Lost doe after large litter

[PinkFox]

this happend 2 weeks ago...im just looking for some additional thoughts/experience.

bred my mini rex doe (4 1/2lbs) to my mini rex buck (a little over 4lbs) both first timeres so wasnt expecting much. i let him breed her only once... supervised...and then removed her
she was unfortunatly not a good first time momma, didnt build a nest had her kits on the floor and happend to to deliver in the middle of a HUGE storm
unfortinatly i didnt find the kits untll it was too late...but when i did find them she had had 10 kits we managed to revive 4 but they didnt make it more than a few hours.

she however seemed perfectly fine...then the next day she refused breakfast and by that afternoon she had passed away.

i was going to necropsy her but had family visiting and didnt want to get into it so i just sent her back into the cycle of life but i did give her body a quick look over, she had milk normal color, no abnormal swelling/signs of infection in the mammary glands...

i talked to my vet she thinks it was most likely something internal, after delivering such a large litter for such a small rabbit she thinks mabe she ruptured soemthing...

poor girl...i stil cant get over a litter of 10 kits! i dont know what i owuld have done if they had survived...

 

[secuono]

That's what my thought was, maybe something ruptured or was torn. Then thought that maybe yet a 11th kit could of gotten stuck, died and caused her death. But w/o a necropsy, you can't rule any of those out.



Wait, is this the same doe that lost her litter in the other post? They seem awfully similar...

 

[pennylove]

Wow, that's both shocking (ten kits!) and horrible. I'm so sorry. I would guess a retained kit or placental abruption . . . although, if there was no blood, it definitely sounds like a blockage or infection.

Out of curiosity, did the buck breed her multiple times or just a couple?

 

[PinkFox]

buck bred her once...and it was only his second breeding
Bred him to this does sister too and she only had 4 kits, (lost that litter too, but shes doing perfectly fine)

secuono yes i think so, im trying to think back on my other posts.

i had 2 mini rex does due 2 days apart, the does were sisters (buck is completly unrelated)
bred the other doe first she had a litter of 4, but they were 3 days early, she didnt build a nest either and I lost the enitre litter, i only allowed a single breeding (1 fal off) on that breeding
...that doe is doing perfectly fine but is the one im now having trouble getting to re-breed (shes just not interested and neither is he)

this doe i bred a few days after her sister, again single breeding (1 fall off) she delivered on her exact due ate but despite plenty of materials she didnt nest at all (though she did pull a little fur about an hour after we removed the dead kits), 10 babies (one one breeding, holy...yeah...) but noone survived.

i too thought thered most likely be blood if it was something ruptured so im thinking mabe a stuck kit (omg 11?!) or a uterine infection...it was NASTY weather that night, thunder, lightning torrential driven rain (and some water did get into her hutch, not alot but enough she did have wet feet that morning)...
i should have necropsied as ill never know for sure...
but with family over...you knwo how it goes...

part of me hopes her sister has those good multiples genetics too and will have larger litters in the future...the other part of me hopes NEVER that large...i wonder if shere exhaustion contributed...i cant imagine pushing out 1 baby and 10 is a big leeter even for some large/meat breeds... the babies wernt tiny either. *ouch* (and no, there wasno chance she was accidentally exposed to the buck again lol.