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Help Pregnancy??

MissFluffy

New Kit
Hi there,
I had typed out a massive explanatory post, but this forum said I hadn't logged in when I had... GARGH.
Lost it all.

Crux of it is - Got male and female tog. Living tog. He was neutered on 18th July. She started acting too eager for food and then I saw squirming and rolling in her belly about two weeks ago when she lay on her side in the sun so assumed she was pregnant. But I expected the bunnies 31 days after his castration. I've since read on this site though that males can stay fertile weeks after the operation??!! My vet said nothing to me about this.
So- Can someone PLEASE tell me that the movement in the belly is really only likely to be babies? And not a bad case of wind!

Sorry for the shortened version but spent half an hour on the other one and was not happy to lose it!
:roll:
 
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Can't help really, but I'm sure I've read that males can stay fertile for around a month (or maybe even two?!) after castration, so if she is pregnant you may have a while to wait!
 
Doh!

Thanks Foxy!
I just found out today that that's possible.
After all the sites i've been to and looked all the info up on.
Crazy!
This forum was the only place that told me that.
 
It is, apparantly, quite difficult to tell if a doe is pregnant... until the later stages when a nest appears, made usually with parts of her fur. It would depend on what you wanted, and whether you were in a situation for her to have the babies - and her age, as she may not be ready to carry and bring up if she is rather young. I have heard before that some vets would do an emergency spay if it was thought that the rabbit would be under risk of having pregnancy related problems.

It would be best to speak to your vet about this one I think, the male can stay fertile for around 28 days after he's neutered, I believe... on second thoughts, maybe speak to a different vet, lol, as mine told me this... although I have two boys and it doesn't really matter, but it's taken 2 weeks for one of thems hormones to calm down. x
 
Wow such quick replies - thank you

Thanks to all.
Abigail is a really lovely bunny and is now about 18 weeks old ish. She's mature and well balanced and doesn't show any signs of an physical distress or upset at all. I didn't want to upset her by taking her to the vets if she was pregnant - so I think I'll continue to monitor her at home then.

Currently I have her continuously in a seperate large playpen type setup on the lawn. Inside is a small hutch (on stilts for the dew etc) which is just right for her nesting box area. I figured once she has the babies, she cant be moved for ages, so needed to have access to the outdoors and so needed to be set up prior to the birth in this way. I have also stretched tarpaulin across two sides of the playpen, and it has a half roof there too, in order to make it extra snug in the evening.
And since Ricky and Abigail love each other so much, I take him to and from the playpen area every day to spend the day together, and leaving them apart at night in case she has them. I check every morning before putting Ricky in that there's nothing. I've also set up a seperate, but neighbouring, playpen with extra 'units' so that after the babies are born Ricky can still be outside with his love, only with some wire between them.
Am I doing everything I can?
Anything wrong?
Noob alert here ;)

Thanks again.
 
I have no advice to offer as I am a newbie to bunnies myself...but your bunnies as so pretty I can only imagine what beautiful babies they would make!
 
And to think I was accused of being cynical about vets last week :shock:

So sorry this has happened to you and your bunny - he will be fertile for 8 weeks after castration and if that timescale occurs whilst she is giving birth he will also make her pregnant straight away AGAIN - so make sure they are split up well before she drops the kits :shock:
 
Thanks to all.
Abigail is a really lovely bunny and is now about 18 weeks old ish. She's mature and well balanced and doesn't show any signs of an physical distress or upset at all. I didn't want to upset her by taking her to the vets if she was pregnant - so I think I'll continue to monitor her at home then.

Currently I have her continuously in a seperate large playpen type setup on the lawn. Inside is a small hutch (on stilts for the dew etc) which is just right for her nesting box area. I figured once she has the babies, she cant be moved for ages, so needed to have access to the outdoors and so needed to be set up prior to the birth in this way. I have also stretched tarpaulin across two sides of the playpen, and it has a half roof there too, in order to make it extra snug in the evening.
And since Ricky and Abigail love each other so much, I take him to and from the playpen area every day to spend the day together, and leaving them apart at night in case she has them. I check every morning before putting Ricky in that there's nothing. I've also set up a seperate, but neighbouring, playpen with extra 'units' so that after the babies are born Ricky can still be outside with his love, only with some wire between them.
Am I doing everything I can?
Anything wrong?
Noob alert here ;)

Thanks again.

Do you not think that a trip to the vets would be a minor stress compared to giving birth at this age? Personally I would have taken her in to get confirmation on pregnancy then asked for a reduced rate in spaying immediately as it was their fault she got pregnant. If they had given you the correct information this wouldn't have happened. I see this time and time again, if people don't confront the vets about it it will keep happening to other people and more unwanted rabbits will be born. Where you get a vet that doesn't give sufficient information post neuter they should be pulled up about it and the consequences it has.
 
