Netherland bred with lion head

[SMutzberg]

I have a Netherland dwarf doe, on the tiny side and 4 yrs old.
We reached a male lion head/lop 2 weeks ago. Me kids were careless and he got to my girl. Will the size difference kill her? She has a 7 week kit that needed to finish weaning and we were abetting up her spay.

 

[Mileybun]

I would ask a rabbit savvy vet for advice, although it's something that I would find concerning.

 

[Preitler]

You can wean the kit right now, it's old enough.

I've often read about the theory that size difference could cause problems, but haven't heard of an actual case of this being the case. It sounds plausible, but on the other hand kit growth is determined by the energy and nutrients the doe can deliver. Even later on, growth rate depends a lot on what is fed, the final size still is the same but it takes them longer to grow to that.

I don't know much about true dwarfs though, but since you always get false dwarfs that grow bigger in a litter too I wouldn't think that is such a big factor (although DOAs seem to be higher in small breeds than what I'm used to).
I wouldn't worry much with normal rabbits that age which had a litter rather recently.

Since you contemplated a spay anyway, this would be still an otion right now.

 

[Blue eyes]

Yes. Was also going to say that if you didn't want to deal with more baby rabbits, you could still have her spayed now.

 

[Jocee]

The kit should be old enough to be weaned right now. They are very good at weaning themselves off their mums, between 5 and 8 weeks, they wean, and around this time they are on solid food. The reason they hang around Mum for a bit longer is that they need Mum's caecotrophs to help their gut get the right bacteria to adjust to the food. But your little kit should be fine in a pen on its own, as it will have gotten Mum's caecotrophs for a few weeks now and its tummy will have the bacteria it needs, it will also be only on solid food by now.

I think the kit will do all right.

 

[Preitler]

Yes, the kit will do ok, kits can be weaned at 4 weeks in a pinch, but for socialising etc.. They need moms poop just for starting to eat solid food around the 2-3 week mark. Never saw a doe leaving cecos. My kits do not wean themself, they continue that ritual of nursing until the doe gets fed up with it, which can go as late as 12-14 weeks - which can be a wiered sight, bunny limbs sticking out of the nestbox willy-nilly.

Thinking about it, you don't really need to seperate the kit right now, there's no hurry, just early enough before the next litter arrives and so that the doe has some time to prepare, I would say before she's 3 weeks in. If it's a buckling you'll need to seperate anyway around 8-10 weeks since there's still the slim chance that she isn't pregnant now.

 

[Jocee]

Yep sorry, I meant if you take the kit away from Mum between 5 and 8 weeks they are good at weaning themselves, as they are already eating mostly solid food.
But my baby Buns and my friend's babies seem to just wean themselves of Mum around the 6-week mark. Especially with Bella's babies, around 4 weeks she would jump away from them so much I don't think they got a chance to nurse. I think she was just fed up with them. So very quickly they only ate solid food by 5 weeks.

I agree with Preitler that you can leave the kit in with Mum and then take it out early enough for the next litter. Unless of course, the doe gets very grumpy with it and aggressive, as some does get when pregnant.