Lost doe w/in 24hr of kindleing... The story of Supermom!

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Cinnabuns

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Well, I have had a new experience the last 3 weeks... I had a first time mom birth 7 babies. Within 24 hours she came down with almost like an instant pneumonia and died. She was such a sweetheart... Her name was Sweetie. I was devastated plus I had 7 newborn orphans. So I decided what I was gonna do. I had a doe who had a litter of 3 who were about 4 week old. They were doing fine eating real food and she was starting to wean them, but still producing milk. I decided to wean her kits.

I have never had to foster before and wasn't sure how she would react to 7 brand new babies that did not smell like her. I didn't trust her enough to leave them with her unsupervised, so I just started to bring her inside and flip her over and let the kits nurse off of her for a while 1-2 times a day based on what their little bellies looked like and how hungry they would act and how full she was (trying to keep her from becoming engorged) . They are now about 3 weeks old and all 7 alive and kicking. I now just place her and the babies in a storage tote without a lid and let them nurse more naturally and take her out when she acts done. She is now my SUPERMOM! I love her! And actually, this doe that is raising them is their grandma. What a good Grandma!

I will miss my poor Sweetie, but she will live on through her kits. They are adorable!
 
MaggieJ":25we4tsh said:
Congratulations on handling a difficult situation so well. It's sad you lost Sweetie, but nice to know that Granny stepped up to the plate and raised her kits. :)
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Thanks, I figured this was my best shot. Yeah, Granny Norah is a great mom. I'm so glad she's been so good with them.

TwoAcreDream":25we4tsh said:
Thanks for sharing :)

What breed of rabbit is the gramma ?
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:D I raise mainly Cinnamons (a few Champagnes), and all in this story and litter are pure breed Cinnamons. I love these guys! :) They are beautiful.

AmysMacdog":25we4tsh said:
That's neat. Sounds like a great line of bunnies to have. :)
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I'm blessed to have such a good momma :bunnyhop: . :)
 
What a great story, Cinnabuns!

Knowing that the nutrient ratio of breastmilk changes as infants age, I was always skeptical of fostering kits of vastly younger age to another doe.

You have shown that it can be done, which may save many future orphans. Good job!

I'm glad you saved the babies with gramma's help! :D
 
I realize this is on older thread but I appreciated it. I wouldn't mind thoughts on our situation.

I have two new litters right now. The litter of 3 I did not trust to leave them with their Mom. She seemed to be in a panic the day after they were born and was shaking the nest box all around (would have dumped it repeatedly had I not stopped her). We were heading out of town for the day so I decided it might be safer to put her 3 with another doe that had just kindled 6 kits.
This Mom is doing good at fostering but 9 is a lot for her. One of them (naturally) seems to not be getting enough. I was wondering about the idea of introducing a couple of them to a third doe that has a litter that is 6 weeks old that would be fine without their Momma now. Wondering the odds of if she would choose to care for these little ones when they are so young. She's been a great Mom to her litter. She adores them.
Any thoughts?
 
At 6 weeks the doe is probably already well into weaning and may not have the milk. You can try putting a few kits on her or holding her over them and see if the kits get anything but just putting a box in with young kits probably won't work coming off that age of kits. Some does are more nervous than others about being handled during feeding.

I had a mini rex doe raise everything you could give her. Champagne d'argent, mutts, other small breeds... weeks apart in ages at the same time. She was a great doe. After months of treating wry neck and her actually starting to improve she was randomly found dead in her padded cage.
 

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