TinysMom
Well-Known Member
I was going back through old forum posts about Pow Wow and found some to share...
From shortly after she had the kits and was fostering...
Pow Wow is an awesome mama - but I caught hernursing her babies twice today....and that was after nursing themduring the middle of the night.
I think she knocks over her nestbox or something and they come crawlingout and looking around and she nurses them again. All I know is after feeding them during the night - she fed them again around noon today.
Then I was feeding later (suppertime) and heard some cooing sortof. She was chattering to her babies and calling them over to her - the nestbox was knocked over AGAIN and it had been in a corner so she had to do it....
I'm just wondering if she nurses them so much 'cause she's bored...
(Sundae isn't doing as well and I'm thinking about adding one or two ofher babies to Pow Wow since Pow Wow is already fostering three from thelitter. They were born last Wednesday night orThursday....would she be able to handle more babies if they were added?I thought I might add one from Sundae's five (she lost one of herbabies). Sundae originally had nine babies....
Peg
And here are the posts from when she gave birth and I fostered kits to her...
I have a very sweet lionhead doe named Pow Wow -I got her at Lionhead Nationals and I just love her. Like the majorityof lionheads I've experienced - she has a wonderful personality and iscurious and friendly and just....well....special.
When I bought her - she had been bred for me. She lost her first litter as they were born early and they were just too small to survive.
She lost her second litter too....if I remember right - they were small and sickly.
Today....she lost her third litter. She only had two babies this time and they were a good size...but it looked like maybe she had a bit of a hard time delivering them and they were stretched out and sort of narrow. I'm probably not explaining it right.
I think I'm concerned about her ability to breed and have a litter born alive.
What really concerned me though was her attitude after she lost her litter. She didn't have them in her nest (which was beautiful) and whenI took them out of her cage - she tried to attack me (very unusual for her). I showed them to her and let her sniff them after she tried to attack me and she sort of turned away and almost went and hid in her nest. She normally comes to see me at the door - but now she won't come near me and just holds her head down and won't even look at me.
Meanwhile, another doe, Sundae had NINE babies. Actually - she had five of them yesterday and I was looking today and realized there were NINE babies in there now.
I hope I did the right thing - I took 3 of Sundae's babies and put themin Pow Wow's nest. She mainly sits in her cage and looks at the nest.It does look like she has covered them up a bit better than I did - andif they aren't fed in the morning, I'll have plenty of time to give them back to Sundae...but I want to give Pow Wow the chance to be a mom because this time she was really prepared for it and really seemed excited about her nest and stuff. I know...it sounds crazy.
But my question here is....if you were me - would you try to rebreed her again at some point - or just not use her for breeding anymore? She has a great personality to be a mother - but I don't want to put herlife at risk. I really do love her.
I guess part of my dilemna is that to me - she is such a special rabbit that I wish I could have a baby out of her - but I'm thinking that I may just keep her to be a pet.....
I was hoping maybe someone else had dealt with this and could share.
NEXT MESSAGE:
Hmm....I'm trying to figure out how to share this.
I put three babies in with Pow Wow last night. When I went back later to check on them - she growled at me and had covered them up betterwith her fur....so I figured I had a good chance that she would accept them.
I did try to pick her up and check her to make sure she was done having babies but she fought me so hard and she looked fine so I put her back in the cage. I am horrible at palpating anyway.
I just looked in the cage a few minutes ago and there aren't three babies in the nest....there are ....
FOUR
babies.
SHE HAD ANOTHER ONE - AND IT IS ALIVE and HEALTHY!
I'm so psyched. I can tell this one apart as the others are tort and broken tort and this one is much darker.
I just had to share. I didn't get to pick them up and check them for being fed but they looked good from what I saw and I'm going to checkthem later tonight.
Oh - and she sort of growled at me again - which is very much unlikeher as she normally comes to see me at the door......but I'm taking that to mean she's going to be a good mama.
Peg
NEXT MESSAGE:
Oh - I have to share.
I was just feeding in the rabbitry and Pow Wow came right up to me again and let me pet her. As long as I didn't put my hand near her nest- she was fine with me and she even ate out of my hand for a minute.
As soon as I put my hand towards the nestbox...she brushed it away withher head. I told her I was sorry but I had to check on her babies...andI cooed at her while I looked at them briefly.
ALL FOUR are fed and look fat and healthy. I've talked to both Art & Robin and neither of them put another kit in with her (I wasn't sure as we had a kit somehow get out of the nestbox and onto the floor early this am and Robin found it and put it back with its mama -I think it is because mama had knocked the nestbox on its side by mistake after feeding).
