What the **** is Going on !! -U/D Post 25

I have never known there to be so many seriously ill Buns on RU

Many appear to have similar in symptoms too :?

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I know It's so sad,reading all of these threads. Really makes you wonder what's going on!

i agree was thinking of taking a break from the forum cause seeing all the threads about all the ill bunnies makes me mega paraniod and very sacred keep checkin my buns so much at the mo and also makes me feel so sad for the owners of these ill bunnies


teresa

It makes me super paranoid as well! I keep checking his poops

I wonder if it's anything to do with the feed manufacturers?? If everyone who's buns are suffering from stasis etc uses the same food it's more than a possibility?

Perhaps it's worth finding out?

linzi1loveanimals said:

I wonder if it's anything to do with the feed manufacturers?? If everyone who's buns are suffering from stasis etc uses the same food it's more than a possibility?

Perhaps it's worth finding out?

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Well I feed SS Origional

Personally I still think its the Spring Greens :?
I am now not feeding any Veg for a week and I'll see what happens.

Jack's-Jane said:

Well I feed SS Origional

Personally I still think its the Spring Greens :?
I am now not feeding any Veg for a week and I'll see what happens.

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My lot are on a pellet and hay only diet at the moment, there moulting to badley to risk anything else, and touch wood, and allot of it, everything is currently OK

Well mine are on SS also, Toshi started off with a dental, followed by stasis, then blockage and I lost him. Toshi never had spring greens - and only had bits of veg to try and get the gut moving again. (I was told not to feed him veg as he had tummy episodes at 3 months old)

Wonder if SS is a contributary factor.. I wondered before how good for them it actually is - as it's alfalfa based, and buns aren't meant to have too much alfalfa.. :roll:

I wonder if the season could be a factor - the grass in spring is richer, lots of veg coming into a new season, I've seen local farm shops advertising new and old cuts of hay, etc. - I think most rabbity foods are richer in spring and perhaps as things like hay etc are bought in bulk, the switch from 'old' to 'new' season stuff may be more sudden than with wild rabbits who'd be eating the continuously changing grass/veg every day and slowly adjusting to it

Ive eased off the veg due to loosing two bunnies very suddenly to stasis. I wont feed curly kale anymore and if and when i do, spring greens are kept to a min!

Some of mine are really moulting too so keeping a close eye on that

Its awful isnt it. I never knew owning bunnies was so stressful

Ben's mum said:

I wonder if the season could be a factor - the grass in spring is richer, lots of veg coming into a new season, I've seen local farm shops advertising new and old cuts of hay, etc. - I think most rabbity foods are richer in spring and perhaps as things like hay etc are bought in bulk, the switch from 'old' to 'new' season stuff may be more sudden than with wild rabbits who'd be eating the continuously changing grass/veg every day and slowly adjusting to it

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Yes I think that is a very valid point.
Certainly I am being very careful with what hay bales I buy. Thankfully the farm is quite good a telling me when its a new cut.

I never actually thought that about hay.....:shock:

I am wondering if it is the veg too, i might stop it for a few days and give a sprinkle of extra pellets on special hay instead of veg for dinner :?

katie7 said:

I am wondering if it is the veg too, i might stop it for a few days and give a sprinkle of extra pellets on special hay instead of veg for dinner :?

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That's what I am going to do.
I have a feeling I am about to become very unpopular with all my Bunsters........:?

My 7 rabbits are all fed on unlimited hay and pellets. I am half way through a bale of hay, so there was no change there. Same with pellets, it was not a new bag. They had had no veg for a few days. Yet Max was very ill at the weekend and needed emergency vet treatment for stasis.
The only thing with Max was he had almost finished a really bad moult.

Most rabbits are moulting at the moment, I am sure that can cause problems in some. Mine are quite sensitive to changes in weather, especially when a storm is coming up. It might be the change in air pressure. I don't give mine a lot of vegetables at the moment, just some dandelion, hazel and strawberry leaves from our garden.
Maybe the spring fever hormones cause stress, too. All the humping and chasing must be exhausting.

I have been racking my brains trying to think of similarities between cases :?

I have never in my 12 years of bunnykeeping ever experienced bloat OR gi stasis until February of this year, and I am wholly guilty of feeding ‘bad’ muesli type food for the first 1-2 years with Sassy and later not noticing Lily had eaten things like daffodils, lilly of the valley and even ants (ANTS for crying out loud!!) until it had already gone in her mouth and she never had a single digestive problem. So why all of a sudden with so much more care over what goes into their bellies is this happening?

I don’t think its pellets. I fed Luna on Excel and she passed away from bloat (no signs of stasis whatsoever but I am aware it could have moved extremely quickly to bloat within 2 or 3 hours overnight) Sora is on SS and has just gotten over GI stasis :? so either neither brand is guilty, or both brands are guilty.

They live in totally different environments, Luna died as a housebunny wheras Sora is outside, so I can rule out the two of them eating something in the house (eg carpet) to cause a blockage. Luna did not go outside for a week before she passed away so I know she couldn’t have eaten anything bad in the garden as it would surely have affected her sooner than it did.

The *only* thing Luna and Sora had in common food-wise was hay (from the same place but different ‘batches’ if you will as I threw it all away after Luna died just in case). So my husband is blaming the hay across the country for it.

He reckons farmers are putting different fertilizer on it (or different fertiliser on the organic veg we buy for them) he thinks farmers are suffering from the recession and buying cheaper fertilizer and other things to try and save on costs. However I am keeping an open mind about the cause.

But then Smudge didn’t get it, and he eats just as much of everything (including hay) as Sora :?

I do wish there could be a study or something, collecting statements from owners and trying to pinpoint the things that these cases have in common. There HAS to be something linking the cases, it can't just be 'Oh just because' or 'coincidence' that so many are coming down with it.

The only thing I can think of which could be related to hay, are mycotoxins. From mould, if the hay hadn't dried properly, or hadn't been stored in the right place. Or pesticides which might have been blown onto the grass from a neighbouring vegetable field. But would these things cause bloat or other symptoms? Not sure.

Maybe it is the hay? I think i might stop buying it from that shop in Twick and see if i can get it from somewhere else :?

katie7 said:

Maybe it is the hay? I think i might stop buying it from that shop in Twick and see if i can get it from somewhere else :?

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I only had one bag of their hay before, Donna gave me some of her bale. Now I am trying to remember which of the foster bunnies I fed it to. It looked and smelled ok to me, but it had a lot of thistles in it and I only noticed it after I had some stuck in my fingers.