How can I make a doe absorb her litter?

[That Bunny Girl]

So a couple nights ago(8/28) two of my un-neutered bucks had somehow opened their cages and got into my Warren with 11 un-spayed females(including their dam and sister :down: ) :evil: ! They could of been out there for 12 hours for all I know happily mating and fighting with my neutered males :angry: ! I CAN NOT have 11 litters of god only knows how many kits, I CAN NOT DO IT!! Nor can I dish out $1,100 dollars to emergency spay everyone.

So please, please, please let me know if you know of any way to make the does abort the kits? I do not want to offend anyone or anything but I rescue rabbits and I can't have all these kits taking up space for the rabbits who really need it. I have tried rehomeing bunnies in my area before and no one wants them, so with that being said I don't want them either(cruel, I know but I don't want to produce any litters when there's already a bunch of homeless rabbits). I do not use rabbits for meat either so please don't use that as a suggestion.

I have heard of Lavender or Parsley working but I don't know, anyone have experience with that?

 

[alforddm]

Have you considered letting the does kindle and then donating the kits to a raptor rescue?

 

[shazza]

there's no real foolproof way. you can try lavendar, but it may not work on all or any of your rabbits. i would go with what alforddm suggested - letting the does kindle and then donating the kits to a raptor or reptile rescue or even a breeder. i know many people who simply own snakes who are willing to take them off of the hands of people who suddenly find themselves with unexpected litters.

it wouldn't cost much money to have them kindle - just the price of the nest boxes, which are easily made yourself or improvised from things like milk crates or kitty carriers. if you cull the kits before they wean you'll just need to bump up the doe's food a bit. you might need to kill them yourself though, depending on the agreement with whoever is going to take them. it's not pretty, but unfortunately necessary

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

I second the culling at birth and donating as reptile food or some such. I myself will be doing this soon with some litters. I have too many grow outs atm, so I'll have an exess of meat, but I also want to keep breeding to chose an offspring to keep so I can let go (aka meat) some of my lesser quality adults before winter. And insted of wasting time and resources on single or no mane kits I'll be culling all that isnt double mane at day 3 (so I can tell wich ones are doubles thanks the the growing fur since white bunnies with their pink skin cant be identified on day 1.

 

[Shea]

Wouldn't carrot seed work as an abortive? I've no idea on what the dosage would be but I know it has been used with people in the past.

 

[MaggieJ]

Wouldn't carrot seed work as an abortive? I've no idea on what the dosage would be but I know it has been used with people in the past.

I know carrot seed is used as a contraceptive, but not sure if it is also used to cause an abortion. (Usually it is wild carrot, Daucus carota, that is used, but it is the same plant as domestic carrot, just not "improved". You may know it better as Queen Anne's Lace.)

My understanding is that if the embryo has already implanted in the uterus, the carrot seeds will not interfere with it. What it does, taken at the right time, is help prevent implantation.
http://www.sisterzeus.com/qaluse.htm

 

[Shea]

I thought it affected early development?
Thank you for the correction MaggieJ.

 

[Homer]

Reptile owns around here pay 3-5 dollars for frozen hole kits.

 

[Maleficent]

Quick question and correct me if I am wrong, isn't it more dangerous to try to make your doe reabsorb her kits? I thought I read somewhere that sometimes they won't reabsorb completely and can cause infection or calcification of the fetus which can affect future pregnancy? In the case of trying to avoid infection I would do as others said and unless going through with pregnancy can severely endanger any of the doe's healths (stuck kits because of badly pinched hips in which case an emergency spay is the way to go to ensure the doe doesn't die in the worst way possible) you can always cull the newborns and sell as reptile/raptor/serpent food.

I would also bump up the date to get those intact bucks neutered if you have no plans to breed.

 

[shazza]

^ afaik the mummification of aborted fetuses is more likely to happen once the skeletons have calcified. this early in the pregnancy they'd likely be truly reabsorbed since they're basically just little goo balls with maybe an eyeball or two. so that wouldn't necessarily be an issue.

 

[MaggieJ]

I thought it affected early development?
Thank you for the correction MaggieJ.

Read the link I posted again, and it does say that it can cause a newly implanted embryo to release. My apologies. I think what I remember reading somewhere is that if the embryo is not released, the development of the resulting baby would not be harmed by the use of the seeds. But obviously, anyone planning to try Queen Anne's Lace as human contraception needs to do much more research.

