Not to sure on what to do ...

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Not to sure on what to do ... I have a mother that is fostering a litter for me.. I had to take her other litter away closer to 4 weeks old to foster new borns babies.. At first she wouldn't ,, but after holding her ect.. she got the point and she is doing a good job.. They are now 17 days old.. but I notice that mom is not have much or anymore milk .. I did breed her a week ago.. maybe that has something to do with it .... but anyways.. I notice that are not progress as much as they should at this age.. They should be exploring outside of the box.. They look like 2 week old kits with there eyes are not wide open.. there are like slits.. So , do I starting give some supplement goat milk for them.. Or do I leave them be so they have to come out of the box to start to nibble on moms food.?

 

[akane]

Soak pellets or old fashioned oatmeal in goat milk or foal/goat kid milk replacer mixed at double concentration, find a lid with a fair lip like a jar lid and put the pellet mush on it, and then set it at the end of the box. You can show a few kits the new food and you may even have to shove a small amount in the corners of their mouth where the gap in the teeth is so they realize it's tasty food. After that they should eat it and grow. I weaned a slightly less than 2 week old litter that way when the mother developed bad mastitis and I chose to put her down. Within a few days they were active happy kits again. You do have to check for cleanliness daily and sometimes wipe their fronts off because they tend to plow in to it in their eagerness to eat once they realize it's food.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

thanks akane