Rabbit with mastitis? Not pregnant

[MountainViewRabbitry]

Hi all, you may have seen my post a while ago about her sister. Today I’m posting about her, Ella. She was living with her sister but unfortunately, she had to be put down. Today we noticed she is a little bigger and has some hair missing from her nipples. She has red/orange discharge from all but like one nipple. they don’t seem swollen. What is this? She is a rescued rabbit so we don’t know much about her past. If it helps go check out the post on her sister May. We don’t think she is pregnant and doesn’t appear to be having a false pregnancy, any help/ideas is welcome. Thank you! They also appear a bit painful. Going to go make a post about another rabbit currently I know.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Hi all, you may have seen my post a while ago about her sister. Today I’m posting about her, Ella. She was living with her sister but unfortunately, she had to be put down. Today we noticed she is a little bigger and has some hair missing from her nipples. She has red/orange discharge from all but like one nipple. they don’t seem swollen. What is this? She is a rescued rabbit so we don’t know much about her past. If it helps go check out the post on her sister May. We don’t think she is pregnant and doesn’t appear to be having a false pregnancy, any help/ideas is welcome. Thank you! They also appear a bit painful. Going to go make a post about another rabbit currently I know.

It's hard to guess without more information, and maybe some photos of her belly would help. The pictures of the rabbit you had to put down suggested that they may have been living in unsanitary conditions. If they were, this doe's underside could have become quite irritated. Even if the hutch wasn't the problem, teats are glands which open to outside the body, so she may have developed infections there by being exposed to whatever pathogens were being harbored by the other doe.

She could also have had a recent false pregnancy (possibly brought on by the other doe mounting her) and ended up with mastitis. If they're not inflamed, swollen and/or hot, maybe she's been able to start fighting it off herself now that you've got her living in a healthy situation. I'd keep monitoring her, but overall she looks like a pretty healthy rabbit from this one photo.

The other thing I'd do is keep track of her weight. Rabbits can hide a pregnancy till the day of kindling, and since you don't know her past, there's always that possibility. Keep an eye out for haystaching, too.

If you post some pictures of the problem area, someone might recognize what's going on.

 

[MountainViewRabbitry]

It's hard to guess without more information, and maybe some photos of her belly would help. The pictures of the rabbit you had to put down suggested that they may have been living in unsanitary conditions. If they were, this doe's underside could have become quite irritated. Even if the hutch wasn't the problem, teats are glands which open to outside the body, so she may have developed infections there by being exposed to whatever pathogens were being harbored by the other doe.

She could also have had a recent false pregnancy (possibly brought on by the other doe mounting her) and ended up with mastitis. If they're not inflamed, swollen and/or hot, maybe she's been able to start fighting it off herself now that you've got her living in a healthy situation. I'd keep monitoring her, but overall she looks like a pretty healthy rabbit from this one photo.

The other thing I'd do is keep track of her weight. Rabbits can hide a pregnancy till the day of kindling, and since you don't know her past, there's always that possibility. Keep an eye out for haystaching, too.

If you post some pictures of the problem area, someone might recognize what's going on.