Pets at Home idiots! brother & sister deformed babies???

[rayvenspel]

Hi,

I'm so cross! I bought 2 "female" dwarf lionheads who are approx 4 months old now. It would appear that they are not both female at all though as one of them recently had kits!

There are 4 in the litter and they're 16 days old now.2 of the little buns seem to bedoing gr8, the other 2 not quite so They are about half the size of the others and their eyes still haven't opened yet. They have fur everywhere except on their heads and they seem to be just dragging their hind legs behind them. I'm so worried about the little mites. I have done research on "peanuts" but these guys appear to have normal shaped ears, heads and front legs so I don't know what to do. I tried bathing their eyes with wet tissue 2 help open them but to no avail.

Anybody else had any experience ofkits like these? What makes it even worse is that I'm pretty sure mum & dad are brother & sister! I informed Pets at home of their blunder and all they offered to do was take the kits at 9 weeks - didn't offer to cover neutering the male (which I now have to do) or anything! GGGGRRRRRR

 

[gentle giants]

Petstores usually get the sex wrong on bunnies (and hamsters, too, although that's my own rather longstory!). I got a call from a lady the other day that said she asked the petstore for two does, and now has nine baby bunnies.

Would you be able to post pics of the babies? It would help us to see what is going on. Usually, just breeding brother to sister one time won't make for deformed kits, but if these guys came from a bunny mill, then the parents were probably inbred too.

 

[tonyshuman]

What GG said. My hammies are from a Craigslist post of an accidental litter, and my cousins had to neuter a guinea pig that was supposed to be female because they didn't want to separate their piggies.

It's really hard to sex young bunnies, and most people want to buy them very young. The problem is that they are safe to separate from their mom before it's easy to sex them. I hope some breeders can give you help on what kind of deformity this may be, as well as how to make sure the mom is ok and can sustain a litter at this age. I wouldn't mess with their eyes, as they will probably open them on their own, unless they look crusted shut with mucus or something else. Another option is of course to take the little family to a rabbit-savvy vet and get her opinion.

A few things I do know: keep daddy away from the kits. Feed mama unlimited alfalfa pellets. Check the babies at least daily for bellies that are full of milk--they call them "ping-pong bellies" because they'll be round like ping-pong balls.

Just another reason to dislike pet stores that sell rabbits...:X

 

[BlueGiants]

As GG said, photo's of the babies would help a lot. Regarding the eyes, warm soaks might soften up the skin around the eyes. Keep the nest as clean as possible, even if you have to replace the nesting material.

 

[naturestee]

About the missing fur, if I remember right from what other lionhead breeders have said, babies that will grow the thicker double manes have naked spots on their heads that don't grow fur until later. If you could get pics that would be great, because then those who know more about baby buns can get a better idea of what's going on.

They should definitely have their eyes open by now though. It might help to take a warm wet wash cloth and and gentlyput it on their eyes. Sometimes that's all the help they need. But at this point they might need vet attention in case they have eye infections that are keeping their eyes shut.

Are they able to move their hind legs at all?

Just checking, but did you separate the mom and dad? How soon after the birth were you able to do that? Rabbits can get pregnant again right after they give birth and they're actually very fertile then. So you might have another litter coming...:?

Also, if you have trouble finding homes for the babies on your own see if you can find a rabbit rescue to help you. There are quite a few in the UK (that's where I'm guessing you are). Pets at Home will just profit off of your babies. When they get free rabbit babies from accidental litters that they caused, they profit off of their bad mistakes. They do it a lot, I've heard quite a few stories despite being on the other side of the ocean.

 

[rayvenspel]

Thanks for replying! yep your probably right about the parents being inbred too. I've pictures here and I'm going to try to get them uploaded x

 

[rayvenspel]

Yep daddy was removed the day I discovered the kits, hopefuly he didn't get to her b4 I did tho!:shock:

 

[rayvenspel]

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for your posts! Wasn't sure how to upload pics but managed to get one as my avatar. The other kits I have aren't visible but twice the size with big open eyes. I actually took these two little guys to the vets 2nite and on top of being stumped about the baldness thing she seemed to think they may have no eyes at all! :shock:

Going to keep trying the moist tissue over the eyelids method anyway as most of you think it's a good idea. Even though they are both dragging their little back legs they do seem to have some strength in themas one was scratching his neck earlier (aw) Just seem to be really underdeveloped, remind me of newlyborns....I'm keeping everything crossed anyhow, got quite attatched to the little guys . xxx

 

[clevername]

man, your avatar is really small. Try making an account and uploading here....
http://photobucket.com/

 

[rayvenspel]

I have an account, I just joined today though and can't figure out how to upload pics on this site!. Can you tell me plz if you know? I just tried that bucket site but it's looking for tags & I don't know wot to add! Totally lost sorryonder:x

 

[Aina]

Oh yeah, didn't get the last step in there, it is to paste the copied stuff in your text box.

 

[rayvenspel]

Thanks for the help. There are some photo's of the kits here if anyone wants to have a look x

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f245/rayvenspel/GIMP448.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f245/rayvenspel/GIMP449.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f245/rayvenspel/GIMP452.jpg

 

[rayvenspel]

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f245/rayvenspel/GIMP452.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f245/rayvenspel/GIMP449.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f245/rayvenspel/GIMP448.jpg

 

[tonyshuman]

what you can do is click the button that looks like 3 balls on a piece of paper and then paste the url into it.

I'm not sure myself. Definitely not peanuts, though, like you said.

 

[gentle giants]

I don't think they look deformed, but the hair loss is bothering me some.Did they lose the hair,or have they been like this since birth? Did their eyes ever open? How old are they now?