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Mum bun still feeding - what to do?

Fairy13

Wise Old Thumper
Hi, our mumbun, Rowan, we took in a little while ago just lives with her 13 week old daughter now. The other 4 babies have found lovely new homes. The boys were separted from her at 10 weeks old, the other two girls just over a week ago. I was hoping to keep her other daughter, Niamh, with her as they adore each other and have them speyed when Niamh was old enough.
Thing is Rowan is still feeding Niamh. We saw the vet today for their Myxi vacs and the vet agreed that Rowan is still full of milk. She said to give it another couple of weeks but it may be the only way to stop it then, if she hasn't stopped herself is to separate them. Like me the vet said it'd be sad to as there's no gaurantee they'd go back to living together again.
Has anyone else experienced this? Or has any suggestions of what to do?
Our other mum bun just stopped feeding her babies of her own accord when they were weeks or so even though she lived with a couple of her daughters until they were 4 months or so.
Sorry for long post, just a bit stumped. :?
 
Crystal did this with her son Flopsy and when she still hadnt stopped feeding him when he reached 16 weeks i had to seperate them unfortunatly this did destroy their bond :( but it was a good job i did separate them as i found out Flopsy was actually a he and not a she so if id left them together any longer i would have ended up with another lot of 'surprise' babies :shock:
 
Thanks. Its good to know its happened to someone else.
I'm so willing her to stop though. I really dont want to separate them :(
 
Can the vet give her an injection to dry up the milk?

Sometimes if a female bun chews at a spay wound they recommend putting a sock type bandage around her middle - maybe that would work... though get the vets advice first.

Tam
 
I could ask my vet, see what they think. Something to think about, thanks. Thing is she's so full of milk still I'm worried also that taking Niamh away may give her mastitis (sp?) or make her sore? I guess I'll have to keep an eye and see where we are in a week or so. Thanks x
 
If she is only feeding one, mastitis is less likely as she will dry up gradually. But if babe is still with her, she will produce milk continously. It's the milk production that puts a strain on a rabbit, not carrying and giving birth so for her sake, it would be best to get it sorted. Also it will make her daughter fat!
 
I have just had a thought!! I dont know your set up but i was thinking if it was a shed you could keep mum in a separte cage within the shed so the baby can see mum and mum can see baby but she could have the time to let her milk dry up? they the bond wouldnt be broken?
 
I have had mums and daughters living together before and to be honest the mums milk production has stopped after about 8/10 weeks, I had a mum and daughter living together for well over 2 years with no problems....
is there anyway of sepretating them, but so they can see each other still, ilike the poster above me mentioned, it seems one of the kinder ways, so that any bond isnt broken.
 
Crystal butterfly said:
Crystal did this with her son Flopsy and when she still hadnt stopped feeding him when he reached 16 weeks i had to seperate them unfortunatly this did destroy their bond :( but it was a good job i did separate them as i found out Flopsy was actually a he and not a she so if id left them together any longer i would have ended up with another lot of 'surprise' babies :shock:

You were lucky!!! :lol:
 
I had this with Millie and Khyber I separated them for two weeks then put them back together and no more problems occured.
 
Hiya, yes as suggested we're gonna give it a few more days and divide their pen in half for a week so they can still see each other etc. But having said that mumbun does feel lighter underneath the last couple of days, and there've been times recently where Niamh has been following her around and Rowan has been moving away from her and Niamh's given up so I'm hoping they'll sort it themselves. But I will try dividing to keep the bond but no feeding! Thanks for your suggestions x
 
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