# 4/5 week old kits occasionally dying........



## CJBegins (Nov 20, 2009)

DH and I are newbies to raising rabbits and are having good success getting does bred and delivering fair sized litters. I also work Fri, Sat, & Sun every weekend and am not home until Sunday night.

I have had babies die at the 4/5 week old range for now know reason. Of coarse I am never here when it happens. I have never noticed any of them being "off". No diarrhea, snotty noses, runny eyes, coats look good, eating pellets with mom and drinking from the water bottle.

The has happened with 3 different litters, different does. Is this a vulnerable time for them as they transition from primarily nursing to eating solids?


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## LilElk (Jan 16, 2007)

Are your does related? Had same problem years ago, found does were related. Culled them that seemed to help though still lost one or two a year at that age Sometimes you just do not know why you lose a bunnie Someone else might have better answer.


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## GraceAlice (Jun 7, 2013)

Sounds like enteritis. It is when they transition from milk to solid food, and their gut flora becomes imbalanced.


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

I had that problem a few years back...it was only 1 doe though(or else I might look at husbandry issues or things). It happened with this particular doe over & over again...no runny bottoms and hers were weaned at least 2 weeks when half the litter would fall over dead(in moderate temps even). I noticed no signs of illness with her...but started wondering if she was a carrier of something I wasn't aware of...and honestly she wasn't the best doe, so it wasn't the vet fee to find out. I culled her.

Weaning enteritis can happen and does Occasionally in my opinion(I expect my does to produce & raise with minimal issues though and these are the girls and their daughters I keep)...but for 3 different does and with more than 1 litter...I wouldn't be to keen on having this reoccur. I guess it depends on how frequently, how many and if it's every litter or every doe. Things will happen occasionally, but if it doesn't become a surprise to me anymore...it's too frequently. 

Good luck to you and hope you don't see this again for awhile.


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

If they are not related...look at what all 3 does have in common and what they have had in common with their litters...I would guess something outside of the does themselves(I think that is what they mean by husbandry:shrug:...feed, conditions,enviorment, common stressors,etc.?)


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

what type of cage are you using -All wire hanging , wood n wire , or on the ground . with them no having runny stools? are there bellies swelled up ? have you heard them grinding there teeth ? you can try worming I have pour on ivomec cattle wormer a few drops in the ear or between the sholder blades . years ago I had trouble with cocidise (bad spelling ?) causeing me to loose weening age kits I used a cattle type medicin in the water to clear it up along with getting my cages up off of the wooden stands and hanging them up and a through cleaning problems ended . if you suspect this hopefully some one with more recint experience than I can offer you better advice .


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## GraceAlice (Jun 7, 2013)

If it is enteritis, their bellies will be hard and bloated after they die. They don't usually show any other symptoms even before they die.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

They are sensitive right around weaning and many things can cause problems. Next one that dies cut it open if you can and look at the organs. Pictures can be posted to the forum with a graphic title warning if you don't know what you are looking at. 

A little hay can help prevent weaning problems like enteritis because it makes it easier for them to adjust to solid food and provides more fiber to keep the digestive tract moving. Most breeders don't seem to give regular hay but many do give it once a week to everyone, to does for nesting, and sometimes more often to weaning kits.

I would also scrub the cages down. It could be something like a cocci infection or some type of bacterial infection that the falling poop and especially any stuck poop has left on the wire. Mine just dropped over dead right as they were weaning because mom's immunity would run out and their immune system hadn't started yet.

If your vet will do an inexpensive fecal you can check for parasites. They can spread between cages through sharing feeding and watering supplies, moving rabbits around, or sometimes even urine being sprayed at each other. Parasites usually don't cause them to just fall over dead but with the other stresses of weaning it could be pushing an infected organ to the limit.


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## CJBegins (Nov 20, 2009)

Okay so lots of good info and brings up more questions. 

I have 3 does. Two are sisters. Sister one hasn't had any losses, sister two has lost two from a previous litter and one from this litter. Third doe is unrelated and lost 5 of 9 in one weekend all different dates. All are in wire cages set on wood frames. The third doe has more outside exposure due to her cage placement. 

I haven't seen a body due to DH removing them before I get home. We feed primarily pellets with hay less often. I see them drink and eat at every feeding. I remove the nest boxes at 4 weeks because I thought maybe the does were squishing the kits but that doesn't seem to be the case. 

For cocci infection is scrubbing the cages the only treatment. Can I medicate them like I would my goats? I can do fecals, just never thought about doing the on the bunnies...just the goats and cows.


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

I have not seen cocci infections personally...but I have heard mygoat mention her battle with it previously...you might want to send her a pm for info about it...I believe there are meds for it...along with scrubbingeep:


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