With dwarf rabbits there are a lot of considerations concerning their digestive tract, namely, one has to be very diligent in observing the little hoppers as they tend to have gastrointestinal issues galore as a rule.
Most recently we have been treating what we believe to be coccidiosis, a disease that can affect the intestines and liver and one that is caused by opportunistic pathogens. This seems to be relatively common in younger rabbits and though it also affects older rabbits they have a tendency to become immune and just past the disease to the little ones.
Symptoms of the disease include slimy diarrhea, lack of appetite, fading or weight loss, emaciation, and occasionally it can be fatal if not treated. Most recently we had a 6 month old junior become symptomatic. The symptoms for our little guy included first the lack of appetite, he wasn't eating his daily ration, the second symptom was the nasty gelatinous diarrhea which led to a quick call to our breeder friend. It is so very important to closely watch the daily food intake of your rabbit to be able to discern immediately if there is a lack of feeding as this is almost always a reason for close observation.
Common treatment of this problem includes the use of Corid (Amprolium) as a preventative in both the spring (before temperatures rise) and fall (before temperatures drop). The administration is easy enough, it is just adding the powdered medication to water (for the 20% powdered solution we used 1 tsp powder to 1 gallon water) and offering it as the only source of water for 5 days (longer- up to 21 days for acute infections like we were dealing with). It is also recommended to treat your entire herd to ensure you won't have re-contamination. At the moment we have a pregnant doe and we will not treat her until after she kindles as the medication seems to do well in mammal milk but has not been studied during gestation.
Another wise choice to control infection is to spray out the rabbit hutches with vinegar or bleach solution to aid in killing the disease.
Within 2 days our little guy had returned to his normal ornery self and was ready to eat whatever was put in front of him again. This is an important medication to pick up at your local Tractor Supply Store and keep handy in your bunny medicine cabinet so that you can use it immediately as necessary.
Most recently we have been treating what we believe to be coccidiosis, a disease that can affect the intestines and liver and one that is caused by opportunistic pathogens. This seems to be relatively common in younger rabbits and though it also affects older rabbits they have a tendency to become immune and just past the disease to the little ones.
Symptoms of the disease include slimy diarrhea, lack of appetite, fading or weight loss, emaciation, and occasionally it can be fatal if not treated. Most recently we had a 6 month old junior become symptomatic. The symptoms for our little guy included first the lack of appetite, he wasn't eating his daily ration, the second symptom was the nasty gelatinous diarrhea which led to a quick call to our breeder friend. It is so very important to closely watch the daily food intake of your rabbit to be able to discern immediately if there is a lack of feeding as this is almost always a reason for close observation.
Common treatment of this problem includes the use of Corid (Amprolium) as a preventative in both the spring (before temperatures rise) and fall (before temperatures drop). The administration is easy enough, it is just adding the powdered medication to water (for the 20% powdered solution we used 1 tsp powder to 1 gallon water) and offering it as the only source of water for 5 days (longer- up to 21 days for acute infections like we were dealing with). It is also recommended to treat your entire herd to ensure you won't have re-contamination. At the moment we have a pregnant doe and we will not treat her until after she kindles as the medication seems to do well in mammal milk but has not been studied during gestation.
Another wise choice to control infection is to spray out the rabbit hutches with vinegar or bleach solution to aid in killing the disease.
Within 2 days our little guy had returned to his normal ornery self and was ready to eat whatever was put in front of him again. This is an important medication to pick up at your local Tractor Supply Store and keep handy in your bunny medicine cabinet so that you can use it immediately as necessary.
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