Rabbit bleeding - Kits, photos

[CochinBrahmaLover]

So one of my does is bleeding out of her vent. She may or may not be pregnant, but if she is pregnant and got bred first day I put the buck with them she'd be due now.

The buck has been living with them for about 4 weeks now, and I've had no issues so far. They all love each other very much. They all groom and snuggle.

Should I give her anything if she is giving birth? Not sure exactly when the bleeding started, but it think only about 20 minutes ago.

She's a holland lop, about 6-7 months old now. First litter ever if she is Preggo, no hair pulling or nest making afaik

 

[katiebear]

I would put her in her own cage with a nest box as soon as possible, like now, put lots of hay in the box she will do the rest...sounds like she could be in labor to me..

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Some does pass a lot of blood when kindling, while others hardly bleed at all. I wouldn't worry unless it is very severe- to give you an idea of what can be considered normal (or at least not life threatening), look at the pictures I posted here:

post229746.html#p229746

I would remove the buck from the cage unless you want her to be bred back immediately. Some bucks are so aggressive that they will not even wait for the doe to finish kindling, which could result in injury to the kits.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Well I didn't even think she was pregnant.


Soon as I saw the blood I moved her to a different room. Put down some hay for her,. This was just a small amount of blood, nothing like those photos!

I haven't seen anything else happen, but it can take a little while for them to give birth, yeah? I'm used to big animals like goats, lol.

The buck is new to this, so I didn't think he her even got the job done.

 

[katiebear]

Small breeds mature sooner than large breeds..I believe there are some breedings at 15 weeks that would be three months..so if she has been with a buck.....it only takes a minute for a breeding. If she has not been injured I would say she is going to give birth. Give her a few hours.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Ok, well, yeah she was Preggo.

So we went out to dinner and I came back to check on her and didn't see any babies. Then I decided to look around some more, and I looked between the desk, and the wall. Now, this is like a 1"-2" gap. She managed to squeeze in there, dig up some of the carpet, pull out a TON of fur, and give birth

4 babies, one dead. One might be a peanut, not too sure. Otherwise they all look healthy, and she pulled *plenty* of fur.

My only question is: can I put her back with her sister, or should I completely separate them? I'm not going to keep the buck, but if I do completely separate all 3 (since I'm going to assume the other bun is preggo) I have to find a new cage to keep a rabbit in.

Also, she does seem to be interested in them. I grabbed her babies and put them in a nesting box, but I haven't yet grabbed her. She keeps checking out where they used to be.

 

[katiebear]

well, I wouldn't keep the two does together, but others have done so. I have all my rabbits in their own cages though unless breeding then it's date then separate...
Yes I would assume the other doe is pregnant also..Bucks are pretty ummm shall we say through....
You may have to put the nest box where she gave birth so she won't panic..being a first timer and all. But don't wait with the other doe give her a nest box soon. Then Build separate cages.
Good Luck and :congratulations: on the little ones...

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Well the cage they've been living in is a run, it's about 6' long. And they're little 4lb Hollands, otherwise I would have had them separated.


Thank you! For now I think I will separate all of them. I actually have another cage (probably buried in the snow somewhere...) that will be the correct size. I'd have plenty of cages if my other buck (a silver fox) didn't need to be moved out of his old cage! He kept getting out...

 

[katiebear]

Maybe you can put dividers in the run? That way they are still in familiar surroundings just separated by a wire panel? I have large meat rabbits over10 lbs at adult weight. and we built a long hutch divided it into three compartments. Our cages would be far to large for tiny buns but each one holds mom and up to 10 babies. My girls like to stretch out when the have down time (I don't breed during the summer). Don't know if that is feasible but just throwing out an idea

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

That could actually work. The cage is made up of a normal rabbit cage, and then run is added on. All I have to do I shut the normal cage, and the buck could live in there. Thanks! Not a sure why I didn't think of that, heh.


Oh and since I know y'all want them... Pics!

Whole nest

Do you think this is a peanut? It's so small.

The mom is being very protective. She is usually quite skiddish, but she's sitting the open, and was even grooming the babies. I think she even fed them while I was setting up the other cage. It's so sweet. Her mother was a good first timer too, so I guess she's got the genes for it

 

[katiebear]

So beautiful
They do look fed and I don't think the little one is a peanut just a little small he should catch up with mom being so good! she only has three so he should be able to feed....that's not a lot of competition.
Now is the time to get her to bond with you too... all those feel good hormones running through her body..Thanks for the pics

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Ah thanks. I was concerned it may be a peanut. I guess I need some perception - that baby looks absolutely tiny!


So I checked and it looks like a girl and a male. Didn't really look at the runt.

 

[katiebear]

Well looking at the nest pic it is pretty small by comparison... but don't give up on it, If it makes it for the first few days,it should be out of the woods...
Some of the folks supplement the little ones with goats milk mixed with egg yolk and corn syrup. In between what mom feeds....it's up to you if you want to do this but new born aren't easy to hand feed.
I have lost a few runt kits usually in the first three days. But they are competing with five or six or eight brothers and sisters :lol: Good Luck and be prepared, it does happen sometimes.....

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Whoo-hoo! Popples!

That teeny one could be a peanut- in the photo in the nest it looks like it has weird rear legs- it could be just how it was laying, though... :hmm:

You might want to get some better pictures of it and post a new thread asking about it.

Good job on seeing the blood earlier so you weren't taken completely by surprise!

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Whoo-hoo! Popples!

That teeny one could be a peanut- in the photo in the nest it looks like it has weird rear legs- it could be just how it was laying, though... :hmm:

You might want to get some better pictures of it and post a new thread asking about it.

Good job on seeing the blood earlier so you weren't taken completely by surprise!

There is some glue stuff on the carpet and when the mom was digging it up I think she ended up getting some on the runt. He had some hair wrapped around his foot (tight), and then he had some hair like, glued to him. He's sticky for whatever reason, but only slightly. So his foot probably just looks weird because of the hair wrapped around his foot + it being sticky and I pulled off a bit of fur that was stuck to him.

Well see how the little one does like I said, I asked another breeder and she thought he'd catch up, so I'm feeling a bit better about his outcome.

 

[Dood]

I'm glad it was just labour and not a more serious issue causing the discharge.

I keep 3 Mini Lop does togeather and they share nursing duties, it really depends on your rabbits temperament - if she is being protective she might try and chase away her sister, who has no where to go, and fights might break out :shrug: it might be best to separate them

Because they have smaller litters I don't really need to worry about the bigger kits hogging all the milk, which was an issue in my old colony, and they are in the living room so it's easy to monitor them and I can pull out any gluttons and give the runty ones a chance.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Well I tried letting them stay together, but her sister just sat in the nest trying to eat the hay. So I separated them. <br /><br /> -- Fri Jan 02, 2015 10:50 am -- <br /><br /> I'm not too sure about the runts fate. He got separated from his siblings in the nest and became very cold. I'm warming him up now but I'm not sure if he'll make it.

Should I be concerned with the other 2 being cold? They're moving but I feel like they're cold.

 

[katiebear]

You can put a heating pad under one side of the nest box, only on low and place it so they can move away if they get too warm.
If you put in all the fur and it's above and below them they should be warm to the touch. Someone referred to it as a
"Hot pocket"..Or maybe a hot water bottle like a screw lid type filled with warm water and covered in a sock..lat it on the inside by the side of the box..just to radiate some warmth. Just a suggestion I am not an expert...this is info gleaned from this forum and on line...