Lost a whole litter...

fuzzywuzzy · Jul 3, 2013

It's not like there were many, only 3...but it's so hard to loose all of them. Lost 2 yesterday and lost the last one this morning. I don't know what happened...the doe bled so much that I'm concerned that she's ok. She seems fine, she's eating drinking, peeing and pooing...still wanting to be patted and is as friendly as ever. Eyes look nice and bright and she seems to be very alert. Just disappointed with my SF's.

Kimberly

MamaSheepdog · Jul 3, 2013

Aww.

I'm sorry you lost them. Were they very large? The doe may have had trouble birthing them, which is why there was more blood than normal.

If the doe has stopped bleeding, and seems okay otherwise, you can breed her back right away. Does are very receptive immediately after kindling (in a colony setting, the buck will sometimes try to breed the doe while she is birthing!), and they seem to have larger litters as well.

Many breeders here operate on the three strikes rule. Sometimes does just can't get each step right the first couple of times, so they are given three chances to get it right.

I hope she does better for you next time. Good luck! :clover:

fuzzywuzzy · Jul 3, 2013

Mamasheepdog...they were small babies. She chewed on 2 of them and the 1 that finally died today, she wouldn't have anything to do with it. She totally ignored the baby and I didn't have anyone to foster it. I'll check her out though and make sure she's not bleeding and rebreed like you suggested.

AmysMacdog · Jul 3, 2013

Awww so sorry for your loss Kimberly. I hope the doe is ok.

She should do better next time. I got my fingers crossed for you!

TMTex · Jul 3, 2013

I'm sorry for your loss, fuzzywuzzy. Two of my does had dead litters their first time around. I rebred both within 24 hours with the helpful advice I got here on RT. One is being a real good mom and the other ignored her second litter so we had to force feed them.

I believe in the three strikes rule. The first seems to be a trial run. The second is a learning experience and the third should be a success.