Doe bleeding after birth

Question
My doe was pregnant but gave birth this afternoon without any warning, ie. she had not made a nest. The baby was born outside and left. Only one baby has emerged. There is not an emergency out of hours vet in our area. She is now bleeding more than she should. Could she give birth to more babies? It is now 5 hours ago. Is it possible to just have one baby? What could be causing the bleeding. Our other doe gave birth to eight babies and certainly did not have this type of bleeding. We noted a bite mark on the babies back and wondered if she had tried to pull it out. We have kept the baby warm and held it to suckle, although I don't think she is aware what has happened to her. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Answer
Hi Kate,

it is possible that the births of kits could be spaced across hours.  It does happen, even though most give birth withing a few hours total.

She may have had problems with the birth and tried to get the kit out of her, or she didn't recognize it and gave a little nip.  It sounds like your female may be a first-time mom if she is acting like she doesn't know what happened.

I would watch the mom as best you can, try to keep her resting and not moving, and give her lots of fluids.  Make sure she is drinking.  If you want to put a little fruit juice in the water to encourage her to drink that is okay for right now, and it will give her more energy - try a little squirt or two from a medicine dropper of purple grape juice.  you can even offer it to her from the dropper if it is a plastic dropper - never use a glass dropper.  I say try to keep her from moving a lot because of the bleeding.  If it is internal there is not much you can do on your own other than keeping her from lots of movement.  If there is anything external I would try to put some styptic powder or gel on it (if it is a small cut/tear), or potato flakes if it is a larger external opening (styptic can be too painful if it is a larger cut).  Potato flakes will help blood coagulate and is safe to use.

I would then get things ready so that you can be the first one to a good rabbit vet in your area in the morning.  I would also call them ahead of time just before leaving so that they know you're coming and will make you first in line when you get there.  This is a serious thing and you need to say so in your message so they can be ready.  She will be weaker than normal from the blood loss.  

If you can keep her a little warmer than normal with a towel that may help if she loses too much blood she may go into shock.  Check her gums - they should be pink.  If they go blue/white, shes in shock.  She'll need warmth then and you can use either a hot water bottle filled with WARM water wrapped in a towel (never directly on a rabbit, needs to be wrapped) or a microwave heating pad (WARM, not HOT) wrapped in a towel (never direct), and put it on a side of her/partially cover her.

For the newborn, use a puppy milk formula from a pet supply store.  You can make it up thicker than the directions say (ie less water).

Also I would give her some probiotics like acidophilus to help build up her gut bacteria.

I would also visit the House Rabbit Society web site and look up and print out the following articles:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html

http://www.rabbit.org/care/newborn.html

http://www.rabbit.org/care/reproduction.html

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

Let me know how it works out, or write back with more questions.  Lee