Rabbit pregnant with two litters

by Kaitlin
(Missouri)

I think my doe may be pregnant with two separate litters. How can I tell for sure and what should I do? Will she lose all the kits? Thank you.

****Karen Sez****
Hmmm, you'll need to tell us a bit more...explain why you think two separate litters.

If you test-bred at 10-14 days just to see if the doe was pregnant, and the doe only had babies in one of her two uterus horns, the doe could indeed conceive a second litter 2 weeks after the first. In our experience this is possible but not probably, thankfully.

We have never personally experienced such a scenario, so cannot give you much guidance. But, IF I felt my doe was double-pregnant 2 weeks apart, I might wait it out and see what happened, or I might take her to my rabbit-savvy vet and get an expert opinion.

It could be that the doe will deliver both litters at once; the younger litter would then be premature and would die while the oldest kits would be fine. Or, I've heard of delivering the second litter when the first was 2 weeks old. If this happens, you'll have a serious management problem, and may need to foster or hand-feed the second litter.

Or it sometimes happens that the second litter gets retained, an infection ensues, and, well, that's not good. You could lose both doe and all kits.

Let us know how it goes, Kaitlin. Your experience might help all of us.

Best of luck,
K