Small Baby in a Litter?

[HopsandLops]

I was wondering some breeders with morelitter exp. can help explain why one of the babies in a recently Rescue's litter is so tiny. Let me start by saying he/she is not a peanut and is perfectly formed and has grown hair, he/she is just tiny. All the other babies are big and fat, but this baby is less then half the size of all the other babies. It is a mix breed rabbit, and she had 8 babies in total. We have been hand feeding this baby as the others over power it when it comes to feeding. So far it has reached all milestones for its age (a week old) but again is just soooooo tiny. We have had litters in the past that had runts, but this one is at most 2 ins long and about an inch wide.

I was wondering if anyone can explain why this one is so tiny and maybe what I can do to help it make it.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Do you have any pictures that compare the small baby to the others?

Peanuts can look normal but still be peanuts And he does kind of sound like a peanut if he's less than half the size of the others.

If you could get a picture comparing him to the others, though that would be great

Emily

 

[HopsandLops]

Getting Picture now...

 

[HopsandLops]

Sorry I can't get a picture to upload to photobucket right now, I will get one up tomorrow. I honestly don't think its a peanut (but I could be wrong) because it's head isn't huge like the ones I have seen online. I only started hand raising it (more of a supplement) because I noticed when she would nurse them he/she would be trying really hard to squeeze in but couldn't get in with the bigger babies. It has normal ears, was born with its eyes closed, has fur now, no extra toes, no soft spot, and normal legs and tail. All things I have seen on dwarf/dwarf (peanuts, etc.) babies. I talked to my vet early and she said that he could of been "made" later then the rest of the litter and just delivered with them. She said that she has seen babies that were "made" at different times because of the male and female be kept together for more then just the one time, and babies being born not fully formed (not peanuts) just premie. Could that be it?

 

[BlueGiants]

Yes, an egg can get fertilized up to 36 hours after the others. And that baby will be born at a disadvantage. Some people believe that "FTT" babies (failure to thrive kits) are "late eggs". Those babies may be smaller and have more problems than the other babies. Immunity issues can be a major problem.

Or due to the large litter, that baby may not have had access to all the nutrients that the others did... kind of got "squeezed out" in the uterine horn, didn't have a well developed placenta, etc.

 

[HopsandLops]

Well I will get a picture asap, he/she is a fat little guy and is nurses when I take out mom and it alone, but the other babies are huge compared to that one. I am trying my best, as I feel all rabbits need a chance as long its the humane thing to do. I haven't seen peanuts make it long and at a week old this little guy is very active and gaining weight. I will try my hardest as long as the baby is willing.

I have seen what a peanut or other genetic disorder babies when they have been allowed to make it, we had a lady surrender a Neatherland Dwarf that was (can't remember the name of the disorder) born with his eyes open and had deformed back legs, he made it to 10 weeks old, but it was one of sadest things I have ever seen and we did Put him to sleep because of the suffering he was going though just to live.

 

[BlueGiants]

Open eyes and "paddle feet" are Max Factor babies. Yeah, it's very sad, but they don't make it very long either.

 

[HopsandLops]

Yeah that was the name, he was very sad, we didn't even name him because we knew what was going to happen.

 

[pamnock]

There have been over 200 forms of dwarfism identified, with achondroplasia being the most common form we see in rabbits (as well as humans). This is the most likely explanation for one baby being abnormally small in the litter.

Eggs being fertilized later would be unusual. There is a rather short window of time when the eggs are released and the sperm go through capaciation and are ready to fertilize the egg. The egg is short lived, so the variation of formation of zygotes in each litter does not vary by a wide margin of time.

Pam

 

[HopsandLops]

I am sad to say that our little baby passed away last night around 7. He started refusing hand feeding so we decided to just put him back with his mom, he pasted away about 24 hrs after we returned him