Preterm birth

[SuiGeneris]

We just ran into an unexpected issue with one of our breeding rabbits. She has previously given birth to 4 healthy litters, averaging 10-11 kits per litter. She was due to give birth this Sunday (Oct 21), but instead gave birth last night/this morning (Oct 15 or 16). The kits are definitely preterm based on their appearance, and the doe consumed parts of some of the kits (head and legs mostly). She has never had a pre-term birth previously, nor has she ever harmed a kit.

The weather during her pregnancy was not overly hot or cold, so I don't think there was any heat stress. She also is outwardly healthy and behaving normally, she doesn't have any ear mites or anything like that, and she has been consistently healthy over the ~1.5 years we've had her.

Anyone know what may have happened and what can be done to prevent this in the future.

thanks

Bryan

 

[michaels4gardens]

in my experience .....- -when I had some of this sort of thing , it was related to mold toxins in the feed..