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jil101ca

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I just got home from work, pulled in the driveway to see a big dog leaving my yard. Cursed the dog and went to check my rabbits like I always do, I was excited to see how my babies were doing. As I'm going up to the shed I notice dog prints all around my shed. The dog can get in so I'm not too worried. Open the door and gasp!!!! My new mom has trashed her cage, feeder knocked over, water bottle on the floor and the nest torn apart. The 4 babies I worked so hard to save are all dead, half eaten. Mom is in panic mode again.....

I can't see that she rejected the babies as they were all well looked after when I left this morning. Mom is able to see outside and would have seen the dog... Would she have done this out of fear or defense?? She shows all the signs of being a good mom and this was her first litter so she is forgiven I just want to understand what/why she did what she did. Now I'm worried about mastitis (sp?) and am going to do some research about that. I'm also waiting for a call from the vet. Hopefully Mom will be ok, both physically and mentally.
 
by any chance do you know who the dog belongs to?

if you do, i would contact them and let them know that if they don't keep their dog contained you will bring the problem to the cops. . . a strange dog can cause a lot of terror to a rabbit. . .

and it wouldn't surprize me if she did it out of fear. . .
 
i wish I did know where it came from. We just moved into the neighbourhood.

I just came in from fixing her cage again and spending some time with her to calm her down, she seems a little calmer now. I told her she was a good girl and it wasn't her fault.
 
I'm so sorry for your loss. How heartbreaking.

Please don't be mad or upset with mama though....she followed her instinct which is to kill her kits to protect them (or soI've been told).

So many times we (or at least I) attribute human understanding to my rabbits (oh..she does this because she loves them or hates them or whatever)- but the fact is - they still have instincts and if they fear for their young - their instinct says it is better for them to kill them than to have someone else kill them.

I don't understand it - but then again - I'm not a rabbit!

Maybe you can breed again in the spring when the weather will be nicer?

Peg
 
I'm so glad you told her she was a good mommy.

I don't know if this will make you feel any better or not - but I have to share with you about our girl Pow Wow.

She's a sweetie - she really is. She lost her first litter - born too early. She lost her second litter...she didn't know what to do and killed them by mistake we think (because she grieved and tried to lay on them to keep them warm). Her third litter - 3 were stillborn - then 24 hours later - a fourth one was born. She overgroomed a front foot -but the doe made it.

Today she successfully kindled a litter of 3. We're so thrilled for her. She did everything right and she looked at me as if to say,"See...I finally got it right mom!"

I gave her a carrot and told her she was an EXCELLENT mama.

I think that when we encourage our girls - even when we're sad over losses..they try hard to do better.

Then again...I think my rabbits will play peek-a-boo with me through the cage bars one of these days too..

Peg
 
Thats really terrible. If I were you and i saw that dog again i would look for a collar if it doesn't have one i would try to contain it and phone your animal shelter. If it does belong to someone it might give them a fright and they would maybe take better care of it!

Congrats to tinys mum that is so great you must be really chuffed.
 
Congrats on Pow Wow!!!

Yes I am very upset and feel bad for Mamapeach. I will re-breed her when the time is right. Somebody told me to rebreed her right away but i think I will wait a bit.
 
Blacky kindled yesterday after making a relly cool nest. Unfortanately the 3 babies were stillborn, 2 broken and 1 black, seemed like big babies for her. Febuary has not been kind to me or my bunns. I have another doe, first time mom due the second week of March. I'm hoping March is kinder.
 
First litters are always the hardest for the moms. If you rebreed Blacky, she should be fine the next time. Sorry to hear about the babies. Don't get discouraged...it happens to all of us.

Sharon
 
That's horrible. I would be really mad if that would've happened to me. :X



That's the best thing to do is wait for a while to breed the doe again.

I've actually had pretty successful litters, Charlotte's first litter-5kits, 1 DOA, and 1 died a week later, so she had a good litter; Ginger's first litter-4 kits, all good until 1 killed, 1 froze, and the only 2 survived but it was really cold; 2nd litter 5 kits, 1 died later that day, all are doing great. I'm hoping to breed in April, depending if I sell Ginger's bunnies when they are older. :D





Hop N'Tail Rabbitry
 
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