ASAP ADVICE NEEDED!!!!

[beckz]

bunnybunbunb wrote:

WhatI did when I had to raise a litter I kept the babies in a small box just big enough for mom to fit in. 1-2 times a day i put mom in the box and held her where she could NOT move. You sometimes have to be firm and I have found they will drop their milk anyway. Hold the bum so she can not kick and keep your other hand over her face or stroke it. Treats may not work. I found after the first week of this the doe willingly sit in the box for treat without me touching her. I did this with two diffrent does and all went great. The babies will stop sucking when they are full or tired.

The whole lay on the side or flip on the back never worked for me. Also if you try and feed only one baby at a time it does not work great either.I find the babies need each other's wiggling to keep going.

ok this evening we brought the babies in, in their nest, and mum...my partner held her back end(as hes stronger to catch those legs)...i held her front and placed her overr the top of the babies and they immediately started sucking...this went on for about 10mins and then she got restless...some babies looked fullier than others but at least theyve had something from her...we are going to continue this again tomorrow evening until it seems shes doing this on her own accord...fingers crossed we r getting somewhere ray:

 

[naturestee]

When you put a baby under her belly and it latches on to a nipple, does it seem to be getting anything out? This might be hard to see without a helper.

I don't know how many breeders here have done this, but I have read that if a doe's milk does not come naturally that it can be stimulated with a shot of oxytocin. FYI that's the same drug that would be used to stimulate contractions. Your vet should be able to do this. I'm not sure how long to wait before doing this though.

Here's some info I turned up on a Google search, first one is a research article and may be difficult to understand but essentially says lactating rabbits + oxytocin= milk production.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1464286

This says oxytocin should be used within 48 hours of birth to produce milk:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html#Are_They_Getting_Fed?

And another technical article on the effects of oxytocin and milk ejection.

http://mammary.nih.gov/reviews/lactation/Neville002/index.html

If your vet hasn't done this before, he might like to read the technical articles.

 

[naturestee]

I was typing while you were posting, oops! It's great that the babies are now getting some milk from their mom. Hopefully she'll start producing more now, but do keep an eye on them to see whether they're getting fed. You may need to put them under her daily, or she may feed them on her own.

Is thisthe doe'sfirst litter?

 

[aurora369]

Even if they are only getting enough to survive at the moment, the feedings will also stimulate mom's milk supply. As long as they are getting some milk, even if their bellies are not getting super round, that should be enough to keep them going.

If you can sit her on the nest twice a day for a couple of days, you should notice the babies getting more and more milk.

She should catch on after a few days, and should start feeding the babies on her own schedule.

--Dawn

 

[beckz]

naturestee wrote:

I was typing while you were posting, oops! It's great that the babies are now getting some milk from their mom. Hopefully she'll start producing more now, but do keep an eye on them to see whether they're getting fed. You may need to put them under her daily, or she may feed them on her own.

Is thisthe doe'sfirst litter?

no this is her 3rd...the 1st all died without any living at all...the 2nd looked like they starved as there bellys were saggy and wrinkly, which is why im paranoid with her feeding them...lets just hope it works out!ray:...i will check them next in the morning and then wait till my partner gets in from work to help me get her to feed them again as she is to strong and powerful for me to handle on my own.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I've been thinking of these babies all day! How are they doing?

 

[beckz]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

I've been thinking of these babies all day! How are they doing?

babies are all fine, checked them this morning and all are good...going to continue with what i did last night and get mum and babies inside, and get her to stand over them again and let them fed...ill repeat this againthis evening...and until i see shes willing to do this herself, will continue to do so...

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Excellent!

 

[beckz]

thought id give you an update...babies are 7 days old today and all doing really well (stunning markings on them...so beautiful...im very proud of them)...now you always have a runt and i have 2...1 of them is doing fine, putting weight on and slowly catching up with the others but the other 1 is very tiny and not putting on the weight so well...this 1's my worrier

...im keeping a close eye on him/her...but was wondering is there anything else you can do if you have 1 thats tiny and not alot of weight on it???...i mean obviously he/shes eating(or drinking should i say!?)... as it wouldnt be here today but not eating as much as everybody else....or cant runts eat as much as the others as they have only tiny bellys???...

Oh and i havnt put on here that mums feeding them herself now after me and my other half showed her what she has to do...

 

[gentle giants]

What breed/s are the parents? If they are dwarf breeds it might be a peanut rather than a runt. If it's not a peanut, you can try giving it an extra feeding by itself. If it is a peanut, though, there isn't much you can do.

 

[beckz]

gentle giants wrote:

What breed/s are the parents? If they are dwarf breeds it might be a peanut rather than a runt. If it's not a peanut, you can try giving it an extra feeding by itself. If it is a peanut, though, there isn't much you can do.

both the parents are french lops...so you saying hand feeing them aswell as feeding off mum???

 

[paul2641]

beckz wrote:

ive got 8 baby rabbits born yesterday afternoon...went out there this morning and looks like mum hasnt fed them, instantly you take the fur from on top of them and the squirm about really quickly and bellys wrinkly...advice given on here last night was to wrap a baby in a towel and try and place under mum to feed...tried this and mum seemed scared and wouldnt keep still so placed baby back...ive rung local vets who said i can get formula from them about £13, and syringes for £2.80...they said they need to be fed every 2 hours?...is this right as mum only feeds once maybe twice if she did feed them?...also if i was to do this i would need to bring them inside, what should i keep them in?...then how long do i keep this up for?...advice plz asap!!!!

