False pregnancy

[ljswinford]

My youngest doe,just over a year is having a false pregnancy,or what appears to be. She is definitely not pregnant but close to 3 weeks ago we moved her hutch beside the buck,where before it was in front of and not even really in sight of her. Shes pulling fur and putting it in the corner,she went thru a ton of food last week and she is very ill mannered,she is even snorting and lunged at my daughter. Anything I can do to help her through this?

 

[Sinnfox]

Are their cages touching one another...because I have heard of rabbits um..getting to each other...through cages...otherwise best thing to do is let her go through her pretend pregnancy. She will probably be a great mom when she is bred, the two does I have that when through false pregnancies are great with their kits and neither lost a single one from their first litters. just be real careful with monitoring her food intake...they can make themselves fat thinking they need the food when they don't.

 

[ljswinford]

Are their cages touching one another...because I have heard of rabbits um..getting to each other...through cages...otherwise best thing to do is let her go through her pretend pregnancy. She will probably be a great mom when she is bred, the two does I have that when through false pregnancies are great with their kits and neither lost a single one from their first litters. just be real careful with monitoring her food intake...they can make themselves fat thinking they need the food when they don't.

No,The cages are far enough apart to walk between them. They were closer at first but it made me nervous so I spaced them a little. Thanks for the tip on the food,She's a mini lop so very petite anyways. Thanks!!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I would give her a nest box to be safe. There is the possibility that they may have had an unsupervised (by you) play date.

If she isn't pregnant, she will get good practice at building a nest.

You could also try palpating her. Try doing so on the buck first, so you can familiarize yourself with how a rabbit's gut feels. You should be able to easily feel the bodies of the kits if she is in the late stages of pregnancy.