# Rabbit Suddenly Losing Mothering Instinct?



## ksaunders94 (Mar 5, 2017)

We have an nz/chinchilla cross doe who has had 3 successful litters, all large and she was an amazing mom. Her last litter we found all the kits dead, uncovered but in the nesting box, so we chalked it up to being stillborn (based on her history of good mothering) and rebred her. Well this litter she has just smothered at 2 days of age. It appears she literally just sat on them and smothered them. It doesnt appear she killed them intentionally, theres been no change in diet or environment. Its like shes suddenly a first time mom making first time mom mistakes. I am now suspicious the other litter was born live and froze to death because she didnt cover them. What could cause a previously very good mother to suddenly lose her maternal instinct. She doesnt appear stressed in any way, and like i said theres been no change. My other worry is should i cull any offspring of hers i have, are they also more likely to lose their mothering instinct early? Any advice is appreciated, these are meat rabbits so we dont have space for non producers and wont invest lots of money and time to fix one rabbit.


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## Pastor Dave (Mar 5, 2017)

I don't know what other times of the year your doe kindled, but sometimes does just don't do good in winter. We unnaturally try to make them adapt to something they wouldn't do in nature, and we want them to do it well. Mine have complications in the winter, and if I get some successes, I chalk it up to profiting on a gamble.
I will tag some others on here that can help too.
@Bunnylady,  @DutchBunny03,  @Kaye,  @samssimonsays


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## ksaunders94 (Mar 5, 2017)

Shes had litters this time of year, and were in cali, spring is in the air lol. Long days, warm weather, if shes going to act out because of this weather shes way too finnicky for my liking lol.


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## Pastor Dave (Mar 5, 2017)

You can always go with 3 strikes, you're out rule.
It's always hard to cull, but at times we have to.


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## secuono (Mar 5, 2017)

Kits cover themselves, rarely does a mom do it.

It's possible she is sick or not feeling well somehow. Also possible there was a predator near by or came and bothered her and she killed the kits from the stress or because she thought the kits were attracting predators.


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## Marie28 (Mar 5, 2017)

I second the 3 strikes method. I also wonder if something scared her into sitting on the kits. 

Is there any change in her behavior in other areas? Is she following her normal kindling routines?


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## promiseacres (Mar 6, 2017)

You could rebreed and only allow her to have her kits during feeding. 
Though depending on how attached you are I would consider culling.


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## DutchBunny03 (Mar 7, 2017)

How old is she? Sometimes, old rabbits who have had many litters just lose their mothering ability. Have you had any predators around your hutches? Dogs barking? Loud kids? Loud noises or other disturbances can cause a dam to abandon her litter. She may be having teat pain. That has caused dams to destroy whole nests.


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## ksaunders94 (Mar 11, 2017)

Hmm there hasn't been a change in her surroundings, and she kindled normally, they were alive for a few days and then she killed them, but I may have to pull her out and do a once over as she had lost that litter previously and perhaps she suffered some complications from that. She appeared healthy when I did my initial inspection, but maybe I missed something or there was no outward signs yet. We are going to rebreed her for a 3rd time in a couple of weeks (just the way the timing of our breedings goes) and if she appears healthy and kills this litter again she will just be culled. No one seems to be outwardly stressed, and our other doe who had a 2 week old litter at the time is fine and the litter is healthy, so I feel it is something going on with this specific rabbit. I appreciate all the suggestions, it's really helpful and some stuff seems so straight forward but when you're in the think of it your mind just draws  a blank lol.


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## ksaunders94 (Mar 12, 2017)

UPDATE: we checked her this morning and it appears she has mastitis.Her nipples are a dark blue and some appear to have a dried yellow crust on them. We are going to treat her and see if we are able to save her. While we feel awful it happened we are glad it isn't some bad mothering genetic. I believe her first litter lost was stillborn and she developed mastitis, then when her second litter attempted to nurse she killed them as she was in pain. After her first litter passed we waited 8 days to rebreed upon recommendation from someone else, could this have caused it or what could we do to prevent it in the future?


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## DutchBunny03 (Mar 17, 2017)

Thats the problem right there. Mastitis causes severe teat pain, and most does who have it destroy their nests, killing most of the litter. Try massaging them with warm water or oil, as it can relieve the pain until you are able to treat her. 
When you breed after a stillborn litter doesnt matter. Rabbits are physically able to breed in less than a few minutes after they kindle, whether the litter was stillborn or not.


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