Questions about phantom pregnancy

[maherwoman]

Hey guys!

So, Maisie is officially having her first phantom pregnancy. She's made a nest (fur and all) out of her downstairs litterbox.

So, a couple of questions:

- How long should I leave it? I don't want to clean it out before she's finished with being a "mama", but I don't want to find her having ingested all that fur or anything, either. Is that something I should be worrying about?

- Should I be concerned that it's been made in her litterbox? It didn't appear that she's used it at all before making her nest a couple days ago, but I just want to check.

- Should I get her a little nesting box? Or is it okay how she's done this?

- Would it make her feel better to give her some small little stuffies to take care of? Or would that exaserbate the situation? It probably isn't necessary, but I don't want her to feel sad that all this went to nothing.

Could you guys just let me know a little more about this, what I should expect, etc.?

Just as a side note: I am scheduling for her to get spayed, so it's not intentional that she's not...just that we waited until she was six months old (which was June 28th), and now we're getting the money together (since we just had to spend the money we would have used for it on her trip to the vet...$250!!). We would have taken her in recently, but wound up having to take her in for her slight GI Stasis recently, and now I want to give her little body a bit of time before another big trip to the vet.

Thanks for all your help and advice, guys!

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

bump

 

[Spring]

Oops! Sorry I didn't see htis earlier!

Just leave it a few days after she's done making it and has left it alone. I cleaned Pepsi's hay nest 4 days after I saw her building it and she seemed ok with me doing it.

I wouldn't be too concerned about it in the liter box, just leave it in there. You don't really need a nest box if she's already made it in her litterbox.

I think she'll be fine without the stuffies. I tried to put little small furry things in Pepsi's nest and she picked them up and tossed them out, soI guess she didn't like it in there.

Just keep an eye on her food/water and poop/pee. Sometimes rabbits will decrease their appetite after building the nest, that's fine, just make sure she doesn't stop eating.

 

[JimD]

Our Chippy nests ALL of the time.
The first time it happened, she used her litter pan for the nest. Luckily I had just cleaned it so I simply bought another litter pan for her.

I left it for about a week and a half and then took it out of her cage.
She soon there after started to build one in her new litter pan.
I put the original back in and cafefully move her nesting material into it.
It's been there ever since. I take it out every week or two and clean it...most of the time it's fairly clean....just some fur, a blankie, and a bunnie.

Just watch for any signs of stress, inflamation of the mammaries, or she may stop eating like a preggo doe would just before giving birth.

Chippy has been with us for over a year. We got her from a pet store that let her get pregnant twice by the time she was 6 months old. I haven't seen any adverse changes in her personality or health. She a small, happy, bouncy, mama-wannabe that hates the smell of Purell. She isn't spayed yet...it's in the plans, but just not the near future.

 

[maherwoman]

Thanks, guys!

I went ahead and cleaned it out, because while I was watching, she came over to it and ate some of the fur. It scared me a bit because I didn't want her to get fur blockage as a result.

Thanks for the ideas, though, guys! I'll keep them in mind for next time.