I'm so happy about this and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that her kit does well as it may be my only chance to get something out of her.
But I'm especially happy that my sweetie is back.
Peg
NEXT MESSAGE:
Well, I thought I'd just share a quick update. I just got done looking at the babies again (sort of).
Mama is just as sweet as can be - as long as I'm feeding her or giving her a treat and not going near her babies.
She doesn't bite me if I go near them but she tries to stand guard and not let me near them. She lays beside her nest almost all the time and I frequently see her stretch a bit - sort of peek in at them....and then settle down again. I swear she's saying to herself, "I finally did it.....I knew I could get it right."
All the babies are being nursed and one in particular looks very fat.One of them isn't as fat and I may take mama out tonight with that one baby to see if she will nurse it some extra....
I'm just so excited - to have a kit out of Pow Wow - to have her be ok- and just for her to have the chance of being a mom. She just acts like she's pleased with herself...which sounds crazy probably but she'sjust so expressive usually.
Peg
I think it was right after this post that she started charging me and she continued to do so off and on (mostly on it seems like) for a while...
I just HAVE to share this....it was so cute.
I guess maybe a baby was still attached to Pow Wow when she jumped out of the nest today because when I checked on her....there was a baby out of the nest.
It was tucked between her front feet and she was holding her head just above it. I talked to her for a minute or two before I opened the cage and she stayed with the baby till I put my hand in there.
Then...she didn't growl at me - but she nosed me towards the baby as if saying, "Ok...you can pick this one up".
When I picked it up - it was just as warm as could be - as if it was still in the nestbox....
I KNEW she'd make a great mama....I'm so proud of her!
Peg
AND FINALLY....
I thought I'd share a quick update on Pow Wow....
She's an AWESOME mommy.....so good with her kids. She's a bit frustrated right now - their eyes have started to open (3 of the 4 have open eyes) and they have gotten OUT of the nestbox and are following her around.
I put them back in the nestbox - only to have her baby climb right back out again and wander around.
I love babies at this age.....and it is so good to see her with them.I'm so glad I let her foster some babies and I'm so glad she had theone of her own. I may try to share pictures later on....
Peg
~~~~
I'm SO glad I posted those things in the rabbitry area - now I have them to remember her by.
Her life was so short - but she brought me so much joy....
I'll share more later!
Peg
From shortly after she had the kits and was fostering...
Pow Wow is an awesome mama - but I caught hernursing her babies twice today....and that was after nursing themduring the middle of the night.
I think she knocks over her nestbox or something and they come crawlingout and looking around and she nurses them again. All I know is after feeding them during the night - she fed them again around noon today.
Then I was feeding later (suppertime) and heard some cooing sortof. She was chattering to her babies and calling them over to her - the nestbox was knocked over AGAIN and it had been in a corner so she had to do it....
I'm just wondering if she nurses them so much 'cause she's bored...
(Sundae isn't doing as well and I'm thinking about adding one or two ofher babies to Pow Wow since Pow Wow is already fostering three from thelitter. They were born last Wednesday night orThursday....would she be able to handle more babies if they were added?I thought I might add one from Sundae's five (she lost one of herbabies). Sundae originally had nine babies....
Peg
And here are the posts from when she gave birth and I fostered kits to her...
I have a very sweet lionhead doe named Pow Wow -I got her at Lionhead Nationals and I just love her. Like the majorityof lionheads I've experienced - she has a wonderful personality and iscurious and friendly and just....well....special.
When I bought her - she had been bred for me. She lost her first litter as they were born early and they were just too small to survive.
She lost her second litter too....if I remember right - they were small and sickly.
Today....she lost her third litter. She only had two babies this time and they were a good size...but it looked like maybe she had a bit of a hard time delivering them and they were stretched out and sort of narrow. I'm probably not explaining it right.
I think I'm concerned about her ability to breed and have a litter born alive.
What really concerned me though was her attitude after she lost her litter. She didn't have them in her nest (which was beautiful) and whenI took them out of her cage - she tried to attack me (very unusual for her). I showed them to her and let her sniff them after she tried to attack me and she sort of turned away and almost went and hid in her nest. She normally comes to see me at the door - but now she won't come near me and just holds her head down and won't even look at me.
Meanwhile, another doe, Sundae had NINE babies. Actually - she had five of them yesterday and I was looking today and realized there were NINE babies in there now.
