July came in like a heat wave, and while it is now past, the true heat of Summer is just starting. I had a great start with my heard this year, my bucks took First and Best of Breed in the last show. Two nest boxes full of promising kits, and things couldn’t be better. Then mid July came. As usual, I turned on the AC to keep the bunnies cool in our 100 + temperatures. Then one evening, after throwing a Pizza in the oven, I ran outside to feed. However, when I got out to the barn (only about 4-5 yards from the back door) I found two of my older kits dead in their nest box. I was sad, but thought perhaps it got too hot for them, however, this did not seem likely as the barn was 65 degrees. Then I thought perhaps they needed more milk then their mom wanted to give them now that she was weaning. But that too, seemed unlikely as this was my best mom and this was her 4th litter, I only breed her once or twice per year as I still show her when she does not have little ones. So I wasn’t sure what had happened to the kits.
Confused, I continued to feed everyone starting with hay, then pellets. That’s when things got worse. My new doe sneezed and started acting like she was choking. I encouraged her to get a drink of water, while she did not drink, she did seem to calm down. She also had green discharge coming from her nose. Then I remembered that I had the oven on in the house and ran inside to turn it off as I already knew that I would be outside for a while. Upon returning to the barn, the new doe was in her nest box in obvious distress. I could tell that even if there was a Heimlich Maneuver for rabbits, there was no way I could successfully and safely, for the doe, administer it as she was thrashing too much. So I did the only thing I could do, pull her three, 2 week old kits out of the nest box before she hurt them with all her thrashing. Before I got the last kit out, the doe was dead. From the time she first sneezed to the time she passed was less than 4 minuets.
So in one evening I lost 3 rabbits, one of which, was my new brood doe. With sudden deaths I was concerned that their may be some kind of sickness in my barn. And by now, it was too late call my rabbit veterinarian. So I called the emergency phone for Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Colorado State University. They agreed that there was cause for concern and gave me directions so I could turn in the bodies of the rabbits for a necropsy. During the next few weeks, I had to function as if there was a highly infectious disease in my barn. We (the hospital and I) were afraid that my rabbits may have picked up Tularemia which is life threatening and is transferable to Humans and other mammals. Not only do I have rabbits and chickens, I also have dogs and a cat; all except the chickens would be at risk of infection if I was dealing with something serious. Add to that the fact that I now had three, 2 week old kits to try and raise while at the same time “not interacting with the rabbits as much as possible”. So I shut down my place, no animals in and no animals out. I didn’t even take the dogs on a walk, poor puppies. I would spray myself down with disinfectant before I entered the house after each visit to the barn, I washed the clothes I wore in the barn immediately in hot water after I came in, and I didn’t let the dogs in or near the barn. It felt like an eternity before the hospital called with the diagnosis. However, I knew peace of mind would be worth the wait. During this time one of the orphaned kits died due to eating kitten formula as it was all I had on hand. A second kit was puny, and she did later die, but the third one seemed to be doing alright.
Finally, I got the results back. No Tularemia!! Yea!! Here’s what did happen. The two kits died because they got laid on and suffocated. My guess is that, because they were having a hard time with weaning, they were too weak to get out from under the other rabbit. The new doe had Encephalitis which affected the part of her brain that controls swallowing. So she did choke, but it would have happened anyway as the condition got worse. As rabbits hide their sickness, there was no way for me to know she had Encephalitis when I got her. And at that time, it probably was not advanced enough for her to have any symptoms or anything show up on a test.
All told I lost 5 rabbits either directly (the ones who died on the same evening) or indirectly (the orphans who did not make it). So now, for rabbits, I have one breeding doe, two breeding bucks, one 6 week old baby; all Netherland Dwarfs and then Chester; my goofy French Angora.
While July was crazy, and stressful, I am thankful that there was and is NO infectious disease. If there had been, I know I would have had to cull my entire heard, majorly sanitized (if not replaced) the barn and who knows what else, in order to keep myself and my pets safe. So glad I did not have to do that! I am also thankful that “Army”, the only surviving kit from the Memorial Day Litter, is now enjoying her new home. My goal for the rest of this year is to get a couple good does with at least one being a Dwarf. Maybe one Dwarf and one Angora, or possibly a Dwarf doe, and a pair of Californias, I don’t know as I’m not sure how to best use the “extra space”. But I will definitely be getting another Dwarf doe. And I hope August is better. Until next time, Happy Hopping.
Laughing Lapins 