Help with Difficult Delivery

NY Rabbits · Feb 25, 2022

I have a young doe, Altex, NZW, California mix. She is a little over a year old and this is her second litter, first was 10 kits. She is on day 34 today. I noticed blood under her cage on day 32 but no kits. She has been in the nest box since then but has pulled no fur. Today I found one dead kit underneath her. She is not the best tempered doe but now she is vicious, does not want to be touched let alone handled. If there are kits stuck in the birth canal is there anything I can do to get them out? I am all out of raspberry leaves and she has ACV in her water. She is carrying on the bloodline of my deceased Altex so I really don't want to loose her. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

RabbitsOfTheCreek · Feb 25, 2022

My Doe Cinder was having problems giving birth to a large Kit but she ended up passing it and she's very healthy

Mariah's Meadows · Feb 25, 2022

If she has stuck kits, there are methods you can try to get them out of her safely. Check out a bit of the discussion in this thread: Pregnant Doe Having Trouble

If you are able to palpitate her belly and still feel more, act quickly to remove them or you do risk losing her. With a larger rabbit, it would be surprising if there were only the single kit but not impossible.

MuddyFarms · Feb 25, 2022

The thread that @Mariah's Meadows linked there has good info and discussion about this topic. The vet told me that as long as my doe was eating and drinking and behaving normally, there wasn't a whole lot to be done about it. She said she has some calcium shots that could be used to strengthen the doe's contractions, or we could make sure she has alfalfa to be eating for calcium. The hardest thing is if you can't see any kits, you can't really help to get them out. From my one experience with a doe having stuck kits, it is a positive that she has expelled a kit. Has she been in and out of contractions since day 32?

There are threads on here about giving some lavender buds to a doe with labor trouble. I was finally able to get lavender buds after the doe had already had all of her kits (I wasn't sure if that was all she was going to have), so I did give a little of that to her. Maybe you should look up some threads that mention lavender for this? It could be a good option since she has been struggling for this long.

NY Rabbits · Feb 25, 2022

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I am in northern NY in the middle of a snow storm. Any idea where I might find lavender? Banana peels are high in calcium. I will give her some of this as I don't have any alfalfa. On my way out to the barn.

MuddyFarms · Feb 25, 2022

A health food store is where I got the lavender buds.

MuddyFarms · Feb 25, 2022

I have also read that a tums could help as a calcium source... and the lavender buds are said to be very strong, so it doesn't take much.

NY Rabbits · Feb 25, 2022

So there are no kits showing and no hardness or bulging around the vaginal area. She is very aggressive so I did not want to take off my heavy gloves to attempt palpating. I left her the banana peels and will check on her in a couple of hours.

MaggieJ · Feb 25, 2022

I always grew a few plants of lavender in case I needed them for a situation like this, but I never had occasion to use them. It can be used fresh or dried. Lavender is definitely a medicinal, not a regular food plant, but a few sprigs will not harm the doe. What it will do is help her to expel the contents of the uterus.

NY Rabbits · Feb 26, 2022

When I checked her yesterday I reset the next box. This morning she is acting normal and has made no effort to make a new nest. I think she is fine. Thanks for all of the suggestions.