Santa
Wise Old Thumper
Some of you may have seen that Lou and I rescued 6 bunnies from a house back at the start of July. http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?426361-Meet-the-Bagpuss-bunnies Breeding had got out of control, so we took all the females (to stop it getting any worse!) and two of the males from the earlier litters, and sadly had to leave mum with a 1 week old litter, dad, and 2 boys who they wanted to keep, with the promise that we'd try and find a rescue place for the litter and would be back in touch when the litter would be old enough to leave mum.
Scroll forwards to that time - I had sorted out a reputable rescue place and had tried to get back in contact but with no joy. They live about an hour away from me so it's not like I could have just popped by on the off-chance. Eventually several weeks ago I left a message saying that the rescue couldn't hold the place open forever, so if I didn't hear from them by the weekend I would assume they were all sorted and didn't need any more help...although in my heart of hearts I knew that they weren't really sorted.
Scroll forwards once again to this week, and they finally get back in touch and ask for help. He says that there haven't been any more litters, so that's a good thing at least, and that there are 'about five' babies who are now in a hutch on their own away from mum. At 17 weeks old obviously my concern would be that they are mixed sex and fertile. I spoke with Lou and we thought it would be best if we went over together to sex them and probably take the girls from the litter, so that at least again there couldn't be any more breeding and they could be spayed quickly if necessary. I agreed to go over at the weekend and would text him a date/time to confirm. Heard nothing back, so got in touch again and eventually pinned him down to Sat PM. Lou was out elsewhere but on the end of the phone for much needed moral support! Half way there, my phone rings, it was the owner. I miss the call because I'm driving, but shortly afterwards get a text which says 'there's a problem with the rabbits'. I stop the car and try to ring him back but get no reply, so I text back asking if I should still come, and he replies saying yes please. When I turn up, he is pretty upset and says that three of the babies have died and one of them is dying. He had panicked when I was arriving and for reasons best known to himself had taken mum out of her hutch and put her in with one of her sons, sigh. I had a look at the babies, one of them was lying on his side, breathing his last, and the other looked a very small, poorly little thing. As you can imagine, plans for what we were going to do went out the window. Helpfully, they had concluded that rabbits are not for them, and asked if I could help rehome all of them. I didn't have anywhere to take all of them right then, so I have taken mum - which means there are no longer any females there so definitely won't be any more breeding - and the two babies.
Being in an unfamiliar town on a Saturday pm, I didn't know whether to try and find a local vet to at least help the very poorly one over the bridge, or to try and get back to my own. I decided that by the time I'd faffed around trying to find a vet and queued in Saturday afternoon town traffic in an unfamiliar place to try and find one, I'd be better off pegging it back to my own, which is between my house and where I was, so wouldn't take too long to get to. I text Lou and asked her to ring my vet and warn them I was coming, so that they could be prepared for me when I got there, which they were (thanks Lou).
We loaded mum into the car complete with her delightful hutch, which fitted in its entirety into my nissan micra!
Yummy!
and here she is saying hi at home, she's covered in scabs and cuts, but is now in a nice clean 6ft hutch where she can rest, she must be exhausted after 3 litters in 4 months! I've called her Jessie.
I put the live baby in the carrier I had brought with me, and the dying baby into a cardboard box which I popped onto the passenger seat. Obviously at that point I have no idea whether they have something horribly contagious like VHD or cocci, so I'm desperately trying to keep everyone as separate as possible and to not handle them too much because obviously I'm going home to other bunnies! Sadly the dying one passed away before I could get there, I think he was out of it anyway, he had been cheyne stokes breathing all the way. The nurse checked for me and he was a little boy. The other little lad, now called Ernest, was also a concern. Quite bright, but extremely underweight and with a body temperature of 35.5. At around 4 months old he only weighed 810g
He was popped on a heat pad and wrapped in a towel and he sat there warming up and munching on some hay we gave him
Given the fact that he was still fairly bright and low rather than high body temp, we don't think it was VHD (phew!) Cocci would clearly be a strong suspect so he is being treated for cocci, although his tummy was completely empty so he clearly hadn't had enough to eat. He has done nothing but eat since coming home, and he is producing pretty nice, normal poos. So it makes me suspect that maybe it was simply malnutrition/hypothermia rather than anything contagious - there was that really frosty morning a couple of days ago which I think could easily have killed these vulnerable little ones in a damp hutch.
So there are still three boys left at the house, for whom I am seeking reputable rescue places ASAP. If anyone can help, please do let me know! At the moment there is one white boy who is living on his own, and two black ones (dad and son) who are together - although in all honesty I suspect they are not all that happy together but there's nowhere for them to hide from each other so they may as well get on, so I think they would probably be better off being separated. They are currently living here, so you can see why we are keen to get them out as soon as possible! When we first visited, mum was in the bottom half with her new litter and dad was in the top part (complete with broken bit so only part of the space) with 8 babies :shock:
The only silver lining I can see out of all this is that had those babies not died, they would have wanted to keep some of the rabbits and there's nothing we would have been able to do about it. At least now they realise that rabbits aren't the nice easy children's pets they had thought, and asked for help rehoming all of them. And right now, there are no females left there so they can't breed out of control any more. I just need to get those three last boys safe (and those hutches safely destroyed) and we can get some closure on the situation.
