Doesn't appear sick but now looking pregnant?! *Update*

So my doe Butterball has been shedding like nuts (She's a REW so there's white hair everywhere lol) I bred her about 2 weeks ago and so I felt for babies today because she was looking quite round but I felt nothing (This don't mean anything though, I will still be giving her a box) But I noticed she feels a bit bloated I think? I will say I did run out of food Friday and didn't get food again until Monday (Feed store is closed for weekends) so to fill in I cut up tons of fresh fruit and veggies, as well as a bunch of Golden Rod, Bok Chow, Plantain and Dandelion. Do you think she just filled up on pellets? because none of the rest look like her? I'm mostly concerned because this morning when we refilled her water instead of getting up she just laid there and stretched out. Now she's always been quite a lazy rabbit, but this is more than her usual leaning against the cage while eating.

I don't know how much fresh food you normally give her in addition to pellets, but it could be that she is suffering the effects of the abrupt change in proportions of food types.

Next time you run low on feed and won't be able to get more right away, it would be safer to stretch the pellets by feeding less and making up the difference with kitchen oatmeal and grass-hay. Both those are very safe and easily digestible. Among greens, plantain will not cause problems, nor will the leaves of blackberry, raspberry or strawberry.

You giving them "tons" of fresh fruits and vegetables over the weekend could be the problem.

Well they'd all get about 2 slices worth of a medium apple, each got a small slice of banana, a leaf of Bok Choy a day, a couple carrots.. The rest was yard veggies.. I shouldn't have said a ton (Both days I cut up a ton is more like it I cut 3 apples, 3 banana's, 2 carrots, and had about 10 large Bok Choy leaves to share between them all) She's the only who's acting like this, should I give her more plantain and Dandelion? I almost always stretch out the feed near the bottom of the bag, but I didn't realize how low I was until I was almost out. I've been so distracted trying to get more rabbit supplies (Cages, butchering set-up, etc.) and aquaponics, I got quite carried away. Will she be ok?

Is she still lethargic? Is she eating, drinking and pooping okay at this point? Any sign of diarrhea? It's hard to give advice without knowing the relevant details.

Plantain won't hurt her or the berry leaves I mentioned. I would hold off on other fresh foods for the moment. Kitchen oatmeal is fine in small quantities. The very best thing to give her is grass-hay. It provides the necessary roughage to keep her system working.

Edited to add: Sometimes exercise is beneficial for rabbits suffering from GI upsets. It helps to keep things moving through the system. Can you let her out to hop around? (Under supervision, of course.)

I can bring her inside and let her hang out for a bit.. She's such a sweet pea, she was drinking water this morning from her laid out position, still eating from what I saw last, I'm about to go check her here in a second. When I stuck my hand in the cage she got up and moved around and when I tried to feel her belly for babies she hopped off into the corner so I had to basically climb into her cage to reach her, after she realized I wasn't there to pester her by taking her to a buck she calmed down and let me feel around which is when I noticed what felt like a bloated belly, now it could've been she might've just ate but I am unsure.

Going to check her now. *Sorry for repeating I'm trying to remind myself so If I forget and come back here I'll see this lol*

C'mon, Buttons! I'm trying to help you out here. :roll:

Is she pooping and if so, what are the poops like? Is the amount normal?

Do you have hay for her?

Hey, I went and checked on her and she looks all good, no more bloated belly, I didn't see much poop under her cage but she was happy to see me. My boyfriend's step-dad is working on splitting the goat room and the rabbit part, looks really cool right now, I'll take some pics of it once it's all set up and the such, as well as some pictures of everything. Right now I don't have hay which is annoying because I've emphasized how important hay is to their daily diet, although they waste the grass hay, I think they're gonna order some Timothy,Alfalfa mix hay with molasses? I was actually wondering if that's good for daily? Also is it possible to cut and dry grass for grass hay? I'll also look into getting hay somewhere It's hard to get hay because the best stuff is at Tractor Supply in Marion or Asheville and both of those are over an hour drive >3< Speak of the cons of living in a TINY county haha but it's great.. I wish I could show you all how beautiful it is outside..

