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

[chinbunny]

They are on purina right now. Didn't have any problems until they finished off the last of the bag. There was lots of corn in it. Next time I see corn, I am taking the bag back.

 

[sandyj]

YIKES!!! My bunnys live with the chickens and they all eat the cracked corn. (Of course, they both have their own food too.) For chickens, I've heard it help keep them warm. I better change that right away!!! I don't want anyone sick!!!!

sandyj

 

[chinbunny]

Quote:
Thats oneof the reasons why chickens and rabbits should not be kept together. They can't handle the corn in the chicken. It can produce some toxins that can be deadly to them.

One more thing I found out tonight is that purina rabbit chow discontinued their old formula. They replaced it with a new that has corn in it. Wonderful. Guess I will be giving them acid pak 4 way, and aqualyte from now on.

 

[gypsy2621]

Quote:
Yep she is right. Lots of people are seeing this. I just hate that ARBA wrote it off as the weather. Basially the vet said oh well guys, tough luck., its just a coincidence. Sorry but weather isn't whiping out the rabbit herds here in the midwest. Its a virus or feed.
one bunny is pooping, and eating a litte hay.

I have given the other terramycin, albon, a laxative, ginger, pen g, baytril, apple cider vinegar, anti-gas drops, and tummy rubs. Nothing is working. The ginger was th last thing I tried, so we will give it a few hours to see if it works. Its supposed to get their gut moving. I don't want to fork out another vet bill just so I can go get them some reglan.

I did order acid pak, and aqualyte from bunnyrabbit.com. Shipping was expensive. I have no way to get to a show now, so the only way for me to get it is online.

If it was coincidence it wouldn't be the second year in a row with this problem.
also if it was coincidence there wouldn't be so many other breeders losing rabbits from it.
Janell the one thing we have found is Sub Q fluids will get them through the early stages of it, major issue is the dehydration, if you can manually keep them hydrated the chance of survival goes up to 80 %

like I said on the other thread this has got to be more feed related, other wise it wouldn't be so wide spread.
my thoughts from battling this for 2 years with friends,is that there is something in the grain, IE: mold, toxin of some kind botulism, ecoli etc
It seems to come back like this , once every bun is cleared up for a little while the second wave happens,
the up side is unfortunately that once this round goes through it wont come back until spring when the new feed products start arriving.
this seems to be the only consistent thing about whats happening, it happens in spring and fall, right about the time the feed companies are changing the feed.

Corn is indigestible for one thing, secondly it has no nutritional value, its a filler plain and simple. empty fat calories. good for only putting unneeded weight on humans and animals. oh and to why they still are using it? its cheaper than real grass type products.
but also its very prone to molds, and a type of ergot, http://www.referencecenter.com/ref/reference/ergot/ergot?invocationType=ar1clk&flv=1
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/ustilago.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot

I am totally disgusted the ARBA vet wont look into it deeper and help the breeders with the problems.

 

[chinbunny]

Quote:
Yep she is right. Lots of people are seeing this. I just hate that ARBA wrote it off as the weather. Basially the vet said oh well guys, tough luck., its just a coincidence. Sorry but weather isn't whiping out the rabbit herds here in the midwest. Its a virus or feed.
one bunny is pooping, and eating a litte hay.

I have given the other terramycin, albon, a laxative, ginger, pen g, baytril, apple cider vinegar, anti-gas drops, and tummy rubs. Nothing is working. The ginger was th last thing I tried, so we will give it a few hours to see if it works. Its supposed to get their gut moving. I don't want to fork out another vet bill just so I can go get them some reglan.

I did order acid pak, and aqualyte from bunnyrabbit.com. Shipping was expensive. I have no way to get to a show now, so the only way for me to get it is online.

