Venting

[Cosima]

I feel terrible. I feel like the world is trying to make me as miserable as possible. Like nothing will ever go the way I want it to and if it does then it bits me in the back like with Lily’s second litter with feather mouse dark and temper yes I was fun but now 2 of them have died and they feel more like weights on my shoulders then anything else. I guess you could say that things are going good with chilla being pregnant but I have a feeling that it will go wrong and something is going to happen to ether chilla or her babies. well those are my problems if anyone else wants to vent out their frustrations then feel free and maybe some here can help you. No one has to respond sometimes venting makes me feel better on its own.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

I'm getting sort of upset by how my does simply can't have kits anymore. Yoshi only gave birth to actual babies the first three litters, not to mention they all died because she ducks as a mom, but since then she hasn't given birth at all. She's so fat that she might be holding like 15 in there. Nanaimo did good this last time having Jasper and Pearl, even though Casper passed away, and she can be excused for the litter before that because it was her first one. Cinder has had three two amazing litters, including the litter of Shashimi(sold), Shashami(sold), and Katzu(also sold). As well as the litter of Thor(sold), Soot(sold to thor's buyer's boyfriend), Cat(stillborn), and Whilber(still my tilty guy). Her first litter being still borns is also ok. But what has been going on now!?!? Between whilber and Pearl, I had to wait a year and a half just to get one litter. A year and a half!!!!!!! I get pretty upset about it >:[

 

[Cosima]

I can’t really help because that is also my problem.

 

[KelleyBee]

I'm getting sort of upset by how my does simply can't have kits anymore. Yoshi only gave birth to actual babies the first three litters, not to mention they all died because she ducks as a mom, but since then she hasn't given birth at all. She's so fat that she might be holding like 15 in there. Nanaimo did good this last time having Jasper and Pearl, even though Casper passed away, and she can be excused for the litter before that because it was her first one. Cinder has had three two amazing litters, including the litter of Shashimi(sold), Shashami(sold), and Katzu(also sold). As well as the litter of Thor(sold), Soot(sold to thor's buyer's boyfriend), Cat(stillborn), and Whilber(still my tilty guy). Her first litter being still borns is also ok. But what has been going on now!?!? Between whilber and Pearl, I had to wait a year and a half just to get one litter. A year and a half!!!!!!! I get pretty upset about it >:[

Could these problems be due to nutritional deficiencies? One can be obese and still lacking in vital nutrition. As a matter of fact, obesity often is a side effect of a living body overeating whatever foods are available in a desperate attempt to compensate for the missing nutrients. Perhaps bloodwork by your vet could shed some light on what vital nutrients might be missing in their diet. I'm so sorry everyone is having such struggles.

 

[MaggieJ]

I'm getting sort of upset by how my does simply can't have kits anymore. Yoshi only gave birth to actual babies the first three litters, not to mention they all died because she ducks as a mom, but since then she hasn't given birth at all. She's so fat that she might be holding like 15 in there. Nanaimo did good this last time having Jasper and Pearl, even though Casper passed away, and she can be excused for the litter before that because it was her first one. Cinder has had three two amazing litters, including the litter of Shashimi(sold), Shashami(sold), and Katzu(also sold). As well as the litter of Thor(sold), Soot(sold to thor's buyer's boyfriend), Cat(stillborn), and Whilber(still my tilty guy). Her first litter being still borns is also ok. But what has been going on now!?!? Between whilber and Pearl, I had to wait a year and a half just to get one litter. A year and a half!!!!!!! I get pretty upset about it >:[

I suspect your does' fertility problems are due mainly to obesity and possibly to a lack of Vitamins A and E, which are necessary for breeding desire and success. A doe can have too much internal fat and not seem overweight. An obviously obese doe has much reduced likelihood of producing kits.

You might consider a review of your feeding regimen. I suggest starting a new thread about dealing with rabbit obesity. We can't really offer suggestions without knowing exactly how you are feeding them now.

 

[eco2pia]

I feel terrible. I feel like the world is trying to make me as miserable as possible. Like nothing will ever go the way I want it to and if it does then it bits me in the back like with Lily’s second litter with feather mouse dark and temper yes I was fun but now 2 of them have died and they feel more like weights on my shoulders then anything else. I guess you could say that things are going good with chilla being pregnant but I have a feeling that it will go wrong and something is going to happen to ether chilla or her babies. well those are my problems if anyone else wants to vent out their frustrations then feel free and maybe some here can help you. No one has to respond sometimes venting makes me feel better on its own.

I hear you Cosima, I know I have had rough patches this past year and sometimes the hits just don't seem to let up.

There are two thoughts I have, I understand you are young, and as I recall, sometimes it can be extra hard at the point where you are not quite a fully innocent child anymore, but you aren't a fully independent adult yet either. Maybe it was just me, but that always felt like middle management to me, all the responsiblities and none of the power. It isn't quite true, of course, you don't have all the responsibilities yet, but it isn't really true of middle management either, and that doesn't stop them from being upset and feeling frustrated.

