2 healthy babies...1 deformed baby

[fuzz16]

Sara is a proud mommy as of last night to three little kits. 2 of them look like thier gonna look like thier dad Ess, one looks like its gonna be a REW.

Sara jumped around and was playing with all her toys this morning very happily. She nudged my hand this morning when i checked on the babies, all seemed fine until i got to the last baby, who looks like it will be a REW.

My cameras dead so i cant get pictures but the i can try and explain the problem. Her back legs look fine until you look at the feet, the pads stick out to the sides instead of facing below her like thier supposed to. I know that a lot of bunnies can live with certain deformaties and i may keep her because of it due to being unable to find a home or trust someone enough with her.

I figure if she canget to her food bowl and drink water she will be ok, correct? i knowshell never walk right, maybe wobble and get towhere she needs...but i was extremely heartbroken at the thought i may have to put her down.

 

[mischiwapos.cyra]

Most breeders would cull her. It may cause extreme discomfort to her later on in life. Just do what your heart tells you to do. And remember think of her situation, and don't just think of what you want.
-If she does do okay, just be sure that whom ever cares for her doesnt breed her and gets her fixed, just because you dont want that staying in the lines.

 

[SilverBirchRabbitry]

I would say cull her, the poor bunny would most likely have a lot of discomfort. But do what you think :] Maybe you could keep her? So you know she will always be in good hands

 

[polly]

Hard decsion. Personally if I couldnt keep her myself then we would cull her if I felt how you do. Here though I would agree with the others in the long term there could be a lot of pain and we wuld not risk how the rabbit ended up feeling. Ok there are some fab members on this board but not every owner is going to be like that.
Also makes me wonder what breed your buns are and whether the max factor gene is at work there if its a dwarf litter.

 

[fuzz16]

i think the dad is dutch nethie mix and the mom polish and nethie...not sure though.

im afraid that the baby will be in pain when its older and its best in a just in case scenerio if she were put down...but then again it would kill me to have to put her down...and she couldnt be rehomed. even if it was someone i trusted greatly who was good with rabbits.

yesterday when i was checking on the babies and feeding sara some fresh carrots and green beans she hopped into the nest and uncovered the babies and kept nudging the little deformed baby...who i beleive the name we have decided on is tanner...i picked up the baby afraid she was pointing out soemthing wrong and she put her paws on my hand and started lickin my fingers. for her, that was an amazing thing cause she was always very stand off-ish...and kinda...humanish saying something. i wont get all weird though and think she understood what ive been thinking about.

pictures soon...just need to put them online

 

[fuzz16]

Here's the mom, Sara

Dad, Ess

 

[tonyshuman]

It sounds like the baby has splay leg. Bunnies with this condition can survive, but it can be very difficult for them due to decreased mobility. Leaf had a pair of baby splay-legged bunnies that lived for several months.

Another possibility is that you have a peanut aka double dwarf, since both parents are dwarves. The way this works is that it only takes one copy of the dwarving gene to make a dwarf bunny, and when a bunny has 2 copies of it, they are very deformed and don't live very long. This usually shows up as a very small body and disproportionately large head, though, not a leg issue.

 

[BlueGiants]

IS the baby with the deformity a bit smaller than the others? Paddle feet is usually seen in Peanuts, babies that inherit a dwarfing gene from each parent. (And with both parents carrying Nethie, it's a distinct possibility...) If it is a peanut, it probably won't survive. "Double Dwarfing" is usually a fatal flaw.

A photo would help.

 

[fuzz16]

the baby is actually bigger than all the rest of them, so not a peanut. her head is a bit bigger though.

Here's Tanner.

 

[fuzz16]

Here's other pictures.

Sara:

the nest:

 

[polly]

Your doe looks like she has our polish your brittania petite through her and your buck looks like a BUB (big ugly buck nethie.

Personally I would cull the baby cruel as it may be its leg is pretty badly twisted sorry if that sounds nasty but I cant see how that wouldnt cause pain.

edit to add I dont know if its just the pictures but the smoke baby on the left. its eye doesnt look right. It could be that its the way the pic was taken but just wondering does it have a crust over it or have you noticed it with an eye open since its een born even slightly?

If the eye has not been sealed shut when born then 1 its max factor which again explains the leg problem on the white and 2 it will be blind in that eye and the eye will appear milky.its horrible to see a friend of mine had it and didnt realise what it was and puss built up behind the eye putting pressure on it too.

I have also had max factors not so much with leg problems but definately with alien eyes.

 

[fuzz16]

i didnt think thier eyes should open till they were older, their only 3 days old. and the white stuff, i believe, is fur. i pulled some off tanners eye crease earlier.


my dad is going with me to put tanner down humanely. the vet thats helped us with our kitten is doing it for free. itll be sad for me...but i think its for the best, for me and the rabbit long term.

 

[polly]

I know its hard but I think its the nicest thing to do tbh. hugs tho cause I know its hard.

I would have a good close look at the 2 smoke babies eyes though. if there is any crust or a slightly open eye then again you may need to have it euthanised. sorry
and you are right eyes will not open till around 10 days usually but max factors can have alien eyes like the eyelid is not fully formed so the eye is not sealed shut at birth which menas it crusts over if they are left and if you take the crust away the eye itself is milky

gawd sorry I know this isnt easy for you Just if there is a problem the longer its left the more you get attached and the worst it can be

 

[fuzz16]

ok. im not home right now to check on them, but should i just take a warm rag and wipe thier eyes, see if its crust coming off.

if i do end up having to put them all down..how will that affect Sara.

 

[polly]

If it has a crust over its eye and you did take it off you would see a milky eye underneath. TBh if you get home and have a good look at both smokes and you see that they are not sealed shut I would just have it PTS However if the baby on the right is ok (I cant see both eyes but you can have babies not showing max factor) then it is fine to stay with mum and grow up however I would not use it for breeding with

 

[fuzz16]

if the eyes are fully closed but there is a crust on the seam of the eye what could that mean? still infection beneath and a deformity...or could it just not been cleaned off well enough?

 

[fuzz16]

polly wrote:

your buck looks like a BUB (big ugly buck nethie.

btw....LOL....so you think hes just a badly bred nethie? lol

 

[irishbunny]

Aw sorry about the little baby

I wouldn't breed the parents again as it will probably repeat itself.

 

[Bramblerose]

I've seen rear foot deformities before, both in rabbits and dogs. I'd call that a 'positional' deformity, something that may correct itself or may not. Its caused by the position they were stuck in while in the womb. I've had puppies whose feet were completely turned in towards each other correct themselves. Babies are very plastic, bones are soft, and activity and time can cause the affected limb to correct itself partially or entirely. That said I would either cull it, or let it live and see what happens out of curiosity and for future reference.

 

[Bramblerose]

I wanted to add that I wouldn't get all freaky about the eyes at this point, just clean them off and go from there. All of the kits look healthy, none are peanuts, nor do I think they are Max Factors. A Big Ugly Buck means only that it does not carry the dwarf gene and therefore is a false dwarf, perfectly normal. When you breed true dwarf to true dwarf you get true dwarfs, false dwarfs and peanuts, when you breed true dwarf to false dwarf you get true and false dwarfs, false dwarf to false dwarf you get only false dwarfs. Does not mean your rabbit is poorly bred. I also do not feel that this foot deformity is genetic.