6-yr-old daughter dropped a kit

Well, it seems I have only had time to post to this forum when something goes wrong with my rabbits. My doe had her second successful litter (after losing an entire litter of 11). The litter had 4 (One stillborn), so we have 3 adorable kits. Due to the afternoon heat and the fact that I believe Rosie's last litter died from the heat in her hutch, I have been bringing in the nestbox during the hot hours of the afternoon. This was working really well, and Rosie seemed to enjoy the break.

My daughter picked up one of the kits and it "popped" and fell right on the floor. This was a few days ago and my husband, who is a softy, felt we should give the bun a chance and see if she heals. I think its time to put it out of its misery. I don't think it will get better, I believe its back or neck is injured.

We use an air rifle to dispatch. I guess I will need to do that when my husband gets home. I do the butchering around here, but my husband usually does the dispatching, though he is a softy and would love it if I would do that as well. I just need him to show me how to work the air rifle.

It seems silly to have to use the air rifle to dispatch such a young rabbit, but I don't know that I could dispatch with my hands. I guess I'm a wimp.

I was so happy with this little litter after the trouble and learning curves I've gone through over the summer, but I suppose that's the way it goes.

THe upside is that the two healthy buns are very healthy and hearty. There is one buck and one doe. I have processed 9 buns over the last month from previous litter and am keeping 2 does and one buck from my first litter for breeding. They are extremely sweet buns and love attention. I'll be making new hutches to expand beyond my four hutches in September/October.

I've dropped baby rabbits before and they weren't hurt. Are you sure it's actually hurt?

I once accidentally stepped on a days-old chick (and I'm no light-weight ) but since it was on deep litter it was miraculously uninjured. I think most of us have had accidents with critters that make us cringe to remember them. Please assure your daughter that accidents happen and that it was not her fault!

That said, it is a good idea with kids and critters to make the child sit down and then hand them the animal to hold. It can save a lot of heartbreak.

Edited to add: Whenever I have had to dispatch a kit, I've put it on a hard surface and used a hammer to crush its skull. Sounds gruesome, but it's less tactile than breaking its neck and it is within my range of manageable dexterity.

ButtonsPalace":2mw9efyu said:

I've dropped baby rabbits before and they weren't hurt. Are you sure it's actually hurt?

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Thanks for the reply, buttonspalace. Yes, its definitely hurt. The other two kits' eyes opened yesterday and they crawled out of the nest box last night. This poor baby seems to be able to move all four legs but holds its neck crooked, so doesn't walk straight and holds its back curved. It can take a few steps but falls over on its side or back as its legs don't seems to want to go wide enough to allow it to walk. It doesn't have a nice full tummy, either. I don't think it was able to get to mamas milk for two nights now. I gave it some milk replacer yesterday and it seemed to eat that fine. This morning, it didn't want it much.

My husband will have nothing to do with putting it out of its misery, so if that is what needs to be done, I'm going to have to be the one to do it.

MaggieJ":2ur1gez7 said:

Edited to add: Whenever I have had to dispatch a kit, I've put it on a hard surface and used a hammer to crush its skull. Sounds gruesome, but it's less tactile than breaking its neck and it is within my range of manageable dexterity.

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Thank God I've never had to yet but I think the best way that would be most accurate and less messy would be to put the kit in a baggy, seal it and hit it hard with a cast iron pan to the head. I would assume the mess would stay in the bag...

Freezer death is easy with babies in a bag like you said. wrap it in a washcloth and freeze it. The baby will feel no pain whatsoever and just slip off into sleep.

ButtonsPalace":mxqk0u7x said:

Freezer death is easy with babies in a bag like you said. wrap it in a washcloth and freeze it. The baby will feel no pain whatsoever and just slip off into sleep.

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Hm, I may be wrong, but I have a different opinion there, I know the pain when the cold slowly gets at your bones. Of course, it may look peaceful, no struggle, but that's simply because one can't, because of the cold, and rabbits don't easily show pain anyway.
In my opinion that's not much better than drowning.

If the hammer is too bloody for ones stomach, a sock and a hard surface will do, after practicing with a potato. Or the pellet gun.

Anyway, accidents happen. I dropped my share of kits, but they had good luck (and a soft floor to land on)

Depending on the size (my brain is too tired to do the math right now ) scissors work really well - I have done that on both chicks and baby rabbits (the chick didn't hatch out quite right from the shell and was bleeding, and kits when they were wasting away to nothing and I knew there wasn't much chance for them). I hold them gently in one hand and with a quick snip at the neck the deed is done. I have also had to do it by hand when I found one half eaten but still alive shortly after kindling - I didn't want to waste time trying to find scissors, it needed to be put out of it's misery. It wasn't pretty, and I hated it, but it was best for the kit. For older ones I chose cervical dislocation by hand. I had a whole litter with Pasteurella and it finally showed itself at 5 weeks... hard, but necessary

Thanks, everyone. Its very sad, but I will need to be able to do this sort of thing when one of my buns needs to be put out of its misery.

On a side note, Heritage- I'm a homeschooling mom as well, of 3. We've nicknamed out time with our buns "Animal Husbandry Class". Its an elective at our homeschool. LOL. Love your avatar. Adorable.

I will update as to how everything turns out.

ButtonsPalace":2wze3kxj said:

Freezer death is easy with babies in a bag like you said. wrap it in a washcloth and freeze it. The baby will feel no pain whatsoever and just slip off into sleep.

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Please don't use this method, Buttons. Preitler is right... It may seem peaceful but it's not fast and the rabbit will suffer a lot of discomfort. Whatever method is chosen, it should be instantaneous.

There are quite a few methods that are quick and effective. The main problem seems to be finding which one an individual can stomach best. Manual dexterity also plays a role in choosing-- you want to choose a method you can handle physically.

Well glad I haven't done that. We do it with chickens/chicks or any animals our cats bring us half dead. We put them in a wet washrag and then in the freezer bag. We don't do this to animals that are still live enough to be wriggling and such only the ones who are on their last legs. As far as the rabbit goes your best bet would be grab it by the back legs and hit it's head on something pretty hard and it should be an immediate kill. I've done this to half dead birds my cats have left in the house before. It's lovely walking down the hall to a bird squealing in pain, no cat and a feathery explosion.