Not the Saturday I was anticipating! Binky free little boy and your other litter mates, I'm so sorry I couldn't get there early enough to save you We will do our best for your remaining sibling and your mum - and if any rescues are able to help with freeing those remaining three, please do let me know. I won't hold my breath though because I know how snowed under everyone is.
Scroll forwards to that time - I had sorted out a reputable rescue place and had tried to get back in contact but with no joy. They live about an hour away from me so it's not like I could have just popped by on the off-chance. Eventually several weeks ago I left a message saying that the rescue couldn't hold the place open forever, so if I didn't hear from them by the weekend I would assume they were all sorted and didn't need any more help...although in my heart of hearts I knew that they weren't really sorted.
Scroll forwards once again to this week, and they finally get back in touch and ask for help. He says that there haven't been any more litters, so that's a good thing at least, and that there are 'about five' babies who are now in a hutch on their own away from mum. At 17 weeks old obviously my concern would be that they are mixed sex and fertile. I spoke with Lou and we thought it would be best if we went over together to sex them and probably take the girls from the litter, so that at least again there couldn't be any more breeding and they could be spayed quickly if necessary. I agreed to go over at the weekend and would text him a date/time to confirm. Heard nothing back, so got in touch again and eventually pinned him down to Sat PM. Lou was out elsewhere but on the end of the phone for much needed moral support! Half way there, my phone rings, it was the owner. I miss the call because I'm driving, but shortly afterwards get a text which says 'there's a problem with the rabbits'. I stop the car and try to ring him back but get no reply, so I text back asking if I should still come, and he replies saying yes please. When I turn up, he is pretty upset and says that three of the babies have died and one of them is dying. He had panicked when I was arriving and for reasons best known to himself had taken mum out of her hutch and put her in with one of her sons, sigh. I had a look at the babies, one of them was lying on his side, breathing his last, and the other looked a very small, poorly little thing. As you can imagine, plans for what we were going to do went out the window. Helpfully, they had concluded that rabbits are not for them, and asked if I could help rehome all of them. I didn't have anywhere to take all of them right then, so I have taken mum - which means there are no longer any females there so definitely won't be any more breeding - and the two babies.
Being in an unfamiliar town on a Saturday pm, I didn't know whether to try and find a local vet to at least help the very poorly one over the bridge, or to try and get back to my own. I decided that by the time I'd faffed around trying to find a vet and queued in Saturday afternoon town traffic in an unfamiliar place to try and find one, I'd be better off pegging it back to my own, which is between my house and where I was, so wouldn't take too long to get to. I text Lou and asked her to ring my vet and warn them I was coming, so that they could be prepared for me when I got there, which they were (thanks Lou).
We loaded mum into the car complete with her delightful hutch, which fitted in its entirety into my nissan micra!
Yummy!
and here she is saying hi at home, she's covered in scabs and cuts, but is now in a nice clean 6ft hutch where she can rest, she must be exhausted after 3 litters in 4 months! I've called her Jessie.
I put the live baby in the carrier I had brought with me, and the dying baby into a cardboard box which I popped onto the passenger seat. Obviously at that point I have no idea whether they have something horribly contagious like VHD or cocci, so I'm desperately trying to keep everyone as separate as possible and to not handle them too much because obviously I'm going home to other bunnies! Sadly the dying one passed away before I could get there, I think he was out of it anyway, he had been cheyne stokes breathing all the way. The nurse checked for me and he was a little boy. The other little lad, now called Ernest, was also a concern. Quite bright, but extremely underweight and with a body temperature of 35.5. At around 4 months old he only weighed 810g
He was popped on a heat pad and wrapped in a towel and he sat there warming up and munching on some hay we gave him
Given the fact that he was still fairly bright and low rather than high body temp, we don't think it was VHD (phew!) Cocci would clearly be a strong suspect so he is being treated for cocci, although his tummy was completely empty so he clearly hadn't had enough to eat. He has done nothing but eat since coming home, and he is producing pretty nice, normal poos. So it makes me suspect that maybe it was simply malnutrition/hypothermia rather than anything contagious - there was that really frosty morning a couple of days ago which I think could easily have killed these vulnerable little ones in a damp hutch.
So there are still three boys left at the house, for whom I am seeking reputable rescue places ASAP. If anyone can help, please do let me know! At the moment there is one white boy who is living on his own, and two black ones (dad and son) who are together - although in all honesty I suspect they are not all that happy together but there's nowhere for them to hide from each other so they may as well get on, so I think they would probably be better off being separated. They are currently living here, so you can see why we are keen to get them out as soon as possible! When we first visited, mum was in the bottom half with her new litter and dad was in the top part (complete with broken bit so only part of the space) with 8 babies :shock:
The only silver lining I can see out of all this is that had those babies not died, they would have wanted to keep some of the rabbits and there's nothing we would have been able to do about it. At least now they realise that rabbits aren't the nice easy children's pets they had thought, and asked for help rehoming all of them. And right now, there are no females left there so they can't breed out of control any more. I just need to get those three last boys safe (and those hutches safely destroyed) and we can get some closure on the situation.
Not the Saturday I was anticipating! Binky free little boy and your other litter mates, I'm so sorry I couldn't get there early enough to save you
We will do our best for your remaining sibling and your mum - and if any rescues are able to help with freeing those remaining three, please do let me know. I won't hold my breath though because I know how snowed under everyone is.
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