New Zealand Rabbit problems

[randr ranch]

My daughter's New Zealand Rabbit had a sudden miscarriage 2 days ago. She is about 8 months old and did not begin making a nest. We didn't see any problems with the mom yesterday and today we found her seizing. She stopped briefly and then a 2nd one followed. She died during that one. It is a sad day, but we are also concerned about her 2nd rabbit which got pregnant at the same time from the same buck. They were right next to each other separated by chicken wire. The rabbits were given garlic and grapefruit seed extract right before they were bred. Any ideas as to what caused this and if we could have prevented it?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Why the garlic and grapefruit seed? What else are you feeding? Generally rabbits should get pellets, and lots of hay.

 

[randr ranch]

They are in rabbit tractors giving them access to a new patch of forage each day, along with rabbit pellets and hay. She was told the garlic and grapefruit seed extract would strengthen their immune systems and work as a dewormer.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

@Bunnylady May have an idea. Hopefully she comes by.

 

[cassie]

Cut out the garlic and the grapefruit seed. I have no idea if it is harmful or not, but the rabbits sure don't need it. You are a lot better off to feed the rabbits pellets and hay, period.

 

[randr ranch]

Thank you for your posts.

 

[Bunnylady]

A rabbit might miscarry as the result of a major stress, but combined with the seizures sounds to me like your rabbit was poisoned by something. The likeliest way would be eating something; domestic rabbits may not know what plants they shouldn't eat. A lot of plants are toxic to rabbits, garlic (and other members of the onion family) included.

Sorry about your loss.

 

[randr ranch]

Thank you. The garlic was feed one time about a month ago on the advice of the person we bought her from. We should have not taken the advice blindly as I now see that it actually works as an immunosuppressive and some rabbits can have an anaphyacltic reaction just like onions. We always check new forage (it is a mix of grasses) before moving them. Maybe we missed something. It has been raining, so wild onion chives and mushrooms are popping up all over the place.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It may just have been a weird fluke. I personally like bringing the forage to the rabbit so I can control what they are getting, but even than you never know. Hopefully it was just a one time thing. If it happens to the other one than you may have to change things up.

 

[randr ranch]

I can see the benefits of bringing forage to them. Besides being annoyed by the constant attention her other rabbits are doing great. We're reading a bunch of rabbit books to see what we can do better for them.