I have been to two vets already and have done A LOT of researching on the internet to find out more information about what I think I’m dealing with… But I would like some personal advice/experience.
Long story short, I found a six month old seal point netherland dwarf in my backyard in May. Someone either let her go or she escaped. I brought her to my vet and had her looked over. She was healthy and well! A month passes and she gives birth to six kits! BIG SURPRISE! Everything went well the first three weeks. Penelope (the mother) is a total sweetheart and a great mom! She is great with her babies and I have caught her nursing the buns multiple times. I always kept a good eye on the babies, making sure their bellies were full. Penelope’s diet consists of Oxbow Young Adult Pellets, timothy hay and small amounts of alfalfa with some greens. She handles the greens no problem.
Three weeks rolls around and the babies are out of the nesting box and nibbling on hay. All of them appear to be doing well. Then one morning, one passed away very unexpectedly… I couldn’t understand why. Nothing appeared to be wrong with him. No diarrhea, no nothing. I was heartbroken.
At four weeks old, one of the other babies (Olivia) I noticed had hard poo stuck in her bum. It literally looked stuck so I brought her to the vet. They removed it and sent us on our way home. Two days pass and Olivia suddenly has very watery, mucus filled diarrhea. I panicked and brought her to the vet. They gave her two antibiotics (Metroclopramide and TMS) along with Lactated Ringer’s Solution to be given under the skin two times a day. She showed signs of mucoid enteropathy like the diarrhea, rough coat, hunched position, teeth grinding, excessive thirst. By day five of the treatment she seemed better, she was eating hay and drinking water. Then suddenly she had a bout of diarrhea. I brought her back to the vet immediately and they administered more fluids and added a probiotic and another antibiotic called Metronizadole. Unfortunately, she passed away the next morning. She started producing bloody, mucus diarrhea. I am still not over it. I fell in love with Olivia and it kills me I couldn’t save her.
Another bun who was Olivia’s snuggle buddy (Ronnie) started getting soft stool a couple days after Olivia did. I brought her to the vet also and they put her on all the same antiobiotics/lactated ringer’s/probiotics as Olivia. They had me seperate Olivia and Ronnie from the rest of the litter and Penelope. Ronnie seems to be going down the same path as Olivia… Right now she has the diarrhea with mucus and some teeth grinding. The vet also gave us Oxbow Crital Care for Ronnie. We feed her three times a day two syringes full or more if she takes it. She has been eating hay and drinking some. I have been administering Lactated Ringer’s two times a day for three days now and it really seems to stress her out. That’s the last thing I want to do… She takes the antibiotics no problem.
Tonight I decided to do something different… I tried a homemade oral rehydration therapy recipe I got online from http://www.thenaturetrail.com. She absolutely loves the taste and took five syringes full. I left it in her cage for her to drink along with regular water and hay. I also pulled her pellets when the diarrhea started. I also gave her simethicone gas drops for pain, because of the teeth grinding (pain related?). She seems alert. It’s been 4 hours and her diarrhea has slowed down and it’s not as watery. How often should I give her the ORT solution? Can I give her too much? Also, how often should I administer the simethicone? She is 5 weeks old today. So young
I don’t want to lose Ronnie. My vet couldn’t even pin point what is was. She suggested mucoid enteropathy from weaning. They did a fecal exam on Penelope and Olivia and no parasites were found. Can anyone suggest anything else I can try? I will stay up day and night feeding her syringes if that’s what it takes!!!
The rest of the litter is doing great! LOTS of nice, formed poops! They have been eating hay, nibbling pellets (all the same as mom) and drinking water and still nursing off mom. They binky around like crazy. I don’t understand why half of the litter isn’t doing well. I keep their ex-pen SUPER clean so cleanliness isn’t the problem. I just can’t figure out why this is happening…