Kit stuck- emergency in progress.

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Aviodont

Aviodont

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Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
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Location
Greenville, SC
We had a standard Rex doe we bred 37 days ago, first time. She is three years old. On day 35, we had to go out of town for two days and she had showed no real nesting signs in the nest box except on day 29 she had a hot mustache. I was going to rebreed her on day 40.

I come back today (day 37) to find a nice pile of hair in the nest box and also scattered all over the floor. There was hanging out of her a limp kit (the legs and tail are visible). It has hair on it like a few day old kit.

She has tried for 2 hours since I have been home with contractions here and there. But no progress. I have no idea how long she has had the kit out.

I am at a loss what to do. Should I try tugging on the lifeless kit. I would assume if she does not kindle, she will die. If I tug on the kit and it rips in two, what would I do then?
 
You are in a no win situation. If you do nothing she will die if she has been in labor for over 2h on one kit. If you try to help she may die anyway. I don't see a down side to trying unless you are able and willing to rush her to an emergency vet who can see her in the next 30 minutes.
 
If you opt to help you can pull gently and at a bit of an angle. kits generally get born head first, it sounds like the shoulders are stuck, so imagine you are trying to ease one shoulder out at a time. Please see below.
 
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Aviodont said:
We had a standard Rex doe we bred 37 days ago, first time. She is three years old.
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I just caught this part. She is not going to make it. I am sorry. You will need to euthanize her. Her pelvis is likely fused and she cannot pass a kit. I am sorry.
 
eco2pia said:
If you opt to help you can pull gently and at a bit of an angle. kits generally get born head first, it sounds like the shoulders are stuck, so imagine you are trying to ease one shoulder out at a time.
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Thank you so much. We got it out. Unfortunately, it teared open. But the whole kit was able to be removed.
 
It is my experience and understanding that if a doe has not been bred by the age of 2 it is best not to breed her, ever. They will generally not be able to survive delivery.

I am sure there have been exceptions to this rule, but I am equally sure it is a "rule" for a reason. If she ends up only having the one kit and surviving I would not try to rebreed her.
 
eco2pia said:
I just caught this part. She is not going to make it. I am sorry. You will need to euthanize her. Her pelvis is likely fused and she cannot pass a kit. I am sorry.
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I don’t understand. The difficulty was not because it was feet first? It has to do with her age instead? The length of gestation?
 
Aviodont said:
I don’t understand. The difficulty was not because it was feet first? It has to do with her age instead? The length of gestation?
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As I understand it, their pelvis fuses if they don't have babies before about 2years. I saw feet first and thought about that first but then I saw 3 years old. Let me poke around the internet an be sure I am not feeding you an old wives tale, but I am pretty sure she has to have had a litter before 2 (generally) to be able to continue to be bred.
 
Well, apparently this may be a myth. I do know that I have lost "older" does (generally those received at an indeterminate age from a backyard) to their first pregnancy fairly consistently--enough that I have stopped considering breeding a doe if she has not had a successful kindle before I got her, or I have a clearly recorded birthdate. I THOUGHT it was a skeletal issue, but it appears to not be the case?

I am not going to start breeding older does--whatever it is, I have lost the 2 I tried to breed this way, despite them appearing the picture of health, and in both cases they could not successfully deliver and died in labor, full of healthy, full term kits. So I do not know the reason this is supposed to be true, but it seems it has been for me. I have seen that some people suggest it is related to internal fat, but again, I just do not know. Maybe someone on here will have more insight for us.

I still hope she does not have more--because she is likely very tired by now, and may continue to have difficulty.
 
eco2pia said:
As I understand it, their pelvis fuses if they don't have babies before about 2years. I saw feet first and thought about that first but then I saw 3 years old. Let me poke around the internet an be sure I am not feeding you an old wives tale, but I am pretty sure she has to have had a litter before 2 (generally) to be able to continue to be bred.
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Thank you for the explanation. Her mother was my breeder doe for almost 4 years and she died about 6 months ago. We had kept this current doe around from the mother’s first litter as a pet, so with no does left, I thought it would be a good idea to breed her. I had no idea I needed to start early.

I called the rabbitry I got my original Rex rabbits years ago to look into replacements, but she has sold off her stock. Is it hard to get Rex rabbits from outside one’s local area (3-ish hours)? Do breeders ship rabbits?

I hope that was her only kit. It was a monster size. I can’t picture that any more would fit inside her. But, yes, she was a little pudgy.
 
eco2pia said:
Well I hope so too. Bravo getting the kit out though! that was hard to do. Good job. I hope she makes it!
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Now that I think about it, it is possible she has been with that kit stuck since before morning. The reason why is that there was an uneaten cecotrope on the floor. That has never happened to us before. I believe they pass these before dawn.
 

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