Greeaaat.

[Almi]

Alright, last time I went on here was probably at least a year ago, and I joined a little over 3 years ago when I thought my rabbit was pregnant the FIRST time. -_-;

So if anyone remembers me, I still have Emmy, my dwarf hotot mix, her son Ollie, who is half French lop, and we do have a new addition - Lio the dwarf lionhead.

Lio is supposedly spayed, Emmy and Ollie are not. I recently built them cube cages and used binder clips to secure the doors (hey, it works for the pigs and rats...), but of course my little troublemaker, Ollie, managed to shake his doors open, and he also managed to get the girls' doors open!

That was on the 9th, and I am now kicking myself for not getting either one of them neutered in the first place. I kept telling myself that I was going to get Ollie altered, but sadly, (and worse excuse ever) I "never got around to it." *sigh*

What's worse, I'm pretty certain Ollie mated with Emmy, because he got out a second time within a week after that and was found by my girlfriend the next morning, trying to mate with Emmy in her cage. Of course, I'm not sure how long he was out each time, because both times I found them when I got up in the morning, so he could have done it any time of the night. The only weird part is that Emmy was still in the cage both times. Normally she'd be out roaming with the other two, given the chance. But then again, who knows.

Anywho, it's been so long since I've dealt with a pregnant rabbit, so I wanted a second opinion on if anyone thinks she is or not. I got a bunch of pictures of her at different angles, but before I post them, I wanted to ask-should she even be showing by now? Supposing she mated onthe 9th, that was about two weeks ago. I know that their gestation is a month, but I don't remember when they start showing. And what if she mated after the 9th? Still a chance she might be showing?

Also, she's 6 years old...what are the risks? I've heard that a lot of rabbits go sterile by this age, and that it's dangerous for such an old rabbit to get pregnant. I'm extremely worried about her.

She's clearly not overweight, and she feels and lookspretty round.

(Please ignore the fact that I'm not wearing any pants. For all you know it could be a swimsuit! X3;;; )

Nipples - note that I blew on the fur to make them show; they're not sticking out THAT much.

Here's what she usually looks like (pictures taken in February).

Argh, yeah, I'm pretty sure she's preg, but I still want a second opinion...I think the next step is finding avet that spays for less than $400...

 

[Jenson]

I think there is a good chance she is pregnant. She does look it too me, as her belly is round rather than chubby. I know of doe's that have had litters after 5 years, they managed fine. I know of a few "breeders" who will breed their does as long as they will go. I would think she isn't at any greater risk than she was on her other litter if she is fit and healthy, but it may be harder to keep her condition this time around so it would be worth paying extra attention to her diet.

She is stunning.

 

[gentle giants]

I always say you can't tell by looks, personally. Most of my does, unless they were having really big litters, almost didn't show at all. Since she has had a litter before, the risk is a lot less than if this were her first. Still, make sure you have a good emergency vet lined up, although I'm sure you already know that.

 

[Almi]

Thanks a bunch guys, I feel so much better.

She seems to be doing fine, happy as can be! I have her on Oxbow timothy pellets mixed with some alfalfa pellets right now, and I do keep alfalfa hay on hand because I have some young cavies atm, so she should have that once she kindles, correct?

Also, I'm probably going to move her into her much smaller, old cage before she has them, since she lives with Lio,the babies would be able to crawl out of the cube cage, and it would be a lot more difficult to monitor babies when I have to crawl all the way to the back of the cage (it's 2 x 4 grids). Should I do this right away, or can I just move her a few days before she's due to have kits?

And yeah, I do have the number of our emergency vets in my phone, so no worries!

Thanks again! I'll let her know that she is stunning, thanks Jenson. ^_^

 

[aurora369]

You can leave her in the cube cage, just make some baby bumpers. When I was fostering mom's and litters, I would take some extra grids and over lap them to decrease the size of the holes. It worked very well. Or use some cardboard.

No reason to take her out of the big cage, she's going to need that space if she's having babies.

--Dawn

 

[Mikoli]

I agree with Jenson, but make sure you move Lio out before the babies arrive. Emmy might get protective over the babies and attack him, or he might accidentally step on them or something.

Good luck!

 

[Almi]

Well, SHOULD I leave her in the cube cage?I mean, will it be too much stress to switch cages? I don't think she'll have a problem with the old cage, I had her in it for most of her life, and that's where she had babies before.

That, and I don't have extra grids...I have a good four sets of cubes in use right now, every single grid (yeep, that's 92 grids! ). I'm afraid I can't do cardboard either, I don't think I have enoughof it, and it wouldjust betoo much of a pain because their cage is on the bottom of the stack, and they'd probably ruin and soil it in some way.

Annnd the main reason I don't want her in there is because I won't be able to have very easy access to them in such a deep cage. *sigh* Perhaps I'll try to find a way to make it work...if I must...

