Runts and health

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This topic has 3sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 5 months ago by Bam.

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- 11/13/2016 at 8:29 PM
  HippityEeyore
  Participant
  9 posts
  Just recently I lost my 5 month old female bunny very suddenly. She wasn’t showing any signs of being sick and then in the afternoon on Sunday she wasn’t interested in her greens. About 5 hours later she died violently. She was pooping and peeing fine up until the end. We also have her full brother who is wonderfully healthy. I was told after she passed that she had been the runt. I’m wondering now, do runts have more medical issues than the other rabbits in a litter? Could this have been the cause of her passing?
- 11/13/2016 at 9:29 PM
  Azerane
  Moderator
  4691 posts
  I’m very sorry for your loss.
  
  While runts can certainly in some cases have the potential for poorer health, I don’t think it’s always the case and in many cases the runt is simply smaller and develops later than the rest of the litter.
  
  I wish I had an answer for you, it’s impossible to know the exact cause of death without a post-mortem, everything else is just speculation based on symptoms. Do you live in Europe or Australia? RHDV2 is a newer strain of calicivirus which the old vaccine doesn’t cover. It acts quickly and there are generally no symptoms. Otherwise I would suspect a heart attack, but I’m just guessing.
- 11/14/2016 at 8:10 PM
  HippityEeyore
  Participant
  9 posts
  I live in Canada and no rabbit vaccines are offered here. We decided to not do a post-mortem because she was so small, and since I’ve worked in vet clinics as an assistant, I couldn’t bring myself to cut her up. I could never have forgiven myself either if I found out it was something I’d done wrong that killed her.
  
  We think it may have been an aneurysm or her heart.
- 11/15/2016 at 2:01 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  16998 posts
  Her heart is a likely culprit. Runts often, but not always, have some congenital problem with their physique that’s causing them not to thrive like their siblings. It can be heart, kidneys, intestines – anything. When you’re buying a dog you’re adviced never to buy a runt because of the big risk of very serious health problems.
  
  I’m sorry you lost her.
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