What happend to this kit during birth?

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jimmywalt

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Our Holland Lop doe had 1 baby last night. It was just laying in the middle of the nest, not even by the fur.

You can see it's one front leg and it's two deformed back legs, and hollowed out mid section. We have never seen anything like this. How could this be?

The doe is only 14 months old and did have a successful litter earlier this summer.

If she doesn't have any more kits today, do we re-breed her right away?

Darlas Dead kit 11-8-15_resize.jpg
 
Perhaps she started eating it, guts first, because it was deformed, or born dead?

For lost litters, re-breeding right away (or a few days later) seems to give the best results.
 
I re-bred her 3x this morning. The first time she was okay with it, the 2nd and 3rd I had to hold her because she seemed mad. Once she went back to her own cage she started pulling fur and filling the nest box. She was due on Saturday (2 days ago).

Do you think there are babies that are stuck and might be coming, or was it because she felt his presence and might have thought she was in labor? It seems odd that she would pull fur at this point of being 2 days late.

Your thoughts? Thank you.
 
jimmywalt":1rmls128 said:
I re-bred her 3x this morning. The first time she was okay with it, the 2nd and 3rd I had to hold her because she seemed mad. Once she went back to her own cage she started pulling fur and filling the nest box. She was due on Saturday (2 days ago).

Do you think there are babies that are stuck and might be coming, or was it because she felt his presence and might have thought she was in labor? It seems odd that she would pull fur at this point of being 2 days late.

Your thoughts? Thank you.

I think it sounds very likely that she has (or had) stuck kit(s). Don't be surprised if she produces more babies.
 
It looks like an oversized kit, and was likely born dead. She started eating it but didn't finish.

jimmywalt":2ctxxfdk said:
I re-bred her 3x this morning. Once she went back to her own cage she started pulling fur and filling the nest box.

Sometimes their nesting instincts kick in a little late. They will even start digging and nestbuilding when there are live kits in the nest and can injure them.

Susie570":2ctxxfdk said:
jimmywalt":2ctxxfdk said:
Do you think there are babies that are stuck and might be coming, or was it because she felt his presence and might have thought she was in labor?

Your thoughts? Thank you.

I think it sounds very likely that she has (or had) stuck kit(s). Don't be surprised if she produces more babies.

I agree. Watch for more kits.
 
More kits............................ Alive or dead? What's your guess? I won't know till I get home later tonight what she does.
 
You might get lucky and have live kits. Surprisingly, occasionally does will deliver kits on multiple days.

You mentioned her being due on Saturday- what day was that? 28? 30? If she is much beyond day 33, I think the chance of live kits is dropping.
 
jimmywalt":2fmeirku said:
Saturday was day 31. Today would be 33.

I've seen reports of live kits beyond day 33, but I would say (especially with her being a Holland Lop) the chance of stuck kit(s) is high. Have you tried to palpate her at all?
 
Got home. No more kits. I didn't try to palpate her. I think she just had one that was dead. She had 5 successful covers by the buck.

Crazy thing is that her last litter only had 1 kit and it was born dead also, but the litter before (earlier this summer) had 4 or 5 beautiful babies that lived.

This recent birth and the one just prior were with 2 different bucks. I wonder if it's something with her that she's just not going to be able to have any more litters??? Yet we were told her age when we got her and she should only be about 14 months old now.
 
Could just be that the summer heat got to the bucks. I would try to breed her one more time now that it's been cool consistently for a few months.....or maybe something is wrong with her. Worth another shot in my opinion tho.
 
It doesn't look fully developed to me. I'd say she had a miscarriage and they my have died at different stages. I have seen a doe have a litter were the kits looked like little pieces of meat to almost fully developed with no survivors. A dog was was under her cage jumping and barking at her before she was due. I think she was so worked up it caused her to lose them. Most rabbits are timid by nature and can't take much out of the norm when pregnant. I could be wrong but it doesn't look like it's oversized to me. If she has only had 4 or 5 before she may never have very big litters. Anyway hope she as a nice litter next time!
 
We re-bred her yesterday. She had 5 good covers and the last 3 times (last night) she lifted every time he got near her. She was ready to go.

We also used a different buck that was bred to a different doe on 8/26/15, and that doe had 4 beautiful babies.

So we will give her one more time to see what happens. 30 days from today we should know.
 
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