No milk...or nipples??

[AmberLops]

Well I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else! So strange
I wonder if it only happens in certain breeds...

 

[B&B Happy goats]

It seems like the "fancy " breeds have more interesting things pop up than the simple standard breeds....

 

[AmberLops]

True!
Plus dwarf breeds are the worst for issues
I think the Hollands are by far my favorite...even though they are a dwarf breed, they don't have as many problems as the Lionheads and Netherlands

 

[B&B Happy goats]

I don't want to jinx myself lol, but the New Zelands and Flemish Giants have been the hardiest rabbits I have had experience with, very easy keepers

 

[AmberLops]

Good!!
Maybe i'll have luck with the meat rabbits too
I had to postpone getting my them but I'm finally picking up the NZ's and the Flemish tomorrow! Exciting!!
She has 4 kits right now that are around 6 weeks old...I hope she's pregnant and has 20 more kits ha ha!

 

[Bunnylady]

I've had does with no milk, or only milk in a couple of nipples. I have had the odd doe that was missing one nipple (like, a pair at the back, and instead of two more pairs, two on one side, and one in the middle on the other side), but never missing this many!

Lionheads haven't been around for long (the first imports into this country were less than 20 years ago), but they became wildly popular in a short time. As a result, an awful lot of Lionheads are the result of intense line breeding. For a long time, whenever someone would call me to talk about a rabbit with a health problem, I'd be like, " wait for it . . . ," and sure enough, they'd say, "someone told me it's a Lionhead?" I don't know if that was just the local Lionhead breeders working with poor quality stock or what, but until recently, I would say you couldn't even give me one - they just seemed like asking for trouble. Hopefully, now that the Lionhead is a recognized breed and doing well at shows, people who are serious enough to eliminate such animals from the gene pool will help to make them healthy as well as beautiful.

Generally speaking, I would say that meat rabbits tend to be healthier, for one simple reason - their essential reason for existing is to produce, and any animal that doesn't has no reason to live. An awful lot of pet breeders are people with a couple of pets that they decide to breed, and there is no real selection process besides "oh, that's pretty!" Unfortunately, even show breeders can be unscrupulous or maybe just lacking in knowledge; but if we would all be more careful when choosing what to breed, we could eliminate a lot of these problems.

 

[AmberLops]

I've had does with no milk, or only milk in a couple of nipples. I have had the odd doe that was missing one nipple (like, a pair at the back, and instead of two more pairs, two on one side, and one in the middle on the other side), but never missing this many!

Lionheads haven't been around for long (the first imports into this country were less than 20 years ago), but they became wildly popular in a short time. As a result, an awful lot of Lionheads are the result of intense line breeding. For a long time, whenever someone would call me to talk about a rabbit with a health problem, I'd be like, " wait for it . . . ," and sure enough, they'd say, "someone told me it's a Lionhead?" I don't know if that was just the local Lionhead breeders working with poor quality stock or what, but until recently, I would say you couldn't even give me one - they just seemed like asking for trouble. Hopefully, now that the Lionhead is a recognized breed and doing well at shows, people who are serious enough to eliminate such animals from the gene pool will help to make them healthy as well as beautiful.

Generally speaking, I would say that meat rabbits tend to be healthier, for one simple reason - their essential reason for existing is to produce, and any animal that doesn't has no reason to live. An awful lot of pet breeders are people with a couple of pets that they decide to breed, and there is no real selection process besides "oh, that's pretty!" Unfortunately, even show breeders can be unscrupulous or maybe just lacking in knowledge; but if we would all be more careful when choosing what to breed, we could eliminate a lot of these problems.

I agree! People give me hate all the time for selling a rabbit that doesn't match the breed standard...they don't realize that it's actually helping the breed!
Lionheads do seem to be the worst as far as health/reproductive issues. They are such beautiful rabbits but I do think it'll take a LOT more time before they become what they should be!

