New at rabbit/kit care - litter died of unknown causes? help

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brittsullivan85

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Hello,
My husband just started taking care of a couple of NZ white rabbits a few months ago, I have not been involved very much at all. However, after this experience with kits I really wanted to find out what could have happened or what was done wrong so it doesn't happen again. It's rambly and long but I would really appreciate any thoughts. Thanks


My husband has 2 New Zealand white rabbits - a doe and a buck and shockingly enough, there have been at least 2 litters prior to this April. We're not exactly sure what happened, but they were all dead by the time we found them and didn't look like they were much cared for after birth by the Momma rabbit.

Anyway, on April 22nd we happened to be outside when the doe started giving birth so we kept an eye on what was going on and it seemed like she did not have an interest in taking care of her kits. (Let me mention here that my husband was VERY unprepared for the necessary upkeep and work - there was no preparation for the next litter at all - no nest box - nothing. The bottom of the cage is open wire? I think it's called and there is an area of the cage that has a covering, but the hay doesn't last long there.)

My husband took all 4 kits and took care of them in a shoebox with a toddler sized plush blanket. He get some kitten replacement milk and started feeding them with a syringe. He kept the open can of kitten milk replacement in the refrigerator. He had done some research and I guess determined that they only eat a tiny bit and once a day. (Having done my own research after the fact, I read that their bellies are supposed to be round and protrude past their ribcage... I never once noticed any sign of fullness in the kits like that.)

Anyway, they were active and seemingly healthy despite what I thought was not a great call - taking them away from their Mom. When I handled them, I noticed the tiny balls of poop and would brush them away, but I never saw them urinate or saw any signs of them urinating until the 25th. When my husband checked on them, there was like... an amount of urine soaked through the bottom of the shoe box that a small cat would leave. Several of the kits were soaking wet from... I guess peeing on one another.

My husband got a pot of warm water to bathe them would submerge them up to their heads for about a second or splash the water around their bodies to clean off the urine. Then he put them in a cotton blanket with parts of the blanket wrapped around each one of them.

No one thought anything of it because it was an extremely hot day.
When he checked on the kits maybe 20 to 30 mins later, one of them was barely twitching and eventually died. I immediately thought they had gotten too cold and basically carried the others partially in my shirt and partially in the box with the plush blanket and heat lap to warm them up. They were burrowing and snuggling up on one another and seemed okay. They seemed fine but the next morning when he checked on the remaining kits - 2 others had died. The space where they were kept at that time after one had died was warmer than the area they had been kept in the previous nights so I didnt understand how that could be hypothermia. And it had been at least 12 hrs since they had gotten wet.

The remaining kit seemed to be doing better - was active and squeaking... when it was the feeding time of the day, he seemed to eat. But my husband kept checking on him and eventually his movements started to slow... he seemed slightly colder than he had been in the first couple days when they had all seemed okay. His belly did hiccup movements sometimes.. and breathing seemed hard for him. Later that night (this was last night - April 27th) our last kit slipped away.

This was one of the worst experiences of my life. I had never taken part in the rabbit breeding.. or rather my husband just letting them breed, but it seemed like we were so ignorant and ill prepared that we caused this to happen. What could it have been? Could it h ave been hypothermia from the bath even though it was a fair amount of time later after they had warmed up? Could their lack of urination had anything to do with it? We held them gently alot - or let them nuzzle in our laps - could we have injured them? Or is it a bad idea to take away kits no matter if the mother is disinterested and rejecting them or not? Or did the lack of a nest box pretty much make their mother not be able to nurture them? Im just looking for possibilities- like I said, I know nothing about all this, its my husbands hobby but im not entirely sure he knows what hes doing. I just don't want to have to watch another litter suffer because we were ridiculously stupid.

Thank you for any thoughts - suggestions - whatever.
Brittany-Mari Sullivan
 
Rabbits do not do hardly anything to take care of their kits. They do not keep them warm. They build a nest, dump the kits in, and then just stop by once or twice a day to feed them for a few minutes. It is how they keep predators from finding them in the wild. Sometimes they will not pull fur until after they have kits and sometimes they will not feed them for up to 48hours after birth. If they are not placed in a nest box or solid bottom cage with some bedding and fur or fur substitute kits will get too cold much to most of the year. They can also be attacked through the wire by critters and wander off from the nest. Before the doe is bred again you need a nestbox.

Handfeeding kits is very tricky. If they have not eaten off the doe at least once they generally will not survive. They need colostrum for their immune system. KMR is not really ideal for baby rabbits. It is made for carnivorous kittens. Most use goat milk either goat kid formula replacer or regular goat milk with some type of sugar like syrup for extra energy. Rabbit milk is very concentrated. It is concentrated because kits should only be fed a few times a day. With their mother no more than 2 times a day. Handfed more than 4 times a day will cause digestive problems. They must be properly warm and the milk must be properly warm (rabbit body temp is a little over 100F) or they will die with full bellies from not being able to digest what they were fed. You need to get the bellies as full as possible with each feeding. Before their eyes open they need to be stimulated to pee and poop with a damp paper towel or cloth, some people do actually just use their finger.
 
