Surprise litter - help!!

[JTW]

Hi there, first time posting and I need some help.

I have a doe who had a surprise litter yesterday morning, 8 kits. They made it through the night in the nest she made and she pulled more fur, but it doesn’t look like she has fed them. The problem I’m having now is that when I went out to check on her, she was absolutely covered in diarrhea. Her back feet, her tail, her underbelly, everything. I had to bring her inside to clean her off it was so bad. She was sitting in the corner of her cage, not eating or drinking anything since at least last night. Extremely lethargic. Since the babies hadn’t eaten, I held her on her back and had them nurse and they seem to be okay, but I’m not sure what to do about my doe. Hopefully she improves, but if she continues to not feed the babies, should I continue to hold her on her back to feed them once a day?

This is her first litter as well as mine, so we are so inexperienced. I’m sure I’m doing a thousand things wrong.

 

[JTW]

In case anyone sees this, we gave her bene-bac and she seems to be a tiny bit better. Got her to drink from a syringe and a little from a bowl, still not eating. We held her so the kits could eat, but I’m not sure how much milk they got or how much she can produce considering she’s not eating and barely drinking. I did notice one of the kits peed a very decent amount after I pulled him off and put him down, so they’ve at least had a little.

We have the ingredients for that formula recipe I keep seeing here - evaporated goats milk, egg yolk, corn syrup, colostrum powder and a tiny bit of bene-bac. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but we will try if we have to. Can that be reheated if they don’t eat it all at once? Or if we only supplement the runty kits?

Thanks for any help. Really hoping my doe doesn’t pass overnight.

 

[user 8990]

Can you get some Critical Care?? It might help your doe. I’m sorry this is happening and hope she comes around.

 

[Alaska Satin]

In case anyone sees this, we gave her bene-bac and she seems to be a tiny bit better. Got her to drink from a syringe and a little from a bowl, still not eating. We held her so the kits could eat, but I’m not sure how much milk they got or how much she can produce considering she’s not eating and barely drinking. I did notice one of the kits peed a very decent amount after I pulled him off and put him down, so they’ve at least had a little.

We have the ingredients for that formula recipe I keep seeing here - evaporated goats milk, egg yolk, corn syrup, colostrum powder and a tiny bit of bene-bac. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but we will try if we have to. Can that be reheated if they don’t eat it all at once? Or if we only supplement the runty kits?

Thanks for any help. Really hoping my doe doesn’t pass overnight.

So sorry I didn't see this before, although I may not be able to be a lot of help.

Cleaning the doe up is good so she doesn't ingest the nastiness trying to do it herself (though often they won't), and won't get urine scald from sitting in her own wet.

Giving the doe benebac is a smart move. Giving her lots of clean hay is another good thing; even if she's not obviously eating it, it's there for her to nibble on. In fact, when a rabbit is off its feed, I offer it everything I can think of just to keep things going in and coming out: hay, pellets, greens, oats, sunflower seeds, anything I know the rabbit liked before. I'll even offer bits of apple or strawberry or carrot, even though those are sugary things I normally keep away from the rabbits. (On that note, if it was me I'd skip the corn syrup in the bunny formula. Rabbits' guts, like ours, do not do well with sugar, and especially with kits whose guts are getting colonized, I wouldn't want to encourage extra yeast growth.)

Another good thing to offer, or even syringe-feed, is Oxbow Critical Care. I have mixed that with NutriDrops for rabbits and that has helped pull rabbits through gut issues.


Incidentally, we've found that extra love can make a lot of difference. One bunny would only eat or drink while we held and petted it. Even if you don't pick her up, petting and a gentle voice can sometimes subtly do wonders.

If the kits are peeing they're hanging in there. Watch out for sunken bellies, though. Even if they're getting some milk from the doe, supplementing them with formula would be a good idea if they're skinny. Catch them before they're so skinny that they're wrinkly.

A good idea is to use a tiny dropper (1ml) and just put a drop on their lips; they should kind of suck it down. When they're very young, holding them upright while you do this helps keep them from breathing it in. It takes quite a while to feed them drop by drop, but it's better than having them aspirate the milk and suffocate.

I would not re-heat it myself; just make up a little bit, and keep it warm while you're feeding it (no cold formula, of course!).