Two of four rabbits appear to have no legs!

by Estella
(Uganda)

Hey

My rabbit gave birth yesterday morning on the mesh so they had a rough landing. They were four kits and we witnessed the mother eating one of its own kits legs!
So one has only two front legs and the other kits hind leg was badly injured but still atttached to its body but does not work( I will atttach pictures)
Yet they are alive and very active. They breastfeed and everything.
My question is should I disinfect the wound of the rabbit that has only two legs as they seem healed and sealed over?
And for the one with one leg should I just cut it off or go to the vet?

******Leia sez******

So sorry to hear about the rabbits.

First off, to prevent this from happening again, you will want to have a nest box in the rabbit cage. Rabbits give birth on day 31 or 32 after mating, so you will want to give her a nest box by day 28. She will begin pulling fur and building a nest with hay to prepare for the babies. You can read all about good nest boxes here: Rabbit Nest Boxes,

Once you breed this mother again, watch her and check on her and the babies daily. You will want to see if she just had an unfortunate accident, or if she doesn't have good mothering instincts. If she doesn't have good instincts, you may want to remove her from your breeding program. You can find out all about everything involved with healthy rabbit breeding here: Breeding Rabbits,

We also have an ebook that goes into more depth. For 2023, the Year of the Rabbit, all ebooks are on sale 30% off! Rabbit Reproduction,

For the baby rabbits missing legs: they sound healthy, but they will need extra care for their whole lives. If you raise rabbits for meat, you can certainly continue raising them until they are old enough to process, which will be about 10 weeks old. If you raise rabbits to sell as pets, people probably won't buy a pet that requires that much care. You will need to decide if it is kinder to keep the animal yourself and give it the extra care it needs, or to quickly end it's suffering. Animals with such disabilities can live happy lives, but only if given the extra care they need.

For the rabbit with the bad/broken leg: if you know how to care for animal wounds and prevent infection by bandaging and cleaning it, you could amputate the bad leg yourself. If you do, you must be ready to stop bleeding immediately, and to keep the wound clean, dry, and bandaged. Yes, the amputation will be painful until it heals. You certainly have the option of seeing a vet, especially to get anti-biotics and pain medication for the rabbit.

Whatever you decide, we support your decision to give your rabbits the best care that you can.

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