what to do.. mom chew the foot of a baby

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

A doe that I post on another post.. she had the rest of her babies this morning on the wire of course... there is one runt.. I know that will die.. there is a baby in there that she chew the front foot and its tail... So I cull it or do you think it will be ok if I watch for infection. it isn't the whole foot I don't think. .. I am trying to foster them to another doe.. I will no by tomorrow if this going to work. ..I had to take her babies on her that was almost 4 weeks old and give her another batch of new borns.. This is the first that I am going to do this .. She is a very good mom.. my fingers are cross.. She has there smell on them as some I nursed on her before I moved them over.. What a day

__________ Sun Sep 01, 2013 4:26 pm __________

I took another look.. It is more than the foot. It is half way up the leg.. Do you think it will be ok ..

 

[Sinnfox]

The kit might do ok...I have seen several different kits some with one or no ears some tailless some missing legs...all do to over zealous new moms over cleaning them. As long as it stays clean and doesn't get infected the little one should do ok. if it does get infected then I'd suggest culling so it doesnt suffer since young ones tend to fade fast if stuff goes wrong.

As for the foster momma..be sure to watch since her milk could dry up at any point. If it dries up she can't feed the little ones no matter how much she wants to. If the birth mom has milk it might be best to try getting her to nurse them at least once a day or so so she keeps her milk as well so if foster mom does dry up they still have at least some form of feeding even if you have to hold the birth mother :/

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

yes.. You are right.. I was wondering about her milk.. How long it will last. the birth mother is a no go for feeding.. but I can hang on to her to feed..

 

[Sinnfox]

some moms dry up faster then others...I know one of my does starts drying up around week three...but she doesn't like her kits starting from the time they can hop out to chase her....others will still be nursing at 6 weeks ...i don't tend to leave them in much past that for the mom's sake so maybe you will get lucky and your foster mom will be able to raise them just watch the kits to be sure they are fed..if it looks like they aren't eating as much start supplementing with formula so they will be a bit more used to it if you have to completely switch over

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I was thinking about that.. I have to find goats milk.. I can get it at the grocier store ,, but I will check to see if I can goats milk in a can first as it is stronger.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The kit will probably be just fine. They heal up really quickly when they are little, just watch for infection as Sinnfox said.

One of our members had the leg bitten off of a kit by a raccoon when it was five weeks old, and it lived. That was a surprise to me because it was so much older, and I felt his chances were very poor.

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If the birth mom has milk it might be best to try getting her to nurse them at least once a day or so so she keeps her milk as well so if foster mom does dry up they still have at least some form of feeding even if you have to hold the birth mother

I would keep bringing the kits to both moms until their mom's milk comes in. At least once a day take the kits to their own mom before the foster feeds them so they will be hungry and move a lot underneath the doe. That may stimulate her to start producing milk.

Good luck, Mary Ann! :clover: