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Supplementing newborn kits?

ciarapatricia

Young Bun
So I'm minding a mother bun and litter of kits, 3 days old. The babies seem active and all, but they're kinda wrinkly. Their bellies are round but not as big as I'd like them to be.

I checked the doe's milk supply and none came out, but maybe she had just fed them and I'll check again in the morning.

The babies skin doesn't 'tent' like in really dehydrated animals, and they don't seem hungry, they act like normal healthy kits. But I'm worried.

Does anyone have experience of this, and know if I should be supplementing them with kitten formula? Thanks for any help :)

I think kitten formula would be ok, since they have their mom feeding them some bit anyway. And I know that twice a day would probably be alright? And I know how to feed baby kittens and puppies, so hopefully it's much the same. I don't know how much to give them but I'm looking it up now, probably very little . . .
 
Is mum on unlimited pellet food? as well as unlimited hay?

I would say that adding any supplement is the last resort, and I would suggest trying to help mum feed prior to supplementing.

Can you post pics of the kits though?

If they have been fed they will look like they have swallowed ping pong balls (smaller or bigger depending).
 
Thanks for your quick reply

Mum has unlimited pellets, lots of fresh veg including dark green leafy veg, unlimited hay and water. She's been eating enough, last night she ate loads of dry food.

This isn't a great photo, but you can see they're wrinkly, though they are less wrinkly at the moment, I think she just fed them recently.

They have roundish bellies, but not as fat as they should be. I saw in a litter before that the two smallest babies had less round bellies, it's a bit like that (those two survived btw)

photo044.jpg


I was wondering, would it help if I took the mum to the vet for a shot of oxytocin or something? Would parsley help, I think I read that that helps for guinea pigs who've just given birth . . . or more dark green veg?
 
The babies are normal acting though, just like healthy kits. They're wriggly when you pick them up but not excessively hungry seeming. Before you wake them they're just sleeping happily.
 
Oh never mind, I just read that oxytocin doesn't help after 2 days. I dunno if I can get her to produce more milk, cos she's been on a good diet the whole time . . .
 
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My friend says not to supplement them yet anyway, as I could do more damage than good. But to see in the morning if she has milk and how they are.
 
One thing you could do is give mum a bottle of either whole goats milk or kitten milk in addition to her water bottle.

Borage, Dandelion, blackberry, fennel, milk thistle, broccoli, nettle can all help mum

Do not give her any of the following whilst she's feeding the babies as they can decrease milk flow mint and sage.
 
Thanks :) I'll get her kitten milk tomorrow and some broccoli and I think we have blackberry leaves in the garden . . .

I'll let everyone knows how they are in the morning and if mum has milk. Hopefully they do well, because I'd prefer to not have to handfeed them, in case that makes them sick.
 
I know I'm posting a lot, but just to say that I did a search on here and read a few threads and they were very helpful :)

I was reading about people holding the babies up to the mum, and wondering if it'd be a good idea to try that with my rabbit a couple of times a day . . . maybe it would help her to produce more milk. I know she wouldn't get too stressed because she doesn't mind me handling her or the babies.

I hope she's producing milk when I check in the morning *fingers crossed*
 
Hiya, If your mum bun has umlimited pellets and unlimited hay and plenty of fresh water to drink I dont think she should have any problem producing milk.
I had one litter of ten and I did supplement feed a couple of the weaker looking kits (started when they were about 7 days old) with kitten milk with a sprinkle of probiotic in. I think it was through a tiny syringe that the kits licked the milk from the end as i terribly slowly, squeezed it out. I didnt really put the syringe far in their mouth as I had heard stories about it being very easy to drown them.
Just for you to compare this is one at 3 days old
Graemeat3days.jpg


Though my one is stretching out where as your pic the wee one is curled up which may cause him to look wrinkley

and in the nest

Nestat3days.jpg


I would maybe give your vet a call for advice as it was only on their advice that I began supplement feeding my ones. Good luck
 
Thanks :) Those pics look similar to mine, in relation to belly size :)

I don't think any vets around here would know anything about rabbits, my vet doesn't anyway, but I could call a vet up the country who's an exotics specialist. Ireland is not the best place for finding rabbit-savvy vets unfortunately!

I'm going to keep a very very close eye on their belly size and how hydrated they are in the next day or so and think about what to do. I'm scared to start supplementing them in case I make them sick.
 
Thanks :) Those pics look similar to mine, in relation to belly size :)

I don't think any vets around here would know anything about rabbits, my vet doesn't anyway, but I could call a vet up the country who's an exotics specialist. Ireland is not the best place for finding rabbit-savvy vets unfortunately!

