Barmy Bunny Broad
Member
I have 3 questions, but will provide some background first. Please forgive me if these have been answered somewhere here already. I looked but did not see anything similar.
Nine weeks ago (tonight), we found out that one of our rabbits was male and not female, when our other bunny had a litter of five kits.
One week later (the quickest appt we could get), we had the male neutered. The vet told us to keep them separate for 14 days so he could heal, which we did. We then allowed them to roam together but after a few minutes, it was obvious that the male still only had one thing on his mind (the doe was not complaining), and we separated them again immediately. A few dyas later, tried again, same thing. Did a bit more research and found that it is recommended to keep them separate for 4 weeks post surgery, so we kept them separate until the 4 weeks had past (give or take a day or two).
The kits are now 9 weeks old (today) and she is still nursing them. I took them away from her enclosure and put them in a separate cage a week ago as she seemed to be getting very exasperated with them trying to nurse all the time, as well as missing her "hubby" (he's now back in with her). We also had one of the babies adopted, so now there are only four kits.
It was fine for a day or two, but now every day, she sits outside their cage and stares back and forth from the kits to us until we let her in to nurse them. Once she has, she sits at the cage door until we let her back out, so it is very obvious that she wants to keep feeding them. They have been eating pellets, and hay and drinking from the water bottles for over five weeks now, so they are quite able to subsist without her milk, but still want it.
It is now almost 8 weeks (2 more days) post surgery for the male; however, the female has started to pull fur like crazy, build a nest and dig and chew everything in sight to fill that nest (started 2-3 days ago). We have given her a box and filled it with all the hay, hair and newspaper she has been collecting. As we were waiting until she weaned her kits (and we saved up the money) to get her spayed, that has not been done yet.
Here are my questions:
1. Do we allow the doe to keep nursing the kits until she decides to stop, or should we stop allowing her in with them?
2. Could she be pregnant again despite the neutering? or is this likely to be a false pregnancy?
3. The kits are only 9 weeks old, but three are male. If we have to wait for a bit to get her spayed, when do we need to separate the baby bucks from her or from their "sister"? We are trying to find them new homes (the bucks only), but have not had a lot of luck so far.
I appreciate all of your advice and stories.
Thanks so much
Nine weeks ago (tonight), we found out that one of our rabbits was male and not female, when our other bunny had a litter of five kits.
One week later (the quickest appt we could get), we had the male neutered. The vet told us to keep them separate for 14 days so he could heal, which we did. We then allowed them to roam together but after a few minutes, it was obvious that the male still only had one thing on his mind (the doe was not complaining), and we separated them again immediately. A few dyas later, tried again, same thing. Did a bit more research and found that it is recommended to keep them separate for 4 weeks post surgery, so we kept them separate until the 4 weeks had past (give or take a day or two).
The kits are now 9 weeks old (today) and she is still nursing them. I took them away from her enclosure and put them in a separate cage a week ago as she seemed to be getting very exasperated with them trying to nurse all the time, as well as missing her "hubby" (he's now back in with her). We also had one of the babies adopted, so now there are only four kits.
It was fine for a day or two, but now every day, she sits outside their cage and stares back and forth from the kits to us until we let her in to nurse them. Once she has, she sits at the cage door until we let her back out, so it is very obvious that she wants to keep feeding them. They have been eating pellets, and hay and drinking from the water bottles for over five weeks now, so they are quite able to subsist without her milk, but still want it.
It is now almost 8 weeks (2 more days) post surgery for the male; however, the female has started to pull fur like crazy, build a nest and dig and chew everything in sight to fill that nest (started 2-3 days ago). We have given her a box and filled it with all the hay, hair and newspaper she has been collecting. As we were waiting until she weaned her kits (and we saved up the money) to get her spayed, that has not been done yet.
Here are my questions:
1. Do we allow the doe to keep nursing the kits until she decides to stop, or should we stop allowing her in with them?
2. Could she be pregnant again despite the neutering? or is this likely to be a false pregnancy?
3. The kits are only 9 weeks old, but three are male. If we have to wait for a bit to get her spayed, when do we need to separate the baby bucks from her or from their "sister"? We are trying to find them new homes (the bucks only), but have not had a lot of luck so far.
I appreciate all of your advice and stories.
Thanks so much