If it was coincidence it wouldn't be the second year in a row with this problem.
also if it was coincidence there wouldn't be so many other breeders losing rabbits from it.
Janell the one thing we have found is Sub Q fluids will get them through the early stages of it, major issue is the dehydration, if you can manually keep them hydrated the chance of survival goes up to 80 %

like I said on the other thread this has got to be more feed related, other wise it wouldn't be so wide spread.
my thoughts from battling this for 2 years with friends,is that there is something in the grain, IE: mold, toxin of some kind botulism, ecoli etc
It seems to come back like this , once every bun is cleared up for a little while the second wave happens,
the up side is unfortunately that once this round goes through it wont come back until spring when the new feed products start arriving.
this seems to be the only consistent thing about whats happening, it happens in spring and fall, right about the time the feed companies are changing the feed.

Corn is indigestible for one thing, secondly it has no nutritional value, its a filler plain and simple. empty fat calories. good for only putting unneeded weight on humans and animals. oh and to why they still are using it? its cheaper than real grass type products.
but also its very prone to molds, and a type of ergot,( http://www.referencecenter.com/ref/reference/ergot/ergot?invocationType=ar1clk&flv=1)
( http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/ustilago.html )

I am totally disgusted teh ARBA vet wont look into it deeper and help the breeders with the problems.

Did you see the message he wrote everyone that had asked him for help? It was ent to me. A lot of people believed him, and sent it onto the rabbit lists!

Also. i am really discusted with purina rabbit chow right now. They changed the old formula and added ground corn. What a bunch of Idiots. I hope they realize they may end up killing a lot of rabbits by doing that.

Where can you get sub q fluids at? Can you get them at tsc tractor supply?

 

[gypsy2621]

NO unfortunately you have to get everything you need from the vet.
once they see that sub q works they will generally give you the fluids needles and a quick course how to administer it.
of course you have to find a vet more willing to treat at home rather than giving all your money to them.
There are a few out there who will do this with out giving you garbage about how its only preformed in office.

yeah purina was last years big winner for threatning lawsuits for lible when it was found to be a feed issue.
carefull with them.

 

[dragonchick]

Its a bit of a fib but generally if you go to a vet that doesn't treat goats, you can ask for lactated ringers without the IV set up for a baby goat that is dehydrated. Draw the solution up in a large syringe and administer under the skin. I can get it here for $15/bag. Even if you don't have goats you can tell them that is what its for. Generally they will give it to you as newborn goats are famous for really quick dehydration. No vet I have met will give you the IV setup(tubing and butterfly needle) because they don't believe the general animal husband knows how to use it unless specifically shown by their office. This entails a usually expensive office visit

 

[gypsy2621]

Quote:
true enough most vets dont think people can handle how to do sub q,
Thankfully there are a few who listen when they are told and then shown that the average person off the street does in fact know how to accomplish the administration.
Thankfully here we have quite a few vets how will actually sell the necessary set ups for sub Q fluids.
all the lines and caths are not necessary though, it can be done with a syringe and needle as long as its the correct gauge.
totally forgot about the goat fib, but here more and more vets are not trained to doctor anything larger than cats and dogs.
long gone are the big animal vets, and if your lucky to find them they are very expensive.

 

[chinbunny]

I am pretty sure I won't be able to find a vet that will sell me it over the counter like that. Not even the guy that sometimes sells me cheap drugs over the counter. They would want a full vet visit for sure. I don't think these bunnies are going to make it anyhow. They are that bad.

See purina is the only thing that wasn't kiling my rabbits, until I got that bag full of corn. Now its all got corn in it! I told tsc tractor supply to watch that feed, and explained to them that the corn in it can kill a rabbit. We will see how it goes. I think purina screwed this one up big time. And we get to wait a year for the 'corn free' formula to hit the shelves. What are they thinkig?

 

[Soccer Mom]

Oh man. I just bought a new big bag of the Purina too.

Now I'm going to have to watch my rabbits like a hawk. Thanks for the heads up. What on earth possessed them to fill their product with corn?