Accidental breeding!

[Hollandblaze03]

Hello, I am in a very odd situation and I could use some advice. About 4 weeks ago, A holland lop buck that I have managed to escape his cage and get into the cage of one of my holland lop does. Neither of them is fixed so usually it would be safe to assume that we are about to have a litter. The problem is that my doe is 8 years old. I was told by her vet that the chances of any rabbit getting pregnant at that age were slim but not impossible and now we are 5 days out from her due date, she seems to be eating significantly more, her dewlap has become noticeable again (although small), and as of today her fur is loosening. I was hoping for the best that she wouldn't be pregnant because of her age and condition (she often struggles to maintain weight and has allergies but other than that she is the healthiest 8 year old rabbit my vet has ever seen) but unfortunatly I am fearing the worst. Any advice on things I can or should do to help her out more in the coming days or any success stories of senior rabbits having litters? She is still fairly skinny (despite eating plenty of greens, unlimited timothy and Medow grass hays, and almost 3/4 of a cup of pellets a day) but her stomach is firmer so if anything, it is probably 1-2 kits but even that can be tough on a rabbit this old. Any advice is helpful!

 

[JBun]

If she's had babies before, that's at least one thing in her favor. It should help reduce the risk some. There will be more risk of a stuck kit if she hasn't ever had a litter previously. An emergency surgery by your vet, might be needed if that were to happen. Though being an older rabbit, surgery will be risky as well.

If she delivers successfully, her weight sounds like it may be the main issue you might have. Definitely keep a really close eye on the state of her body condition. I'm sure you're experienced with how much nursing does eat and their extra nutritional needs, which can increase more than 3x their usual rations. I'd add in some good quality alfalfa hay and/or start increasing pellet portions more, either now or right before she's due.

Though being an older doe, as you've seen, keeping weight on can get a lot harder. Maybe gradually adding in a few black oil sunflower seeds. It's what I gave an older pet rabbit of mine to help keep her weight up, as giving alfalfa or too much extra pellets was too much calcium for her. Though for yours, once she's nursing, the extra calcium will be needed.

You may also need to make sure the babies are getting enough milk and have full bellies. I don't know if being older would affect her milk production at all. If nursing is too taxing on her physically, you may need to step in with supplemental feeds for the kits. A last resort though due to the risks of hand feeding kits.

Another possibility if you have another new nursing doe right now, is adding the kits to her litter, provided she won't react negatively to them and doesn't have a large litter where it would be too much. But this needs to be carefully evaluated, as a negative reaction would put the kits at high risk of getting severely injured.

Good luck, and please feel free to post baby bunny pictures if she does end up delivering kits successfully. I'd love to see them!

 

[Preitler]

Well, that's obviously not ideal, but rabbits are rabbits, that happens...
I don't think they ever get infertile.

Right now I would start to feed her well, and be sure that her calcium levels are high when the time comes, some offer them a Tums(fruit flavoured), I sprinkle a little ground up eggshells over her oatmeal at due date.
They might need that calcium for muscle function when kindling.
I use oatmeal for extra calories (1-2Tbsp/d), easy to digest, when nursing a big litter I put a little sunflower seed oil on it. It's a great way to give meds too. Sunflower seeds are a good option too.

Success stories, well, my Fury resisted being retired and had her last litter at 7, but she had had1-2 litters every year. Red wasn't as lucky, retired at 4 or 5 due to issues, she accidentially got pregnant at 7, kit got stuck and she had an emergency spay (on a Saturday, I'm so happy with my vet), she passed two weeks ago at age 11. But she had a history, there were good reasons I retired her.

I would talk to the vet about that possibility, and be prepared to get there or to have to make a decision - with Red I had the option of putting her down or try surgery, vet did think the odds were clearly against her, she was in very bad shape, and old. We tried anyway, and in that case I was lucky.

If everything goes well and you get kits, prepare something to keep them warm, if it's a small litter that can be difficult and it saves them energy.

Good luck

 

[Hollandblaze03]

Thanks for all of the advice! When do y'all think I should start trying to increase calcium? She is currently still on a diet of her normal pelleted food because she is refusing any kind of young rabbit or nursing doe pellets so is there extra supplementation that I should give her besides calcium. I have been struggling so much with decided on dietary changes for her because I am just not sure if she is pregnant. She is showing a lot of the signs, but I was never able to feel anything while palpating (to be fair, I am not good at palpating at all) and while these are signs that most rabbits show, these aren't her typical signs from when I used to breed her 5 years ago. For now, my only signs are that small parts of her dewlap are loose, and she stomach is feeling heavier and fuller that usual however that could just be caused by her eating more as well. She has never nested any earlier than 30 minutes before she gave birth, but she hasn't been pooping in her nesting box, only digging out the back. Normally I wouldn't hesitate to add alfalfa to her diet especially because she is refusing alfalfa-based pellets and young rabbit pellets but I don't want to add a bunch of calcium too soon and find that she was never pregnant, but I also don't want to be too late if she was.

 

[Preitler]

I only give extra calcium when it's obvious that it can't be long anymore, Not that it's absolutly necessary, just one of the things you read and think may help.
Giving a little alfalfa now and upping her pellets isn't going to hurt, effects due to problems getting rid of excess calcium imho is more of a long term issue, not so much when it's just a few days and not too much of it.

Honestly, there isn't much to do but wait and see, isn't the waiting game fun? Just prepare for a litter. I always have a stockpile of fur from brushing them etc. so I can supplement a meager or soiled nest, This time of the year I also put a heating element under one corner of the nestbox (one should know what he does when putting electric heating in a rather flamable environment).
I never got the hang of palpating, I think watching them run from behind tells me more - if the belly goes side to side like they swallowed a melon, - quite likely pregnant, if it looks more like a maggot in fast forward they are just fat .

So. it'll be appr. at the weekend, right?
Good luck

 

[Hollandblaze03]

Thank y'all again for all of the advice. I will probably start giving a handful of alfalfa a day then. The waiting game is always so hard, especially this time! Today is day 28 for her so hopefully we will know by Monday at the latest. I also used to use the running method however she has always been such a fit bunny that even then its hard to tell, even more so in her old age. I think her belly has dropped lower in the past few days but that's about it . She will probably wait until the last minutes to build a nest but luckily I have 4 other rabbits in mid shed to help make th nest warmer. I will be sure to post updates as I can!