lost the last of my Bugsys last kit!

[chipperluv]

MY Bugsy Had tenkits~ Seh had five left as of last week and she buried four!one die inmy hubbys arms ashe tried ot nurse him back tohealth!~ one got out of the box and got lost underour couch and couldnt find him till we realized he wasgone!!(deceased) THe last one died on fourth ofJuly cause the mom wasnt nursing those babies!

why does the momma not nurse those babies to beginwith? Its not her first litter! She should know how itsdone?

Does she not want to be a momma?

im asking for the forums help in this question, causei haveanother female rabbit about to give birthin two weks andineedto know just what to do~Im PANICKED STRUCK NOW!LUVPENPAL [email protected]

chipperluv:monkey::bambiandthumper:runningrabbit::magicwand:

 

[Jenniblu]

Some rabbits are simply not goodmothers. Has she done this before? If so, you mightnot want to breed her again. Sorry I couldn't help more, butI only have one rabbit.

 

[dajeti2]

Here is a link that has most of the information you need if you are breeding your rabbits.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=5541&forum_id=1

Tina

 

[Bammoxx]

I had a doe who had lots of littersand only 2 babies survived out of all of them total... So maybe sheisn't a good mother, unless she has raised other litters good.

 

[TinysMom]

chipperluv wrote:

im asking for the forums help in this question, causei haveanother female rabbit about to give birthin two weks andineedto know just what to do~Im PANICKED STRUCK NOW!LUVPENPAL [email protected]

chipperluv:monkey::bambiandthumper:runningrabbit::magicwand:

Please remember that each rabbit is different. I have fourdoes that all gave birth between June 30th and July 4th.Between them, we have 17 "wrigglies". I'm totally amazed athow each mama handled nest building, birth, and nursing.

Mona Kea doesn't want them in her cage unless she wants to nursethem. She'll try to flip the litter box over and we even hadone fall on the floor. Mind you - this is NOT her firstlitter.

Lava's kits are teeny tiny (born 7/4). She's a teeny tinygal....she made a horrid nest...so today when she had her kits in withher....she remade the nest. I wish she'd done as well thefirst time.

Summer nurses her babies whenever I put the box in her cage...or so itseems. She's probably about the best mama....if I put them inher cage, even if she doesn't nurse them - she checks them out andlooks them over. I'm amazed at her "mothering skills".

Finally, Miss Bea - who I thought would be horrid - wasWONDERFUL! Her kits are HUGE and she seems to have lots ofmilk. She likes having her nest box out but she never fightsme when I put it in. She loves it when I check her though andshe comes up for pets and treats. She is doing a great jobwith her babies and even though she built her nest on the floor - shedid a good job of it. I almost hated to move her babies tothe nest box.

Each mama is different....

Also - different breeds have different temperaments, etc. as far asbreeding. From whatlittle I know (and it IS little)- I think Holland Lops and Netherland dwarfs have a harder time -especially with their first litters (even though it wasn't your doe'sfirst litter).

I wish you lots of luck. For us, it has worked well to takethe babies out of the cages and then take them back 3-4 times perday. The babies are healthy and growing just fine.....butI'll stop doing that when their eyes open....

Peg

 

[pamnock]

Hard to say with so little info. Theycould have died from bacterial infections -- not an uncommon cause ofdeath in kits.

Doe could have a tumor that disrupted her hormone balance and affectedmilk supply.Could beany number of healthproblems that affected her care of the babies.

Could have been a congenital cause for the deaths or perhaps the doe's age was a factor.

No way to say for certain what happened -- many causes of failure to thrive.



Pam

 

Here is somethingto concider afterreading your post in the picturethread this is a good possablility as tothe why your babiesdidnt survive ,

You stated she burried them under the CEDAR ! ? yes

Why are you using cedar itstoxic to small animals and rabbits, not to mention that it takesaway normal smells thebabies would produce , she mayhave burried them because she couldntsmell anything but cedar ,

Clean out the cedar and replaceit with either aspenor regular Hay ,

 

[Emmy-webby]

I'm so sorry about the lost of your kits Howterrible it must've been. Not all does are good mothers. If your rabbithasn't done this before, It'd be best of not breeding her again.. Sorrythat I wasn't much help. Take Care.

