I need help with this doe

[gentle giants]

I have a Mini Rex doe that had a litter on Saturday. She originally had five, one DOA. Of the other four, one was a peanut. I went out to feed on Monday, and the peanut and one other were dead, and the other two very close because of the cold. Well, I managed to revive the two survivors, and they seemed fine, warm and wiggly and willing to nurse. I held the doe and put the kits on her belly, and they fed for a minute or so.
That afternoon, one of the remaining kits died, for no aparent reason, it was still warm and everything. (I had a heat lamp on them at this point.) So I was down to one left. I thought of fostering it on another doe that kindled the day after the Mini Rex, but the other doe is a Flemish and I was afraid of the MR baby getting squished.
This am when I went out to feed, the heat lamp had somehow fallen off the cage during the night, and the last baby had died.
Now the doe is really upset, and really wants to be bred again. As in, she was arching her back and raising her tail for me when I petted her. I just don't know if I should breed her again, though. I mean, she just had kits three days ago, and there were so many problems with this litter... I feel so bad for her, 'cause she wants to be a mom sooo badly, but I just don't know what to do. Can someone with more bunny raising experience tell me what they would do in this situation?

 

[TinysMom]

I will tell you what they recommend on the lionhead breeder list...if you have a doe that loses its litter -rebreed within 48-72 hours as long as the doe is in good health. She is most fertile during that time and will "take"easier.

I'm sorry about the loss of kits....I always hate it when we lose one(or more). I was checking Mona's babies this morning (born last night) and she didn't have six - she had SEVEN - but one is sorta small and had started to crawl away from the others. I think it would have died but I put it back in with the others and when I checked again 2 hours later - it was fine....at the bottom of the pile almost. Mona got mad at me and I promised her I wouldn't look at them again today....

Anyway, if it were me adn the doe was in good health and hadn't had problems with delivery - I'd rebreed her asap.

Peg

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

I am sorry to hear about the babies. After you fed them, did you stimulate them to urinate? Mother rabbits lick their babies to stimulate urination. Baby rabbits can not do this on their own. To do this, I use a warm wash cloth or a warm cotton ball
(using warm water) and gently rub down there. Sometimes if the mother is not violent, I hold the baby up in front of her and let her do the work.

Try breeding her again. If she doesn't care for this litter, I wouldnot rebreedher.

Sharon

 

[gentle giants]

No, I didn't stimulate them to urinate, I didn't think it would be neccesary because she was climbing in the nestbox and checking things out when I put them back in. She got all excited when I got them revived and they started squeaking again, she had to get in there and see what I was doing. I think she had given them up for dead and when they started making noise she got all happy about it, the poor little thing.

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

Did the babies have EXTREMELY big bellies? Bigger than just normal fed look. The mother's only stimulate their babies when they are nursing so she may not have done that.

Sharon

 

[bunnytopia]

our mini lop had 1 DOA on the 5th Dec and was very upset, we bred her again a couple of weeks later and now she has 6 healthy well looked after happy kits that are 14 days old 2day and really cute, i would definately breed her again and hopefully things will turn out better next time like it did for us!

 

[gentle giants]

Well, I went ahead and bred her again. I have another question, though. Her little belly is all swollen from having so much milk and no babies to nurse. Do I need to worry about her getting mastitis? I think that is caused by not having babies nursing, isn't it? And I know from experience with my own babies that when you haven't nursed in a while, it HURTS! I thought about letting Sally's babies nurse off her a little, but I figured that would just keep her in milk longer.

Starlight, the babies did have big bellies, but I didn't think they were abnormally big. When I held the doe to let them nurse, I only gave them a couple of minutes worth, just to get some warmth in them.

 

[KatsMeowTree]

There is something called Agalactia, it may be a far cry but something to look into. If the babies died with bellies full of milk it may be because of the doe's milk actually containing a bacteria that would kill them. I'm sure you could do a search to find out more.

 

[TinysMom]

This is from the most current ARBA guidebook - page 201 under "Medical Management".



CAKED BREAST is due to engorgement of the mammory gland with milk due to increased production compared to the volume of milk consumed by the young.

Clinical Signs: Swollen, hard, painful and milk-filled breast. Usually occurs just after kindling, just after weaning or after death of a litter. It is often a precursor of mastitis.

Prognosis: Good with early aggressive treatment. Withhold all pelleted food for 72 hours and provide only hay and stray (for fiber) and water. Strip any milk present in the affected gland, if necessary.

Prevention: Monitor feed consumption, and withhold feed prior to kindling, at eastning and upon death of a litter.

(Any misspellings are mine - not the book's).

SIDE NOTE: I tend to not withhold all feed from my does - I just cut their food down a bit right before they are due. I find that they don't want to eat anyway and know enough to not eat - but they do tend to love their hay around then. I've had does sit and chew their hay and stare at me like, "If you go away, I can have these kits...". (I do go away).

Peg

 

[gentle giants]

I had thought about trying to releive some of the pressure on her poor little-um-mammary glands, LOL. I want to do everything possible to not encourage more milk production.
KatsMeow, if this Agalactia (did I spell that right?) is the problem, it would happen every time she had a litter, wouldn't it? How often does this occur? I had never heard of it before.

 

[TinysMom]

I don't have the time right now to type out all that ARBA guidebook says about aglatica...but it is mostly common in first-time does and is probably due to hormonal imbalances and or hereditary instincts. It can occur at 7-10 days post kindling due to infection OR 2-3 weeks post kindling due to insufficient calorie intake or mastitis.

Peg