My baby had babys

Question
QUESTION: Hi 2 weeks ago i took my little girl Wiggles to the vet as i was concerned about her as there was blood in her food bowl, The vet said it was because i feed her to many carrots or the begining of a tumor and i told her i was concerned that she could be pregnant as she was with a male rabbit for about a minute before my husband realised what he done, so he quickly took him out. The vet told me she was overweight and to put her on a diet and then in a week to bring her back for desexing in a week, Well in that week she had 8 baby's but 1 died at birth. It's been 5 days since there birth now and some look great big and fat were others look skinny and deformed. 1 passed away today i was realy upset about that as i don't know what to do. That same rabbit in the morning was socking wet i don't know why. There are another 2 i'm concerned arn't going to survive. Is it normal for some to die a few days after birth? Wiggles is still bleeding to but i got told thats normal.She's 16months and very muched loved and i know shes being a good mum as she is doing all she can with there bedding but why do some get food and some don't. Shall i let nature take it's corse or try and help the others? Thanks heaps carmen

ANSWER: Hi there..

As for the vet I really think you need to find a new one.  It is absolutely not normal for a rabbit to still be bleeding anytime after the first few hours of giving birth.  They generally only have a few small drops of blood.  It is rare to see more than a cotton ball soaked with blood.

It is not abnormal at all for rabbits to die within a few days of birth.  From what you are describing they sound like they have double dwarf syndrome also known as 'peanuts'.  These rabbits will never survive.  Some of the smaller breeds of rabbits were created hundreds of years ago by breeding dwarf rabbits to full size rabbits.  These miniature breeds (holland lops, mini rex, fuzzy lops, polish, that is all I can think of at the moment but there are more) will both carry a gene called the dwarf gene.  Not all of them have it.  Generally the one's that don't have it are too big to be shown and they are less desirable.  These are the one's that end up in pet stores and sold as pets from breeders.  If you indeed have peanuts then your rabbit has the dwarf gene.  When both parents carry a dwarf gene each baby has a 20% chance of being born a peanut.  There has never in all of history been a peanut that survived more than a few weeks at most.  

The best thing to do is to keep them with the mom and check the nest box every day.  They will eventually crawl away and die peacefully.  Some people will humanely put them down so that they don't suffer.  I don't like to suggest that because even I have had babies that I thought were peanuts that turned out to be fine.  If they have a really domed head and there legs and body are super skinny and deformed then they are indeed peanuts.  Sometimes peanuts will look normal for the first few days and won't be deformed.  Then after a few days you will notice that the other babies are thriving and these ones are super skinny and look like they are starving.  It is very sad but it is a by-product of the cross breeding between dwarfs and full sized breeds.

I am sorry that you and your family are going through all the problems you are.  At the end I am going to attach a web-site that gives a list of rabbit savvy vets across the united states.  You want to look for an Exotic Animal Veterinarian not small animal.  Some vets are not well versed in exotic pets but TRY to treat them anyway. It borders on being unethical but technically any vet with a license can treat any animal.  

My advice to you is to take your girl into a different vet and indeed have her spayed.  You are also going to want to have your buck neutered.  A buck who is not neutered can't ever be with another rabbit.  If they are housed with another buck they will fight.  If they are housed with a doe, even if she is spayed, they will continuously try to mount her and it often leads to fights from the annoyed doe.  Fixing them both is the best option.  Doe's that aren't fixed have an increased incidence of uterine cancer.

I hope that this has helped you some.  Again I am sorry about the loss of your babies.  Here is the web-site:

http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

If you have any more questions please let me know.

Sincerely,

Pam

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi. Wiggles has lost a total of 4 baby's now with 4 left to me they look like they are doing well, There's one i'm still a bit ify about but she dosn't look like the others that died. But just the last 2 days Wiggles has gotten very protective of her other babies that she won't let me check on them. She seems to be making a lot of whimpering sounds to as if she's crying and she keeps making a huge mess of her hutch. I found her water bowl in there this morning (i only give small amounts at a time) and her litter try dragged across the door to the babies nest. The babies are a week old now.

Answer
Hi there

She might not have enough milk to feed the babies.  Sadly the only thing you can do is keep an eye on them.  I just lost 2 entire litters because the mother didn't have enough milk and the rest were peanuts.

As for her attitude you have to realize that it is her home.  She is going to decorate it how she see's fit.  It is not uncommon at all for rabbits to move things around.  Being that she is a doe that has not been fixed she will have attitude.  She might also be going through some depression over the loss of the babies but that usually goes away in a week or 2.  I know this is not an option for you but when I have a doe that is acting all crazy I will just re-breed her.  As soon as she is done with the litter it is probably best to get her fixed.  It will take away all those crazy female hormones.

Personally I won't keep doe's as pets.  They are far to moody, much like women.  I have had 1 doe that was spayed living in my house and she was an angel.  It is almost like PMS.  

Your best bet is to let her keep her belongings where she wants them.  The more you move them and disrupt her living space the more upset she will be.  

I hope the rest of the babies will be ok.  I will be gone for about a week due to a family emergency.  If you can wait I will be back but if you need emergent instructions please ask Ms. Dana Krempels.  She is very good with rabbit language and care.

Good luck and I hope all is well.

Sincerely,

Pam