Doe with milk- how long till babies!

[naturestee]

I hope everybody had a happy Easter! Now that this most glorious of holidays is done, my local shelter is again slammed with rabbits. One guy dropped off 5 lop mixes, both genders mixed together, apparently the girls have previously had babies. The shelter people were guessing that he was breeding for Easter babies and now that it's past, is dumping the ones he doesn't want to keep. Joy.

Anyway, one of the two girls felt like she had ****s and not just nipples, so they spayed her today. 9 babies were found in her, although they didn't say how close to full term they were. Now the other girl has ****s and they're doing what they can to squeeze her into the surgery schedule tomorrow but they weren't sure if it was possible.

Any idea how much time there might be before babies are born?

:banghead anic:

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

My does usually don't fill up until after they kindle. I am thinking that they

just pulled some kits off of her to sell for easter and she hasn't dried up yet.

Roger

 

[naturestee]

Really? Hmm. They said she didn't feel like that two days ago. The other doe- probably a sister- that felt like that had nine babies in her. Although they could have gotten pregnant right after giving birth, and they still have milk from the last set of babies.

Now that just makes me think of 4 week old babies in Easter baskets for small children.:grumpy:

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

It's very possible that the moron kept them all together and let them breed

at will and take the babies to sell. Hopefully he didn't keep any to rebreed.

It's that kind of person who gives breeders a bad name!

Roger

 

[naturestee]

He did say that they were all kept together. They were all very similar-looking lop crosses, and he claimed it was lop x mini rex... so I think he still has the original parents. And any babies born at the shelter are due to complete inbreeding.:grumpy:

I love you guys. Seriously, I do. But can I go *cull* the other breeders?

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

Be my guest!! It's that type of breeder that is filling up the shelters. He is

in it for the money plain and simple.

Roger

 

[bunnybunbunb]

My does normally get their milk between 4-0 days till they are due. Some gets it as early as 2 weeks before if they have had babies but not normally. Some don't get it till after they have their babies but most get it within a few days before.

It's sad they basicly aborted the babies but I do understand. Not only is shelters packed with rabbits but they are most likely inbred :XI hate people.

We don't even have shelters here that take in rabbits so they are either just left to die in the cages with no food or let loose.

 

[naturestee]

I still can't believe that some shelters don't take rabbits at all. I love my local shelter. They don't euthanize rabbits, but yes spay/abort is necessary to help with that. They do it for cats too, maybe dogs but I'm not sure. In my mind, when it's as hard to find adoptive homes as it is, the animals that are already there take precedence over those that aren't born yet.

Roger, you're definitely right that it's people like him that fill up our shelters. Not just with the rabbits he dumped on us directly, but the majority of our rabbits originally came from pet stores. We've had a few rabbits with tattooed ears but they're generally old 4H show rabbits, and the 4H kids aren't always as responsible as they should be. As far as I can tell, very few if any of our rabbits came from adult show breeders. Well, hollands are the exception because there's an ARBA breeder that sells them at garage sales.... grr.

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

Garage sales!! That must be one top notch breeder to have to resort to that.

I have a waiting list for pets because I handle them from the day that they are

born.

Before Easter I did a rabbit education day at my local feed store. It was a big

hit and lots of people had questions. I brought different breeds and

actually talked several people out of getting a rabbit for the kids until they

get older and talked to several people about 4H and showing in ARBA shows.

Quite alot of kids were interested in 4H and at least two couple that have

rabbits were interested in going to an ARBA show and possibly showing rabbits.

If people are informed they usually won't jump right into getting a bunny on the

spur of the moment. They think a bunny is a cheap easy pet but if they have all

the facts presented to them they think twice. One of the carriers I brought had

a stuffed rabbit in it and believe me I pointed to that one many times and said

THAT IS THE PERFECT EASTER BUNNY.

Roger

 

[naturestee]

Argh! The shelter couldn't get her spayed yesterday because they had a crisis with sick dogs. No animals allowed in the vet office except those that were already ill. They're pretty sure they have a handle on that situation now, it just took a little time to get the tests back to tell them exactly what was wrong and how to treat it.

If I can, I'll go in today and check on her. I think I'll give her a nest box just in case.

 

[BlueGiants]

Sounds like the best thing to do under the circumstances...

 

[gentle giants]

Any updates?

 

[naturestee]

Thanks for reminding me! She did not have babies, yay! They spayed her on Monday and she did not appear pregnant. So she must have been separated from her babies right when she was sent to the shelter. She is doing well, and so is her sister who was pregnant when spayed.

 

[Hazel]

Anyone hope there's an opposite of Rainbow Bridge for irresponsible jerk breeders and owners? I can't help but hope for that.

I'm glad they're doing well.