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Emergency abanded bunnies found

Medicines I do have but not necessarily for rabbits more for birds but could be used on other animals however I always do my research before hand.

1. ivermectin
2. Diatomaceous Earth food grade
3. Harkers Coxoid
4. Turmeric

I would never give any of the stuff listed above to any of my bunnies without doing extensive research or seeking vet advice first. These are what I have to treat birds that are poorly. Diatomaceous Earth is a natural way of eliminating parasites externally and internally although I've not ever tried it on rabbits as I've had no reason to. Its also good at keeping things clean and dry.
 
The mortality rate of 4 to 8 weeks old rabbits remains high and then decreases to near zero in rabbits aged 3 months or older. That worries me a little. It could be nothing but one of the baby bunnies is giving me a bad feeling because its not staying with the rest of the group and has been sitting on its own. Could there be something wrong?
 
Lord Trellis said:
The mortality rate of 4 to 8 weeks old rabbits remains high and then decreases to near zero in rabbits aged 3 months or older. That worries me a little. It could be nothing but one of the baby bunnies is giving me a bad feeling because its not staying with the rest of the group and has been sitting on its own. Could there be something wrong?
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Yes, there could. Have you had them vet checked?

Great that you’re having them all neutered and vaccinated prior to rehoming. Presuming you’re keeping strict quarantine measures in place due to you bringing unvaccinated rabbits into your rabbits home who are also unvaccinated? :)
 
Lord Trellis said:
The mortality rate of 4 to 8 weeks old rabbits remains high and then decreases to near zero in rabbits aged 3 months or older. That worries me a little. It could be nothing but one of the baby bunnies is giving me a bad feeling because its not staying with the rest of the group and has been sitting on its own. Could there be something wrong?
Click to expand...

Is the Kit eating and passing normal faeces ? Is his/her stomach bloated ?

Coccidiosis / mucoid enteritis is big risk, prior to 8 weeks.
First sign is usually anorexia and the Kit isolating him/herself, then the mucous diarrhoea starts, with abdominal bloating and tooth grinding ( it is VERY painful). Mortality rate is extremely high, immediate Vet treatment is always essential and it is highly contagious.
 
InspectorMorse said:
Is the Kit eating and passing normal faeces ? Is his/her stomach bloated ?

Coccidiosis / mucoid enteritis is big risk, prior to 8 weeks.
First sign is usually anorexia and the Kit isolating him/herself, then the mucous diarrhoea starts, with abdominal bloating and tooth grinding ( it is VERY painful). Mortality rate is extremely high, immediate Vet treatment is always essential and it is highly contagious.
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He/she is one of the thinner kits the runt of the litter. I haven't seen him/her eating but that might not mean he/she isn't eating. Hopefully its not Coccidiosis / mucoid enteritis. I will be keeping a close eye on the kit.
 
Lord Trellis said:
He/she is one of the thinner kits the runt of the litter. I haven't seen him/her eating but that might not mean he/she isn't eating. Hopefully its not Coccidiosis / mucoid enteritis. I will be keeping a close eye on the kit.
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The Kit is clearly not well. If it’s coccidiosis the others will get it too. If the kit is thin with a pointed looking spine that is another sign of coccidiosis, as is a dull coat. Personally I could not just wait and see, I would want a Vet to assess the Kit. If he/she is not moving about, not eating and thin he/she is suffering. He/she probably needs fluid therapy at the very least.

Does he/she have a clean bum ? No sign of a lump appearing from the anus ( rectal prolapse occurs in some cases of coccidiosis). Unless you are experienced with Breeding and what can go badly wrong with a litter of Kits the responsible thing to do now is get the Kit to a Vet. It will be normal Vet hours today, so not as expensive as having to do this over the next few days.
 
InspectorMorse said:
The Kit is clearly not well. If it’s coccidiosis the others will get it too. If the kit is thin with a pointed looking spine that is another sign of coccidiosis, as is a dull coat. Personally I could not just wait and see, I would want a Vet to assess the Kit. If he/she is not moving about, not eating and thin he/she is suffering. He/she probably needs fluid therapy at the very least.

Does he/she have a clean bum ? No sign of a lump appearing from the anus ( rectal prolapse occurs in some cases of coccidiosis). Unless you are experienced with Breeding and what can go badly wrong with a litter of Kits the responsible thing to do now is get the Kit to a Vet. It will be normal Vet hours today, so not as expensive as having to do this over the next few days.
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The kit seems to be fine this morning he/she is with the rest of the group although the kit is the runt of the liter he/she isn't super skinny but not particularly pudgy either the kit feels ok. The bums are clean. I checked all of them this morning. I've added some extra shallow water dishes for them too. At this point I think I'm safe just to see how things go for the next few days.
 
I managed to get some kitchen scales from Argos. I'll be using a light metal dog bowl to weigh them in. I'll weigh them all a bit later because they are all sleeping right now.
 
