bad mommie rabbit! need help now!!

[missy_cbell21]

I have a Beautiful NZ that is brown, black, white and cream named Brownie. I would love to pass on her coloring! She Had a litter on tuesday and it was not good, she made a nest in the box but pulled no fur. I went out to feed them at about 11 am and found kits all over the floor under her cage and even one under my house! That little booger was crawling! So I collected them and they were all kind of warm and very wiggly. They were clean in my opinion but I have never seen a kit that was not cleaned. I only found one placenta on the floor which to me seams like she has some mothering instincts, but she is not feeding them. I have checked them twice a day and they are not getting any bigger and a few have tiny bellys and a couple have the indented tummy look. She had 10, one dead on the wire, and I fostered one out to another first time mom who is doing great! So she has 8 now with her. The size difference between the fostered one and the ones with their mom is crazy! So the other doe now has 7 including the foster, should I give her a few more or is there any way to get Brownie to take care of her kits? I have tried to force nurse them but she didn't take to that to well and I have the scratches to prove it. lol! I really want atleast a few from Brownies litter to make it. Ant tips or advice will be greatly appreciated! I'm going to cross post everywhere I know. Thanks!

 

[Bunnylady]

By now, the kits may be too weak to save, but I know, you have to try!

When I have had a doe that didn't nurse her kits, one thing I have done is to put her nest box in a carrier that is no bigger than the box itself, put the doe in it, and close the lid on the carrier. The doe is trapped in the box, with the babies, without the extra stress of me restraining her. She often does jump around a bit, but I think I have only had one doe that continued to refuse to let the kits nurse when I did that. I have had a few that I had to do this to several times before they caught on, but eventually, they all did (with that one exception).

It's possible, of course, that the doe has no milk. That there really is no cure for. I had a doe that would kindle a nice sized litter, and only raise a couple of the kits. It took 3 or 4 litters for me to figure out that only a couple of her teats were functional, the others just didn't develop (you can feel the difference).

There's no point in trying to put these guys in with the other doe's litter. At this point, they couldn't compete with the by now bigger and stronger kits. Six to eight is usually as many as a doe will raise successfully anyway, larger litters don't grow as fast as a whole, and you often lose a few kits along the way. If the other doe seems reasonably tolerant, I suppose you could try removing her whole litter from the nest box, and substituting Brownie's kits for a feeding. I don't really like the idea of swapping them back and forth long-term, but it may keep them from starving to death right now.

And, of course, there is always putting the kits on the bottle (eyedropper?). That is tricky at best, and very time consuming for you. KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer) is what I have used, with mixed success.

Good luck!