withholding food night before kindling

[SterlingSatin]

my does are due tonight and i don't usually with hold feed the night before because i've never had trouble with milk toxicity or mastitis (the one case of mastitis i did have was when the litter was 3 weeks old and it was because one of the kits punctured the skin on her teat). but that being said, one of these does did have mastitis, and i've heard its more common after they've had it once... so should i withhold food tonight? how many of you do it? i' m not sure i see the point really.

 

[Secuono]

I don't understand at all.
Mastitis, as far as I know, is from infections, not from....feeding mom...
Withholding food would cause stress and that wouldn't be good to help prevent illness...

 

[SterlingSatin]

Mastitis, as far as I know, is from infections, not from....feeding mom...

feeding the night of kindling can apparently cause an over production of milk
an overproduction of milk can block the teats, causing caked breast, and eventually leading to mastitis supposedly. sorry if i didn't make that connection clear.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Does usually go off their feed a bit before kindling anyway... but if it concerns you, maybe you could just give grass hay to lower the protein intake. If so, I would do it for a day after as well, since they don't usually produce a ton of milk right away.

 

[SterlingSatin]

thanks MSD. i went ahead and fed them, as my does are often late to start producing milk (one took 72 hours, almost lost the kits to starvation), and I think withholding food my exacerbate this problem even more. some of my fellow local breeders were SHOCKED when i told them i didn't withhold food on kindling night... lol. guess everybody does things differently

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Keep an eye on her, since she had mastitis before. I had a doe with the onset of mastitis, and treated her with mint and catnip. Here is the thread if you want to try it:

post98147.html

 

[akane]

All the mastitis I've seen has not happened until the kits are nearing 10 days so withholding food in the beginning does no good. It's the end of the first week you need to start looking at cleanliness and food quantity. We successfully bred a couple does now that had mastitis before by cleaning right at 7 days and cutting their food then. If you wanted to cut milk before the kits started feeding well you should have cut the feed days ago. Withholding 1 day before they are due isn't going to do a darn thing. They've already filled themselves up waiting for kits.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

All the mastitis I've seen has not happened until the kits are nearing 10 days

It was at nine days for my doe. Good info to have. Thanks, Akane.

 

[arachyd]

Normally mastitis is from a clogged milk duct. If your doe developed a mastitis infection from an injury I don't think she would be as prone to develop it again as a rabbit that gets it the usual way. That is, unless your rabbit is prone to getting injured.