Oh dear.

Do you not think that a trip to the vets would be a minor stress compared to giving birth at this age? Personally I would have taken her in to get confirmation on pregnancy then asked for a reduced rate in spaying immediately as it was their fault she got pregnant. If they had given you the correct information this wouldn't have happened. I see this time and time again, if people don't confront the vets about it it will keep happening to other people and more unwanted rabbits will be born. Where you get a vet that doesn't give sufficient information post neuter they should be pulled up about it and the consequences it has.

You think I'm bad for letting her have the babies? Oh dear.
I didn't want her to have them terminated now that its happened as it will be her only ever litter.
Well at least I know about Ricky now and can prevent a subsequent litter, thanks wholy to you guys!
Maybe you are right about taking her to the vets, but my vets is an RSPCA hospital (Eccles Manchester) and it is them who got it wrong.
The whole event is extremely traumatising for me and for the animals. We are all kept in this massive waiting area (that stinks and sometimes has excrement on the floor). The main dog type up here seems to consist of massive aggressive dogs and Staffordshire Bull Terriors. Not pleasent for bunnies methinks (or me or my kids). And you have to wait often for up to two hours in those conditions before being seen. I have a limited income, so they help me a lot with subsidised fees, so I cant fault them for that, but I'm loath to go without really needing to.
 
You think I'm bad for letting her have the babies? Oh dear.
I didn't want her to have them terminated now that its happened as it will be her only ever litter.
Well at least I know about Ricky now and can prevent a subsequent litter, thanks wholy to you guys!
Maybe you are right about taking her to the vets, but my vets is an RSPCA hospital (Eccles Manchester) and it is them who got it wrong.
The whole event is extremely traumatising for me and for the animals. We are all kept in this massive waiting area (that stinks and sometimes has excrement on the floor). The main dog type up here seems to consist of massive aggressive dogs and Staffordshire Bull Terriors. Not pleasent for bunnies methinks (or me or my kids). And you have to wait often for up to two hours in those conditions before being seen. I have a limited income, so they help me a lot with subsidised fees, so I cant fault them for that, but I'm loath to go without really needing to.

If you have a limited income would it not be better to visit them and have her checked so that you don't come across any nasty suprises, can you call them at least and talk to them about the situation?

I think it would be better for you to know for sure whether she is pregnant or not and maybe consider an emergency spay- its not a nice thing to do but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

There is a possibility the litter won't make it which won't be a nice experience for you. If they do make it you also need to consider all of the work involved in separating them to avoid more breeding, the housing that will be needed to do this, neutering/spaying and vaccinations and if you can't keep them all then they'll need to be rehomed and there are loads of bunnies out there who need homes already.

I'm not having a go at you and think its a really s*** situation that you've been placed in through no fault of your own, whatever you choose to do is your decision, based on reading other posts I'm just trying to give you some more things to consider.
 
If you don't have much money how will you buy extra hutches for boys (assuming babies survive - they may all die as she's so young) and feeding possibly 10 rabbits? That's vets sounds dire however and I wouldn't like to trust them with a spay either as rabbits are barely covered in vet training :(

Maybe your best idea would be to enquire with local rescues now, at an early stage, and get on their waiting lists, so that when the babies, if they survive, get to 10wks old they can be rehomed by a rescue? Or there are the pages here on rabbitrehome http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/. The danger of using freeads and 'free to good home' is that they will be taken for snake/dog food by someone, so I would try these 2 routes to finding them homes rather than freeads.
 
The whole thing is appalling and the RSPCA vets need bringing to account. I personally would seperate your two rabbits by mesh so they can still see and smell each other, asap, as you don't want him making her pregnant again. One option is to have her spayed ie terminate the pregnancy which I know is a horrible idea however there are thousands of bunnies in rescues up and down the country and she is very young to have them, if it were me and the vet could spay her I think I'd be considering it no matter how upsetting the idea is as I know I couldn't provide the care and accommodation. HOWEVER as the vets made the error of not telling you and you decide to let her have the babies and find homes for them I'd be going to the manager of the practice and demanding hutches etc to seperate them up in and assistance with rehoming when they're old enough. I wouldn't get your name down in rescues which would request a donation (quite rightly for neutering etc) - the RSPCA vets who were negligent should be finding homes for them not you. Just my opinion of course but I'd write a formal complaint once she has the babies.
 
ok im not here to tell you what to do in the end of the day its your desision and i just want to let you know that the peopleo here arent having a go at you their just trying to give you advice :D i do think it was unprofessional of a vet to not tell you these things and then people wonder why theres so many rabbits in rescues :roll: i had Honey Speyed when my :censored: of an ex put Simba with her it was a hard decision not one i want to make again but i thought about the money and teh responsability of finding them homes etc. and i just didnt feel i could do it also Honey was under 6 months old at the time so she was way to young for my liking.

problems can go wrong during birth a kit can get stuck, all the kits could die (theres a chance mum could die as well) and one question are your rabbits related? if so this can cause genetic problems (deformaties) in the babies.

when my Crystal had her 'surprise' litter 2 of the babies ended up with health problems which both ended in huge vet bills by the time they were 7 weeks old! :shock: which is the last thing you want when you cant afford them.
 