 

[Ridgetop]

Have never seen this and this is the first time I have heard of it. It is an extreme birth defect particularly in a show animal. You said these were show rabbits - were these does ever shown themselves? Hard to see where the judge would have missed that fault. Anything that impacts being able to breed an animal is usually a cull fault in the standard. I hope you don't have any other animals related to these 2 does. I would cull the entire line. Some people will breed animals that have very bad flaws in them, keep the one that doesn't show the fault, and continue breeding it. The problem is that the fault will continue to appear. You said that you fostered one of the kits to another doe, did it survive? I would definitely dispose of it too. I cull heavily and this would be a definite cull fault. If you sell these bunnies as pets, there is nothing to prevent anyone from breeding them. You don't want people telling others that they got these defective bunnies from you and giving you and your herd a bad reputation. I stopped selling pet animals when someone that talked me into giving them a cull dairy doe as a pet began to show and told everyone that it was from my herd! They implied that I had sold it to them as a show animal! After that everything went to the auction or for slaughter.

I have heard of inverted nipples where the teats extend inward instead of outward. This makes it almost impossible to nurse the young. In humans, you can bottle feed the baby so it is probably more common. I saw some vinyl shields in a breast feeding catalog once that were designed to try to suction the nipples outward to allow a woman with inverted nipples to breast feed.

 

[AmberLops]

Have never seen this and this is the first time I have heard of it. It is an extreme birth defect particularly in a show animal. You said these were show rabbits - were these does ever shown themselves? Hard to see where the judge would have missed that fault. Anything that impacts being able to breed an animal is usually a cull fault in the standard. I hope you don't have any other animals related to these 2 does. I would cull the entire line. Some people will breed animals that have very bad flaws in them, keep the one that doesn't show the fault, and continue breeding it. The problem is that the fault will continue to appear. You said that you fostered one of the kits to another doe, did it survive? I would definitely dispose of it too. I cull heavily and this would be a definite cull fault. If you sell these bunnies as pets, there is nothing to prevent anyone from breeding them. You don't want people telling others that they got these defective bunnies from you and giving you and your herd a bad reputation. I stopped selling pet animals when someone that talked me into giving them a cull dairy doe as a pet began to show and told everyone that it was from my herd! They implied that I had sold it to them as a show animal! After that everything went to the auction or for slaughter.

I have heard of inverted nipples where the teats extend inward instead of outward. This makes it almost impossible to nurse the young. In humans, you can bottle feed the baby so it is probably more common. I saw some vinyl shields in a breast feeding catalog once that were designed to try to suction the nipples outward to allow a woman with inverted nipples to breast feed.

No these does were never shown. The lady I got them from inherited this line of Lionheads from her mother who bred for show....not even sure if that story is true though!
And I don't show my lionheads. Only my Hollands and Netherlands...the lionheads are a new addition to my rabbitry and so far it's been awful having them.
As for the kit you mentioned that I fostered to my other doe, no it didn't survive.
I know that selling a faulted animal is a bad idea and that anyone can still breed it but I do know a lady who 'rescues' rabbits in my county and she said she'd take the does in and she does not breed them...she just enjoys their company.

 

[Ridgetop]

I think if you are not having a good experience with the Lionheads I would get rid of them and continue with the rabbit breeds you enjoy. There are a lot of fun looking breeds out there, but I have found over the years (don't want to say how many! LOL) that only ones that are fun to work with should stay in my barn. That means the ones that breed well, true to type, have few if any health problems, and are "easy keepers". They are still a lot of work to breed, cull, and show. Those breeds or species that require extensive care to breed or keep breeding, have to be culled so heavily that they are not productive, or take extensive time, trouble, special feeding, upkeep, or meds to maintain are out of here pronto!

If it is not fun to maintain them and breed them, why bother with that particular breed? Unless you are looking for a challenge with a super difficult breed. I am too old for that now, although I used to enjoy those challenges when I was younger.