Yeah, of course I plan to separate Emmy and Lio, that's why I was going to put Emmy in her old cage. Oh, andLio is a girl bunny, sorry for the confusion! X3





P.S. Mikoli, I was just looking at your avatar, is that your [late]rabbit, Ollie? Looks just like my Ollie! ^_^

 

[polly]

If she is a happy setlled rabbit and it doesn't normally stress her if she gets movedand if it makes you more comfortable with it then fine i wouldn't worry to muchabout moving herif she does not like being moved or a diff cage then i would leave her be. One thing though if she has started building her nest then I would def. leave her be.

 

[Almi]

Okay, thank you much. I will see what I can do to try and keep her in the cube cage, but I have a feeling it might just be safer to put her in the old cage. I do have an idea though - I have some small pet playpens I can try to wrap around the inside of the cubes, the only thing is that they have panels that don't exactly fold where the cubes do, but we'll see how that goes. I can always divide the cage in half and keep Lio on one end and Emmy in the other, that way it will be easy to reintroduce the rabbits. Hmm, yes, well I'll have to play around with it. If I must put Em in her old cage, I think she'll be fine.

I don't think she'd be nest building just yet; she's due on June 9th at the earliest. Thanks for the advice!

 

[JadeIcing]

Oh my pretty bunny.

 

[Almi]

I decided to put her into her old cage until the babies start hopping around. I built her a little house of of Puzzle Blocks (I have like 6 sets =P), and she loves it. She seems very happy and comfortable in her cage.

The reason why I ultimately decided to do this was so that I could have her more contained and keep an eye on her better. Her cage is now at eye level instead of floor level. Plus, in the past week or so, she keeps managing to get urine all over herself (Lio doesn't...), and I don't want to keep having to bathe her and stress her out. And speaking of cleanliness, I vacuum their cage out almost every day (it's the only way I can get the poops and hay out of the way to clean up any random puddles), and I think that would stress her out a lot. All they have for a cage bottom is a giant piece of floor protector.

But yeah, she looks very happy in her old cage. So that makes me happy. Now I'm just hoping that thebirth and everything goes okay. I can now feel the kits inside of her when I palpate her. They're about the size of smallgrapes, it felt like. I think she'll be okay, but just in case, I havesome moneyset aside for any emergencies.

Again, I thank everyone for their help and advice.

 

[jcl_24]

Sounds as though you are doing everything possible to look after your rabbits Lio is beautifulink iris:

Any updates on Emmy and her babies? Hope all is well :happybunny:

Jo xx

 

[Almi]

Yesterday was her due date, but no babiesyet. I can feel them inside of her - feels like she'll have a litter similar in size to her last. And I can feel them moving around - I think - so hopefully they'll be okay.

Is there a point at which I should be worried? I'm well prepared to rush her to the vet if need be, to save her and/or the babies. How long can she "safely" go overdue?

 

[pinksalamander]

I'm by no means an expert (at ALL!) but i read the other day on another post someone said they wouldn't go more than 5 days overdue without a vets visit.

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

 

[polly]

No more than 35 days. I hope if she does have a litter that she is ok. if her son is half french lop then she could well have problems if he is bigger than her. Please keep an eye out for her straining for long periods of time if she does this get her straight to the vet!

Has she pulled any fur or anything for her nest yet?

 

[Almi]

Ollie is bigger than her but smaller than Blue. Here's a pic of her andBlue (Ollie's dad)- and she had no problem with that first litter.

I do worry about it, though, in her old age. I don't work much, only Mondays and Fridays, so I'm home most of the time. The only thing is that I'll be out of town for a wedding this weekend, so I will have a friend staying at my house to keep an eye on her and the babies. If she hasn't had them by the time we have to leave, then I'm not going to go, of course.

She has pulled fur; she started doing so about a week ago. I took the big clumps out to encourage her to pull more when the time comes. I have given her cloth to use in her nest, and it's caked in fur, but she hasn't shown much interest in nesting since she started wanting to a week ago.

 

[polly]

I will keep my fingers crossed it all goes well. Its a hard one i suppose though at least she has had a litter before though im not sure with it being so long ifit will cause trouble butit sounds liek you are going to be keeping a close eye I do know usually when they get older they have smaller litters again.

If i were you i would be gettign teh boyo to teh vet asap though i wouldnt advise repeating it esp not at her age

fingers and toes crossed she pops em out for you

 

[Almi]

polly wrote:

If i were you i would be gettign teh boyo to teh vet asap though i wouldnt advise repeating it esp not at her age

Huh?

 

[polly]

sorry my fingers are not working tonight (types slowly)

what i said was if i was you I would be getting the boy in for a neuter asap if she gets through this ok great but if i were you at the age she is I would not want the chance of it happening again

 

[Almi]

Obviously, I have the foresight to realize that by myself. I actually have two boys I need to neuter now, because Blue iswith us again. See my thread in general rabbit chat. =P