Rabbit had one kit

[Chickygirl55]

Is that normal? She was due a week ago and ive been waiting and waiting then finally this morning I went out to the barn to find one kit not in a nest and really cold. Warmed it up and put it in the nest and she went over and checked it out. When i went back to check again she had made it a better nest with the hay i put in there but hasnt pulled any hair and hasnt had anymore kits will post pics tomorrow if it makes it that long. Also when should i start worrying she isnt feeding it? I know they like to feed at night and early morning and the checking the tummy thing, just was wondering if its tummy aint full after a decent amount of time what to do?

 

[Heartlandrabbitry]

Sometimes does do go over the 28-31 days. Never had it happen to me but it is possible. Is this her first litter? Sometimes first time mom's aren't the best. Do you have any other does with litters? If you know for sure that she isn't feeding it then you can foster to another litter. If you don't have any other does, you could try feeding it yourself with goat milk but usually kits won't survive. You may just need to let nature takes it course...

 

[Chickygirl55]

This is her third litter and her last chance. Both the other litters were the same but she had 3 each time. the second litter, one of the kits had like a bag flesh thing on its head? if she dont do good this litter she is getting rehomed. I dont plan on trying to nurse it myself, tried it with her first litter and thought they were going to make it then day 4 they just started dying off and all expired the same day. Dk why? And it was really a let down so not going to try that again to0 much heartache, i cried and cried. But im that type of person, i cry when my fish die too. lol. cant help it.

 

[Akane]

Kits do very poorly when handfed. There are no really good milk substitutes out there for them and the milk the doe produces changes over time to match the maturity of the kits. I'd try to find another doe who had kits recently rather than attempt handfeeding. Does can take up to 48hrs before feeding the kits for the first time. Some don't make a nest until after they are done kindling. You can try pulling some of the fur on her belly if it's loose enough and she doesn't get too stressed about handling. Aside from that since you don't have another doe I'd just wait and keep checking to see if the kit is getting too cold or not fed after a couple days.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

RABBIT MILK FORMULA

1 can of sweetened condensed milk or fresh goat's milk (don't use cow's milk)
3 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tablespoons Karo corn syrup
1 egg yolk

 

[Southernbelle]

She's probably done after the 1 kit or she'd still be acting like she's in labor. The fact that she had the baby on the floor and didnt' make a nest for it does not bode well. I worry about lone kits in cool weather because they need the other kits and a full belly to keep them warm.

Keep checking the baby's belly to see if she's feeding it. You can try holding the mama and guiding the kit to a nipple, but you may end up hand-feeding.

A rabbit rescuer told me the secret to sucessful hand-feeding of baby bunnies is cecotropes. She could only get the kits to a certain point on milk replacer (she uses goat milk replacer), then they'd die. Cecotropes are those early morning, very soft rabbit poops that look like a cluster of grapes. The mama rabbit drops those in the nest box for the babies to eat and they contain neccessary gut bateria for the babies. She found that if you add the cecotropes to the milk replacer, she started seeing much better sucess in hand-raising the baby bunnies.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

She found that if you add the cecotropes to the milk replacer, she started seeing much better sucess in hand-raising the baby bunnies.

Great advice!​

 

[Chickygirl55]

Well it didnt make it through the night. Was checking on it often and went out the last time this morning and it was out of the nest again and super cold, tried to warm it in my shirt but it was already too far gone

 

[Heartlandrabbitry]

Quote:
So sorry!

Sometimes it's for the best, it's hard to save them all!

 

[Chickygirl55]

ya if it lived i was going to keep it too, It was a beautiful black color with a lighter underside.