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Bunnys having babies now... help!

L

Lisaw1980

New Kit
I came home this evening to find that the bunny we adopted a few weeks ago has delivered a baby. The kit was dead by the time I found it so I have removed it from the hutch.

We didn't even know our bunny was pregnant (we've had her 2 weeks). My worry is that now I've looked I can see movement in her tummy, but it's been 4 hours since I got home and she doesn't seem to be showing any signs of an imminent delivery.

Is it normal to have such a large gap between delivering kits? There doesn't appear to be anything stuck, she certainly isn't straining.

Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Lisa x
 
I am sorry I dont know enough about rabbits giving birth to give you any advice, hopefully someone will be on in the meantime.

Can you ring your out of hours vet? If you ring your usual vet they should have a number on the answerphone.
 
I would get her to the vet ASAP.

The other kits may well be stuck, or have died inside her, meaning they may unfortunately be decomposing inside.

Alternatively, her contractions may have stopped. This happened to one of our rabbits, and she needed oxytocin (i think) to restart them. This was given within an hour of her not passing a second kit.

In your case, she would need a c-section (our rabbit, if not passing her kits after the oxytocin within the hour, would have had to have an emergency c-section)
 
It should be no longer than 30 minutes normally- i would get her to the vets- four hours is far too long. I'd say it is an emergency for both the kits and potentially the mother. Good luck xx
 
Yes, please contact your vet. We recently rescued a large number of rabbits from one house and several of the does were pregnant.

Of the two I took here, one had passed dead kits but had to have an emergency spay to remove a decomposing one and the other female had to have an emergency spay to remove all the dead kits for her.

I have no experience with live births so can't advise on what's normal, but a vet would be your best chance for your rabbit.

Good luck
 
Fudge did it!!!

I rang the vets, practically before I'd stopped typing on here. He told me that for many reasons Fudges labour may simply have paused, the signs being that she wasn't stressed or straining - apparently it can happen if they are fearful.
He said he could operate but didnt think it necessary, he suggested leaving her in the quiet and wait til morning.

Well I'm very pleased (and hugely relieved) to say that Fudge is fine, and the mother of four kits!! She has had them outside of her nesting box, but as she's indoors that shouldn't be a problem, they're safe and warm.

Thanks for your support,
Lisa x
 
Lisaw1980 said:
I rang the vets, practically before I'd stopped typing on here. He told me that for many reasons Fudges labour may simply have paused, the signs being that she wasn't stressed or straining - apparently it can happen if they are fearful.
He said he could operate but didnt think it necessary, he suggested leaving her in the quiet and wait til morning.

Well I'm very pleased (and hugely relieved) to say that Fudge is fine, and the mother of four kits!! She has had them outside of her nesting box, but as she's indoors that shouldn't be a problem, they're safe and warm.

Thanks for your support,
Lisa x
Click to expand...

Good to hear all is well xxx that's some new info for me that buns can have kits successfully after four hours,thanks for the update xx
 
Great news. There's lots of info on here about caring for new babies. The most I can remember now is that mum's don't usually feed their babies in front of people but you can check they're being fed because they should have nice round bellies. I think that's right. Good luck. :)
 
Jenova said:
Great news. There's lots of info on here about caring for new babies. The most I can remember now is that mum's don't usually feed their babies in front of people but you can check they're being fed because they should have nice round bellies. I think that's right. Good luck. :)
Click to expand...

Lisa, glad mum and kits are doing well.

If you need any info about caring for unexpected litters I have a document that a friend wrote and could be useful to you. If you e-mail me on therabbitcrossing@yahoo.co.uk I will send you a copy (word document).

Helen
 
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