help. rabbit with retained kit.

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coffeychicks

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So my daughter's rabbit Smokey got pregnant on accident had 4 babies a week ago. Yesterday she delivered a dead very smelly kit. Took her to a vet she has little to no experience with bunnies. Vet said she feels another one wants to send her to an exotic animal specialist. I can't afford this. Vet gave antibiotics pain meds. Can I do anything to help her. She has lost 9 pounds since all this. Should I cull heI plan to get her spayed asap and the buck neutered. Honestly didn't know the genders
 
can your vet spay her? if not, then yes culling her is all you can do as she will go septic and die. it is likely that as she gets sicker it's likely that the live kits will die as well. It is a horrible way to die as the retained kit will slowly rot inside her and the infection will spread through her body.
 
Rabbits are weird. They have an almost uncanny ability to "wall off" infections, which can make the infections very difficult to treat. It actually isn't unusual for a doe to retain a kit. I am not a vet, but I have almost 30 years' experience with breeding rabbits. If I had had this doe at the vet yesterday, the treatment I'd have opted for would have been a dose of oxytocin (pitocin). This is the hormone that causes uterine contractions. Since the doe had just delivered one dead kit, it's quite possible that the hormone would have helped her to expel the other kit.

Frequently, when a doe retains a kit, the kit's body shrivels up inside the doe, and becomes a "mummy." Fetal mummies can act almost like IUD's, preventing the doe from becoming pregnant (at least on that side). Over the years, I have had does deliver a couple of these mummies; they are strange looking things, indeed!

The only part of this that troubles me is the doe's weight loss. Most of the rabbits I have known don't even weigh 9 pounds; that's a huge amount of weight for even a Flemish Giant to lose! Antibiotics are tricky things to administer to rabbits, because a large part of the rabbit's digestion depends on the beneficial bacteria that live in their digestive tract. Since antibiotics aren't specific as to which bacteria they kill, the loss of the intestinal flora can lead to diarrhea. Most people give beneficial bacteria (Bene-bac is one brand) at the same time to try to offset the loss due to the antibiotics.

I can't promise you that you won't lose this doe, but I certainly wouldn't kill her if she's eating and otherwise acting reasonably normal.
 
Well just went and checked in her. She has delivered the dead kit. Tummy feels completely normal. She is acting more spunky. She ate some alfalfa hay. Drank a lot of water. If she is willing to fight this off I will help her. The vet recommended yougert any suggestions to this
 
Hello! I know this is an old post but hopeful I can still get some help. I have a doe who retained a kit and is still contacting a few times an hour six days later. She is leaking fluid. Her bottom and trail are coated, looks like she peed all over herself. Her babies are doing good. I am worried about infection and wonder if there is an antibiotic that I can give her that won't transfer into the babies milk.
 

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