Yes Every two hours you need to bottle feed them. I advise this flip momma on her side and put the babies on the nipple hold her down and the baby should stay on the nipple.

 

[gentle giants]

paul2641 wrote:

beckz wrote:

ive got 8 baby rabbits born yesterday afternoon...went out there this morning and looks like mum hasnt fed them, instantly you take the fur from on top of them and the squirm about really quickly and bellys wrinkly...advice given on here last night was to wrap a baby in a towel and try and place under mum to feed...tried this and mum seemed scared and wouldnt keep still so placed baby back...ive rung local vets who said i can get formula from them about £13, and syringes for £2.80...they said they need to be fed every 2 hours?...is this right as mum only feeds once maybe twice if she did feed them?...also if i was to do this i would need to bring them inside, what should i keep them in?...then how long do i keep this up for?...advice plz asap!!!!

Yes Every two hours you need to bottle feed them. I advise this flip momma on her side and put the babies on the nipple hold her down and the baby should stay on the nipple.

No no no, no bottle feedings. What I meant is extra feedings off of mom. Baby rabbits don't eat every two hours like kittens and pupies, they only eat once or twice a day. You can trance momma on her back and set the baby on her tummy to nurse, if she will relax that way,but don't lay her on her side and hold her down, that will make her very stressed out and the milk won't come down that way anyway.

 

[beckz]

gentle giants wrote:

paul2641 wrote:

beckz wrote:

ive got 8 baby rabbits born yesterday afternoon...went out there this morning and looks like mum hasnt fed them, instantly you take the fur from on top of them and the squirm about really quickly and bellys wrinkly...advice given on here last night was to wrap a baby in a towel and try and place under mum to feed...tried this and mum seemed scared and wouldnt keep still so placed baby back...ive rung local vets who said i can get formula from them about £13, and syringes for £2.80...they said they need to be fed every 2 hours?...is this right as mum only feeds once maybe twice if she did feed them?...also if i was to do this i would need to bring them inside, what should i keep them in?...then how long do i keep this up for?...advice plz asap!!!!

Yes Every two hours you need to bottle feed them. I advise this flip momma on her side and put the babies on the nipple hold her down and the baby should stay on the nipple.

No no no, no bottle feedings. What I meant is extra feedings off of mom. Baby rabbits don't eat every two hours like kittens and pupies, they only eat once or twice a day. You can trance momma on her back and set the baby on her tummy to nurse, if she will relax that way,but don't lay her on her side and hold her down, that will make her very stressed out and the milk won't come down that way anyway.

that was bad advice with paul saying to flip her over and hold her down!!!...blimey...the best way is for her to stand over them like i did before to get her to feed...and now she knows what to do...she relaxs after abit and settles gently over them...but yes i'll see what baby is like tomorrow and get her to give an extra feed to that baby...

 

[polly]

Generally with the big rabbits you will always get some that thrive better than the others. The ones that do not thrive are not so good for breeding on as you want the size. I would just keep an eye on it. I know with the beverens its the strongest and feistiest that you want to keep to breed on with.
But it will generally happen with bigger breeds because their litter sizes are so much bigger than a dwarf rabbit.
There is always teh option of giving the little one extra feeds off mum but to be honest they usually catch up a bit more when they get onto solids

 

[beckz]

went and checked on babies this morning and found the white baby downstairs dead...mum hadnt attacked it, it had been fed as it had a big belly...but just cold...i wrapped it up and brought it in and tried for an hour getting it warm to see it would come back (as i didnt know howlong it had been there for, so it could of just happened)...but no luck :cry1:...this was the only white 1 there and was adorable...the only mark i found was its nails had blood in them and a little nick on 1 front paw...so i dont know if maybe it was still latched on to mum and she pulled it out and maybe shes tried picking it up and thats how the marks where there on its paw i dont know...there was absolutly nothing wrong with it at all...dont understand :?

so only 7 left and 9 days old now...

 

[BlueGiants]

I'm sorry you lost the white one...:tears2: It's really hard to tell what was wrong at this age. Honestly, it's not uncommon to losesome as the litter matures. (Even in nature, not all the babies survive. That's one of the reasons rabbits tend to have such large litters.)

I'm glad to see that momma is feeding them now. How are the rest of them doing today?

 

[beckz]

BlueGiants wrote:

I'm sorry you lost the white one...:tears2: It's really hard to tell what was wrong at this age. Honestly, it's not uncommon to losesome as the litter matures. (Even in nature, not all the babies survive. That's one of the reasons rabbits tend to have such large litters.)

I'm glad to see that momma is feeding them now. How are the rest of them doing today?

yeah the rest of them are fine...the runt is doing well aswell...i picked him up to see how his belly looked and he nearly hopped out of my hand!!!...so he is coming along.....its so hard to try and forget though as ive got attached to them, what with getting mum to feed them all and i hated checking on them in the early stages as i was scared to find 1 dead...so i was shocked when i found the white 1 had died at 9 days old..so i picked him up wrapped him up well in a towel,and cryed my eyes out whilst having a cuddle with him...:cry1:

 

[BlueGiants]

I know how hard it is to lose one... no matter how many litters I have, or how many make it... it still breaks my heart to lose one. :hug: Hugs to you for all you've done for them! Give the others a little extra loving. Sounds like Momma is finally doing a good job.

I'm really glad to hear the rest of the litterare all doing well! (Including the 'lil one!) It would be lovely if you could get a couple of photo's of the kits!