You think I'm bad for letting her have the babies? Oh dear.
I didn't want her to have them terminated now that its happened as it will be her only ever litter.
Well at least I know about Ricky now and can prevent a subsequent litter, thanks wholy to you guys!
Maybe you are right about taking her to the vets, but my vets is an RSPCA hospital (Eccles Manchester) and it is them who got it wrong.
The whole event is extremely traumatising for me and for the animals. We are all kept in this massive waiting area (that stinks and sometimes has excrement on the floor). The main dog type up here seems to consist of massive aggressive dogs and Staffordshire Bull Terriors. Not pleasent for bunnies methinks (or me or my kids). And you have to wait often for up to two hours in those conditions before being seen. I have a limited income, so they help me a lot with subsidised fees, so I cant fault them for that, but I'm loath to go without really needing to.

I am simply stating what I would have done in the interests of the rabbits welfare. I would firstly suggest to you that you call up and ask to speak to the vet centre manager and make a formal complaint regarding the misinformation or rather lack of it and the resulting pregnancy. I would also say you would like the rabbit examined to confirm the pregnancy and to have her spayed free of charge as they are at fault for this. I would also express my concerns about the cleanliness of the waiting room. If people don't complain about this type of thing nothing will be done, I suspect some nurses need a bit of a push towards the cleaning equipment a little more often. I imagine it is because they are very busy, but if pointed out they should make more of an effort with the cleaning.

There is not really anything that can be done about the animals in there, but I would suggest that if there are barking dogs, it would be better to have one person waiting in the vets and one outside with the rabbit.

I am speaking now as a rspca branch worker, and I can tell you that this should be dealt with for you as you have a legitimate complaint.
 
:)

Thanks for all your continued help and advice re possible spaying and litter termination.
It's alright I know noone is having a go at me or anything :)
After all the situation wasn't my fault to begin with and I'm trying to deal with it the best way I can all things considered.

Re possible kits - Should the pregnancy progress as planned and all things being ok, I wont be keeping any babes, unless only one or so is viable in which case I know me, I probably will and that bunny will then be spayed etc in due course.

I can't tell whether they are brother and sister as they were from a Pets At Home Adoption center and their background wasn't entirely secure. They were just two beautiful bunnies I fell in love with. And I Imagine any babies they have will be just as wonderful. Fingers crossed.

I will be taking the matter up with the local RSPCA who gave me bad advice, or at least the absence of any advice.
Maybe they have a rehoming policy due to vet's errors or something. I'll see.
I'm not sure about taking her back to check whether she's pregnant yet, as they are obviously a very poor vets. While I was there before, a woman came in complaning that her ***** had just given birth to a little of seven pups when she'd brought her in to check she wasn't pregnant only a week before. It would seem that pregnancy is that vets problem area!

I have seperated the two bunnies now - and its really a waiting game I guess.

Oh and while I am on a low income, I wouldnt let anything bad happen to any bunnies because of it.
Life throws you curve balls sometimes. You cope and enjoy.

673879083_8fe7901d6a.jpg
 
If your bunnies came from P&H i would contact them, as it was also their ( quite usual ) mistake with mis sexing. I believe when this happens & you end up with an unplanned litter they are meant to provide you with hutches to house them?

Su.x
 
If your bunnies came from P&H i would contact them, as it was also their ( quite usual ) mistake with mis sexing. I believe when this happens & you end up with an unplanned litter they are meant to provide you with hutches to house them?

Su.x

They weren't mis-sexed male was neutered and the vet didn't make it known that he would still be fertile for up to 4-8 weeks after the op. :)
 
OMG.... if you havent already been onto the phone complaining to this totally incompetant vet, do so now!! I'm certainly not having a go at you, not at all, but you may be able to prevent the same 'accident' happening again... I'd be fuming!:evil:

I also agree that I wouldnt have let the doe carry on with the pregnancy I would have demanded a free, or at least reduced price emergency spay..... I dont think its good for such a young bun to be having babies but even if everything goes ok, theres enough bunnies in the world as it it..... obviously its your decision and I hope everything turns out ok for you all in the end. :wave:
 
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