 

[Maleficent]

^ afaik the mummification of aborted fetuses is more likely to happen once the skeletons have calcified. this early in the pregnancy they'd likely be truly reabsorbed since they're basically just little goo balls with maybe an eyeball or two. so that wouldn't necessarily be an issue.

Ah thank you! I knew I was right yet wrong at the same time in this case!

 

[Preitler]

Well, it's a hard thing to do, but I'm too in the situation that I will have to cull newborns .
Got home once that week and found 5 does frolicking with 4 18week old growout bucks in the yard, well, 3 does are growouts anyway and will go to freezer camp right away, but I'm not going to feed 2 litters I don't need (and due to new "animal protection" laws can't sell :evil:, it's actually cruelty put in law... ) through winter.
I have too many keepers already, and me myself is really threadbare and exhausted due to events going on for some weeks now (the reason why that mistake happend in the first place. I feel incredibly guilty because it was my mistake...).

I keep hoping that the 2 does didn't take, but, well, they were in their tunnel digging mood for weeks now, I don't think any young buck had any chance to resist...

Absorbing, well, forget it. Wont happen, it's imho a rather rare occurance in overcrowded warrens combined with food shortage, you'll never trip that on purpose.

 

[That Bunny Girl]

Quick question and correct me if I am wrong, isn't it more dangerous to try to make your doe reabsorb her kits? I thought I read somewhere that sometimes they won't reabsorb completely and can cause infection or calcification of the fetus which can affect future pregnancy? In the case of trying to avoid infection I would do as others said and unless going through with pregnancy can severely endanger any of the doe's healths (stuck kits because of badly pinched hips in which case an emergency spay is the way to go to ensure the doe doesn't die in the worst way possible) you can always cull the newborns and sell as reptile/raptor/serpent food.

I would also bump up the date to get those intact bucks neutered if you have no plans to breed.

I just haven't had the extra cash to do so lately, but I scheduled 4 of my intact bucks to be neutered on the 21st and another 4 will be neutered sometime in October. But just my luck that two of the suckers get out a night after I schedule their appointments :evil: !

It was a pure incident that has never happened before so of course, I never thought of the risk and I thought that I didn't have to neuter them right away. I don't know, my brother did give them all hay that night so maybe he didn't shut their cages correctly but he always takes care of the males so I don't know why he'd do that.

I'll just donate the kits to my local Wildlife center to be fed to the animals, I don't want or need the babies right now.

 

[Homer]

Sounds like you are being a responsible breeder B.G., but it's all part of raising the little fur balls. Rather you like it or not you have to have a plan for the "what if" in the back of your mind. Hope you're OK with that.

Yes you can force a doe to absorb the kit/s but not to far along. Better to cull, cut your losses and move on.

 

[PSFAngoras]

Many of the historical abortivasive plants for after implantation that were even mildly effective (most had very low success rates) also made the women fairly sick. I doubt you'd want to risk your rabbits like that, so the safest option for your rabbits would be to cull after birth like everyone else said.

 

[akane]

I know more foolproof emergency aborting herbs, I was not really unhappy the one died in my yard because I disliked the risk of it's existence around my animals even if it could have medicinal uses should the world go to hell, but unless you can acquire tested hormone dosing like used in humans today the risk to the does is too great and may end up killing some in the process. Complications were not good in the past before modern medicine but neither was giving birth. It's necessary for some to die, better for the population you are trying to rescue, better for the source of the food rather than where else people like me have to buy it from commercial sources, and easier all the way around to do it young and send them for pet food or needed wildlife rescue. My dogs need to eat, my cats need to eat, my 6 1/2' bull snake needs to eat, and far more complex species I have..... I try to find responsible sources or my own for that but I've developed a steadily increasing rodent allergy and sometimes even low quality, bulk commercial frozen is sold out here. Even when you sell to private owners you can be helping species recover. My current baby northern pines may be my trial run for helping an endangered pine snake species but the permit requires prior experience with related species and proven husbandry. Everyone hears about raptors but endangered snakes are equally important and struggling to recover in captivity for release. They overly restrict hobbyists from helping spread the species to each other despite the fact they recently started using some to repopulate areas they've managed to put under protection after endangered species like the indigo and black pine have gone extinct. They are hoping to balance again the old pine forests of the southeast with some of the highest density of species in North America and not only important animals but many herbals that possibly could be medicinal. Given the adults are 6-9' with huge appetites quality sources of rodents, rabbits, and poultry go towards these efforts even when you sell to private owners. https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/na0529 These were raised by a conservation center but a couple dozen at a time have been released other areas http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Eastern ... 46653.html The main reptile magazine lists 110 individuals so far.