Mum's not feeding all her babies.

She's feeding all but three, the rest have rounded tummies and are active and noisy when the nest is disturbed. Two are active but still no ping pong ball belly and the other is weak (wriggling, but barely).

I don't know what to do, I've heard that hand feeding is bad for them and am really clueless on this one, feeling awful because I simply don't know what to do for the best. They are all warm, and she is content. She doesn't want me handling her, but is okay with me being there. If I try and handle her fur flies and I get growled at. Quick examination has shown she IS lactating, no obvious health problems and she doesn't seem to be in pain. I'm guessing that as a first time mum she;s just inexperienced and not hanging around long enough for them all to feed OR not producing enough milk.

Ok, mum is obviously producing milk, so that's a good thing. Is she easy to handle? Are the kits in a nest box?

hi, i think it maybe your babies not the mum, she wouldnt feed all except 3, she would just sit there and they would find her nipples and feed, how many babies are there? it maybe these too many or that these babies are the runts and cannot get there due to stronger babies

I definitely think mum can tell when babies aren't right. This is perhaps natures way of telling you that the babies aren't as they should be. I think you should just leave mum to it really and hope for the best.

Helen xx

I've just googled and memorised all I can and rushed back out. The non fed ones are same temp as others, no obvious blockages in their noses or mouths, so I moved the weakest into the middle of the others to try and make sure it gets it's fair share when she feeds next.

She's not easy to handle at all at the moment, she just growls and lunges at me. I CAN handle her, but she's not the most sociable of buns at the moment. She 'kills' the carrot batons I've been using to distract her lol.

I've phoned vet (yes, I'm neurotic!) and waiting for her to call me back.

Ok, what you need to do is make another nest, and take out the ones who have been fed.

Then stand mum over the nest with the remaining babies in it (i.e. those babies who have not been fed). Give her treats and whatever she likes to keep her there and relaxed.

If that doesn't work then you need somoene to help you. someone needs to hold mum (normally on her back) and the other person needs to hold the kit onto a nipple so it can feed.

Its likely they are smaller, weaker ones and getting pushed out the way, so you need to give them a hand.

Do NOT hand rear. Nothing we have compares to mum's milk and generally they aspirate and die with hand rearing.

The next thing you would need to do would be to look for a foster mum from somewhere.

and no, they're not in a nest box. There was a frost last night, and they're in a brick outhouse, in a hutch (in the sleeping area) with her nest she made, plus I put some of that soft fluffy bedding in which I've packed against the hutch door to try and keep the cold out. They're all warm to the touch, nice and snug.

Sky-O said:

Ok, what you need to do is make another nest, and take out the ones who have been fed.

Then stand mum over the nest with the remaining babies in it (i.e. those babies who have not been fed). Give her treats and whatever she likes to keep her there and relaxed.

If that doesn't work then you need somoene to help you. someone needs to hold mum (normally on her back) and the other person needs to hold the kit onto a nipple so it can feed.

Its likely they are smaller, weaker ones and getting pushed out the way, so you need to give them a hand.

Do NOT hand rear. Nothing we have compares to mum's milk and generally they aspirate and die with hand rearing.

The next thing you would need to do would be to look for a foster mum from somewhere.

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Have you managed to get the babies fed yet?

Hi, sorry I've been out there most of the evening, between children / other animals etc.

The vet nurse phoned me back and said if they're warm that's a good sign. She advised me to tempt her over to the nest with some lettuce or something and try and get her to sit on it with the weaker babies at one side and try and position her. Which she did, for all of about 30 secs :roll:

So next step was to try and get her to feed them between myself and hubby. It's just not happening She got really agitated and upset at being out of the hutch away from her nest, and started scracthing and growling and we couldn't get the kits anywhere near her

I've left lots of her favourite food just by the nest so if she wants it she has little choice but to stand over it for a length of time, have put an oil heater on low in the room, and left her with lights off. I'm hoping that she might go back when all's quiet, have something to eat and feed at the same time. and that if she stands long enough the thinner ones will get their share.
Short of removing the 'healthy' ones,( - I'm reluctant because I don't want them away from mum or her to reject them when I put them back, and besides how long would I have to remove them for? - ) that's all the nurse could come up with. She said hand raising was pointless, as they usually die.

If they're still there by morning (i'll go before bed and just check them) the nurse said the vet can give her an injection to boost her milk, but I really don't think her milk flow's an issue, I think it's that the stronger ones are pushing the weaker ones away. The next step would be a surrogate mum, but I'm praying it doesn't come to that.

Just to add, the weaker ones are a good colour, and still moving about, just not as strong as the others

Its fine to move the babies out of the nest. Make sure your hands don't smell of anything strong, and also stroke mum over, and then use material from in the cage to make another nest out of the cage (say in a show box), and move out the fed ones. Then try her over the nest with just the vulnerable ones in. When they have fed, you can pop them back in.

In the wild they have they kits and totally leave them, only to go back and feed once (or sometimes twice) a day.

I would suggest trying to get her to feed at some point away from dawn and dusk because those are the times she is most likely to feed the whole nest.

You can also heat a snugglesafe and put it under the cage, under the nest (i.e. not in the cage) to give added warmth.

It is possible though that the skinnier ones were born later and have not yet actually been fed. Rabbits have two uterine horns and can therefore have two labours. I had a rabbit do this, she had four on one day, and fed them that night, and then a further three the next day which, when I saw them, had not been fed, so I stressed, but then the next day they had been fed absolutely fine.

Thankyou. She definately had them all between 8pm in the evening and about 9am the next day as I'd cleaned the hutch out the day before. There was no fur the day before, it all just appeared overnight. I've just been and fed her again and the weaker ones aren't what I'd call dehydrated. The skin isn't wrinkly and when I handle them they're lifting their heads and seeking out mum. I noticed the smaller one has more of a flat tummy than it did earlier, when it was slightly dipped, so perhaps they are feeding, but small amounts? I wouldn't say they're in dire need, or immediate danger so am happy to give her overnight to feed them, and if they've not fat bellies by morning then take action by removing the fatter ones. I'm reluctant to do this tonight as it's so cold out and I'm worried about their body temps dropping whilst I wait for mum to feed the others. You can see your breath out there it's that cold

I've had to switch the oil heater off because it's unsafe to leave it on overnight. If it gets much colder tomorrow I may consider moving the whole little family inside into a quiet room.

How are things this morning?

a bit sad this morning, I went out first thing (I left the heater on in the end because I'm soft lol) and the smallest one had been pushed from the nest and died

The others are doing okay, I've now only one with a small belly, so the dilema is, do I leave it and think now she's got less to feed it might get a chance? Or remove all the others until later this evening and hope she feeds that one? the worry being without it's littermates will it get cold?

I've bought some goats milk and kitten replacement milk, just in case. I just want mum to do it herself as I understand that her milk is the best thing for it.

I suspect that baby was never going to thrive and they knew that, hence why it was kicked out (unless itr was kicked out once it died).

Neither KMR or Goats milk will be anything like what they need so I wouldn't suggest using either of those to try and raise the one.

For the remaining baby I would still be trying to give it additional feeds if possible to try and boost its strength.

so should I remove all the others and just leave that one in the nest?? I'm assuming she fed over night and moved the dead one herself as it was a fair distance from the nest. If so, how long do I take them out for??