Himalayan Doe - milk capacity

Question
How can we determine if our doe is providing milk for her litter?  Our doe just kindled 24 hrs ago, and her teats are smalls, no visible swelling.  She has had several litters in the past that died within 24hrs, which we contributed to cold, no mom hair in nest box, no milk.  This time we have her inside.  She has added some hair, her babies do have bellies to them, and we have kitten milk ready if needed.  We don't want to lose another litter.  When our mini-rex has a litter, you can see she has milk and is able to feed.

Answer
Dear Kimberly,

The best way to tell if she's producing and feeding milk is to watch the condition of the babies very closely.  If they are warm, round, and sleepy, then they are probably being cared for.  Hungry babies will start to look wrinkled, and may crawl out of the nest looking for their mother.

If you do have to intervene and feed the babies, here are good protocols and formulas that I've used with excellent success:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html

I hope you won't need that.  But please also read this more important article:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/breeding.html

Hope that helps.

Dana