rabbit just gave birth

[shortymay42]

hello, i dont know if anyone will actually see this but my 13 month old dutch doe gave birth the night before last and I got home today and found her looking tired and breathing heavily. I asked some local farmers and they said she was probably just tired from birthing and nursing as this is only her second litter, and the first was about 7 months ago. she also had 8 kits total, but 1 was born outside the nest box and didnt make it. could she just be tired and adjusting to nursing all of them? any help or advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated

 

[JBun]

Does bounce back soon after giving birth. If she's having problems 2 days later, there's most likely something wrong. It could be something like pregnancy toxemia, or maybe hypocalcemia(milk fever) where their blood calcium gets too low from nursing and insufficient dietary calcium. Or she could possibly have a uterine infection.

There's no way to know without getting her to a knowledgeable rabbit vet to get checked out. If it were a mild case of hypocalcemia, I know some breeders will give tums to help with that when it isn't advanced too severely that the doe needs it given by IV. But I can't say if that could help, recommend it, or say what's exactly going on. Best thing is to get her checked by a vet. In the meantime it's important that she's kept warm, as hypothermia will further aggravate any medical condition that is happening. If she's outdoors, then I would bring her inside and provide a safe means of keeping her warm.

https://www.vetstream.com/treat/lapis/freeform/pregnancy-toxemia
https://www.vetstream.com/treat/lapis/freeform/hypocalcemia
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/