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lost a baby bunny tonight but don't know why

Beatrix Potter

Mama Doe
I'm devastated I really thought that the four wild babies I've had since they were about 4 days old were going to be ok.

Parsnip died tonight between 8.45-10pm. I don't know why, he was one of the bunnies that needed extra encouragement to feed but once he had the syringe in his mouth he was fine. He didn't eat much for 2 feeds yesterday but this morning he had about 11.

He has seemed fine all day apart from his feed this afternoon. First thing that happened was when i got him out of his box i noticed he had been laying in some poo which didn't look very solid. When I picked him up he was covered in it so I had to clean him up.

then when i tried feeding him he didn't want anything and he wouldn't swallow any food if i put it in his mouth. He just didn't seem right and both myself and my partner didn't think he was going to be ok.

i put him back in his box and checked on him about 8.15 ish. He seemed a little bit more active than before so put him back in until i looked in at 10pm and found him.

his bottom was really dirty again and it looked like a proper poo had been done but there was also lots of runny bits.

i'm absolutely devastated but wonder what on earth happened to him?
 
Hi Suzanne

Sorry about the baby bun. Unfortunately this is to be expected when hand-rearing. Their little bellies are so delicate, and the formulated milk we use is far inferior to mums milk.

I lost one of mine on Thursday too. He was fine on Wednesday night but in the morning he had bad diarrhoea, and despite warmth, fluids and medication, he was PTS in the afternoon.

You have done very well to get them this far, at least you have given them a chance that they wouldn't have had if you had left them.
And just think that only about 25% of baby rabbits in the wild reach adulthood!

Jo
 
I am so sorry one of the babies died :cry:

Unfortunately they are approaching the really high risk time as their 'healthy' gut bacteria is not yet established giving the 'bad bacteria', particularly clostridium spiriforme, the opportunity to take over. This can lead to muccoid enteritis and subsequent septicaemia (as the toxins from the guts are absorbed into the bloodstream)
If you have a healthy adult Rabbit that you could harvest some caecotrophs from and mix them into the remaining babies feeds it would be the best way to try to establish some healthy gut flora in the babies. Its a bit gross, but harvested caecotrophs can be lifesavers.

I really hope the remaining babies will be OK

Janex
 
I'm so sorry, baby buns are so delicate and notoriously hard to hand rear - you did everything you could and hoping and praying the other three continue to do well.x
 
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