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my rabbits second letter died

22 10:44:23

Question
hiya,i woke up this morning to find my rabbit had kits 5 in total and they were all dead,this was her second litter ,her first litter she had were all fine and all 7 survived this was a year ago.could you tell me a possible reason for them dying and if or when should i rebreed her ,she is eating and drinking and seems ok in herself ,i have checked her underneath area and there is a bit of blood ,but there is no blood coming out of her no more ,please help x

Answer
Hi Louise

Rabbits are extremely fragile.  They lose their babies quite often and sometimes for no good reason.  It is impossible to say what killed the babies but if the mother has a tumor or something wrong in her uterus it can easily kill the babies on birth.  They may not have been warm enough and could have died from exposure if she failed to cover them.  Even in the summer months these little babies need to be kept warm or can easily die from exposure.  Honestly it is hard to say.

Technically you can rebreed a rabbit after 48 hours of losing kits.  Personally I would never rebreed a rabbit that had lost kits unless I knew why.  I would take her to a vet and have them check for uterine or ovarian type tumors or cancers.  There shouldn't be more than a tiny drop of blood, if there is more than that I would be extremely concerned that she has some sort of tumor or cancer.

That is just what I would do.  The best I can tell you is don't give up.  I have a fuzzy lop who is an incredible mother and has been for the 3 years I have had her.  Even she loses babies sometimes.  The reason rabbits can have babies every 30 days is because they are weak.  It is to ensure the survival of their species.  Besides predators they are extremely susceptible to illnesses, birth related problems and fetal death syndrome.

Just keep an eye on her and try to schedule an appointment with a vet for a good check-up.  It is really important to have all of your rabbits examined by a vet at least once a year but preferably twice a year.

I hope that she does better for you next time.

Good luck

Pam