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Doe moving her nest?

Eaj20

Young Bun
My doe had 3 kits yesterday i didnt know she was pregnant as she must have been pregnant when i got her. At the moment she is making a lot of noise in her cage and she has moved her babies i cant be sure if all 3 are still in there as she is very protective. But is this normal? I thought they normally made there nest and thats where they stayed? Or could she be about to give birth to yet more kits from the otherside or her uterine horn? As i know there is two i am a complete novice about rabbits having kits and i never thought i would be in this situation but now im constantly on edge that she is going to kill her babies.
 
Rabbits can not move their babies so what may have happened us that the babies moved themselves and she is now creating a new best for them because she has no way to bring them back to where they were. If there is anyway you can safely bring them all back together that would be ideal.

Have they been fed?
 
It sounds as though she is a very anxious Mother, probably very young herself and maybe this is her first litter :cry:

You need to remove HER from the hutch, well away so she cant see, smell or hear what you are doing. Then you need to rub your hands in her bedding before checking all kits and making sure they are in a nest and that there are not any dead/canabalised kits already. If any live kits are scattered out of the nest you need to put them back in the nest, first checking that they are looking round tummied and that their skin is not too wrinkly and dehydrated looking. Flat tummies and very wrinkly skin indicates that the Doe is not feeding them and their chances of survival are very slim :cry:

Next you need to check that the Doe is not still bleeding, that there is no offensive smell coming from her vagina, that she is eating, drinking, pooing and weeing as normal and that there are no obvious signs that her uterus is still contracting. Any concerns at all and there is absolutely no alternative than to get her to a Vet this morning

You can also check that she has started to produce milk, some Does do not do so for as long as 48 hours.

Is her hutch/cage in a quiet position ? As she is clearly stressed it is essential that she and the kits are not constantly disturbed by lots of other activity and noise.

This may be useful for you to read

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?327923-Accidental-Litters-and-Taking-on-Babies
 
She is very young not even 6months yet the breeder told me that she had never bred from her as she is to young well obviously she was lieing and 3 little supprises awaited me yesterday morning! I woke up to find them scattered all over the place just laying on the surface so i removed her from the cage and distracted her in another room with some spinach i filled a box with hay rubbed my hands in her bedding quickly moved the kits into the boxed and placed it back the cage. 1 kit looks like it has a larger belly than the rest and definalty looks like its been fed but i cant tell with the other 2. She is a very protective mother but she has always been very jumpy and anxious since i got her although she trusts me more than anyone else.
 
The best thing to do is as Jane said, check that she is not bleeding, discharging or has any rips down below. Your top priority needs to be her wellbeing as she is far too young to be going through a litter, the fact she scattered them is probably an indication that mentally she is too young to care for them. At this point their best chance of survival would be to find a foster doe nearby with a similar aged litter. Give her some calicium high food (broccoli, dandelion, alfalfa hay, redigrass) and you can give her a little goats milk in a bowl. Concentrate on getting her stregth up. If she is jumpy do not touch the babies, unless you are intending to remove them from her, if they are very active you can place some bricks around them to keep them contained in the area they are in (i have some wooden squares made out of skirting boards for that purpose)
 
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