Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2011 11:33:03 GMT -5
i need help and don't know who else to ask, and i figure you all are so knowledgeable you are probably the best bet anyway!
we have been raising meat rabbits for about 2 years (NZ and californian), and have a doe who kindled her first litter 5 days ago... without a nest box, because DH decided it was too late and she must not be pregnant. i went out to feed in the morning and found 2 dead kits, one perfect but cold and one stiff and yellow and not normal. mama seemed fine so i removed the babies, cried, put a LOT more hay and fluff in her cage just in case there were more to come, and went about my business.
next morning there was another dead kit, and his legs were purple so i assume he either died on the way out or she crushed him afterwards. repeat day one.
later that day mama was gasping for breath and seemed very unhappy, not moving much, apparently not eating or pooping. there were little flecks of what looked like diluted blood around her whisker fur, as if it were oozing out of her. i called a vet and it was going to be no less than $200 to have her checked out, and unfortunately we cannot afford anything like that, as much as i want to help her (we are dead broke). i know enough about human birthing to guess that she was either still in labor or dealing with an infection, so i chose #2 and got some penicillin from the feed store. we checked her ladyparts and there was no unusual blood or puss or smell, and i could see into the birth canal enough to say there was not a stuck kit. after two doses she seemed to be breathing easier and moving around so i hoped it WAS an infection and we would be able to take care of it...
today she is breathing the same (not normal but not frightening) and it is obvious to me that there is at least one kit in her belly--there is a hard protrusion sticking out of one side. nothing in the birth canal that i can see.
is there something i can do to help her expel the last bab(ies)? i really don't want her to die of exhaustion or anything else painful, but i certainly don't want to mercy-kill her if she might make it. i just don't know what to do! i'm keeping up the antibiotics as a prophylactic... but how can we get her labor going again? any other suggestions?
thank you so much and sorry for the looong post...
rhiannon
we have been raising meat rabbits for about 2 years (NZ and californian), and have a doe who kindled her first litter 5 days ago... without a nest box, because DH decided it was too late and she must not be pregnant. i went out to feed in the morning and found 2 dead kits, one perfect but cold and one stiff and yellow and not normal. mama seemed fine so i removed the babies, cried, put a LOT more hay and fluff in her cage just in case there were more to come, and went about my business.
next morning there was another dead kit, and his legs were purple so i assume he either died on the way out or she crushed him afterwards. repeat day one.
later that day mama was gasping for breath and seemed very unhappy, not moving much, apparently not eating or pooping. there were little flecks of what looked like diluted blood around her whisker fur, as if it were oozing out of her. i called a vet and it was going to be no less than $200 to have her checked out, and unfortunately we cannot afford anything like that, as much as i want to help her (we are dead broke). i know enough about human birthing to guess that she was either still in labor or dealing with an infection, so i chose #2 and got some penicillin from the feed store. we checked her ladyparts and there was no unusual blood or puss or smell, and i could see into the birth canal enough to say there was not a stuck kit. after two doses she seemed to be breathing easier and moving around so i hoped it WAS an infection and we would be able to take care of it...
today she is breathing the same (not normal but not frightening) and it is obvious to me that there is at least one kit in her belly--there is a hard protrusion sticking out of one side. nothing in the birth canal that i can see.
is there something i can do to help her expel the last bab(ies)? i really don't want her to die of exhaustion or anything else painful, but i certainly don't want to mercy-kill her if she might make it. i just don't know what to do! i'm keeping up the antibiotics as a prophylactic... but how can we get her labor going again? any other suggestions?
thank you so much and sorry for the looong post...
rhiannon