weird/gross thing I saw on craigslist--not for faint of heart

[align=left]http://madison.craigslist.org/pet/660610286.html

"I have a beautiful, friendly rabbit that needs a forever home. She is a Dwarf Hotot, solid white w/only a black band around each eye. These guys are hard to find, and the breed is known as "The eye of the fancy" in the rabbit world. This sweet thing is 4 yrs old and she has mummified babies inside of her. There's nothing else wrong w/her. She doesn't need surgery, you don't even need to take her to the vet, it's fine. This is a natural occurance that does happen from time to time. She is not sick, she's happy, healthy, and good with kids. She would make a WONDERFUL pet and has been around a cat.

If you are truely interested in her, drop me a line. If you have no intention of following thru and getting her, do not waste my time or yours. Serious inquiries only, please. I am asking a $15 rehoming fee to be sure she goes to a person/family that's serious about wanting a rabbit for a pet and is willing to take care of her. Rabbits can live 8-10 yrs if properly taken care of. I will also include a bag of food and some hay for her."

Mummified babies inside of her? Don't take her to the vet?

This sounds very strange, and maybe even untrue. I would think that if this were true and the bunny did have babies that died in the womb, a spay would be the solution.

Anyone know if this is true, and if so, if anything can be done for this poor rabbit? Has anyone seen this before
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I'm sure it's someone being sarcastic and poking fun at all the posts for animals that are being re-homed.

I've heard of it before, usually when the dead kits cause a uterine infection and are found that way. I wonder if he/she has had this confirmed by a vet or doesn't know that rabbits can reabsorb fetuses even at a pretty late stage?

If that rabbit truely does have mummified kits inside of her, she needs a spay before they cause harm!

if it does have babies in side her yes she needs a vet i would email her direct but i know i will just get angry god i hate people like that

ann x

Would they actually be considered mummified? That's the part that made me think it was someone being sarcastic.

I hope it's a joke, but somehow I don't think it is. We get some sick stuff on craigslist that is real--lots of "snake food" ads where people sell dead baby rabbits or other things. In humans, if that happens, the fetus gets calcified and becomes like a stone on the inside, and then dries out on the outisde, so it is both muffified and stony.

I highly doubt that a rabbit can have mummified babies. I have never heard of it! Are dwarf hotots really even rare? I am going to email the lady and ask her a few questions.

Okay here is what I wrote:



"Hi I am from Wa state and just happened to be looking in the Madison, Wisconsin page when I saw your post. I raise and breed rabbits as well as show them. I was wondering how you know that your rabbit has "mummified" babies in her? I highly doubt that it is even possible for that to happen as I have never heard of it before. I also would like you or the rabbits new owner to please make an appointment at the vet immediatley. Having "mummified" babies in her, if they're are any, could cause serious infections or other problems later. How long have the "mummified" babies been in her?

Thanks,

Amanda"



I didn't want to tell her that someone posted it on a worldwide forum so i just said that i happened to be looking on the madison wisconsin thing. I really did not. Just to let you all know. Tell me if I should ask her any more questions.

I believe that it is possible for a rabbit to have mummified kits. Rabbits are known to reabsorb kits but there are possibilities where some are not reabsorb because they are well formed already.

It is possible for a rabbit to have a mummified kit. The fetus calcifies in the uterus and doesn't cause the doe problems that I know of. I bought a beautiful grand champion broken castor doe from a breeder that was selling off their rabbits. I bred the doe and she didn't take the first time. I rebred her and in the litter was two normal kits and a calcified fetus. She passed it with her litter and bred well with no problems after that.

Roger

RAL Rabbitry wrote:

It is possible for a rabbit to have a mummified kit. The fetus calcifies in the uterus and doesn't cause the doe problems that I know of. I bought a beautiful grand champion broken castor doe from a breeder that was selling off their rabbits. I bred the doe and she didn't take the first time. I rebred her and in the litter was two normal kits and a calcified fetus. She passed it with her litter and bred well with no problems after that.

Roger

Click to expand...

wow...thats INSANE!

