Castor Oil and Rabbits

[Leslie]

I believe Castor oil does work. I had to join so I could write this because I was searching for answers to take care of my rabbit.
I have enjoyed raising rabbits to sell and possibly eat (haven't done that yet) but I put a rabbit down 6 months ago because she had trouble giving birth and became very ill.
I want to do what is best for my animals and with one of my rabbits due 4 days ago, I was very worried I would have to put her down if she didn't have the kits.
Yesterday, I gave her oxytocin about 57mg at 6:30 in the morning and waited all day to see if anything would happen. I also let her out of the small cage I was keeping indoors and put her with the buck in the large pen outside. They ran around and she was very irritable. By 12:00 nothing had changed, I brought her back in and I was worried about giving such a strong drug without a vets help. I didn't want to do it again so I tried at about 3:00 pm some castor oil, one teaspoon. She was making irritated sounds all day which is not normal for her. By 6 pm, she was carrying bedding around in her mouth (something she did 4 days ago). At 11pm she gave birth to one and I went to bed. This morning I woke up to 8 seemingly healthy babies. They don't look as clean as I remember her care compared to the last two times she gave birth but she is alive and so are 8 babies.
I really believe the castor oil was mostly the thing that did it, but maybe it was a combination of oxytocin and the activeness.

 

[Bunnylady]

I'm sorry to sound so cranky, but it sounds like your doe is lucky to have survived your "help," Leslie.

If a doe is ready to give birth, a very small quantity of oxytocin (like, a couple of tenths of a cc) will cause very strong contractions. If you give enough to induce contractions in a doe that isn't ready, you can cause her cervix to rupture, which means one dead doe. That's why most vets won't put oxytocin into the hands of anyone but their staff.

Are you absolutely, 100% sure that this doe was at day 35? I have never had a doe go that far past her due date when pregnant with 8 babies; space restrictions and hormones tend to push them out on time. Every time I have had a doe kindle that far past her due date, there were only one or two babies, and they were huge. That said, there was a person on this forum a few years ago that had a doe that regularly would go 40 days or more, but we think she was doing some sort of "delayed implantation" thing, because the litters were normal sizes and the kits all appeared to be at the normal gestational age, too.

I think most people who know what they are doing will tell you that, if an animal is already in the early stages of labor, there are things (like activity) that can help to speed things up, but trying to induce labor in one that hasn't already started the delivery process is futile at best and may even be dangerous.

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

@Leslie
This thread is years old and does can go as long as 35 days before kindling naturally. I have not had to induce with any of mine.

However, putting aside the whole castor oil and oxytocin thing which I would never do to my rabbits and @Bunnylady already addessed as I was writing, I am trying to get my head around why you placed a pregnant doe around the time she is due in with a buck. I think that would add more stress to her at a time when you would want her to feel comfortable about the birthing.

On my mother's side of family, before ultrasound, we knew whether the baby was a boy or a girl because boys were always on the due date or a day before and the girls were three weeks late to the day usually. Once my pregnancy past my due date, as I did not have any ultrasounds, I relaxed because I knew it would be another three weeks for my daughter to be born. Sometimes you just have to trust nature's time table for the individual, including your rabbits.

 

[Bunnylady]

Just to be clear - oxytocin (or whatever) is not used to cause labor to begin, it is used to speed up labor that has already begun. The cervix must have started to thin and open before the strong contractions happen, or you risk a potentially fatal injury. Some does have weak or irregular contractions; oxytocin helps to make the contractions stronger and more regular. So much stronger, in fact, that anyone using oxytocin on a doe needs to be prepared to clean kits themselves, because they will be delivered faster than a doe can clean them up.