Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/261

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CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS
243

quickly perish for it is unnatural to them and they seem to be unable to shake it off. While some breeders have so-called remedies, you will save yourself grief and worry by using the ax at once, disinfecting the hutch and putting it down in the profit and loss ledger.

Infant Mortality. This is a disorder that affects the morale of breeders, especially beginners, more than anything else. The youngsters appear to do fine up to a certain age, then they commence to drop off one at a time. The beginner is perplexed, to say the least. He cannot understand it.

Infant mortality is apt to be due to one of several causes, but nine times out of ten it is due to the impoverished vigor of the breeding stock. The breeder that tries to get five and six litters a year from a single doe, and expects her to nurse six or eight youngsters at a time, need not wonder why his young stock seem to drop off without any apparent cause. It is due to lack of constitutional vigor and improper nourishment.