Help, doe urinating on kits!

[Farmer Jenn]

My first time mother, a Californian doe gave birth to a litter 10 days ago. She keeps using the nest box as a litter box and is urinating on her poor little kits. I have had to clean the box out once or twice a day for the last few days and have been cleaning the kits with a warm damp cloth and drying them as much as possible. Is there any way to stop her from doing this? Will she do this with future litters too or is it just because of inexperience? The kits are indoors so I am not worried about them being wet and cold as much as if they were outdoors but it is unpleasant for them and for me having to constantly clean them and the nest box. Is there hope for this doe or should she be replaced? Anyone else have experience with this issue?

 

[alsea1]

Maybe you could put a litter box in her cage.
I have yet to encounter this problem

 

[mysunwolf]

I agree with alsea. Place a litter box in the corner where the nest box is, and move the nest box somewhere else. See if that solves the problem. I would give her another chance or two to prove herself a better mother, since it is her first time!

 

[Farmer Jenn]

I put a litter box in and took the nest box out. When I arrived at her cage this morning, all six kits were out of the box and sitting with Momma on the wire. Since they looked fed I took them out for the day to give the doe time to check out the litter box. They are sleeping in a deep plastic bin with a thin fleece blanket at present. I am thinking of putting a piece of carpet in the cage tonight for the kits to lay on while they are fed. Hope this works.

 

[mysunwolf]

Sometimes if the kits insist on being on the wire, I put down a thick layer of hay over the whole floor so that they can be warm wherever they end up. Good luck!

 

[Baymule]

Does will pee on their babies to hide their scent from predators. Unfortunately it will give them ammonia pneumonia and they die. They also get cold from being wet and they die. Kudos to you for being so attentive and being such a good caregiver to your kits. I like the lining the cage with hay idea!

I made nest boxes with hardware cloth on the bottom and filled with hay. That way, the pee passed through the bottom instead of becoming pee-soggy wood emanating choking ammonia fumes.

Don't get rid of her yet, she might be just fine on the next litter. This is an instinctive act on the part of the doe, so don't be mad at her. Animals do what animals do. For instance, goat bucks pee on their faces, goat does find them quite irresistible. And WE think they STINK!!

 

[Farmer Jenn]

I moved the doe and her kits to a larger cage and added a litterbox and put the nest box back in. 24 hours later she has not peed in the nest box or on the kits but has used the litter box. Yay!