Surprise litter possible nursing issues

Maralee Sjerven · Apr 5, 2018

Hi!
I have German French X angoras and we discovered a very surprise litter. Turns out one of our “does” is actually a buck. Because we were not expecting the litter we did not discover the litter until they were 10+ days old. (We had full nesting boxes available because it’s winter here and she hid them very very well) The 7 kits are thriving but today she seems to not want to nurse them. I’m not getting any milk out of her teats and a couple look a little sore. My concern is that she may have been bred again before we discovered the issue and isn’t producing milk anymore. (I tried palpating her like my vet showed me but I’m not very good at that) Her kits are lively and content. We THINK they are almost 3 weeks old and all are showing interest in water and Timothy hay. What do I need to be watching for and what do I need to do if she is indeed no longer nursing them? I’ll upload a pic of the kits from yesterday.

JBun · Apr 5, 2018

You'll need to make sure she isn't developing mastitis. If she does or you aren't sure, you'll want to contact your vet.

Or it could be the babies are getting a little rough with their nursing and she is wanting to wean them. It isn't ideal and would be better for them to continue to nurse til 6-8 weeks old, but not sure that you can do anything besides make sure they are eating hay and drinking water really well, and gradually start eating their moms pellets and other food as they get older. If she has stopped nursing completely and they aren't eating or drinking very well on their own, you'll likely need to supplement with a milk substitute right away.

majorv · Apr 7, 2018

By 3 weeks the kits are usually nibbling on mom’s pellets. If she was nursing her milk shouldn’t dry up, even if she’s pregnant again. Get a vet to check for mastitis. You might have to give them a milk substitute as jbun said. Goats milk or KMR should work. They’re old enough that you might be able to put it in a bowl and have them drink it that way, if she can’t nurse them within a couple of days.

ladysown · Apr 8, 2018

don't be surprised if you can't express milk that's quite normal. if the kits are happy and active, momma is most likely doing her job. Check them two-three times a day to see if they have full bellies. No full bellies, momma has run out of milk. Though does can and often do go from one litter right to the next. if you are uncertain about it, sprinkle oatmeal and hay in the nestbox and the kits will eat it. once kits are 14-17 days old it's pretty easy to save their lives. They can learn to drink milk from a plate or quickly learn to drink it from a syringe. Don't use cat formula or puppy formula, use goats milk whipping in an egg. Once they hit 21 days they can survive without the milk.

Maralee Sjerven · Apr 9, 2018

Thanks for all the helpful advice! You were all soooo much more helpful than the staff at our local feed store so it’s good to know there is this resource! I think I may have been being a bit of a Nervous Nellie. I’ve been watching them closely the last few days and although I didn’t see her nurse them they looked full and were active. They are trying food and water more and I did actually see her nurse them a little bit yesterday. Chalk it up to first litter nerves I guess. Thanks again for all the help and here’s a picture of them from yesterday.

Cookiemonster · Apr 9, 2018

they are soooooo cute!!

Maralee Sjerven · Apr 19, 2018

Update! She was indeed pregnant! We figured the first babies were around 4 weeks old on Monday (They are doing great! Naughty little stinkers!) and yesterday morning (Wednesday) when we went to feed them we saw 3 babies who were unfortunately dead but when we investigated a little further we found 4 more that were very much alive and strong! This means the first babies are probably a bit older than we thought and she must have gotten pregnant fast! So far so good though. She’s such a good Momma. I feel kind of bad for her though, that’s a lot for her body to take. Now that we have rectified the problem and KNOW we have the does and bucks separate she’ll get a nice long break poor girl.