[pigsatlesrues]

I hope you good people out there will be able to help me.  My friend has started breeding rabbits and had two successful litters.  She started with two does and a buck rabbit.  She had two litters, one now seven weeks old - mum NZ White, and a litter of around three weeks old - mum French Brown rabbit.

Hutches are in a cool corner and were cleaned thoroughly before use, and my friend is very attentive with fresh water during the day and they eat rabbit food/pellets and she pulls greens from the hedgerows and her garden when she walks the dog during the day.

Two days ago the brown rabbit was found dead in the hutch.  Babies were transferred to the NZ mum in a the hope that they could survive

Today the NZ White mum is lying dead in the hutch.  All babies so far are ok and the buck rabbit is ok.  Niether females showed any symptoms of illness and seemed very healthy the night before.  Both females appear to have died in the night.

Question - WHY?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If it were the greens surely the buck and the young ones would be affected.

They are not hot at all and bedding is changed regularly.

I have rabbits and I am stumped as to what to suggest.

Thanks everyone!

Kate

[Rosemary]

Can't help, I'm afraid, but sympathies to your friend. What a miserable thing to have happen.

[MrRee]

Sounds like either the brown French rabbit was diseased when bought,it passed to the kits and then infected the white NZ mum. Or,something tried to get at the kits for a meal and the mother died of shock after trying to protect them. Bit of a mystery really...... Ree

[Roxy]

I would immediately have said that the greens from the hedgerow were either poisonous or been sprayed with weedkiller or something, but like you said, the buck would be affected too.

I lost two rabbits in adjoining cages within two weeks of each other, and was puzzled as to why they died.  At the time I strongly suspected the greens I pulled from the lane may have been contaminated in some way - even from exhaust fumes from cars, but I don't know.

It could well be that one of the rabbits had some infection, which it passed on to the other rabbit, but if that was so, I would have thought the baby rabbits would have died too.

Can the little rabbits be bottle fed with the diddy bottles used for kittens, if no nursing rabbit was found.  My cat is due to have kittens any day, I am sure she would not notice an extra little one among them, so maybe a good mother cat is another option!!