Is she feeding them TOO much???

Kyle@theWintertime · Jul 21, 2013

Nellie is the best mom ever...she grooms them all the time but hasn't chewed off an ear or anything yet, she's pulled more fur than any doe I've ever seen before, and she's CONSTANTLY nursing these kits. The otter looks pretty normal, but the black kit is turning into a freaking HIPPO. It's so, so fat!!!

Is there such a thing as being fed too much???

Here's a few pics of what I mean:

It's...so fat, LOL!!!! Like a little blimp!!!! Should I be limiting how often she nurses? I'm counting like four or five times daily.

MamaMandy · Jul 21, 2013

Wow! She is a good mom! LOL I've had some that looked fatter and they were ok. I have heard of babies being overfed and basically gorging themselves to death. Like a gut stasis or something. I had a litter last winter where one kit was just ridiculously fat and since I was keeping the nestbox in the house I just had the really fat one skip a night feeding. It wasn't as fat the next morning but it still looked like it had just eaten! Anyway, all that to say...I don't know what you should do! Hopefully someone else will chime in. Personally, at this point, I'd be inclined to say leave her be...momma knows best? LOL

MamaSheepdog · Jul 21, 2013

Name him Goodyear!

I wish my does would have that problem...

I did have a litter of two kits quite a while back that looked like that, and I just let them be. When they were around 4 weeks old, they looked like basketball shaped mini Rex not Rex kits.

I know that Maggie limited feedings for her (now) herd buck. I believe if they get too fat they can develop splay legs, and as MamaMandy mentioned, I have heard of gut stasis and also fermentation/spoiling of the milk in hot weather. I have no idea if that is truly possible, however... :?

MaggieJ · Jul 21, 2013

Ah, yes, Pudge. He was a little blimp. I got worried, so separated him from his momma and borrowed an older kit from the colony to keep him company. I just put him in with momma for half an hour, twice a day. I may have been worrying needlessly, but he obviously didn't need all he was getting. He was a "lonely only".

Kyle@theWintertime · Jul 21, 2013

Okay...for now I guess I'll just keep bringing them in during the afternoon.

Thanks guys!!

MaggieJ · Jul 21, 2013

Kyle, here is the thread about Pudge, mostly for your amusement. We had a lot of fun raising him and he is now our herd sire... a big, solid, dopey looking buck but good with his ladies.

meet-our-youngest-lonely-only-pudge-t2637.html?hilit=pudge

stone soup farm · Jul 21, 2013

I love his little feet. We had a doe that had only 4. I called her babies the toadies. They looked bloated and too a bit longer to walk as they were such fatties. They grew up just fine and we (my husband actually) processed them today.

Kyle@theWintertime · Jul 21, 2013

Oh wow, MaggieJ, Pudge is ADORABLE and LOL, FAT!!!

Any current pictures of the pretty redhead-buck?

MaggieJ · Jul 21, 2013

Here's a picture of Pudge, all grown up. It's from MidnightCoder's photography website and there are lots of pictures of our critters and wildife and more to enjoy.

http://n3.cc/domestic-animals/1_IGP7943

Peach · Jul 21, 2013

LOL he looks fat but it looks normal. I have some babies that get huge but only had a problem with splay leg recently because it got hot...I took out the nesting box when they were just or a day away from 14 days...andddd that cost me one baby with a displaced leg (that i didn't notice until he was older! Healed but angled out. He was sweet and ended in a pet home) and I had a doe that got splayed and I culled her. Haven't had any other problems. I don't pull the nesting box early now and I make sure they have a non-slippery bottom. I heard of one person that had a Mini Lop tear down the middle and guts came out...but I think that was a singleton.

The ones that usually get the most milk develop very nicely

Kyle@theWintertime · Jul 21, 2013

Oh wow, Pudge stayed that gorgeous color and everything!!! Very handsome!!!

I don't pull the nesting box early now and I make sure they have a non-slippery bottom.

