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Baby kits dying

Borisbunny

New Kit
Hi, I bought a 2 year old doe from someone who lived close by. She has since given birth to 6 kits but only 2 are still alive but only just surviving.
I'm really confused and upset about it. Firstly the rabbit must have been pregnant for over 38 days as we had her now for over that time before she gave birth.
When she gave birth she seperated them into 3 bundles. I noticed that each bundle consisted of similar size bunny's. The bigger ones were at least 3 times bigger, therefore I assumed she wasn't feeding all of them.
After speaking to the vet I was told to pick up the smaller ones and put them with the big ones that are getting fed. I feel so bad, as I've checked on them today and 4 of them are dead including the big healthy looking ones.
What worries me is that the smaller ones were bleeding from their rectum. Does this mean the mother has an Infection or illness she has passed on?
Bless her, she is very sad understandably. 2 are left but I'm not holding much hope for them to be honest.
Any information would be greatly appreciated and I feel guilty as perhaps me handling them as made her reject them all.
Many Thanks
 
I am relatively new to rabbits all in all, but I do have qualifications in animal care. It is incredibly unlikely the mother rejected the babies due to you touching them. Rabbits do separate the weak from the strong, so that is why those bundles of kits were made. There is many, many factors that go into rabbit mothers killing their offspring. Lack of protein could be the culprit here because you were not aware of her pregnancy, and therefore wouldn't of been able to up her protein. With that being said, definitely look out for other people of this forums response, as I am new to rabbit care myself. All I can suggest is upping the protein in her diet, making sure she is not stressed and showing her lots of affection. As for the kits, I'm quite unsure what the next move would be, or if it would be worth hand-rearing them.
 
Are you in the U.K. ?

I ask as there is a possibility that the cause of death is RHD 2( Rabbit haemorrhagic Disease 2) given that the deceased Kits all had bleeding from the rectum. RHD 1+2 are endemic in the U.K. RHD 1 does not effect Kits under 10 weeks of age, but RHD2 does

https://www.rvc.ac.uk/small-animal-vet/news/rabbit-health-alert

https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/articles/infectious-disease/rabbit-haemorrhagic-disease

Very sorry for your losses :cry:

My thought also was what Jane has mentioned rhd2
 
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