Wrinkly kits, is this normal?

[CiaraPatricia]

This sounds like a weird question, but I'm worried that there's something wrong with my 3 day old kits. Compared to photos of my last 2 litters at 3 days (same parents), they're way more wrinkly, and their fur is shiny and it looks weird. They also seem small but are wriggly and being well fed and were born on the 31st day, same as the other litters.

Here's a photo, it's not great cos it was at the back of the shed and I didn't want to move into better light in case the mom was upset. But you can see how wrinkly they look and how the fur is shiny and with the wrinkles it just looks weird . . .

 

[CiaraPatricia]

I know kits are wrinkly, but this looks weird to me, like they're excessively wrinkly. But I'm still kinda new to this cos it's only my third litter.



Hopefully nothing is wrong with them, cos they seem otherwise normal and always have fat bellies when I check on them. But has anyone else seen kits like that? They're all like that.



Oh and they're lionheads . . . there's six in the litter.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

A breeder said they might be dehydrated or not getting enough milk and to check the mom's milk. I don't know if there's a specific way to check but I squeezed her nipples and no milk at all came out.

Then I checked the babies, who all have round bellies, and looked less wrinkly, though some were still a bit wrinkly. Maybe the mum just fed them and that's why she has no milk? Or would she have a bit anyway?

The mum has lots of dry food, veggies (including dark green), hay and water. Would parsley help with milk production? I think I heard that it does.

I'll check her milk again in the morning.

Does it sound like she doesn't have enough milk? Should I be supplementing the babies with kitten formula, or should I syringe them a little water, or just leave mum do her job?



The babies are normal otherwise, active and wriggly and don't seem particularly hungry or anything. But maybe their bellies aren't as fat as my previous litters were, now that I think of it. They're round, but not huge . . .

 

[woahlookitsme]

i would say if they have round bellies and are active then they should be fine

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Thanks

Though I looked back at old photos of another litter at 3 days, and they had huge bellies, way bigger than my kits. The two smallest from that litter had smaller bellies like these kits, and those two survived

I know the babies' bellies are not as round as they should be, but I'm reluctant to start handfeeding them aswell in case they get diarrhea or anything, so I'm going to see how they are tomorrow and if the mother seems to have milk.

If they still seem active and don't get dehydrated then I might just leave it up to the mother to look after them. But I'll see how they do.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Someone on another forum said to feed the mum goats milk or kitten formula as well as her water. So I'll do that, as long as it won't harm her . . . I remember it says you can do that in a rabbit book I have, I just don't always trust that book.

 

[Tobi]

From the looks of the picture it looks to me as if your kits are not getting enough from mom. There bellies should look like they have a large grape stuck in them. Kits that look like they have loose skin after a few days have one of three common things going on either they are peanuts (contain 2 dwarf genes and its a fatel gene and almost always die), are not getting enough from Mom or just do not have the energry to thrive. Try to flip your doe and squeeze the nipple from the base to the tip and see if you get and milk like liquid out of it (dont forget she has 10) you should also beable to feel her bags in a upright position under her belly. Some does just dry up and stop producing milk after a couple of days, you could try to suppliment her with Calf Manna to help stimulate her milk production. Once I breed a doe I begin to give her Calf Manna this helps with milk production and with extra nutrients that she needs. Is this her first litter? What breed is the rabbit? How was her health in whole before during and after breeding her? There are many things at play when it comes to breeding and many things can go wrong. I hope your doe is just taking some time to produce milk, Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

She didn't seem to have any milk when I squeezed her nipple, but she has fed them a bit. Their bellies are roundish, but not as big as they should be.

She's a lionhead but bigger than they should be, it's her third litter and she never had a problem before, even with the same size litters. Her health was always fine and her diet was always fine.

 

[Tobi]

I would just keep a eye on there weight to make sure they are gaining weight and just check on them daily, unless you happen to have another doe with the same age litter or have a friend that has the same age litter you could possibly foster them too. Every litter is going to be different and sometimes we loose whole litters due to unknown circumstances. I wish you luck!

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Unfortunately I don't have any doe to foster them to, I bred another one at the same time but she didn't get pregnant.

But the babies seem a lot better today. I'm sure she must have fed them this morning because they're less wrinkly, they're a bit fatter (not huge, but definitely round bellied) and they're not really hungry, but are active. I checked their skin tent and they're not dehydrated.

I checked her nipples again and no milk came out (is there a trick to that?) but maybe she just fed them and will get milk in later. She ate lots of food during the night so I think she is feeding them, cos she wouldn't eat that much otherwise, and also they're 4 days old now, so she must be feeding them . . .

I'm getting her more dark green veg later and watery veg and goat's milk, though I'm a bit concerned that the goat's milk could upset her tummy . . .

Anyway I'm much less worried about the babies at the moment, they look fine, but I'll keep checking. I really hope she did feed them this morning like I think.

 

[pamnock]

CiaraPatricia wrote:

I checked her nipples again and no milk came out (is there a trick to that?) but maybe she just fed them and will get milk in later. She ate lots of food during the night so I think she is feeding them, cos she wouldn't eat that much otherwise, and also they're 4 days old now, so she must be feeding them . . .

Yes - there is a trick to it. Milk is more easily expressed when hormones are released and the "let down" ejection reflex occurs. You can sometimes stimulate let-down by "milking" the teats as you would a cow. Also, the doe's milk doesn't actually come in until about day 3 (does have colostrum the first few days).

We feed moist foods like carrots/apples/or greens for does that don't appear to be milking well. Be careful with sudden feed changes.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Thanks

The babies are doing fine now anyway, their fur is in and they're looking fat and not wrinkly, just perfectly normal.