Losing rabbits

[chinbunny]

Gyspsy are you still on meat rabbits? You think you can post that there? There are people on there that are having the same problems I am. Only some of them are on different feeds. One lady on there had to disinfect her watering system, yet is still seeing the same problems. I am starting wonder if we've all got something viral going around thats in the air.

I know this lady is treating for coccidia but still had to cull a lot of rabbits.

 

[chinbunny]

From looking at backyard herds, I wonder if its the hay? A coupl eof weeks ago I was feeding kaytee because I can't find grass hay locally. I switched to the meijer brand. And come to think of it thats when the problems started happening. I am goona stop feeding it for awhil and see what happens.

If worse comes to worse I aill buy alfalfa locally and feed that instead.

 

[gypsy2621]

I know I have not made the corralation as to why they do better on the Manna rabbit grains unless its the higher fiber content?
I also know its down right scarey to say the least, when my friends went through this it seemed to skip some rabbits hit hard some of the others then turn around and whack the ones that got missed in the first go round.

I wonder also if by chance some of the grain got damp enough to grow a mold? and could be the reason for the skips?
I know its down right frustrating but the common factor in all this is the blockages, bloat and near instant death, seems to be feed related
Why it happens in spring fall and summer and the one in the winter really has me stymied. seems it would follow a normal weather pattern but it doesnt.
What I also dont understand and for a year have been trying to figure it out , not everyone has the problem. not every breed of rabbit. Susan and Andrew it was french lops and flemish, Nicole was french lops and hollands, Shannon with Satins and Americans.
other people have been californians and like yours the Chinchilla breeds. so not any one breed of rabbit.
seems the only sure factor comes in when there is a grain switch over.
I had shannon do her reg brand of feed against another brand of grain , the ones on the newer grain did fine no problemms, the ones on the reg feed were still dying.
I know you switch them over properly a little at a time over the course of a week or more. so it cant be a sudden switch doing it. Neither did the others whose rabbits died in the same manner.
I dont know I dont get it. but untill its resolved I think I woould stick with a grain that has not produced problems for me.
I have heard Kent is a good feed but the fiber content is lower, Unfortunately we cant get it here so I cant do a trial of bunnys to see if the same thing would happen.

This years hay and grass crops have me terrified to be honest, the North East has been under constant water, any hay that was cut is bound to have mold growing in it. I would be very careful feeding hays, and likely some grains right now.

 

[chinbunny]

I got the dreaded call tonight gypsy. The farm store has two sick ones. But their illness looks more like the coccidia I am used to dealing with. One is dying in the back room. The other I am gonna keep and see what happens. If it recovers it definately does not have what is going on in my barn. The other two they have at the store look fine, and they are keeping them under observation.

The thing is, I don't want to take rabbits to them and end up having problems with them from the feed change. I have been selling them rabbits for years, and this is the firsttime in a long time i have got the phone call. They also had kabob hay in the bin. I made them throw it out. They are going to clean the bin tonight.

I know a kent dealer. I am going to see if I can get ahold of him to let him know what is going on.

I just had another rabbit die on me tonight, and I ended up killing another.

I am not going to be selling anything for awhile until I get this under control. Probably not for another month.

The kent pellets are harder, so I wonder if they are having problems digesting them?

I actually had problems with purina a few years ago. Never any signs of bloat. They just dropped dead suddenly.

 

[chinbunny]

Also its not effecting my floridas or thriantas. just the chins and the mixed breeds.

 

[gypsy2621]

See thats the exact probllem , it doesnt attack every rabbit. it honestly makes no sense.

I was just talking with Nicole and she is having yet another round of it not as severe as last winter but bad enough to lose 2 more litters.
So I asked her if it was the survivors of the last round and she said No it was a different bunch of rabbits.
I have to wonder if it is the hay? does it smell fresh or does it have a slightly off smell, if it smells a little off then its possible its the hay.

Its also possible there is the slightest amount of mold in the bags coming from the Mill? maybe a combination of the 2 I dont know,
Nicole rarely feeds out hay
I am sorry you are losing so many its so heartbreaking.

I was just going through one of the Yahoo groups " I will Pm you the link.
going back through the out break feed discussion" on 10/08
there was some talk about an Ecoli outbreak in the feed , I have to research further if anything was ever conclusive with that or not, but I wonder if a necropsy looking specifically for Ecoli might not be a bad idea?
further looking there is also mention of Botchalism another reason for them dropping dead for no known reason.

 

[chinbunny]

yes thank you for the link. I was reading through some of the messages, and again the descriptions fit. I no longer feed purina because I had rabbits from it. I was feding manna pro, and started havinga fw die off. Was having some coccidia problems from it too. This has been two years after I started feeding it. Well now we are back on it. If I have any more problems with that, I am sure manna pro will help me fix it. Their reps are pretty nice.

The buck I have thats infected with it now is probably about eight months old.

One of the farm store bunnies died. i thinkthe other has coocidia. So he will be on albon, and if he makes it I will give him back to them.

Meijers is being fully cooperative if it is the hay. Have to take the bags back to them so they can file a report. My sick buck did eat the hay from last night, but didn't touch the feed.

sadly i have five more rabbits to bury tomorrow. Which is a lot for me since I don't run a big barn.

 

[chinbunny]

also the hay looks fine. Its not as stemmy as the kaytee I was feeding, but was nice and fresh looking. I still ha rabbits when I was feeding kaytee too.

So I am going to go no hay for awhile.

 

[gypsy2621]

seems to be a linking with the hay ? maybe I cant be sure.
as I mentioned in the Pm maybe have some of the grain and hay indipendantly tested to see if there is some type of contaminent.
seems there has to be a common factor for it to show up again after being quiet since Oct 08.
ETA:
I wonder how many other cases of this toximia has been nothing more than grain issues? And no one has picked up on it before it became a major issue last year?
I would be interested to find out.