My rabbit isn't feeding her kits, 2 have already died!

by Emma
(Northport, FL )

Hello my name is Emma, I have 4 adult rabbits, all live in the same cage, 1 is a mother of the two. I thought they were all girls and one day I noticed one of them started ripping her hair out! I made sure i took the male out before he tried to eat the babies . Turns out they each had about 3 litters, yes 3! Now I was almost positive that each bunny was done with her litter when I went in there a few days ago there was another litter of six! About 3 days passed and I saw that the babies kept getting skinnier and skinnier.


Today at about 9am I went to feed them and 2 of the kits were scattered around the bigger part of the cage (there's a little private part of the cage that is closed in). I picked them up to put them back in the private part and they weren't breathing ;( .

I'm not sure which one is the mom but none of them really have milk in their nipples any more. They aren't feeding their babies and they are all starving to death. what should I do??

P.S. You can see their ribs!!

***** Karen Sez *****
I see you've discovered how rabbits act - breed and rebreed, if you let them by keeping them all in a single cage, with no time to recover. The kits are starving because the moms themselves are depleted from several litters in quick succession. You can try bottle-feeding, though chances of death from that method is about 90%.

Am I right that by now, all the kits have died? If so, that chapter will have closed. What to do going forward?

Step #1 - Learn the true sexes of all rabbits - www.raising-rabbits.com/sexing-rabbits.html. Remove all bucks. Each buck must get its own cage, or they'll fight.

Step #2 - Give the does a chance to recuperate and rebuild their body conditioning.

Step #3 - If you enjoy breeding your rabbits, you may wish to obtain an unrelated male. Breeding requires taking the doe to the buck so that the buck doesn't get horribly wounded in a territorial doe's cage.

Good luck, and enjoy your rabbits...

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