I rescued a brother and sister rabbit from a serious hoarder who was willing to give some up. They were really in a terrible situation. Male and female siblings and mother were all housed together in one small pet store cage. The babies are anywhere from 8-12 weeks old. She told me they were only 8 but they don't really look that young to me. I have the male and female separated since they came home. It's been 5 days. The female the whole time has felt like she has a baseball inside her. Her tummy is round and hard. I don't know if it's fatness for babies. Both the female and male appear healthy and are eating lots of hay and pellets and drinking lots of water. Poop appears normal. I just am worried and don't know how to tell for sure. Thank you for any help!
Worried baby bunny is pregnant
- Thread starter TheBunz
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If they really are 8-12 weeks old it's unlikely she's pregnant. After 12 weeks, who knows. She could just be a little fat. Short of having a vet x-ray her you'll have to wait and see.
Like Majorv said, you can't really tell if a doe is pregnant without an x-ray (there is palpation, but I really wouldn't recommend trying it if you are not experienced with this and it's not really an exact science anyway). A doe pregnant at 8-12weeks would be really unlucky but it's not completely impossible. I would just wait and see. As long as the doe is eating, pooping and acting normal everything is fine. A pregnancy at such a young age is not recommended but there is nothing you can now - if the doe was 4 or 5 months I would have say 'spay her' and that would have taken care of the potential problem but I am not really comfortable with having a heavy surgery done on a rabbit that young (some vets do it, but you have to get a really experienced vet) especially since the risk is not that high (except if the people you got the rabbits from lied about their age).
As been said, from a practical point of view, wait a month, treat her as being pregnant - give her a nestbox and lots of hay - and wait, you'll see soon enough. I'm breeding rabbits for 5 years now, and still have a hard time telling if a doe is pregnant or not.
Btw, it really doesn't matter that they are siblings.
Btw, it really doesn't matter that they are siblings.
Thanks guys. If a rabbit is fat will they have a padding on the ribs like a dog would? She doesn't and also doesn't have much padding on her hip bones. I know these are areas where a dog would have thick padding if he was overweight, but I've only ever had one rabbit before these guys haha. I guess I will wait and see then. I'm going to buy a bale tomorrow, any suggestions on the best hay for her if she is pregnant?
It depends on what breed the rabbit is, but if they aren't meat rabbits then, at a normal weight, you should feel the pin bones at the hip, and the spine.
At her age you can feed the young ones alfalfa hay. If the pellets you're feeding them are alfalfa based then any horse quality hay will do.
At her age you can feed the young ones alfalfa hay. If the pellets you're feeding them are alfalfa based then any horse quality hay will do.
3rabbitsandcounting
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ladysown
Well-Known Member
she actually looks not quite right.. but you said she was eating and drinking well. A round HARD belly is not indicative of pregnancy, it's indicative of bunny with a gut issue.
Yeah, normally pregnancy doesn't show on rabbit, you can't tell by looking at them (if you could, it would hinder movements and tip off predators...). A hard round belly is, like Ladysown said, more a sign of stasis. But if she is pooping and eating normally that's not it. She's cute and she definitely has some big bunny blood in her - she will probably grow into those ears ^^.
I've cleaned her cage this morning and I believe there were 4 cecotropes. I had cleaned the cage 2 days ago. The cecotropes looked sort of weird, I don't know if it's just from her trampling on them though. Is it normal for there to be some cecotropes around? My only other rabbit I had I never saw one!
@Aki; the bun in my profile pic isn't the one I have now and she was a flemmie. Her name was Lucky and I no longer have her
@Aki; the bun in my profile pic isn't the one I have now and she was a flemmie. Her name was Lucky and I no longer have her
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RavenousDragon
Well-Known Member
That is a lot of cecotropes, but if she's eating and drinking ok, I wouldn't worry too much yet. If she stops eating or drinking or all of her feces become watery, she NEEDS to see a vet. If you don't find any more cecotropes after this, I would chock it up to mild GI issues that resolved. If you keep seeing a lot, it's time to go to a vet.
RavenousDragon
Well-Known Member
Keep an eye on her still, but it sounds like she's doing well and is very lucky to be with you now!
