doe not producing milk

well, it's not quite that simple.

one of my proven rex does had a litter of 9 (one DOA) a week ago and has since lost two more kits, seemingly for no reason. the first one died within a couple days of delivery, so i assumed it was a failure to thrive. but i had a kit die last night too at a week old that was perfectly fine last i checked on them. they all seemed active and fed, growing pretty nicely - usually after the week mark i don't have any deaths. i flipped the doe over and it looks like only one or two of her teats actually have milk in them, which kind of explains why they don't look like they ate much this morning, and possibly the week old one dying. i gave all but two kits to another doe that has a litter the same age (that doe now has 12 kits but i believe in her lol.) i gave the milkless doe an extra big handfull of BOSS and oats to help her produce more for the two i left with her. i routinely give my new mothers BOSS, oats, and dandelion but usually after the first week or so they are good to go on their own so i had stopped.


how common is this occurrence? the doe with the malfunctioning teats had a litter earlier this year that she did amazing with, and as far as i could tell she had plenty milk then. i do plan on giving her the full three strikes, but i'm just curious how often something like this can happen and if it may be a permanent thing? is there a health or trauma reason why she could lose the use of her teats? aka could it be hereditary - she has a great coat and type and i hate to lose that in my line.

edit: bah i meant to post this in the kindling forum...

I'd say it's pretty rare

I've never had a proven doe who repeatedly fed litters succefully fail to have her milk come in and/or dry up after a few weeks

Probably due to mastitis damaging the tissue ... probably occurred at the end of the last litter and went unnoticed.

Ramjet":389kfpbg said:

Probably due to mastitis damaging the tissue ... probably occurred at the end of the last litter and went unnoticed.

Click to expand...

That was my first though as well, however, we had a dog get mastitis that was bad enough to split the breast tissue. I didn't realize what was happening (I thought she had cut herself) but thankfully the vet was gentle with me. She raised a following litter of pups without problems and didn't lose the use of those tits.

I'm thinking it would have to be really bad to completely use the use of the tits? (question mark because I'm not sure).

i wouldn't discount the possibility of mastitis, but yeah i would expect it to be pretty bad to completely lose the use of the teats? and i mean they may not be completely useless, but there were definitely only two or three that felt full, and the kids weren't fed so i am pretty sure it wasn't because she was freshly empty. she never had any swelling or redness or anything that i noticed when weaning her last litter, at least not anything i noticed as off when giving her quick check-overs.

i saw her hop into the nest to nurse the two kits i left her with several times today, so i'm hoping she'll be able to raise at least those two. i guess we'll see how she does when i breed her again, but i'll be quite disappointed if she's unable to rear a full litter now

Mastitis is the only thing I could think of that could cause the symptoms.

As for how "bad" it would have to be , remember we are talking about a rabbit here , they are much more delicate than a dog. Don't think it would take much to damage their teats beyond use.


Curious , how old is this rabbit and how many litters has she raised ?!

Next time I'd be sure to breed a couple other does along with her so you could foster the litter if she isn't able to produce milk.

By the way , I'm in Houston too ....

it's still just surprising i never noticed. i usually look my does over daily when weaning to keep an eye out, and noticed nothing.

she will be a year old in june and this is her second litter. she is a really great doe so i will likely continue to breed her, but i guess she'll just have to have most of her litter fostered. she has three kits now (gave one that was a little thin back to her so it wouldn't need to compete with the other 11 kits,) and they all are growing and healthy, so at least she can take care of a few of her own kits.

the ones fostered to the other doe are doing great otherwise. this was her first litter and she's really stepped up to the plate. all the babies are nice and fed and she is fiercely protective of them.

I'd be curious to see if she produced milk from more teats next time you bred her , if not .... You have to start asking questions.

Are the offspring strictly going to the butcher block ? I'd be real wary of keeping any of her offspring for myself or sending to another breeder should the issue be genetic which is entirely possible.