So, I started looking at actual fiber content in manufactured pellets. Ten+ years ago, when we first began raising rabbits, "Bloat" was nearly unheard of! Personally, I had never had a single instance of bloat until November 2015; then it hit like a cyclone and has remained a huge, heart-breaking factor. Liter after liter, baby after baby, the result has been an astounding 90% death / 10% survival rate in my Giant breeds. However, in my small breeds, I have not lost one single kit to bloat. Thats right! Small breeds have a 100% bloat survival rate, vs the 10% survival rate of the Giants. All of our rabbits eat the same feed, are given the same treats, drink the same water, have the same additives, and ultimately live in the same place. The only difference is the amount of feed they get, due to the size of their bodies. I cant state the amount has much bearing on this situation tho, because the small breeds eat what they need, as do the giant breeds, to maintain their systems functionality.
So, what has changed? Originally, I fully believed the culprit to be related to GMO's. While I am still not convinced that GMO's are not related to this problem, I have to look deeper - towards the things that I can possibly gain some control over, and in this quest for answers, fiber content still remains to be a constant thought. Years ago, we used a particular brand of feed with was an 18% Protein, which was fed to all our breeds - large and small, alike. Those pellets have a Crude Fiber content of 18+%, In the past year, we have used 3 other brands of feed - all of which contained less then 16% Crude Fiber. And today - we began a new trial... a different variety blend of the current brand-name feed we've been using the past few months. This blend is suppose to have a "high fiber content". However, when looking at the ingredient list, this is less than the 18+% fiber we used to use, but it does have approximately 2.5% more fiber than the other brands we have used.
Where do we go from here? Well... keep following along and see how our tests go, as we try this new blend of feed, as well as other products. Meanwhile - cross your fingers and hope these tests lead to some REAL solutions, because a lot of bunnies lives depends on it!!