Ok I already got an email back from the lady/man, person, lol. Here is what is says:

I raise, breed, and show rabbits too, honey. I can feel them inside of her. I just bought her on Jan. 12th and I've been trying to breed her since shortly after that. I can palpate my rabbits to check for babies and I've been feeling "babies" in her since the end of February, and this is the end of April already. She's just not having them. Yes, it's possible. Yes it does happen. It's happened to me before, too, and prob. happens more often than people think.
I had a rabbit, same breed, about 2 1/2 yrs ago that had mummies inside of her when I bought her. The lady told me she thought she may be bred and I guess the move/change of pace was too stressful on her and she didn't deliver them. The body will encapsulate the fetuses in order to protect itself, and the fetuses will become calcified and mummified.
Don't read the following if you have a weak stomach, as I'm describing a mummy experience that I had:
That rabbit that I had before, I tried breeding her because I know that sometimes the act of sex can stimulate labor, so I was trying to enduce her. She ended up getting pregnant on the other side of her uterus. (rabbits have 2 uterine horns and are capable of carrying 2 litters at the same time). She then delivered 3 kits a month later. 1 was a stillborn peanut, the other 2 were live! One died that night and the other the day after, probably because they ended up gettingan infection because of sharing the womb with the mummies.She also delivered 1 of her mummies that night and the next day partially delivering another one. It was coming out arm first, (you can tell b/c the back leg would've had a longer foot on it), andit'swhole arm was dangling out of her. I tried to see ifI could push it back in her so it didn'tget stuck coming out shoulder first but it didn't work. I gave her a shot of antibiotics between her shoulderblades and went to thetool store where a fellow rabbit breeder worked andwe went over the tools and I got a very skinny, very long, pliers typeof tool to help remove the body.I wrapped her firmly in a clean towel like a burrito and held her on her back and tried to help her deliver the kit. (if you think about it, it's no different that a human doctor going in with foreceps to help a woman deliver her baby!). So anyways, as soon as I grabbed the arm again, I didn't even put any pressure and it just slipped right off! EWW! It was rotting and it just came right off! So I had to go inside of her w/the pliers and help deliver as much of the remaining baby as I could w/o hurting her. I continued giving her shots of antibiotics and she survived the whole ordeal and I think she knew that I was trying to help her because after that, anytime I'd bring her out onto the table to give her attention, she'd jump onto my chest and sit there w/her face under my chin or nuzzled in my neck/shoulder. EVERY single time I brought her out! She knew I was trying to help. She knew. Well, Heather deserved her right to live and die in my herd and she had a forever home w/me. I kept up w/her shots for about a week and she never showed any signs of being sick or infected. She lived for at least 5-6 more months after that and finally found her peace.
If you've made it this far, I have included pics of her live kits as well as the mummies that came out as well.
I appreciate you concern, but as long as the fetuses are encapsulated, they're fine. It's the body's natural way of protecting itself. I did have her on a dose of antibiotics already, waited 2 wks and gave her another round to be safe. She's doing great! She's alert, bright eyed, active, hops in/out of her nest box, (almost all of my rabbits have nest boxes even if they aren't breeding. They like to hide and huddle in them and it helps to keep them warmer in these cold temps). She's eating everything we give her, drinking well, peeing and pooping exactly as a normal rabbit should, and I check her ears from time to time and they're not hot. (rabbits loose their heat and cool down through their ears, so if she had an infection, her ears would feel really warm), they're normal and she's doing great.

She also sent some pictures of the mummified babies but they are very graphic. I will post them later.

Thanks for emailing her and posting the reply, BSAR. I've heard of this thing happening in humans before, and am not surprised it can happen in rabbits too. It sounds to me like this person is very set against vet care for rabbits, and a spay is pretty neccessary in this case, but again, I am not a vet. That other situation he/she described sounds like one in which any other breeder would take their rabbit to the vet immediately, rather than trying to deliver the stuck kit (dead or alive) themself.

I have considered calling the local animal control, but without any contact information for the person other than a craigslist email address, it would be hard for them to find the person. I have also contacted someone at the local humane society to ask her opinion on whether or not this is an animal cruelty/neglect case, but haven't heard back yet. If I don't hear from her in a few more days, I will probably call animal control, direct them to the craigslist ad, and ask them to look into it, since they would know if this constitutes cruelty or neglect. I would go get her myself, but I just can't have another rabbit in my apartment. She is so beautiful and I would love to have her as a pet, but it just tears me apart that I can't. I may also contact the local HRS and see if they can rescue her if I sponsor her "adoption fee" and some of her spay.

Anyone have any other ideas?