Second, I don't know for sure, but I assume you started keeping rabbits because it seemed fun. If it is not fun anymore it is not a failure to stop or scale back. I have to remind myself of that all the time in my hobbies, some of us are naturally ambitious and will push things too far when we aren't really ready. I have had to step back from a lot of hobbies over the years and wait until the timing was better or just choose something else. Each thing I have tried has enriched my life and educated me in some way, even when it did not go the way I planned. Over the years I have slowly learned so many hard lessons that now I am fairly good at a lot of things.

But that was definitely not always the case. I am 47. I am just now becoming who I always wanted to be. That feels pretty good, but be sure to enjoy the journey, instead of just waiting to be happy at some arbitrary destination.

 

[ThunderHill]

So I have some venting to do this morning. Why is it that just because people live out in the country they think they can let their dogs roam free to wreak havoc on others' lives? I go to put up our chickens and check the rabbits yesterday evening only to find that someone's dog has torn open our chicken tractor, killed every chicken it could find (6 out of our 8 hens - the rooster looks to have put up a heck of a fight and was still alive last night, but probably won't make it), and then proceeded to our hanging rabbit cages in the barn where it ripped at least one or two toes or chunks of hock off just about every rabbit through the wire. This happened in the middle of the day, and based off the very large prints in the mud, it wasn't a coyote. We don't have local wild critters that would do that kind of damage, and especially during the day. No, it was someone's dog. What if our kids had been outside playing at that time and it decided to attack them as well? Needless to say, we'll be prepared to deal with the situation when it comes back (as I'm sure it will) and we'll be building a more reinforced tractor and implementing some electric fencing for the future. Sad that we have to, just because other people can't be responsible for their own animals. (We don't know whose it was, so talking to them directly or filing a police report, etc. isn't really an option.)

So yeah, this was mostly just venting, but I do have a question. Should I do anything for the rabbits with missing toes at this point, or just leave them to heal on their own? The poor things - some were torn off to the point you can see the exposed bone where the toe connects to the foot. All seemed okay otherwise and were acting pretty normal by the time I saw the carnage. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Cosima]

Yikes! I can’t imagine what I would do if that happened to me. You should probably post a thread about the injures If you haven’t already.

 

[MuddyFarms]

So I have some venting to do this morning. Why is it that just because people live out in the country they think they can let their dogs roam free to wreak havoc on others' lives? I go to put up our chickens and check the rabbits yesterday evening only to find that someone's dog has torn open our chicken tractor, killed every chicken it could find (6 out of our 8 hens - the rooster looks to have put up a heck of a fight and was still alive last night, but probably won't make it), and then proceeded to our hanging rabbit cages in the barn where it ripped at least one or two toes or chunks of hock off just about every rabbit through the wire. This happened in the middle of the day, and based off the very large prints in the mud, it wasn't a coyote. We don't have local wild critters that would do that kind of damage, and especially during the day. No, it was someone's dog. What if our kids had been outside playing at that time and it decided to attack them as well? Needless to say, we'll be prepared to deal with the situation when it comes back (as I'm sure it will) and we'll be building a more reinforced tractor and implementing some electric fencing for the future. Sad that we have to, just because other people can't be responsible for their own animals. (We don't know whose it was, so talking to them directly or filing a police report, etc. isn't really an option.)

So yeah, this was mostly just venting, but I do have a question. Should I do anything for the rabbits with missing toes at this point, or just leave them to heal on their own? The poor things - some were torn off to the point you can see the exposed bone where the toe connects to the foot. All seemed okay otherwise and were acting pretty normal by the time I saw the carnage. Thanks for any advice.

You may want to feed them some willow or give them something else to help with the pain. Really, they should probably have some bandaging and some medication/treatment on their feet to keep them moist and help keep it from getting infected so it can heal well, but I don't know what would truly work for a rabbit. They like to tear everything off. I would recommend that you contact a vet to find out the best thing to do for treating the feet. They are quite likely to get infected due to the extent of the damage (it is not a superficial wound, but more problematic).

Sorry about that problem! I would recommend the bear-type electric fencing option in the link below, so the dog for certain gets trained to avoid those places in the future (just using lower power than a bear would need):

https://lwwf.org/resource-guides
This uses cattle panels in an easy to set-up manner. It is quick and easy in lots of ways compared to other options. Dogs can often sneak under other kinds of electric fencing with no shock due to their fur, but this eliminates that challenge.

 

[Rabbits by Accident]

So sorry to hear this! You are not the first I've heard that has had a problem with neighborhood dogs. We have a fenced yard, but also have the rabbit area completely fenced (even the top) because we have a LOT of very hungry coyotes here. It's a good thing because someone left a gate open and the neighbor's dog got in and killed 4 of our chickens. (Fortunately ours are free roaming so the majority managed to get away) One came wandering back home the next day with no tail feathers, must have had a close encounter! Because of the coyote fencing the dog couldn't get into the rabbit area.

If you put up electric fencing, I would use it on high power if there were no kids around.

That is horrible about the toes. I think if they don't get infected, they should be okay. Maybe peroxide and/or betadine every day? Peroxide is what your cells make to fight infection, so I would think it would be okay to use on rabbits. I'm sure if it's not someone here will know

Good luck and hugs!!!
Liz