3 week old babies possibly missing toes.

[BeltaineRabbitry]

So this is my second litter of out this doe, she has produces pretty well although her first litter we had to help her along, making sure they were being fed for the first little bit. She is a full sized satin and we breed for meat, and when we have showables we sell them to other breeders. Anyway, her first litter we had one of the babies deglove their toe on their back foot. We didnt think much of it, as we know accidents happen and the baby was fine so no second thoughts to it. Now on her second litter we have a red buck we are very excited about keeping, he is now however missing 3 toes, all look degloved (imagine taking a glove off if you dont know what that means or peeling a banana) and I have no clue what is going on, at least 3 total in this litter look like they have had toes degloved (she has 5) They have baby saving wire on the bottom and around the side, a nest box with a solid bottom and we always pile hay in a corner to allow them to get up off the wire there to. I do have dogs, however to my knowledge none of my dogs mess with the rabbits other than looking for treats under the cage. The adults in the hutch (3 cages total in one hutch) are all fine, no missing parts what so ever. My other doe who had her first litter when this doe did, is a much more maternal rabbit and we had no toe issues with hers. No toes missing etc, in the same set up cage wise as this doe.

I guess what I am wondering is any ideas on what is causing this. We would really rather not butcher this red buck, as he would be great for the herd, but if he loses anymore toes, I am afraid that he wont be able to get around much and will be in pain and it will be the only humane option we have with him. I havent ever seen a doe bite the toes off a baby before, and I dont think cats can get up to there the bottom of the cage is 3-4 foot off the ground. I am pretty sure my dogs arent bothering them, and this is a new cage (home made) so this is the first litters that we have had in here, so it may be cage related.

Any suggestions on care, or cause would be great!

Amy
Beltaine Rabbitry

 

[Bunnylady]

Over the years, I've had lots of does that damaged/removed toes or even parts of feet from their babies, but those mutilations always happened as accidents during the birth process. I had one doe many years ago that savaged kits as a result of stress during their first week, but not 3 week olds.. I've never had a rabbit just scrape the skin off of toes, though I have had the odd adult toe get removed (chunks of ear, too, and one time a tail!) through territorial squabbling with the rabbit in the cage next door.

Since you said that no other rabbits have had any damage to their feet, you have to wonder just what is going on in that cage. Is there a pinch point that the babies' feet may be getting caught in? Are the damaged toes all on the back feet? Is this cage lower, or is there some other feature that makes it more accessible to something that might be nipping at the bunnies' toes? I hope it isn't one of your dogs, though I'm afraid most of the missing toes I have known about were lost to dogs. I bought a Jersey Wooly once who had several missing toes, though I don't believe there were more than 2 missing from any one foot. The owner had had a dog get into the rabbitry. This particular doe had 2 grand champion legs, one a fairly impressive win, prior to the attack, but that was the end of her show career! I know a Wooly is a much lighter animal than a Satin, but this doe did just fine - I never saw any sores or other signs of pain from her.

 

[oneacrefarm]

This makes me think some kind of small predator, maybe.....rats, weasels, etc....either that, or you have something on the floor that is catching their toes and degloving them.