Sad Day for my Satin doe

[Mocksincerity]

Sad day here on the farm, this is a bit upsetting/graphic so if that sort of thing upsets you please don't read further. My white Satin doe gave birth this morning to one very large very deformed kit. I have never seen anything like it. I'm honestly wondering if it was two that formed into one or something. It looked like a hairless antelope or giraffe nothing like a baby rabbit. It had an elongated body in general it was about the length of 2 baby rabbits. It wasn't just from her pulling on it there were bones in there. It's head was malformed very wide with a very wide/blunt mouth which was not formed right. One of it's front legs were undersized and not formed correctly and it was incredibly wide and round in the rear like a bowling pin. I believe it was born alive as she'd fully cleaned it off. I was expecting a large litter from her since she got huge this pregnancy and so far this is the only one born. Yesterday she was frantic to build a nest grabbing straw like mad but over night she just seemed to give up on the idea and destroyed the straw nest she was building and even tho she gave birth to this one she never pulled hair and she didn't have it in the nest box. It's not day 31 yet either so at the moment I'm watching her. I've heard of animals aborting one of a litter if it died in the womb but I don't know if that is actually a thing or not and if that could be what happened or if this is her "normal" birthing. If it is I don't know if this was all she had or if she has more deformed babies in there that she can't get out or if she'll deliver the rest of the litter stillborn because the one held things up. She's not acting like she's in labor but she did have a bit of discharge. She's had a successful litter last year with no issues and was in great health but I did use a different buck who I bred to another doe a few weeks before her and although he aggressively bred that willing doe multiple times she never took (she's proven and experienced) Do you think this buck is the reason for this?

 

[Hens and Roos]

Sorry to hear this, not sure but will tag a few others for you

@samssimonsays @Pearce Pastures @Bunnylady @Pastor Dave @promiseacres

 

[Pastor Dave]

If I question a buck or doe on a defect, I definitely swap up the breeding to see if it happens in other pairings.

Bunny Lady is a good source on "peanuts" and huge misformed kits. I have heard her explain it before.

 

[Baymule]

Malformed births just happen sometimes. I am sorry for you and your doe. She sounds like a good doe, pamper her a little and give her some time, then breed her again.

 

[Bunnylady]

A few thoughts . . . .

Are you sure that there is absolutely no chance at all that this doe could have been bred on an earlier date than you thought? Maybe there was a time in the not-so-distant past when you thought she was bred, but when the time came, she went through all the motions and produced nothing?

Y'see, even a single baby rabbit can only grow so fast; there is only so much nutrition that can pass through a placenta, and cells can only replicate so fast. Having seen babies get aborted due to stress between 21 and 27 days' gestation, and knowing what sizes they were, I just don't know that it would be possible for a single kit to grow that huge in less than 31 days. I've seen my share of the ginormous ones, but they were all born a few days overdue (day 34 or 35).

What you have described sounds pretty much like what I've seen on those huge, overdue singles. Someone dubbed them "sausage babies," and that's a pretty apt description - they look sort of like someone stuck baby bunny parts on a hot dog or other long sausage. Often, they can be pretty misshapen - the pressure of the doe's contractions can push soft tissue around quite a bit.

It wasn't just from her pulling on it there were bones in there.

Rabbits' incisors are as sharp as chisels. I don't believe it would be possible for a doe to pull on anything as delicate as a baby rabbit without slicing it up. They can push pretty hard, though. Often, you can tell whether the baby came out feet first or head first, because the body parts that came out first are often swollen and black from the blood that was forced into that part by the doe's contractions.

The process of being born generally kills these large, single babies; I can only remember a couple that were near enough to normal size to survive the birth process. The bulbous body makes me wonder if this one might have died some time ago, and maybe absorbed a bit of extra fluid?

I have seen a couple of the "fetal mummies" that occur when a doe simply can't deliver one of these things; they are shriveled and almost snake-like and really look nothing like a rabbit at all. It's surprising how little solid matter there is in a baby rabbit.

Normally, the act of being mated causes the doe to release however many ripe eggs she has, all at the same time. It's possible that the buck produces so little viable sperm that only one egg got fertilized, but if it has been many months since this doe has been bred, she'd be my primary suspect. Her hormones may have gotten out of whack, and she only released one egg. She may have been past a hormonal peak when she was bred, and her eggs were so old that only one was viable. Whatever the issue is, if you breed her right now, she has the best chance of producing the largest litter of which she is capable. If she was mine, I'd give her a day or two to recover, and breed her again.

 

[Mocksincerity]

It was day 29-30. So very close. I just wasn't sure if a doe would abort if she'd do it early or a few days prior. Like if there wasn't enough room in there would she be able to abort just one before going into labor with the rest. I keep really detailed breeding records. Hutch card for doe and buck, calendar, and a log to record details including does put in with bucks that were unwilling. She hasn't been bred since right before her last viable litter. The does are kept in hanging cages in breed specific groups and the bucks are together in another group on the other side of the barn. She was going nuts for a bit before she was bred and was incredibly willing to breed, rolling all over the cage like a cat in heat when in with the buck so hormones may have been a factor. She was bred at around 11 pm which is why I say 29-30 days. The kit was dark red around the butt so it must have come out butt first but it really wasn't cut up by the doe. It wasn't that huge size wise either just very long and very deformed looking.

 

[Mocksincerity]

Graphic images:
there was a lot of fluid/ swelling that made the kit look far more deformed right after birth.

 

[Mocksincerity]

She is a very good doe, I'm babying her and hoping she pulls through. I think losing babies is harder on the mothers that are more devoted and unfortunately she's a very loving rabbit mama so having nothing to care plus the difficult delivery is hitting her pretty hard. She never delivered anything else but the swelling in her stomach seems less so I'm hoping she was just carrying a lot of extra fluid and not more babies she can't deliver. She's not very interested in her pellets but is drinking and ate her apple slice this morning.

 

[Baymule]

Tell her she has lots of friends on BYH that love her and want her to get better!

 

[Mocksincerity]

Sad update: The doe did pass away, there weren't more kits in there but the difficult labor was just too much for her. She's enjoying her apples over the rainbow bridge now. Thank you for the kind words everyone.