swarning1222
Well-Known Member
My rabbit had an unexpected, accidental litter yesterday morning. She had been acting strange for almost a week and since I thought I was very careful I assumed it was a false pregnancy but gave her a nest box anyway. She pulled fur and had them in the nest box. I took a quick peek right away and they all looked good. Then yesterday around 4 o'clock I checked them good and they were perfect with little plump bellys. I knew she wouldn't feed them until that night so I figured it was normal she was ignoring them. I checked on them this morning at about 8 am, as soon as I touched the nest they started just about screaming thinking I was coming to feed them. Every one of them was skin and bones and on the verge of becoming dehydrated. I tried to coax her in there with no luck and gave her one more hour to feed them and she didn't. I ended up holding her upside down on my lap and letting them eat 2 at a time. I was seriously stressing her out and didn't want her or any of the babies to get hurt so I didn't let them eat as much as I probably should. They weren't weak and were nursing good but it seemed like they were having an awfully hard time getting milk. I'm wondering if maybe she wasn't feeding them cuz she hadn't started producing milk yet? She definitely has milk but it's very thick and seems gooey? Not sure if that's normal. But I checked them when I got home from work around 5 o'clock and they're squeaking and moving around to be fed again. Even with all the noise they have been making she acts like they're not even there. They're not thin but they don't have nice round bellys like they should. Now my dilemma is what to do tonight. I don't want to make matters worse by continuing to try to force them on her but idk if she's ever going to get the hang of this. She's 9 months old and this is her first litter. I read on a website to put them in a pet carrier and close her in with them and she will most likely nurse, I like this idea but she is soo rough stepping around in the nest and doesn't seem to have a care in the world about them. I know they will live until tomorrow morning but I know if I let her try to do it on her own and she doesn't they can become weak and dehydrated and there's really no turning back from that. Has anyone experienced this before and had successful outcomes?! Or had the mother take back over after a couple days? I appreciate any advice, this has me so frazzled!