Troubled Pregnancy: Watchful Waiting?

[rabbitmeat]

I have a doe with 2 previous pregnancies without problems. She is due in 4 days. Today I found blood and 2 stillborn babies. The babies looked well formed and good sized. I checked the mom and she is no longer bleeding. She is huge there are a lot more babies to come. She is eating drinking pooping peeing and hopping. Looks a little tired. I can feel more babies but not fluid in the belly and she doesn't appear to be tender. I think the rest will pass with time. Being rabbits have two uteruses is there hope that the rest will could be born alive? Is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[rabbitmeat]

Well no one replied but I have an update. A few days early and a little smaller than her previous kits my doe had 12 more kits. All living and active. All in the nest and well cared for. Momma Doe seems to be doing fine. It's a bit cold here but I have a warmer in the nest which should make up for the small size and momma pulled hair. Hopefully all will be well. The other 2 that were born earlier were much larger. Maybe they were the only two in the other uterus? She's a proven good mother so hopefully all will progress well.

 

[P.O. in MO]

Sorry I was getting ready to reply but supper was ready. Glad you had some healthy kits. I'm fairly new at this but I would think that if you had 12 more kits they came out of more than 1 of the uterine horns. I have had a 4 litter where 2 looked normal and two were barely developed but all delivered at the same time. The same does next litter was 3 healthy kits and then 2 days later I found one big dead kit she decided to deliver out on the cage floor wire. It was all stretched out and I would assume it was not alive when she discharged it. Maybe 14 was just too many and her reproductive system just couldn't sustain them all. Hope all of your litter survives. Sometimes with big litters the ability to get a turn to nurse will determine how many will survive.

 

[Bunnylady]

Numerically large litters often come earlier than a litter with fewer kits. Normal gestation for rabbits is 28-32 days; most average litters are born at day 31. In almost 30 years of raising rabbits, the only litters that I can remember having been born on day 27-28 had more than a dozen kits in them.

I can only remember a couple of litters that were really premature (21-24 days), and they appeared not to have survived the birthing process. I think your litter have a good chance of making it. Good luck!

 

[Petty]

I just hope the moma would be able to feed them all. Good luck!