Help!! rabbit kindling trouble :(

[iluvsedward]

I have a large dark brown doe (i have no idea on the breed..) and a harlequin/netherland dwarf buck and i seperated them after they bred and their cages are about 20ft apart. She built a nest and everything but she still hasnt had babies and its been about a week since she made the nest. this morning I saw blood on the nestbox and thought she must have had babies. I felt in the nest and there were none!!! I didn't see a miscarried kit and im really worried... What do you think happened???

 

[inthesticks]

Have you felt her stomach?? If you feel her stomach and you can feel kits in there then massage her stomach- if she is still laboring this should induce a contraction, continue this every 10min or so till she passes the kits other wise if this still doesn't work and you still feel them in there get her to a vet ASAP to have a emergency c-section otherwise she can get a massive infection and die from the dead kits in her.

Under normal circumstances having a larger doe with a smaller buck works out. But if you do not know the lineage of the buck there might have been a larger breed in there as well down the road at some point.

If this is her first litter there is always a chance anyways of having at least one larger than reg kit, if that kit tries to come out first it can block the birth canal for the rest of them causing all to pass away in the womb.

I'm sorry that you are going through this it is never easy.

I went through this type of situation last year with a Lionhead(lh) doe, I had to induce her contractions and help with gently getting them out of her. She ended up having too narrow of hips to have a successful litter with my LH buck

I hope for the best for you and your doe, please let me know how it goes

 

[Bunnylady]

Rabbit breeding can be full of headaches. If a doe only conceives one or two kits, she will often go well over the normal 31 days' gestation. The kits wind up huge, and she has a lot of trouble giving birth to them. I have had to assist in several of these oversized kit deliveries. I've had a few does that I thought had done a false pregnancy deliver one huge kit about a week after their due date.

The crazy thing is, even if the doe does retain a kit, it isn't necessarily a disaster for the doe. Rabbits have an uncanny ability to wall off infection. Even with normal deliveries, it isn't unknown for a doe to not give birth to all of the kits inside her. Sometimes they just stop having effective contractions before all of the kits are out, and one or two don't get born with the others. Kits that get retained like this die, of course, and their bodies can get mummified inside the mother's uterus. A mummified kit can act like an IUD on that side of the doe's uterus, stopping the production of kits from that side. You can feel a mummy inside the doe. I have had a couple of does that passed a mummy during the process of birthing the (small) litter from the other horn - they are hard, almost snake-like in appearance, because there really isn't much to the skeleton of a kit, you know.

If you take your doe to a vet, the first thing they will do is examine her to see if they can feel a kit inside her. They may do an x-ray to see how many they can find. If the doe is in active labor, they may give her a shot of Oxytocin. Oxytocin is the hormone that causes contractions; it's what doctors give when they induce labor. I have known some experienced rabbit breeders who have managed to talk their Vets into letting them have a bottle of Oxytocin; it is normally only available to medical professionals (it can be dangerous if used incorrectly). A properly administered dose of Oxytocin produces hard contractions in an animal that is already laboring, so a litter will usually get born all at once, rather than being spaced out over maybe a half-hour.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[Fly 2006]

A doe will sometimes eat her babies

 

[iluvsedward]

This morning nothing has changed, no babies, and there wasnt any more blood. this is my first time with rabbit pregnancy, the very first time one of my bunnies had babies while i was away i had no idea she was pregnant! so i really have no expirence.

I dont want to feel her belly because she is nervous and kicks a lot and i dont want her to miscarriage. I did feel her earlier (with much struggle) on and i didnt feel anything.

How long are rabbits in labor for?????

 

[iluvsedward]

Anyone???

 

[inthesticks]

under normal circumstances rabbits tend to labor fairly quickly - In my experiences my rabbits when into labor and within the hour had all their kits. When my one rabbit ButterCup had two difficult labors 1st one I didn't get to see because I was never able to feel anything and it was past 37 days so I had thought it was a false pregnancy. The second time she was in labor for almost 24hrs & I stayed up all thru the night with her helping to make sure she could get them all out.

If a rabbit goes into labor & cannot birth them due to complications she can eventually tucker out & then there becomes the chance of infection -since normally there is more than one kit in a litter, even for first timers the chances are greater than a doe retaining just one.


Even though she may not like it, you should definitely palpate her belly really well. This could help put you at ease if there are no babies in there.

 

[iFairyx]

Is this her first litter? Sometimes they need extra care for the first litter as they can get into difficulties.

Normally they only build the nest when the are in labour, have you felt her stomach to see if you can feel any? If not
then it is possible they she has had a phantom pregnancy, or she may have killed and eaten her young - they can do this for a number
of reasons
- sometimes they feel threatend...even the smell of a buck can worry them.
- Over-protection (relates to feeling threatened)
- kits were born dead
- kits born not quite right
- Over cleaning, this can lead to them accidentally killing them (this is rare)


Do you know roughly when she mated? and when she was due to give birth?

If she was was due before you posted this and nothing has changed then looking after the doe becomes more important then her miscarrying. Its important you
feel her belly for any babies as if there is any still inside her, then she really needs to be taken to a vet. If she is overdue the vet may be able to save them via a c-section,
but if they have died they can cause serious illness and even death to the mother if it is not dealt with.

If you lack experience it might be worth while taking her to the vets just in case, once she is out of the hutch just double check the nest to make sure there is no small babies. If the
buck is a netherland dwarf then it is possible that they are very small - if there is any babies then consider still taking the mum (and babies) to the vets for a once over. Don't forget to keep any
babies warm (maybe by wrapping a hot water bottle in some towels and placing it in the box with them) and try not to handle them too much as first time mums can get over protective etc.

Each doe is different and it doesn't sound like you have done anything wrong, if she has disposed of any young and you intend to breed her again it might be any idea to move her inside a week or two before she is due to give birth so you are able to monitor her more closely and more frequently. If despite your monitoring and help she kills/neglects young I would suggest not breeding from her again in the future. I would also make sure you handle her loads in the month or two before breeding, this is so she gets used to you and you smell and will not be threatened by you when she has young.

Good'luck
iFairy x

 

[Fly 2006]

As in my previous post, it really is possible she has eaten them! If you really feel this is not the case then you have to examine her or let a vet look at her, as said in the previous post, when were the babies due, has there been anymore blood?

 

[iFairyx]

As in my previous post, it really is possible she has eaten them! If you really feel this is not the case then you have to examine her or let a vet look at her, as said in the previous post, when were the babies due, has there been anymore blood?

It's worth noting that rabbits are very clean animals so you may not see anymore blood. As Fly says and I have said it is possible she has eaten them
and examining her is vital whether she likes it or not, as it is life threatening if they are inside her.