Non slippery bottom to what? Sorry, LOL, trying to visualize what you mean.

The nest box they are in is lined with cardboard under the hay and fur, the two kits like to dig right down to the cardboard and lay on that with no hair above, I think they're warm. (it's still brutally hot here!!!) Will being on cardboard hurt them? Every time I put them back in I put hay/fur under them and they immediately shove it to the side, then go to sleep on naked cardboard, with a hair-and-hay doughnut around them, LOL.

Peach · Jul 21, 2013

LOL I'm talking about the board on the bottom of my nesting box. I can't remember what it's called...but you will normally see it in garages for tools. It's got little holes....You can buy it from home depot and it's easily replaced. I notice on one side it a smooth and the other side is...how would you describe it.... it's not smooth but it's not rough but they can grip to it. Works great! The pee drains and the nest stays clean.

My babies do the same now that it's warm....and mom keeps adding hair LOL so there is a bunch of fluff around them. I'm taking the hair while I can and putting it away in ziplocks.

I'm don't think cardboard will hurt them. I'd probably replace it ever 2 weeks just for sanitation purposes

Kyle@theWintertime · Jul 21, 2013

I dunno, the cardboard seems slippy...I might use some sandpaper to "rough it up" so they can get a better grip on it. That or use some plywood in the bottom...it's a wire nest.

LauraNJ · Jul 21, 2013

I think Peach is talking about peg board. Very handy stuff!

I have plywood bottoms and replace them for each litter. The next nestbox I make I am going to use our router to create a slot so I can easily slide a new piece of wood in.

If you have wire boxes then it would be easy enough to just use a piece of wood.

One of my mini rexes, Sarah, feeds her kits whenever they want. They are 6 weeks currently and all of us have caught her in the middle of the day with a couple kits laying on their backs, nursing away. They are chubs! My other does, Isabella, will nudge kits away,

Miss M · Jul 22, 2013

Wow, that's one fat popple!

I did lose one kit and almost lost another to overfeeding. This was on formula, however, not milk.

That kit looks normal, just with a very full belly.

If they are being overfed, their legs will get skinny, and their belly will get to be shaped like a flat pear -- like a toad -- super-fat out to the sides, somewhat flat on the belly. This is due, I've been told, to organs shutting down. The fur (if any) will be scruffy, and they will regress in their motor skills -- the wobbly popple legs you sometimes see on newborns will return.

Kyle@theWintertime · Jul 22, 2013

Well, her tummy is kinda flat-ish, but these little legs are chubby and this is the kit who likes to zoom away whenever you set her down, so...I guess she's ok?

siddsaysgimmie · Jul 22, 2013

Mine often look like that or bigger... haha. Haven't lost any. I have had ones that I was seriously surprised that they didn't literally explode. >__>

Miss M · Jul 22, 2013

Kyle@theHeathertoft":2iuvj0by said:
Well, her tummy is kinda flat-ish, but these little legs are chubby and this is the kit who likes to zoom away whenever you set her down, so...I guess she's ok?

Yes, she's okay.

Take what I said as a whole... I saw it all happening at the same time (oh, forgot to mention mustard poop). The shape of the belly was different. It was a very unnatural pear shape. You'll know it if you see it. It doesn't look like this one swallowed a marble, and this one swallowed a baseball. It's different.

Kyle@theWintertime · Jul 22, 2013

Both kits just made a bunch of the tiniest little rabbit pellets ever, so I think they must be ok.

I've never claimed poop was cute before...I set one down, it shivered a little, made a teeny "oof" sound, and proceeded to make poops smaller than the head of a pin.

Yes, proof you can miniaturize anything to make it "cute." :lol: Should have heard me. "AHMIGAHD TINY POOPS SOOOO CUUUUUUUTE!"

Also, tiny baby bunny yawns. CUTEST THING EVER.

Miss M · Jul 22, 2013

:rotfl:

Is she feeding them TOO much???

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