newborn rabbits and its mother

Question
My rabbit just had babies yesterday(12-27-07),and 1 of them died.I was wondering if there was anyway that I could find out if she was nursing them or not.Also,is there anything I could do?

Answer
Hi Marisa,

Having computer issues tonight for some reason.  Hope all of this gets thru to you.

Kits are very delicate beings and it's suprising that any of them survive.  The best thing to do is leave the mom and kits alone and let her do her job.  She should have built a nest from her fur preferably in a nesting box.  This will allow her privacy and she will feel safe when nursing her kits.  Rabbits usually nurse only once a day....some moms do it twice....but it's very early in the morning most of the time.  This is a hold over from when domestics were actually wild rabbits.  They are prey animals and very low on the food chain.  The mother will burrow out a shallow nest...many times in the middle of a yard and cover the next with her fur and grass.  She stays away to prevent drawing attention from predators.  She comes back in the middle of the night to nurse, groom and stimulate them to use the bathroom.  And it's done in just a few minutes.  We do a lot of wild rabbit rescues....the way we tell if mom is feeding them is to see if they are warm and their bellies are plump.  With "pinkies", you can see the milk line in their stomach....that the level of milk in there....right thru the skin.  It is very difficult to hand feed kits as they don't have a really good sucking reflex.  I usually feed the newborns by "tubing"...I insert a feeding catheter directly into their stomach.  It takes some training to do that.  And rabbits require a very special formula.  Cow's milk will usually kill them.  Goat's Milk and Kitten Milk Replacer do not have appropriate nutrition.  And even with the wild rabbits, we generally consider the kit's best chances are to be left alone and let mom do her job.

My advice is to make sure the kits are kept warm (using supplemental heat sources if necessary) and watch for the nice plump bellies in the morning.  That is a sign that mom is doing her job.

Randy