Glad she seems to be doing better, but I'm still concerned about his GI system. If the bunny berries are small and hard, she could have what is referred to as "sluggish motility in the GI system." You want to keep things moving through, which is why grass hay is such a good food.

Here is a fairly detailed article about sluggish motility.
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-7/gi.html

You can certainly cut and dry grass as a hay substitute. It is best to cut long grass for drying; sometimes short clippings start to compost very quickly and also may result in mould.

Hay cubes should be available at just about any feed store. They may be timothy or they may be alfalfa. But both kinds contain useful fibre.

Now this makes me wonder if there's more wrong than I thought... She's been laying out more since she did this random floppy thing one day.. She was just sitting there and suddenly fell over but it wasn't like a fall, it was like she threw herself at the cage and then laid there for a few seconds before I went to make sure she was alive and she got up.. I wanna say she did it again either that day or the next, but hasn't done it since. I kinda assumed it was the lovey flop thing where they do it because they trust you, but she's never done it before or since. Although ever since then she's been laying more. She doesn't seem uncomfortable or anything, I mean she's in a bigger, nicer cage than she was before.. Could she also be having a false pregnancy? (I've never seen a doe have a want and love for babies like her. When I breed her no matter what she acts pregnant, looks pregnant, whether she is or isn't) If it is a false pregnancy then it makes more sense, I already know she isn't from palpating, but will give her a box anyway. She has had a false pregnancy once or maybe twice before where she built a nest, pulled fur, and then sat in a corner depressed when no babies came and the nestbox left. If breeding her is causing any sort of harm to her in your opinion from this I'll stop. I don't want to do anything to hurt her, she's one of my first rabbits and I consider her family (She's one of 3) I will be cutting some grass, plantain, and dandelion, I'll let the grass dry but give her the other stuff right away. Thank you for all your help! I'll also check under her cage and see if she's pooping, they are currently separating the goat room from the rabbit area (I'll post pics when done; I'm very excited) and soon I'll be making more cages and getting a processing knife so these things are all awesome as well <br /><br /> -- November 2nd, 2016, 12:38 pm -- <br /><br /> So I went to check on her today, and like yesterday afternoon there was no more bloat. I checked under her cage and she is still going potty; there was fresher looking pee on the ground and her poo's looked nice and black, I picked one up and broke it in half, it was greenish and looked kinda like a greener pellet mash (I wanted to make sure she didn't have worms as well) I've also put her and two other rabbits outside in their cages to get some fresh air and sunshine (I also needed to clean the cage stand) She looked a lot better this morning then she has in a couple days funny enough, she was a lot more active, she's ate more of her food. Could she have been unhappy where she was? Maybe I haven't been paying enough attention to her? It's funny because yesterday the cages got moved to the back end of the goat room which is now going to be the rabbit section like I said before and since she's been moved she seems happier?

I really can't say why she seems better. Perhaps the change, getting outside, perked her up. If she's eating, peeing and pooping normally, I would just keep a close eye on her.

I am going to be.. I really want to rebreed her and I can only assume she must've got a little bloated from the random feed change, she's outside enjoying some warm sunshine right now. I should actually probably finish my cleaning and put them up they've been out the better part of today because it was so nice.

I'd hold off on the rebreeding. Palpating a doe is not foolproof--she may be already pregnant. In addition, you will want to be sure she is well over whatever was wrong before adding the stress of breeding and pregnancy.

Don't forget to give her a nest box on Day 28 from her last breeding -- just in case.

28 days is apparently in just a few days, maybe the belly was from some secret babies, let's hope maybe i'll be lucky and there is. After day 28 I'm gonna give her about a week and make sure she's back up to snuff.. <br /><br /> -- November 3rd, 2016, 11:01 am -- <br /><br /> In a few days will be 28 days, she hasn't looked very "pregnant" this entire time, but I bred her to my Chocolate buck Coffee, so if she is pregnant than it'll be his first litter and a very exciting time. When I palpated the other day I didn't feel anything but I did notice the area where the uterus would be was bigger than on a doe that not had kits, I don't know if her uterus is just bigger because of previous litters, but any advice on what I'm feeling would be awesome!