened and she mentioned potassium deffiency also and said the same thing had happened to Sweet Pea and she was syringed tomatoe juice and she came round. If I had known I would have tried this before taking her to the vets but I just panicked when I found her, phoned the vets straight away and took her there, I didn't want to waste any time. I wish I had phoned Angie first and syrined her some tomatoe juice then took her to the vet :cry: and she might have come round.

Rabs

The FRS bun I had was syringed tomato juice by his previous owners but had no effect on him though I did have one in the past who had a history of Potassium deficiency before he came to us and had to have tomato twice weekly.

In BunBun, due to her age and the fact she was nurseing I would have thought hypocalcaemia was most likely the cause.
 
The vet didn't really know, first said 'has she been vacinated?' I said no she had just been rescued. He then said it could be myxi but then had a better look at her and said there were no signs of it. I gave him all the information I could and he went off to look in his book and came back with the posible pegnancy toxemia. But he didn't really know.

I would have preferred for her to go to my usual vets who are very good and experienced with rabbits (Abbey) but there was no vet at my branch which is about half an hours drive away anyway, I would have had to take her to the Barnsley branch and I thought it would be too long a drive for her in the state she was in :cry:

Having read the link that Sooz posted I am worried that the babies might have the same vitamin defficiency if that's what it was. I am going to make sure I always have tomatoe juice in the house but what can I have in that would enable me to syringe feed Vit E if necessary?

Rabswood
 
Last edited:
Pregnancy toximea is when a kit is retained in the womb - and for want of a better word, rots. It gets in to the blood stream and poisons the rabbit. Nothing to do with FRS or Potassium or anything. If thats what the vet thinks it was then, and it sounds likely, there is nothing that you could have done to save her. Sorry for your loss.
 
Surely though the vet would actually be abl to tell for sure if it was pregnancy toxemia?
 
Pregnancy toximea is when a kit is retained in the womb - and for want of a better word, rots. It gets in to the blood stream and poisons the rabbit. Nothing to do with FRS or Potassium or anything. If thats what the vet thinks it was then, and it sounds likely, there is nothing that you could have done to save her. Sorry for your loss.

The vet didn't mention anything about a dead baby? He said her body probably couldn't cope with the stress of feeding kits. He def said pregnancy toxemia because I had never heard of it before? He prob didn't know what was up with her full stop but I suppose the treatment was very general anyway, fluid drip and steroids.

I remember when I first took my cat with a limp to the vets. It was a long process of elimination before it was discovered she had bone cancer (she had the leg removed and is fine now)

Rabswood
 
Surely though the vet would actually be able to tell for sure if it was pregnancy toxemia?

Not without a blood test to check for toxcity in the blood I'd have thought? Just guessing here, I'm not a vet! The kit would have rotted so palpatation wouldn't have helped and its not as if you know how many babies they're going to have so can do a head count on arrival :lol:

Exactly how long after kindling did she die?

If it wasn't pregnancy toxemia calcium definecy would be my other guess.
 
Back
Top