Can my bunny possibly be pregnant?
by Bunny Lover
(Va)
My four year old "accidental" lop/dwarf mix was with my friend's bunny last night. The bunny is a six week old male. They exhibited mating behavior, but the male was young so I thought mating would be impossible. But this morning I was petting my bunny this morning and accidentally squeezed one of her teats and milk came out. Does this mean my bunny is pregnant?
***** Karen Sez *****You're right - a 6-week-old kit is just too young to be siring litters. I'm pretty sure you can put your mind at ease relative to a pregnancy.
But frankly, I'm not quite sure what the presence of milk from the teats means in a non-pregnant 4-year-old doe. Can you feel any hard lumps or unusual swellings in the mammary tissue around the teats? Was it milk or something else, like (shudder!) pus? Can you express milk from all the teats or just one of them?
It could be that your doe was experiencing some physiological changes due to a false pregnancy, which in a hormonally ready rabbit can be triggered by something as inoccuous as getting stroked along the back by you. I am not sure if those changes extend all the way to milk production.
I hope others with experience will share their understanding with us!
In the meantime, if you continue with concerns, you may wish to take your female to a rabbit-savvy vet for a check-up.