Doe breathing really fast

[Javotte]

I have a dutch doe, about one year old, looking after her brood of 6. SHe is breathing very fast, much faster than she used to and faster than my male. SHe is fed on fresh grass and pellets, the weather has been hot but it is cooling, the cage is cleaned every 2 days. She is eating very well, her poo is normal... SHould I worry?

 

[aurora369]

It could be that she's hot.

How is she positioning herself?

Is her nose slightly damp as well?

When the weather gets warmer, I always try to provide my buns with a frozen water bottle or something to help cool them. They handle heat much poorer than they do the cold.

I am curious to see what others have to say on the subject as well.

--Dawn

 

[tonyshuman]

I agree that it could be heat. How hot has it been? However, we want to make sure that there's no other problem. How long ago were all the kits born? Was it a normal delivery, and did the placenta all come out? Has her milk come in fine?

 

[terrellflyer]

Mine are nzw's in a long building with hung cages.the hotter if gets the faster they will breath,mine will have a small amount of moisture under there noise for breathing so fast,heat here has gotten over 113 F.,if the skin around the mouth and nose,start showing a bluish color and animal is stretched out with head tilted back gasping for air them cool as quick as possible,bunny is then on edge of heat stroke,if bunny is sneezing lots with nasal discharge,usually colored,and breathing fast then it's vet. time. I keep the air moving with fans,frozen bottles of water didn't work for me,rabbits moved away from them,but again my bunnies aren,t to swift.

 

[Javotte]

Hi guys! Thanks for your responses, it has been 26-28C which is warm for here after a near constant winter for the last 3 years (NW of ireland)she is at the bottom of a three tiered cage. The delivery was fine and the babies are thriving, the babies are about 11 days now and so cute it should be forbidden.
She lies down a lot and spends more time in her "bedroom" when it is really sunny. Maybe she is just hot, the cage is west facing with full sun in the afternoon, maybe I should change for north facing...

 

[aurora369]

Do you have some fans to circulate some air? Getting the air moving through the rabbitry will help keep the buns cool.

Are your buns in a building?

--Dawn

 

[terrellflyer]

I do not like direct sun on mine for more than a few minutes,it heats them to much and can blister there pink skin.Happy to hear all is going great with you and the buns.

 

[gentle giants]

You should never have any animal in a cage where they cannot get away from the sun. She must have at the least a shady area in half of the cage, so she can choose whether she wants to be in the sun or the shade. Also,I don't know if you show or not, but direct sunlight on a show rabbit's coat will bleach the coat and make it unshowable.

 

[tonyshuman]

I agree that it's probably the heat and sun. Glad it's not related to the delivery. I was worried about retained kits causing an infection. It's probably just heat, make sure to have a fan blowing on her and get her some shade.