I hope I did the right thing - I took 3 of Sundae's babies and put themin Pow Wow's nest. She mainly sits in her cage and looks at the nest.It does look like she has covered them up a bit better than I did - andif they aren't fed in the morning, I'll have plenty of time to give them back to Sundae...but I want to give Pow Wow the chance to be a mom because this time she was really prepared for it and really seemed excited about her nest and stuff. I know...it sounds crazy.
But my question here is....if you were me - would you try to rebreed her again at some point - or just not use her for breeding anymore? She has a great personality to be a mother - but I don't want to put herlife at risk. I really do love her.
I guess part of my dilemna is that to me - she is such a special rabbit that I wish I could have a baby out of her - but I'm thinking that I may just keep her to be a pet.....
I was hoping maybe someone else had dealt with this and could share.
NEXT MESSAGE:
Hmm....I'm trying to figure out how to share this.
I put three babies in with Pow Wow last night. When I went back later to check on them - she growled at me and had covered them up betterwith her fur....so I figured I had a good chance that she would accept them.
I did try to pick her up and check her to make sure she was done having babies but she fought me so hard and she looked fine so I put her back in the cage. I am horrible at palpating anyway.
I just looked in the cage a few minutes ago and there aren't three babies in the nest....there are ....
FOUR
babies.
SHE HAD ANOTHER ONE - AND IT IS ALIVE and HEALTHY!
I'm so psyched. I can tell this one apart as the others are tort and broken tort and this one is much darker.
I just had to share. I didn't get to pick them up and check them for being fed but they looked good from what I saw and I'm going to checkthem later tonight.
Oh - and she sort of growled at me again - which is very much unlikeher as she normally comes to see me at the door......but I'm taking that to mean she's going to be a good mama.
Peg
NEXT MESSAGE:
Oh - I have to share.
I was just feeding in the rabbitry and Pow Wow came right up to me again and let me pet her. As long as I didn't put my hand near her nest- she was fine with me and she even ate out of my hand for a minute.
As soon as I put my hand towards the nestbox...she brushed it away withher head. I told her I was sorry but I had to check on her babies...andI cooed at her while I looked at them briefly.
ALL FOUR are fed and look fat and healthy. I've talked to both Art & Robin and neither of them put another kit in with her (I wasn't sure as we had a kit somehow get out of the nestbox and onto the floor early this am and Robin found it and put it back with its mama -I think it is because mama had knocked the nestbox on its side by mistake after feeding).
I'm so happy about this and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that her kit does well as it may be my only chance to get something out of her.
But I'm especially happy that my sweetie is back.
Peg
NEXT MESSAGE:
Well, I thought I'd just share a quick update. I just got done looking at the babies again (sort of).
Mama is just as sweet as can be - as long as I'm feeding her or giving her a treat and not going near her babies.
She doesn't bite me if I go near them but she tries to stand guard and not let me near them. She lays beside her nest almost all the time and I frequently see her stretch a bit - sort of peek in at them....and then settle down again. I swear she's saying to herself, "I finally did it.....I knew I could get it right."
All the babies are being nursed and one in particular looks very fat.One of them isn't as fat and I may take mama out tonight with that one baby to see if she will nurse it some extra....
I'm just so excited - to have a kit out of Pow Wow - to have her be ok- and just for her to have the chance of being a mom. She just acts like she's pleased with herself...which sounds crazy probably but she'sjust so expressive usually.
Peg
I think it was right after this post that she started charging me and she continued to do so off and on (mostly on it seems like) for a while...
I just HAVE to share this....it was so cute.
I guess maybe a baby was still attached to Pow Wow when she jumped out of the nest today because when I checked on her....there was a baby out of the nest.
It was tucked between her front feet and she was holding her head just above it. I talked to her for a minute or two before I opened the cage and she stayed with the baby till I put my hand in there.
Then...she didn't growl at me - but she nosed me towards the baby as if saying, "Ok...you can pick this one up".
When I picked it up - it was just as warm as could be - as if it was still in the nestbox....
I KNEW she'd make a great mama....I'm so proud of her!
Peg
AND FINALLY....
I thought I'd share a quick update on Pow Wow....
She's an AWESOME mommy.....so good with her kids. She's a bit frustrated right now - their eyes have started to open (3 of the 4 have open eyes) and they have gotten OUT of the nestbox and are following her around.
I put them back in the nestbox - only to have her baby climb right back out again and wander around.
I love babies at this age.....and it is so good to see her with them.I'm so glad I let her foster some babies and I'm so glad she had theone of her own. I may try to share pictures later on....
Peg
~~~~
I'm SO glad I posted those things in the rabbitry area - now I have them to remember her by.
Her life was so short - but she brought me so much joy....
I'll share more later!
Peg
