Here we go again. rabbit bloat/update purina rabbit chow changed formu

[AshtonHomestead]

Wow, you too huh? We are experiencing outbreaks heavily here in Ohio. I have contacted the ARBA (useless), our ARBA district director (supportive but clueless), vets (no rabbit experience) and the ODA (you want us to waste time on a rabbit?)... I've gotten nowhere except talking to other breeders. We breed commercially (over 200 head) for meat and a few show buns. So this isn;t our first rodeo. We have noticed the following: 1) rabbits are fine at one feeding, dead the nest 12 hours later. 2) no signs or symptoms before sudden death. 3) good appetites. 4) mostly losing 4-12 week old weanlings, a few young adults. 5) on necropsy by myself, a normal lower bowel is found, but above is a large, distended, gas and fluid filled dilated bowel and stomach = what they call "bloat." 6) when we went through this last spring, it spread in a pattern through our cages making me think contagious enteritis. this round, there is no pattern making me think feed. There are complaints being filed against MannaPro local batches. I usually feed another brand, but had to buy a few MannaPro bags to get me through and this is when I noticed rabbits dying. I have lost over $2500 worth of fryers and 2 prized show angoras. I have taken my whole barn off feed and put them on hay which seems to calm the irritation in the gut. Pancur worked before but as you said, nothing is working this time. I am not accepting this is due to the weather, because my first outbreak was in March, its now October. Yeah, right.
Any additional info is appreciated! Strength in numbers rabbit people!! If we ban together and can get to the bottom of this we can beat it.

 

[Celie]

I am new to rabbits. It is my first year raising meat rabbits. A couple of months ago I lost a young doe, I was keeping to enlarge my breeding stock. She was healthy the night before, bloated and dead the next morning. I did not know why, so I opened her up and took a look, not knowing what to look for, but you have to start somewhere. I saw she was full of fluid and very badly bloated and that the lower intestine was empty. I then remembered reading somewhere that rabbits should be given a lot of hay or grass. I had been feeding fresh grass every day along with their pellets, but it has been raining every day and I was afraid if they did not eat it all right away, it might get mildew or mold and would be bad, so I had just given them the pellets, hoping the rain would stop. I decided right then and there to always give each one of them a handful of really good quality hay every single day. So far, thank God, everything has been working out fine. I also feed them a lot of produce out of the veggie garden, like cucumbers, swiss chard, carrot tops and broccoli. Can anyone tell me if BOSS is good for them? I have been feeding it to my Turkeys and chickens and the condition of their feathers has improved and it also is high in protein. I would very much like to hear from rabbit people about this. Also about the ACV, I put into the poultry's water? Thanks !

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Know this is an old thread, but adding another account of bad food. We had our two pet English lops on the food brand their breeder fed them, Mannapro. After getting a new bag of feed, we started having issues with gas and bloat with the rabbits, requiring extensive home treatment. They both recovered, and we made sure not to feed them an treats in case that was the issue. One morning, our doe seemed slightly off, but was eating/drinking/pooping just fine. My husband came home two hours later and found her dead. We were thinking at his point that she had somehow been poisoned by something in the house, or somehow picked up one of the terrible quick killing diseases that rabbits can get.

I fed my buck that night, and fairly immediately after eating, he started weaving and collapsing. He seemed disoriented, and couldn't walk right. I looked up the symptoms. Mycotoxin poisoning immediately came up. It isn't always evenly distributed through the food, so rabbits can get a bad pocket of it. I am fairly certain that the only reason my buck survived is because he was on a diet for being chubby, so was getting fewer pellets. Mycotoxin poisoning can cause permanent damage to organs, and our buck has had chronic issues with gas and bloating ever since.

Now our buck and new doe get oxbow hay and oxbow pellets only. We have not had issues with the brand, and have not heard of others having issues with it. I think the pellets especially are too expensive for rabbit breeders to use, but something for people with pet rabbits to consider. Our rabbits are kept indoors, so for people telling you all that it is the weather or a disease...well, that obviously wasn't the case with our indoor rabbits! I would like to breed rabbits one day, and plan on growing their own food, as well as putting our other animals on a home raised diet. I can't imagine losing a whole colony to food that is marketed as being safe and ideal. Losing one rabbit to it was painful enough.

 

[AshtonHomestead]

Ever since these outbreaks I have heard more and more about mycotoxin poisoning. Unfortunately, what I am finding is that research shows no real evidence of harm caused by this, but breeders and owners speak otherwise (and strongly too!). So at this point, there are no mandated recalls and feed suppliers are not claiming responsibility for feed which is killing thousands of animals... I want to stress strenght in numbers here and if more breeders can compare lot numbers, suppliers, etc we might have a leg to stand on and get something moving to regulate mycotoxin poisoning! I am spending a lot of my days researching this, gathering info and stories and I am linear minded so I intend to see this through!

 

[punk-a-doodle]

If anyone is interested, here are two papers on mycotoxins that relate specifically to rabbits:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...toOdha&sig=AHIEtbTx9l3lUpvZqyV98ErVtxaKtR26DA

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...djBwRS&sig=AHIEtbQYbJVjeH3aBFJQnw6fgUK5Jh9a4Q

 

[tippy-the-hippy]

I know this thread is a few years old, But worth a shot. I am in Wooster, Ohio and started raising meat rabbits in May 2014. I had great health and luck with RKO brand 16% pellets and a grass hay. I also let my grow outs live in rabbit tractors on the ground. Problems started in Oct 2014 with bloat/enteritis in the grow outs. I had bought a new batch of hay that seemed to have more clover/alfalfa than usual. The sickness stayed with in just the grow outs...out of 25 I lost about 14, the rest either never got sick or recovered with intensive treatment. The local extension agency is of no help...they blame the weather. I noticed a large amount of corn and soy in the feed so i switched to manna pro...which said no corn. The enteritis then took the lives of not only my grow outs but it took down some adult breeders too! I switched to grass hay and purina pro 18% now only one or two grow outs are getting bloat symptoms. Feeling very upset that no one seems to care! I dont think it is viral/contagious as it doesnt really spread. it seems random! Bunnies on the ground and bunnies who never touch the ground equally get same sickness. One kit from a litter will die but none of the others become ill. I am getting ready to pull all pellets and just feed hay and possibly fodder?? I have no idea where to go, but losing all these rabbits is not cheap! I raise silver fox and american chins and these rabbits are expensive to replace.

 

[chickery-do]

Hi, I know this isn't part of what you guy's have been posting but I was hoping someone would know if they could help me. Please!

I raise German Giant Angora Hybrids and a friend of mine is 82 and would like me to take a few of her angora's to lighten her load.
My question is, their stored in a garage and she doesn't always get to clean the cages as well as I do. I'm concerned about bringing them
near my rabbits and they get flies or worm's. Is there anything I should so before mating her does with my buck. They look in good condition
but my cages are in my basement so it's much easier for me to keep you with them. Can I dust them with DEA on their body as I do with my
chickens? Or add it to their food as I also do. How much should I put in their food bowls?

Thank you soo much!