New Addition

I took in a mini rex today who had kits 12days ago .. she had a whopping TEN kits! all are well, but i think that maybe they are not getting as much milk from mom as they could do, obviously because she is feeding 10 she must be struggling with who and how much she can feed, only to be expected!.
My question is could i anyway supplement feed them? aka give them a bit more milk by bottle/syringe to help feed them up? or would that be a bad idea?
if so whats the best way of doing this and what milk is best as i know rabbit milk is vital as its enriched in vitamins etc .. One out of the 10 is very plump so his clearly not having trouble feeding more a couple a looking pretty thin!.

This is mom she is 9months old Named her Faith


These are her 10 Kits (they dont look too bad in this pik but when you pick them up they are pretty skinny)

You could get cimicat powder or try feeding them goats milk via syringe. Critical care formula might also help. This like the cimicat is available from the vet.

Wee soul. Was she away from the dad when she gave birth? Just worried that she might be preggers again already!

Well done for taking her in. Hopefully someone will come along and give more advice re the kits.

Thankyou both for replying .. Ok thankyou i will look into those and see what i can do
Dad lives in a seperate cage, i believe it was an accidental mating of the male rex jumping into the run when she was out because the lid wasnt down.

Awww, she's lovely! Could you give the babies an extra feed from mum, by holding mum and holding the babies underneath her? I tried it with Lucky and her babies when I thought they looked a bit thin, but she wasn't having it! (The babies were fine, I think I was just being paranoid ) Faith might be more accommodating though! Good luck with the little ones xx

If it is just two or three that are thinner than the rest try giving these extra feeds by holding her over them - depending n how handleable she is you could hold her on your lap with the kits under her (we used a LARGE SAFE towel drapped over our legs with the kits in the hollow and her over.

Try this midday/early PM so she has time to create more milk before the main feed - which is usually at night or round dawn.

If you do start to syringe feed it can be a difficult combination for the kits - but if she will not co-operate then you could try it. You will need the minute 1ml syringes and tiny tiny wee nipples that fit over the ends of those NOT the large nipples that come with the Cimicat feed.

We used double strength puppy feed (made up from the powder double strength).

aspiration is an issue as the nipple acts differently to real nipples so try the other method first.

I personally don't think supplementing would be successful or necessarily even right. I would go with parsnipbun's idea about getting extra feeds. You could even just remove fatty from the nest and let them all have an extra feed and do it that way (note, fatty not MISSing a feed, just slipping an extra one in).

There's a sticky in Health that may be useful for you to read. I'm presuming she is on unlimited pellets and unlimited hay?

Thanks all for the replys .. i have been to check on them this morning and they look so much better, obviously had a good feed last night! .. Faith is in a 8ft long Hutch because she has the 10kits with her and obv when they start venturing out the nest a smaller hutch wouldnt be enough and it seems she is alot happier with it! she was in a indoor Rabbit cage in her previous home which wouldnt of been good as the kits grew.

Ofcourse yep, all the rabbits i take in that had litters always never have an empty bowl and never have a lack of hay