Litter aborted 2.5 weeks

[Rabbit Tree Farm]

This doe is a second time mama, she had 12 in her first litter 2 mos ago. She was due in about 2.5 weeks, and i found 8 aborted embryos in her tray this morning. They looked as I'd expect them to at the halfway point.

The doe seems fine, she isn't bleeding and is carrying on as normal with good appetite, etc.

My thought is either something was haywire in the development, or something frightened her. No one else in the barn was stressed...and i have another doe with a 3 day old litter also seeming unstressed and normal.

Should i wait till her due date to make sure she aborted all, or should i rebreed right away?

 

[Her Farmstead Rabbitry]

I have never had that happen. That is awful! I see people all the time rebreed right after she aborts or gives birth to all dead babies. If I was in your situation I would wait to make sure but to also give her a little break, I'm sure it takes a lot out of her.

 

[Alaska Satin]

This doe is a second time mama, she had 12 in her first litter 2 mos ago. She was due in about 2.5 weeks, and i found 8 aborted embryos in her tray this morning. They looked as I'd expect them to at the halfway point.

The doe seems fine, she isn't bleeding and is carrying on as normal with good appetite, etc.

My thought is either something was haywire in the development, or something frightened her. No one else in the barn was stressed...and i have another doe with a 3 day old litter also seeming unstressed and normal.

Should i wait till her due date to make sure she aborted all, or should i rebreed right away?

Although rabbits are usually perfectly willing to breed again as soon as they kindle, I usually wait about 2 days before re-breeding, although really, gestation doesn't actually seem to take that much out of them. It's more the lactation that seems to wear them out.

But if your doe has spontaneously aborted, a couple of days will allow you to watch her for signs of why she aborted in the first place. It shouldn't be a common occurrence and I'd want to try to figure out why it happened.

One practice I have found helpful is to keep track of weights on my rabbits, especially does. If they have inexplicably lost weight, or if they are fat, those are the times when I see problems with gestation and kindling. It would be surprising if she was fat after kindling 2 months previously (assuming she raised the kits), but that's a pretty common cause of spontaneous abortion. On the other hand, if she was underweight her body may have said no to raising another litter. You may not be able to figure out what happened, but it's probably worth looking into.

 

[Rabbit Tree Farm]

Although rabbits are usually perfectly willing to breed again as soon as they kindle, I usually wait about 2 days before re-breeding, although really, gestation doesn't actually seem to take that much out of them. It's more the lactation that seems to wear them out.

But if your doe has spontaneously aborted, a couple of days will allow you to watch her for signs of why she aborted in the first place. It shouldn't be a common occurrence and I'd want to try to figure out why it happened.

One practice I have found helpful is to keep track of weights on my rabbits, especially does. If they have inexplicably lost weight, or if they are fat, those are the times when I see problems with gestation and kindling. It would be surprising if she was fat after kindling 2 months previously (assuming she raised the kits), but that's a pretty common cause of spontaneous abortion. On the other hand, if she was underweight her body may have said no to raising another litter. You may not be able to figure out what happened, but it's probably worth looking into.

I definitely agree. Her weight is spot on...shes 7.9 lbs when not pregnant and last time was 9.1 right before kindling last time. Shes 10 mos old. First bred at 8 mos. She raised her litter with no problem and i removed them at about 5 weeks. She had all but weaned them herself.

Her weight stayed consistent all thru lactation.

I prefer to give them about a month, sometimes 2 after feeding big litters.

This is my first experience with anything like this. In reading thru the forums it seems sometimes shite happens.

I'm leaning towards giving her box to her on day 28 just to be sure. If she doesnt act like shes pregnant and seems otherwise good and receptive I'll try again then.