Is it too hot for mama? 8 stillborn kits

[Damani]

This is a proven doe, her third pregnancy. She tends to have large litters (13 alive and 3 abortions). She has not pulled fur and is having her kits on the wire. The first one was early afternoon-unusual, it was all cleaned up and crawling around so I put it on the hey in the nest box. 4 hours later there are 7 on the wire, dead, 4 or 5 still have their umbilical cords and placenta attached, the others are cleaned but dead. Her back end is very bloody, and she is sitting on the dead babies. She just pulled another one out and it is still and lifeless. I put her in the next box with her first perfect little guy, but she won't stay in there. My backyard thermometer says 99, at 6:23 p.m. I imagine it was much hotter 4 hours ago. She hasn't pulled any fur.

I'm afraid she has 5 or more coming in. What do I do?View attachment 1

 

[squidpop]

Other people here know more than I do and someone will probably answer shortly.

My guess is if the temps during the day rose higher than 100 degrees the babies may have died inside her? Also, when rabbits overheat sometimes vessels rupture in their noses, they get nose bleeds, maybe since she was giving birth vessels have ruptured inside her.

At least its 6:30 p.m. so the temps will drop soon. If its going to be that hot tomorrow can you move her to an inside cage where there is air conditioning during the afternoon heat?

I think if you wet her ears down that might cool her down a little. I would say put a frozen ice bottle in with her but I would be afraid if any live babies are born it might freeze them.

I guess you should also try to make a nest for the one that is alive. I'm sorry this is happening to you and the poor rabbits.

 

[akane]

Heat distress can cause them to deliver but they are usually born 100% dead. The female stops supporting the offspring in order to save herself and after they die they are passed. Getting a live, fully mature kit followed by dead kits is often a sign that one got stuck and backed up the works. Everything after a stuck kit is usually dead. Not as common with large breeds and even less common in experienced does but some abnormality with the pregnancy could have caused one to get stuck or some other reason they didn't come out fast enough. Anything left is probably dead too. Rabbits can deliver litters over days so you may just have to wait it out. You can give some calcium, many use tums, to help her pass whatever is left. If she seems distressed along with kits not coming out you can give oxytocin but you'll have to either pay vet fees or find a livestock vet that will give it to you. If you induce strong contractions when they aren't needed you risk a prolapsed uterus.

It's fine if she ignores the survivor for now. So long as it's warm enough they can take up to 48hrs to feed for the first time. Let her get over the stress of delivery and maybe she will decide to feed it.

 

[Damani]

Thanks so much. The weather prediction for the next four days will be in the 100's. I was hoping she would pull fur just to get relief from the heat if nothing else. As you can see from the pics, the poor little guys were fully formed and much bigger than the first one. This was day 31 of her pregnancy, I was expecting her to kindle this morning, not in the afternoon. Yes, she probably has 3 or 4 more 'stuck', I should rename her Bad Luck. Her first kindliing she had many miscarriages and only 2 fully formed. Then I crossed her with a smaller buck (Satin) 13 were fully formed and survived, but there were more unformed ones. Of those 13, two got out of the cage and ran wild at 3 1/2 weeks, until a raccoon caught up with them. Then of the 11, the raccoon attacked again and just chewed their heads. 2 were unharmed, 1 had a puncture in the skull, so I put her down (7 weeks) and 1 returned to the hutch after hiding out for a couple of hours. There is one sole surviving doe of the lot. This was her second chance with a completely different buck, sigh.

 

[akane]

Animal fur can actually help cool the body if there is not restricted air flow. The heat from the skin is pulled down the hair to the surface where the air can remove it. Water helps increase that. Less so in our always humid heat. Fur also blocks the sun and along with avoiding sunburn it repels some heat. Shaving animals down instead of just keeping them free of mats actually increases issues with the heat and direct sunlight. The system only works though with straight untangled hair of normal density. There are some animals with fur types that it does not apply to.

 

[ChaoSS]

If you can't bring her inside, how about some misters to help keep her cooled down? The way mine are set up right now I have the misters in front of the cages, a few feet higher than the top of the cages, and plywood on top of the cages so it isn't misting directly on them. If they want to sit up front and get wet they can but if they want to be dry (and the nest should be where it is dry) the back is still kept quite a bit cooler by the evaporation of the water so close.


I'm not breeding mine until this weather cools down, but I rather imagine you didn't expect triple digits where you are at.

 

[Damani]

Thank you all for your kind suggestions and condolences. I keep having these 'learning curve' type experiences with my emerging rabbit herd. Ultimately, I learned not to breed my rabbits after mid-June, or November. We had record cold this past winter, many sub-zero days and nights, yet my litter of Standard Rexes, b. 12-2-13, survived--with a lot of effort on my part. I've had rabbits survive record heat, but not pregnant doe's unborn kits, so this is my lesson with Alice. I did give her and all my rabbits frozen 1/2 gallon jugs of water. Now I have her on the lawn, all cleaned up, shed 3 more stillborns overnight, and the sole live born kit died as well. C'est la vie et morte au jardins.

 

[Marinea]

I am sorry for your losses, Damani.

Don't beat yourself up. You did all you could and knew to do. You can't control the weather (if that changes...please keep it cool down here in Virginia ).

I learned from your situation, so I thank you. I will definitely be avoiding mid summer births now.

 

[Damani]

Can you believe she is pulling fur now? I put her in a 'run' outside and she dug a hole. I thought she was getting cool (it was 97 yesterday and today). But when I put in her cage tonight, she had another hole dug and tufts of fur floating around. What gives?

 

[TAG]

Is there an average high temperature limit for breeding rabbits and raising kits. I live in North Texas and am new to raising rabbits. When do most breeders start breeding their rabbits in North Texas?