I'm going to keep a very very close eye on their belly size and how hydrated they are in the next day or so and think about what to do. I'm scared to start supplementing them in case I make them sick.

I did think your little kit looked similar. I would just keep an eye and wait. Like you say you dont want to wade in and risk making the little ones ill. I think your mumbunny will be doing her job ok :)
 
I did think your little kit looked similar. I would just keep an eye and wait. Like you say you dont want to wade in and risk making the little ones ill. I think your mumbunny will be doing her job ok :)

Yeah she is an excellent mum, and I've noticed her feeding them twice a day which is good, maybe her milk is just coming in slowly and will start up more tomorrow :) I think she's big enough and old enough to look after 6 hopefully, I think she's 2 years old and she's 5 pounds.

And they're still active and not seriously dehydrated, so hopefully it's not an urgent problem yet :)

Thanks for the reassurance :) I'll be on tomorrow to let you know how they're doing
 
The babies seem a bit better this morning :) They're less wrinkly and their bellies are a bit rounder, and they look fine . . . not as fat as I'd like, but still quite round. They're active and not dehydrated.

The mum still didn't seem to have milk when I checked but I have a feeling that she had fed them this morning, and hopefully will have milk when I check later. Or I'll put a baby to her nipples and see if the baby gets milk.

I'm not too worried right now, cos they seem well.

But I'll pick her up more dark green veg, watery veg and the goat's milk (though I'm a little concerned about that upsetting her tummy) . . .

Oh and she ate loads of dry food last night, so I'm sure she'd feeding the babies, because she wouldn't eat that much otherwise. :) They're 4 days old now, so they must be getting some feeding or they'd never have made it this far, and they seem healthy enough. I'll update later :)
 
The babies seem a bit better this morning :) They're less wrinkly and their bellies are a bit rounder, and they look fine . . . not as fat as I'd like, but still quite round. They're active and not dehydrated.

The mum still didn't seem to have milk when I checked but I have a feeling that she had fed them this morning, and hopefully will have milk when I check later. Or I'll put a baby to her nipples and see if the baby gets milk.

I'm not too worried right now, cos they seem well.

But I'll pick her up more dark green veg, watery veg and the goat's milk (though I'm a little concerned about that upsetting her tummy) . . .

Oh and she ate loads of dry food last night, so I'm sure she'd feeding the babies, because she wouldn't eat that much otherwise. :) They're 4 days old now, so they must be getting some feeding or they'd never have made it this far, and they seem healthy enough. I'll update later :)

Glad that they are doing well, would mum necessarily release milk all the time? I dont know about watery veg or goats milk (I would worry about upsetting her tum too) but dark leafy greens would be good. If she doesnt usually have them start her off with a smaller amount and build up gradually. Does she have unlimited hay too did you say? All sounds really promising, keeping my fingers crossed for them :wave:
 
Glad that they are doing well, would mum necessarily release milk all the time? I dont know about watery veg or goats milk (I would worry about upsetting her tum too) but dark leafy greens would be good. If she doesnt usually have them start her off with a smaller amount and build up gradually. Does she have unlimited hay too did you say? All sounds really promising, keeping my fingers crossed for them :wave:

Thanks :)

Someone said that the milk does come and go, and that I should try milking it like a cow, not just squeezing it, which I haven't tried yet actually.

I didn't bother with the goat's milk, but got her more broccoli and cabbage and green leafy stuff. She's used to dark green veg, but I usually give her other things too like carrot, etc, so I started giving her all green stuff, but not a huge amount of cabbage and broccoli in case that made her bloated.

And yep she has loads of hay, she has an 8'X6' shed all to herself at the moment and there's hay everywhere! She's littertrained so she keeps it fairly clean. :)

And the babies seem great today, they're now 5 days old, and are growing and have their fur in. :love: They're fatter and not wrinkled and are really doing great.

My friend's friend (who's a breeder) said that maybe she is feeding them small amounts too often, and that's why she seems to have no milk when I check, and why they weren't getting huge bellies all at once, but were still getting fed and not hungry.

Well whatever happened, it seems fine now :) Thank God, I was so worried we'd lose them, but they seem just fine and are gorgeous too :love: I can't wait til they're eating.

Thanks everyone for the replies and for the other threads that I got info from, it was very reassuring.
 
Brilliant! And lucky mumbun with all that space! Are they getting furry about now too? So glad all is going well :D :wave:
 
Yeah they're nice and furry now :) They've really cute markings too :love:

The mum is delighted to have the whole shed, but I'd say she'll be glad to go out in a run once the babies are old enough :) She has natural light and ventilation in the shed, but I can't attach a run which is a pity, but I thought the shed is the safest and warmest/dryest place for baby buns :)
 
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