kit born, 3x the size of the others?

What causes this? Just a fluke thing? Feed? Genetic? Both Adeline and Alfie had a kit that was at least 3 times the normal size.

Is it preventable? Or just a random happening?

When I used to breed I had several of these from several of my girls. The term most people use is "Fetal Giants". It depends on who you ask, but some people say it's genetic and others believe it's a fluke.

I think that it's caused by the baby receiving too much nutrients, after I stopped putting a vitamin powder supplement powder in their water I didn't get any more of them.

Unusual genetic combinations can result in unlikely things, flukes. I can't see how any vitamin etc would affect only one kit, or have such a large effect. I suspect that the ending of giants from your does & the ending of vitamin supplements coinciding was a coincidence, a fluke.

I'm not really sure what causes them...maybe too few in the womb that causes one to grow bigger than the others? I don't know. My Himmie doe had one and her next litter was okay. One of our Tan does had one but she was at the end of her kit bearing years. She never had another litter after that.

I read from a couple different websites that this can happen when there aren't many kits in a litter cos apparently there's more space for them to grow and they recieve more foods and stuff in her womb but then if that's the case I wouldn't understand why only one in the litter would get this...

I don't think it's a fluke because it must happen to a lot of people but it shouldn't be because of vitamins should it?

Hmm lol sorry I was no help at all... I hope she or he gets a lovely home either way

Well, I don't consider a litter of 9 to be a small litter. I don't know what causes it, and I sure can't find anything online. I guess I'll see if it happens with their next litters.

How's the kit doing? How's the rest of the litter? How is Adeline doing?

K

The two that were huge were dead on delivery. Adeline's doing great, but I've found 2 of her babies on the floor. I warmed them up and put them back, but that does HAS to start using a **** nest box.

wendymac wrote:

The two that were huge were dead on delivery. Adeline's doing great, but I've found 2 of her babies on the floor. I warmed them up and put them back, but that does HAS to start using a darn nest box.

Click to expand...

I though those huge babies don't survive. So sorry for you and Adeline. And yes, that girl definitely has to learn to build a nest for those babies. Hoping the little ones you had to warm up are doing well.

K

Well, this is kind of a funny story. We found the first one yesterday afternoon. It was across the rabbitry, over by Alfie's new litter. I thought, "OMG! Alfie lost a baby." So that one went into her box. This morning was when I found the second one. At first, I was like, "OMG! Alfie lost another one, and it's so cold it's blue!" After picking it up, I saw that it wasn't blue from cold...it's blue because it's an opal Flop. LOL That one went back in with Adeline, and I did the head count there and found the only lynx baby missing. Counted Alfie's babies, and yep...the lynx is now being fostered by Alfie. LOL

I had a fetal giant in my most recent litter of Holland Lops. I'd never had one before. I didn't give any vitamin supplements though, so...I have no idea what causes it. There were six in the litter in total, but that one was DOA. I think they almost always are.

The true danger with Fetal Giants is that they get stuck in the birth canal because they're so large, and that can be fatal for the Mom. Oftentimes, it also results in the deaths of all the other kits behind it in line to get out of the birth canal. Typically they suffocate there. Very sad.

I don't know if this applies to rabbits as well, but I know in dogs they occasionally have something called a "water puppy".

The water puppy syndrome is caused by a number of different factors, but often it is anemia in the pup, or blood incompatibility with the mother. As a result the pup absorbs more amniotic fluid than the others.

These pups are usually much larger than their littermates, between 2 to 4 times larger and will look a bit bloated. I'm afraid I don't know statistics, but I know we rarely have them survive passed the first day. Generally there is not more than one or two per litter, but then occasionally an entire litter will be affected.

It wasn't bloated. The only thing different was how big it was. But, from reading, it sounds like they're difficult for the doe to birth (pretty fair assumption, I think. ha) they end up suffocating because it takes so long for them to come out.

I haven't found anything that states it's anything other than a fluke. I don't think it has anything to do with litter size, because 10 babies is a pretty big litter. At least I think it is...