I have mentioned a few times that my does are not young. Whoops just turned four years old at the the beginning of the month. Her fertility has been in question, which is why we were having her kindle here (before the buyer backed out). Her first breeding with the young NZW-A buck did not take, so I had bred her again with the proven NZW-B.
I was certain she was pregnant this time and she was, but while I was gone all day yesterday doing errands, my husband texted me to say she only gave birth to a single kit. He reported that it was alive and regular sized. That made me think that she was not done, but he said she had been out of the nest for a long time. I could not wait to get home and palpate her, because having just one regular size did not sound likely to me. I was sure there was more to come and I was concerned it might just be one more, which would make it likely that it would be a fetal giant.
I felt her abdomen and I was pretty sure I felt a large mass in her birth canal and nothing else. I hoped I was wrong but as the minutes ticked away into night time with nothing else being born, I was becoming more concerned that I was right. However, I had to focus on the one that had been born. This is the first time we ever had a doe only produce one, but it is not the first time we tried to deal with just one in the nest; we had only one remaining once when the rest in the kindle died and it also died from being too cold.
A sole kit presents quite a set of challenges, the biggest being body temperature regulation. Outside temperatures last night dipped to freezing again. We have a warming pad under the drop nest and good insulation all around, which works well when the temperatures take a dip with at least three or maybe even just two in a well-built nest lined with fur, but not with just one kit all by itself.
Each kit in the kindle relies on its siblings to provide body heat and they regulate their temperature by moving in closely to each other when they are cold or to the inside of the litter and pushing away for a little space or to the outside of the litter when it is warm. A sole kit has to rely on its own body heat alone and it cannot regulate its temperature.
Last night the kit was not warm enough, so I brought it inside and set it up in a "nest" with a well covered warming pad that we have set up for other kits in the past. As the kit warmed up, it started moving around more in jerky motions as I would expect to see with a warm, healthy newborn. Kits move less when they are cold. So, it is was a good call, but body temperature regulation is just as difficult inside as outside.
I did not sleep much last night, waking often to check on the kit, but during only two hours of sleep I got, the kit died. It had moved into the warmest spot and it apparently was too warm there.
Today I fed all the rabbits as I usually do. Whoops did not seem to be out of sorts in any way. I checked on her and the nest a few times. In the afternoon, I found exactly what I had feared: a fetal giant. They are about twice the size of a large kit at birth and they never survive the birthing process. Basically, fetal giants are crushed from the contractions. It is a very hard and risky birthing for the doe as well. It can cause trauma, internal bleeding, and death.
In Whoops' favor, this was not her first kindling, but not in her favor is her age. She is moving as if she is sore, possibly in pain. There really was nothing I could do to ease this birthing or save either of the kits.
I remember these words when I read in a book about checking the nest to remove any dead kits where the author pointedly added, "You will have them." I thought that we could avoid it for the most part, but having lost some kits for various reasons (mostly exposure) over the years, I have resigned to believe sometimes no matter what you do, it is just unavoidable. If you breed rabbits, you will have some kits die.
