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My baby rabbit.

22 10:03:53

Question
QUESTION: My rabbit had 5 babies Dec. 26. 4 of them are big and fat and healthy. But a black one is much smaller than them (the runt, I think) Yesterday I left and the runt was acting sorta weird before. He didn't move a bunch and when mom came around to feed. The others went crazy and he didn't. Today I came back to my house after an overnight thing for New years and couldn't find the black one. I looked and found him behind his nesting box. (I don;t know how, and the mom couldn't fit, so she didnt put him there.)When I picked him up he was real cold but alive. He's way smaller, skinnier, and doesn't move around as much as the others... I think he's unhealthy but I'm not sure.
Is he? If so, do you know whats wrong and if he'll live?

(Usually I hold the bunnies, the momma will come around and I'll set the bunny back down. She'll clean it and start feeding all of them. I usually see this once a day.)

And today, when I found the runt I set him in the nest, mom came to feed. The runt tried to eat, kinda, but didn't try very hard to eat and just layed down...

And I already layed a warm water bottle next to him, he's STILL not warm! (5 hours later.)


ANSWER: Hi Kylee. My first question is... Do you have a dwarf breed of rabbit. If so you may have a peanut. This is what we call babies that get two dwarf genes. They are only about half the size of the other babies when born and continue to fall behind  until they die. Peanuts never live. If your breed of rabbit is a full sized one I think probably your little black one was weaker than the others at birth and could not compete for the milk supply and has fallen behind the others. It is very hard for a little one to catch up once it has fallen behind as the others will push it out of the way while they pig out and the little one continues to weaken. It is not nice but it is the way nature weeds out the week and less thrifty. There will not be much you can do for the little one. It has gotten to the point where it's body is not producing heat and it will probably die soon. If you have this happen again you might try holding mama upside down and letting a little one lay on her tummy and nurse a little extra. I will tell you now, that mama will not like this. So be careful and do not let her scratch you or the baby. I am sorry for the bad news and I hope the others do well.   Pat

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Pat. Actually last night I did research on the internet and there's not a lot about peanuts. But I did end up finding a page and that's what I thought last night. He is around half the size of the others. But the day before I was finding him to be sick, I think he was bloated.
Today I went and checked on him. His body temperature isn't superb but its not cold. So right now, I think he may be getting better. He's starting to squirm around in my hands now. And yes, my rabbit is a nether land dwarf. The other one isn't...
But i wanted to ask you. What does it mean if a rabbit's bloated?

Answer
Hi Kylee. I am glad to hear that your baby is better. Baby rabbits can look bloated if they have had a lot of milk to drink. Maybe he finally got a chance to get in there and have a good meal. Older rabbits can look bloated if their intestines aren't functioning well. This can be caused by feed problems or disease. Coccidiosis, an internal parasite, will make a rabbit look bloated and give them diarrhea. I wouldn't think that this is a problem with your babies though. I sure hope the little one makes it for you. Keep in touch and let me know what happens..Pat