sawfish99
Loving the herd life
Over the past week, we have had 3 kits and 2 does (both with litters) die. Neither of the does that died have had any kits die. Of the 3 kits that died, all 3 were 11-12 weeks old, from 2 different litters. Only 2 of the 5 that have died so far have been from the same cage. The only things in common between the rabbits are they eat the same food and get water from the same source. None of the rabbits showed any sign of distress prior to being found dead.
Based on the loss so far, I decided to go ahead and slaughter the 2 litters that were 12 weeks old. 1.5 weeks ago, I weighed 3 rabbits from those 2 litters and they averaged 4.4 lbs, which historically would have resulted in a 2.2lb packaged rabbit. However, I only had 2 that were 2.0lbs packaged, and none higher. Which makes me think, they were losing weight.
When I slaughtered the 11 kits, I did note 1 litter showed signs of wet poop. Additionally, every rabbit from that litter had a sloshy gut - a lot more liquid in the digestive tract, including intestines, than I normally see.
Our immediate assumption is coccidia outbreak. However, I am confused about how it is transferring between the cages. We have sanitized all the waters in from every cage. We are adding meds to all the water to try and stop the coccidia, if that is the source.
There was one other odd thing I noticed in a single kit when slaughtering. While most didn't have very much urine in the bladder, 1 did have a full bladder. And that bladder was cloudy, like "mother" in an organic drink. I have never noticed that in the over 100 rabbits I have slaughtered.
12 weeks ago, we switched our entire rabbitry to Countryside Organic rabbit feed. Since we have never had an outbreak like this, and nothing else changed in our husbandry practices, I am wondering if there a possible link to the feed change, and in particular, if the rabbits might be dying from something other than coccidia.
Any thoughts?
Based on the loss so far, I decided to go ahead and slaughter the 2 litters that were 12 weeks old. 1.5 weeks ago, I weighed 3 rabbits from those 2 litters and they averaged 4.4 lbs, which historically would have resulted in a 2.2lb packaged rabbit. However, I only had 2 that were 2.0lbs packaged, and none higher. Which makes me think, they were losing weight.
When I slaughtered the 11 kits, I did note 1 litter showed signs of wet poop. Additionally, every rabbit from that litter had a sloshy gut - a lot more liquid in the digestive tract, including intestines, than I normally see.
Our immediate assumption is coccidia outbreak. However, I am confused about how it is transferring between the cages. We have sanitized all the waters in from every cage. We are adding meds to all the water to try and stop the coccidia, if that is the source.
There was one other odd thing I noticed in a single kit when slaughtering. While most didn't have very much urine in the bladder, 1 did have a full bladder. And that bladder was cloudy, like "mother" in an organic drink. I have never noticed that in the over 100 rabbits I have slaughtered.
12 weeks ago, we switched our entire rabbitry to Countryside Organic rabbit feed. Since we have never had an outbreak like this, and nothing else changed in our husbandry practices, I am wondering if there a possible link to the feed change, and in particular, if the rabbits might be dying from something other than coccidia.
Any thoughts?