Told You So, Part 2. Ugh.

Well, first off, let me say that by all appearances I was right about the kits.  The change in their droppings was due to the change in diet because of weaning.  All but one of the kits is hopping around and continues to gain weight.  One, the one whose color we can't figure out, continues to struggle a bit, but he has gained weight today.  Unfortunately, he isn't super active.  But now, as I have finished typing that, he is jumping all over me. 

However, Charlotte was also right.  Unfortunately.  Tootsie continued to deteriorate despite Charlotte's best efforts.  She passed away the next day in Charlotte's arms. 

We have no idea what was wrong.  She would not eat, and had not eaten for a few days.  She would drink, gladly, if Charlotte was feeding her with a medicine dropper.  There weren't any droppings strung together in her pan, like one would expect to find with wool block.  She didn't have a temperature, so there should not have been an infection.  I guess we'll never know.

So now Charlotte has a litter of kits that still need something only a mother can provide.  Fortunately, we have Snowball and her litter of kits, and they are all together now.  While the doe cages are a perfect size for one doe and her kits (about 30" x 60"), it looked a little crowded with 13 kits in there.  Each cage has two doors on it, so Charlotte put them together offset so that one door is free on each side and two doors are wired together in the middle.  It looks like a little bunny paradise now.

It's difficult to tell in the picture, but the kits are really zooming around in their paradise.

You can see the twist ties Charlotte used to wire everything together.

There Is a Reason Why Rabbits Have Lots of Kits

The reason why rabbits have lots of kits is because some always die.  As you already know, Snowball lost four of her kits at birth.  Tomorrow the kits will be four weeks old.  We have always heard that the most common times for kits to die (after birth) are two days, two weeks, and two months.  We have never lost a rabbit kit after the first two days. 

That all just changed.  This morning, after taking care of my other animals, I went out to the garage to take care of Snowball and to weigh the kits.  I always weigh from darkest to lightest in colors.  So I always weigh Sven first, as he is the chocolate.  Then I put him back and got out Kristoff, who was still in the nesting box.  I figured he was still sleeping.  But then I found he was cold and stiff.  Just then my mom opened the door and told me it was time for breakfast.  I started to cry.  My mom asked what was wrong, but I couldn't tell her.  She came over, saw him, and felt him.  He was dead.  My mom went inside and put him in a bag so he could be buried.  I finished weighing the rest of my kits.  Charlotte had knit a bunny blanket and gave it to Kristoff so that he could be buried with it. 

My mom, my sister, and I don't know how he died or what happened.  He was doing perfectly well and gaining lots of weight.  He was one of the more lively ones and no one suspected anything was wrong with him.  Until today.