More uplifting blog!

So my last blog I was really worried and very overwhelmed. This blog is a little more uplifting.

We got 80% of the rabbits back on track and eating, and then up to 90%.

As of yesterday we had 2 rabbits we were very worried about. So, we made a vet appt for the 2 rabbits at Prevost Vet Clinic with 1 of their 2 rabbit vets. Things went well-- temperature on both rabbits was normal, she couldn't feel any blockages or anything abnormal besides both were bloated and a bit gassy.(she also felt this would be a feed problem, not water).

We had been feeding them pumpkin so they wouldn't be blocked and she told us to keep up with that, and the pineapple juice. Lots of hay which they are getting(alfalfa, orchard grass and straw) and keep trying to get them to eat pellets. Well, as of last night neither rabbit would eat pellets and were drinking very little water, however neither were dehydrated. We've completely switched them over to a local feed 16%(Shar Kare) which another local breeder feeds her Mini lops and hasn't had any problems so we will feed this feed for now. We may end up mixing with another 16% brand down the road(Nature's Mix) but we will see.

The entire "main" barn is back up and eating except "Ada" who we took to the vet yesterday. Cezanne(mini rex) is not eating great but she is eating. We tried a mix of Martens and Shar Kare thinking the rabbits would love the expensive "pet" food which is an extruded feed that only comes in biggest I think 10kg bags(unless you want the "imitation" which is a 20kg bag but.... This food is $7 for a small bag(2 ice cream pails of feed max per bag you can get) or $15 for the 10kg and $30-35 for the imitation feed! Not exactly cheap to feed 120 rabbits.. Anyway.. the rabbits DID NOT like it!

The mini rex never really went off feed besides Cezanne and Fireball. Fireball went back on feed right away but Cezanne has been extra picky... She loves the bread, bananas and parsley and all the "extras" she has been getting.

The lower barn "Jersey & Fuzzy barn" has been a bit more difficult... Starting at the front left side- well basically this entire barn was not eating like the main barn but instead of only 2 days like the main barn it took them 5 to get even touching pellets again.. sigh.. Prince is eating again same with BlackBerry Billy, Mini lop X 2 never went off feed in this barn(one day but after that back to eating). One jersey doe finally ate her full feed today! Yeah! 2 of them were eating totally fine and didn't touch pellets last night at all.. sigh.. but had ate orchard grass and alfalfa so may have just filled up on that. Tonight they were eating so that is a good sign. I got Mara eating- really worried about her as she wasn't eating at all but she is back on track, and the jr bucks are all on track. All the fuzzies are on track(eating just fine!). One fuzzy jr doe has not been eating that great for the past 2 nights but did eat hay and flatted barley tonight so I think she is going to be back on track- got gas drops and pumpkin today as well.

Other side of that barn almost all in the first half are eating except Butch(went to the vet), and then next half all are eating except a jr sable point buck and jr smoke pearl buck- really fighting with those 2 they just don't want to eat pellets(sigh), and an old JW buck(Cyclone) is eating just not great, an opal buck, and one more sable point buck "Munchkin" but all are eating just not a lot.. So it is all looking up! WHEW! However, they are consuming a ton of hay of the 3 kinds so things are definitely looking better.

It is a huge pressure off our shoulders slowly getting them eating. I don't think we could have worried anymore!

So now it is basically to keep them eating(we still don't know why they suddenly went of feed?). The feed company has been great and pulled samples to test and didn't find anything wrong with the feed. A friend (only person we've found that has the same batch #) fed it to her cals and so far no problems). We hadn't changed anything else so we just don't know what caused it. Municipality says no changes in the water, and we did bottled water and Chemainus water and that didn't change anything.

The rabbits all did lose condition because of this, however being on feed again for the past 2-3 days they will come back up to condition shortly.(they went onto Shar Kare feed last Saturday(this has been going on for over a week now) but none of them were really back on feed until Wednesday and Thursday this week. Something tasted funny to them or something because they just wouldn't even touch the pellets(Shar Kare). We've also given some alfalfa pellets but most of the "little guys" find them to big and won't eat them. However, the mini lops are eating a few. We still don't know as I've said before why they are suddenly back on track and eating- when they wouldn't touch the Shar Kare pellets from last Saturday when we bought them, to this Wednesday and Thursday(same batch) but whatever bugged them seems to have corrected? We didn't lose any rabbits(touch wood) however a couple of the weaned mini lop babies lost a lot of weight. All were treated for Cocci and off treatment around the 22nd of October, Jerseys were almost finished Cocci treatment but were pulled off it because of this last week. They will need to go back on it once they are back on track. For now I'm not worrying about that with them! I just want to make sure the fuzz balls are eating and okay!


Kim & Cristina
Thanks to everyone that sent advice, phoned and offered all your help and guidance! It is really great having such awesome friends!