Losing Rabbits....feed issues

It was both with sadness and relief that I read the article about feed problems in this edition of the NMRRC (National Mini Rex Rabbit Club) newsletter. Sadness in that others were losing their rabbits and relief that we weren’t terrible owners and doing something wrong.

In the past eleven days we have lost 14 rabbits. The first two died on Sunday, July 13th while we were attending a show in Sandpoint, ID. It was a Mini Lop doe and one of her 4-week old babies. We suspected it was due to the heat. It was about 90 degrees which is unusual for our Pacific Northwest area.

We returned home and all seemed ok. While we were gone, Dad had bought two 50# bags of feed and filled the feed barrels.

Tuesday a couple of Mini Lop juniors and a Cinnamon junior were not looking well. Emily suspected poor feed after finding loose corn in the rabbit feed and in the pellets themselves. These were the bags that had just been bought over the weekend while we were gone. We immediately stopped feeding the pellets and put everyone on grass hay.

The next day we lost one Mini Rex buck that we had just added to our herd in June. He was about 2 years old and the junior Mini Lops were fading fast.

All had similar symptoms – listless, seemed bloated and constipated. Some however developed diarrhea.

Emily called others local breeders who had experienced recent feed problems and started trying other remedies such as giving them yogurt and terramycin.

Friday night she called and left a message for Washington State Dept of Agriculture to see about feed testing. Over the weekend a Cinnamon buck we shipped to California died. The doe that was also shipped is doing fine. We then lost several junior Mini Lops.

Only two other adult Mini Lops have experienced any problems. One has recovered while one is still on our “watch” list. We lost one Senior Cinnamon doe and 4 of another Cinnamon litter. No Mini Rex other than the first one has been affected.

Through persistence, Emily has talked with our WSDA representative and he is looking into the issue. Although we know of other breeders that have had problems, the WSDA was unaware of many of these. Our representative is checking with other reps to find how widespread the problem is in Washington.

We did have the feedbags and tags from the last bags that we feel were the source of the problem. However, in order for them to test it, they needed an unopened bag. The feed store claimed to be out of the feed. (However, Emily had went into the store over the weekend and told them she was having problems. I have to wonder if the feed was pulled.)

The WSDA representative has been very helpful and has called back with any updates – even non-updates. He put us in touch with the WSU (Washington State University School of Veterinary Medicine) office in Pullman, WA and we just sent 2 rabbits over for necropsy. The fee will be $45 per rabbit. If they feel tissue testing is needed and warranted that is $25 extra. This is very reasonable considering any veterinary office we found that could do it would charge in excess of $400 and was going to need to send out for any tissue testing.

We are awaiting the results of the necropsies now. We still have a couple of Mini Lops that are not looking as perky as they should but we are hoping the worst is over.

Suggestions we received from the WSDA and a WSU Professor of Veterinary Medicine that might be helpful for others:

· Report any problems as soon as possible
· Keep food samples and put those in the freezer
· Keep an unopened bag of feed with the same lot number if at all possible (or pick up another bag with that lot number at the feed store)
· Animals that may need necropsies should be refrigerated and not frozen

(As an animal science major, Emily did her own little necropsies on 2 of the rabbits. We do have pictures that show the rabbits were extremely bloated with gas and fecal material especially in the small intestine. )