Some helpful threads, and welcome to RT!
formula-feeding-baby-bunnies-pics-vids-t3691.html

tips-for-handraising-kits-t2486.html

Rabbits are one of the trickiest animals to successfully hand feed, so don't be too down on yourself!

Everything Akane said is good info. There are also a few threads on the subject. If the rabbits are still together, your first possible next litter is only 31 days from the time she gave birth to the last one.

Being kept in the same cage as the buck could be upsetting for her, perhaps making her less likely to care for the kits. It could also be very dangerous for him.

If you can separate the two rabbits the chances of kit survival will rise considerably.

Also, get as much help from a doe as you can. If she doesn't build a nest in the box, build one for her. Is she truly ignores the kits (for over 48 hours), you can try to hold her over the nestbox twice a day. Rabbits nurse standing, and very quickly.
Many breeders never see their does nursing.
 
Is the buck with the doe? When a doe has the kits the buck is immediately very amorous and will chase her all over the cage, scattering kits and not letting her rest. If he was with her she is also already pregnant again. If they were together I'd separate them, count about 20 days from when she had the kits, put in a nest box and make sure she has a good amount of hay. Most rabbits are pregnant about 31 days. If you suddenly see loose hair she may be making a nest. If she starts carrying mouthfuls of hay around she is making a nest. If she doesn't do any of those things put some hay in the nest box and form a hollow - some rabbits don't know how to make a nest right away, some do it wrong, some do it after the kits come. You never really know until they've done it a few times how they will be as mothers.
 
First of all, welcome to RT, Brittsullivan! I am sorry that this is your intro, but I am sure you have found the right place to get lots of help.

Let's start at the root of the situation: it sounds like the buck and doe are being kept together. If that's the case, you will likely have ongoing problems. First, the doe can be bred the day she gives birth and so on and so on, not healthy at all for the doe. The buck can disrupt the doe and her nest, injuring kits. The doe can decide she does not want to be messed with and injure the buck. If the two are being kept together, please consider separate cages. If they are being caged separately, I can only assume they are in adjoining cages, and the buck has found a way to do his thing through the wire, and I would find something to prevent that.

Once they are being kept separately, you will have MUCH more control over breeding and kits. When you want to breed your doe, take her to the buck's cage and watch them. Once the doe is bred, take her back to her cage, and jot the info down somewhere. Count out 28 days, and add a nestbox and some hay to her cage. This is likely the reason for your lost litters- the absence of a nestbox. The kits likely got chilled and died.

Starting about day 30 from breeding, keep a watch on your doe. Some do not get the hang of nestboxes and have their litters on the wire. If you are able to catch them soon enough after birth, you can place them in the nestbox with a thick layer of hay underneath them. Myself, if I have a doe who has not pulled enough fur, I add some dryer lint to make a nice fluffy nest. After the kits are born, I check them every day or so for a bit to make sure they are being fed. I look for kits that appear to have swallowed ping pong balls. I have not had to do this, but some have had to hold the doe down over the kits a time or two to show her the way to nurse. Keep in mind that you will rarely see the doe in the nest with the kits. They generally feed twice a day, for only a couple minutes at a time. The rest of the time they ignore the kits completely.

At this point, if the rabbits ARE being housed together, I would assume she has been bred again. I would separate them as soon as possible, and I would count out 28 days from the day the last kits were born, and get a nestbox and some hay ready for that day. I would leave the nestbox in there until 28 days after the date you separate them, just to be safe. If you notice the doe resting in or using the box as a litter box, I would clean it and move it to another spot in her cage.

So sorry you have had these problems, and I hope the tips you are getting from everyone here are helpful.
 
As well as all the good advice people have given about preparing the nest for the doe properly, you should probably also make sure she has a really good diet as well so that she can produce milk and be a good mama :) There's all sorts of websites on how to feed pregnant does and people have varying opinions on what to feed. I have small dwarf rabbits so I feed 1/8 cup good pellets, 1/4 teaspoon flaxseeds, 1 teaspoon oats, a fresh heap of hay the size of the rabbit, and some fresh grass and seasonal veggies. Ratio is about 15% pellets grains, 70% hay, and 15% fresh grass/greens. I've only had 7 litters so far but I've never had any problems with does not producing milk or abandoning the babies. Does have all had successful litters.
 
I just wanted to add that if you have only one or two kits, you will need to help them urinate. If there are more, the stimulation they get from wiggling against each other is enough.

It is likely that the kits were urinating, just not in sufficient quantities to get things wet. If they get wet with pee, drying them off is all that is necessary. It is quite possible that the baths did chill them too much, as baby rabbits in a proper nest are VERY warm, almost hot.

A shoebox makes a decent makeshift nestbox, until it starts getting saturated (my first nestbox was a cardboard box... I ended up putting it on a towel on top of a pile of hay, as I was having to keep them and the doe in the bathroom at the time). There are different nestbox designs, but most seem to use wire-bottom nestboxes. This allows urine to drain, and air to circulate to keep the nest from getting soaked.

Don't beat yourselves up! Rabbits have a pretty steep learning curve. All of us have made mistakes, and we learn from them and from each other.

Welcome to RabbitTalk! :welcomewagon: You will find a great, supportive community here. :)
 
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