God knows where this should go

[Flashy]

I had absolutely no idea as to whether this was best in the infirmary, rabbitry of here, so I just chose this one because it is in between the other two, lol.

Sandy has always eaten her cecals, however now, she is not, or at least not all of them. I know that reducing the food intake can help with encouraging her to eat more, however, that's reasonably impossible when she is also sharing her hutch with seven Dinkies (The Dinkies are her kits which are now six and a half weeks old).

Because there are 8 of them I have been free feeding them, and they never eat all the food, but they do eat a large proportion of it.

So is there anything that I can do to encourage her to eat her cecals?

Thank you my pretties

 

[binkies]

Ummm, good question. Maybe a breeder can help with this one?

 

[Flashy]

Dammit, I knew I should have put it somewhere else, lol.



(if a moddy wants to move it, feel free).

 

[BlueGiants]

If she is still with her 6 1/2 week old babies, she may still be trying to "clean up" after them. She may be eating any cecals that they leave behind as well trying to eatwhat she produces... and there is more than she needs. This may be a problem that clears up as soon as you seperate the babies from her. It's the mothers instinct to keep the area clean, and they are getting big and producing more. Seperating them may encourage them to clean up after themselves.

(I've seen this with some of my Flemish liters, but less so with the Mini Rex or Dutch.)

 

[Flashy]

That's really interesting to know, thanks. I'm not planning on separating them until they are 8 weeks old unless absolutely necessary.

But thanks for telling me that, that's really useful.

 

[BlueGiants]

I don't seperate my Flemish until they are 9-10 weeks old, so that may be whyI see it more in them than the smaller breeds.

 

[Flashy]

Yeh, that makes sense.

On another topic, but related. I want to keep Sandy bonded with her lady babies, but do I have to separate them for X amount of time and then rebond them back when she has stopped her milk production?

 

[BlueGiants]

She will stop producing milk on her own. I wouldn't seperate them for that reason. The question is will Sandy accept/bond withher babies when they get older? Some does get "funny" about other (unspayed) does in the same area, even if they are her daughters. Wait and see how Sandy feels about it.

 

[Flashy]

Ok, thanks

I'll keep them together and see how they go. They will live in my room so I should be able to tell if there are any problems. She's so laid back, I think she'll be fine, but it never hurts to be vigilant about it.

Thanks for all the replies

 

[gentle giants]

I wouldn't separate them if you are planning on keeping them bonded. Does are pretty territorial, and she won't see them as her babies anymore, but as other does invading her space. You would have to get all of them spayed for this to work, and it would still take some work to re-bond them. I have one doe that is still with four of her doe kits, which are about three months old now, and even with them not ever being separate, there are still some mild arguments from time to time.

 

[Flashy]

Yeh, that makes sense. That's what I was intending to do originally, then someone made me wonder about whether to separate them because of the milk, but given that's not a problem I do want to keep them together, but I'll watch them and be careful.

Thanks for the reply