Rabbit Labor? URGENT!

[Cspr]

She has delivered one kit. Stretched out, either broken or no spine, one leg was on backwards or the pelvis was also broken. She's still breathing heavy and in the nest box. I hope that the kit was just stuck (which sad, but I hope it didn't have much chance to suffer) and that the others, if there are others, will be okay? How bad/good are my chances on that?

I didn't see any sign of afterbirth yet, but is there a chance she ate it? When I took the kit to toss it into the woods, it was cold. The papers and fur in the nest box didn't seem stained, however.

Sadly, she is a great mother. She cleaned the kit to perfection and guarded it from the rest of the family. She let me take it, but she was clearly confused and upset over it. Gave her a lot of loves and a fresh frozen water bottle. I'm going to leave her for a bit and hope anything else passes. If all kits are born dead, well, I'll just give her a nice break and get her healthy as possible then breed again and hope for better. Part of the whole rabbit raising process, I know. Just glad she seems still pretty good.

Thanks for all the well wishes, everyone.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Aww.

The probability of live kits is poor if she really has been in labor for as long as you think. She may surprise you though. :clover:

She probably ate the afterbirth already.

As for giving her a break, if she is in good condition I would breed her back right away. She will be very receptive to a buck in the first days after giving birth, and many of our members have found that the litter size is larger. Larger litters equal smaller overall kit size, so less chance of having a large one get stuck.

However, you need to be aware that at this time of year you will run the risk of her overheating with the extra burden of carrying kits late in her gestation. If you can provide plenty of cooling options for her, she should be fine. I have a box fan in the bunnybarn, but have only run it for maybe 10 days total. I provided ice bottles to the three does that last kindled, but only on one day.

I have several does that are currently pregnant, and three with young litters on them. However, I did lose one pregnant doe to heat distress earlier this season, but I am breeding for heat tolerance, and knew it was a possibility.

 

[Cspr]

That's what I figured. At this point, she doesn't seem to be doing anything and, as I said in my other post, she's a lot calmer and all, so I think this trial is over. Thankfully.

I'd presume so.

She is in pretty nice condition. Nice and muscled, good coat, healthy. The only buck I have on hand is a Mini Rex, though. Then again, I have a few friendly breeders, one who said they'd let their buck cover. A large litter with smaller kits would be good. Great, even. I'll have to get in contact with my breeder friends and see what I can do.

Luckily, I chose a great place for my mini-barn. It is fully shaded under a roof and under the canopy of trees. I'm pretty certain it's cooler under there than it is in the house with two fans going. I've been going out to wet her ears and she gets a frozen water bottle or two every so often. It isn't supposed to get over 90 F this week in full sun, and it's supposed to be cloudy and rainy. I don't know about any time past that, but we've had a pretty cool and wet summer. Bad because of mosquitoes, but good for buns. Need to put some mosquito repellent around the mini-barn, though. :/ Darn things.

I will also be breeding for heat tolerance, if only because almost all my family lives in the hottest state in the US. Mind you, it also might have the most green space soon once a park is finished, which is impressive. I know the signs of heat distress and insofar I haven't seen it in any of my rabbits. Mind you, they've just been moved out, but inside temperatures are generally 75 F or so. All are Alabama buns, too. I'll keep an eye on it if I decide to rebreed.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

If you decide to use an outside buck, I would arrange for him to be brought to your place to limit stress on Anwen. You do run the risk of exposure to disease that she and your other rabbits are not resistant to, so breed her away from your barn and quarantine her for a month if possible.

Breeding to your mini Rex is a good option in regard to kit size and bio-security. You wont get as much meat from the litter, but it would give you time to acquire and quarantine your own buck to use on her litter after that.

 

[Cspr]

She's already in quarantine as a pretty recent acquisition, so that wouldn't be too problematic, but I am worried about her getting sick from the outside buck. :x Hmmm. I'll see what my options are, but she might just end up being bred to my MR buck this once. -shrugs- To be fair, it would be cool to bred a pair of siblings from that litter and get some shaded wannabe-Rexes. XD Rex-furred and pretty as their mother.

I think I'm a bit caffeinated. Anyway, yeah. Not much meat, but if she had a buck, maybe I could breed back and keep a doe and buck pair from that resulting litter. Over 75% American Sable, more so when bred back to Anwen. -shrugs-

Trying to have a good game plan here, but my options seem a bit slim. Just want to do the best for my rabbitry as a whole. I know I need kits, because I need to sell kits, because this project is supposed to at least be aided by that monetarily. My part time job has helped a lot, but, well, I'm still a teen and I know I need to pay back the small loan I got from my dad. Pet buyers or even meat breeders might be good with an American Sable x MR cross. Sort of like Florida Blacks.

I dunno. Might as well experiment while I can, just as long as I focus on health and personality.