Weigh them at the same time every day to get a more accurate picture.
When I lost 1 of the babies I hand reared there was no signs of being ill, so a post mortem was done which found nothing but I was very scared about RHD2 and got the rest vaccinated at 5 weeks with Eravac which can be given from 30 days of age, not sure vets will still have stock of Eravac now though.
 
It is common that at least one baby will die in a liter.

I've just weighed them all, I'm not very good at reading the digital scales so I I'll just put what I think is right from the read out.

Bunny 1 9.5 oz 268g
Bunny 2 12.1 oz 343g
bunny 3 9.8 oz 277g
bunny 4 7.6 oz 214g
bunny5 9.3 oz 264g

Does that look right?
 
No it’s not common that one Kit will die, but obviously it can happen for numerous reasons. An entire litter can die if there is a disease outbreak. Runts are not always physiologically weak, just small. They often grow to be the one with the dominant character.

There is no point in commenting on weights after one reading as you need a record of them over the next few days before being able to establish if they are all gaining and if their weights are OK

Some Kits might be smaller than others, the important thing is that they all have a gradual regular growth rate.
 
I cannot understand your comment that it is common for at least one kit in a litter to die.

When I helped with hedgehogs, they were weighed every day and a record kept to make sure they were gaining weight and as an alert if they were losing or not gaining.
 
I was just going by what some rabbit breeders told me.

I used to rescue poorly hedgehogs I've saved many of them in the past. I will be keeping a record of the bunnies weight. I will weigh them every other day.
 
Regarding Coccidiosis I don't think any of my bunnies have it however I would still not rule it out. None are displaying symptoms of Corridiosis. I do have treatment on hand for Coccidiosis just encase an outbreak does break out. I have some Hakers Coxoid which can be used on rabbits but of course the dose will be different for bunnies and can be added to there drinking water or fed directly to them via syringe. I have all the doses written down as well. Hopefully I wont have to use it.

For now I just need to make sure they are eating enough and drinking enough fluids and I'll be keeping a record of there weight.

I have also found good homes for two of the baby bunnies in advanced, once they are 8 weeks of age they will be ready for there new home although I may give it about 10 weeks before they leave.
 
Lord Trellis said:
Regarding Coccidiosis I don't think any of my bunnies have it however I would still not rule it out. None are displaying symptoms of Corridiosis. I do have treatment on hand for Coccidiosis just encase an outbreak does break out. I have some Hakers Coxoid which can be used on rabbits but of course the dose will be different for bunnies and can be added to there drinking water or fed directly to them via syringe. I have all the doses written down as well. Hopefully I wont have to use it.

For now I just need to make sure they are eating enough and drinking enough fluids and I'll be keeping a record of there weight.

I have also found good homes for two of the baby bunnies in advanced, once they are 8 weeks of age they will be ready for there new home although I may give it about 10 weeks before they leave.
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You will need to get them vaccinated and neutered before rehoming. Selling them entire means they could be used for breeding. That just contributes to the Rescue Crisis we are now facing :cry:

Have you home checked the buyers ?
 
The home they are going too is a good home with lots of space for them to run about in. I won't be making any money on them but I don't mind as long as the bunnies are going to good homes. The person who the two bunnies are going to has offered to pay for there jabs they said they would have them neutered too. They strike me as very responsible good pet owners. I viewed there home last Thursday but nothing had been set in stone until yesterday.
 
I found it very difficult to find homes, as Jane says mine were already vaccinated which was a big cost to me and I had 2x boys neutered and 1x female who I had to keep back a bit longer until she could be spayed. I got absolutely loads of responses/offers for homes, but people then either refused to be home checked or their accommodation wasn't suitable, they only wanted 1 rabbit when they needed to go to be bonded. The two boys ended up staying together and went to a fab home. The girl since I had her 6 months already I found harder to let go, so she ended up staying. I'm glad she did as at 2 years old she developed a tumour in her lung and needed a specialist referral and maxed out her £2,000 insurance in one month.
 
Lord Trellis said:
The home they are going too is a good home with lots of space for them to run about in. I won't be making any money on them but I don't mind as long as the bunnies are going to good homes. The person who the two bunnies are going to has offered to pay for there jabs they said they would have them neutered too. They strike me as very responsible good pet owners. I viewed there home last Thursday but nothing had been set in stone until yesterday.
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People can say they will neuter, but not do so. The only way to guarantee they won’t be used for breeding is to have them neutered yourself. . Liz has explained how to rehome responsibly so as not to perpetuate the cycle of more and more Rabbits coming into the world. If a Rescue allows a Baby Rabbit to go to a new home whilst too young to neuter it is done on condition that the Rabbit is returned to the Rescue’s Vet when old enough for the procedure. This is part of a Contract of Adoption the the Adopter has to sign. It is very rare for a reputable Rescue to rehome an un-neutered Rabbit.
 
You can advertise them on the rehoming section on here and rabbit re-home, although the rehoming section on here sadly isn't as active as it used to be
 
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