Rabbit with kits dead inside

[rebecca100]

I had an experienced doe that bred to a buck of her own size, caught then never kindled. I palpated her and felt a large hard lump that I assumed was a tumor. I put her down. I upon opening her up I found six dead mummified full term babies inside. What causes this? Keep in mind that she has kindled before and that she was bred to a buck not any bigger than her. She had been due about three weeks before.

 

[trestlecreek]

To answer your question, I'm not sure, I would find it strange for a rabbit(or any animal) to keep a dead fetus inside,..most animals will either pass it or get sick and die.
I'm curious, knowing she was bred and and failed to deliver, why did you not consider oxytocin/antibiotics?

 

[lupinfarm]

ectopic pregnancy? ...

I'm pretty sure I saw a Ripleys Believe It Or Not once where a woman had been pregnant for like 50 years, when they removed the baby it was mummified...Ectopic Pregnancy

 

[rebecca100]

I thought then that she had just failed to catch. It was not until she failed to breed later that I realized something was wrong and then I palpated her. Since this is stressful to both them and me i try not to palpate unless necessary. I don't think antbiotics woud have helped in this instance since there was no infection, discharge or anything else to signal that there might be trouble and in the summer it is very common for a doe to breed but not catch due to the buck's dropped fertility. And a tumor would cause the doe's infertility which is what I thought had happened after palpation. She was actually one of only two that caught during this time. Imagine the retained kits being like a tumor, there was no outside clue anything was wrong. I also don't believe that she would have ever been able to pass them in one piece since they were quite stiff and hard. She did not look or act sick, there was no discharge and she did not act in pain. I do believe death would have happened eventualy. It was almost like her body never registered that they were ever there.

 

[rebecca100]

You know, Lupinfarm, it hadn't thought of that! That is exactly what it sounds like. i found a site that talks about it in rabbits and I didn't think about it, but they babies were in different places. I was just to grossed out to think anything of it! I found two immediately and the rest more towards the diaphram.

Figure 6 Rabbit doe. Secondary abdominal pregnancy. Two mummified fetuses with a well developed osseous structure and markedly autolysed parenchymatous organs. One of them was attached to the serosal surface of the stomach (right) and the other was free in the abdominal cavity (left).
http://www.reproduction-online.org/cgi/content/full/131/4/631

That is what they looked like in the second pic only older looking and black.

 

[trestlecreek]

I'll have to dig further into this, it is interested.
I've had does(rabbit) whom were pregnant, but failed to deliver..... they will act off, and will have a sporadic discharge(hard to catch). Upon palpitation, I did feel the fetuse(s).
In my cases, I gave oxytocin and antibiotics. They passed the dead and went on to have kits in a future breeding.
I did have one goat that retained a fetus 3 months past her due date. It was strange and the doe never showed a sign of illness,...upon induced abortion, the doe delivered a very hard mummified fetus....she went on to have a normal kidding after that incident..... so, this can happen, but it is really strange. I actually did not look further into that,..probably should have,..just a strange fluke is what I thought...LOL.
Where were the kits in the body?

 

[rebecca100]

definately need to look into this more.

 

[trestlecreek]

Alright, I looked into this and this is what I found.
This is common in pigs, is documented in cows(1-2%) and also happens with cats, dogs and other species.
For some reason, when a baby dies after a certain developmental point, the body can try to reabsorb the fetus instead of expelling it. If it happens this way and the uterus does not try to open,
we now have a mummified fetus.
Why does it happen? This has been studied, but results are inconclusive. In some species of animals, it is thought to be linked to certain diseases. In other species, it is thought to be linked to a hormonal issue. I also found that is it more common with multiples( 1 thrives and 1 dies-horses) or an umbilical cord twists,..etc...
So as it is most common for an animal to expel it, they can try to reabsorb it resulting in the mummified fetus.
It's a fluke in other words, but can happen.
Everything I found says that it is common to induce the animal to lyse it. Generally, animals can conceive and go on reproductively after it is terminated.

 

[rebecca100]

I found this also ectopic pregnancy in rabbits
http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/reprint/11/4/540
According to it the fetuses can be released into the abdominal cavity through a ruptured uterus. This is what I believe happened since the babies were not in the same area. Two were in the back and the others were near the diaphram.