Katy

 

[imported_Austin]

There have been many studies done about theactual affects of cedar on small animals and the general concensus isthat it does not have the toxic affects that have been touted for somany years. They found that liver enzymes tend to risesomewhat after an animal has been bedded on cedar but then they foundthat the same enzymes rose while they were bedded on pine - but neitherlevels rose to toxic levels. There are many everyday thingsthat can make the liver enzymes rise and none of those are touted asbeing toxic. If anything, all they could conclusively find infavor or not using cedar is that animals actually living in it did notseem to like the smell as much as pine - but then others didn't seem tocare. The subject isstill open with no conclusionsthat cedar does a bit of harm to rabbits reguardless of what thecommunity at large has been saying for years. (Marketinganyone?) I would not blame the bedding for thepoor behaviour of the mother. It could also be that shesensed danger and was trying to hide them. She could havesensed that there was something wrong with them and was trying to getrid of them. It could be that for some reason, she just didnot like being a mother at this particular time - too hot, too cold,lack of nutrients, she isn't feeling well herself, ect...Have you checked her for mastitis. A doe with a sore tummyisn't going to like babies pawing and sucking at her and it will alsotaint her milk supply. I have one brood doe that is going toa pet home this weekend. She has never raised a litter toweaning. She gives birth, cares for them, and then startingat 3-4 weeks of age, the babies start dying no matter what extrememeasures you take to keep them going. There is somethingabout her that she passes on to her babies that causes a failure forthem to thrive - no matter who the father is. Try her againand if the same thing happens, then you know not to be using her for abrood doe.

 

[dajeti2]

Was the mother and kits in a cage? I was just asking because I just read that one got lost under the couch.

Here is a link all about baby bunnies and their care. Pleaseread it before the next litter is born as it has alot of goodinformation in it.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=5541&forum_id=1

Tina

 

Austin , Im not surewhere you got all the infobut Crediting who did thestudy and where the information camefrom would probably be a goodidea as I KNOW I would like tosee the whole study and what ithas to say .

IF Cedar isnt toxic why by chance dothey use it to keep away bugs,? Cedar creates an oil, it secretes it , AnyVet will tell you not to use iton small animals or rabbits ,Naturally anyone who is in thebuisness of markereting Cedar chips ,and closet hangers , bedding etcis going to come up with astudy saying its Safe For Small animals , IfI stood to lose Millions Iwould say anything to get them to buyit.

Had you thourouly read ChipperLuvspost it clearly states that" THIS IS NOTHER FIRST LITTER to die off "

Personally I would spay the Doeand be done with herhaving babies and letting them die off, Its a waste of time and theDoe's energy , she definatley would makea better pet than a breeder.

 

[pamnock]

I agree with Austin -- there is currently noconclusive evidence that pine or cedar cause healthproblems. Personally, I don't like the smell ofcedar, soI don'tuse it. Some ofthe chemicals blamed on health problems were actually compounds presentin the urine itself as well as the wood. At best --evidence indicates that breathing in the dust from wood shavings maycause respiratory problems. Pets are generally not exposed tocontinual dust from the shavings as someone working at a sawmill orstable would be.

Can wood shavings cause health problems in some cases? Ibelieve that certain individuals may be hypersensitive to the compoundsin wood shavings -- but in general, wood shavings are safe to use withgood ventilation.

Black Walnut contains dangerous toxins that horses are especiallysensitive to -- but the exact compound that causes the reaction is notknown. In rare cases, I have seen horses have similarreactions to green wood shavings. Surprisingly, black walnutextract is sold for human consumption in health food stores.

Continual contact with shavings has been blamed for skin tumors onsmall animals. Our hamster had a few skin tumors when shedied -- but was never kept on wood shavings.

So -- the jury is still out. Many people have used woodshavings for years to bed their animals and there is currently noconclusive evidence that kiln dried wood shavings are harmful.

Pam