Palpation - The rabbit scan

In the previous post  I mentioned mating the does on  04/08/17. Today being the third week, I had to palpate the two does early in the morning before leaving home.

The palpation process:

This requires some practice - two or more tries before you can master it. When I was feeling the does abdomen, I wasn't doing it to grab the kits or to count how many there were... that could have endangered the developing kits as well as the does life. I was mindful of the of the amount of pressure I applied and how long.

 

When palpating, the focal point should be the upper side of the abdomen. The pressure applied should be very low most of the time. Move your hand gently up and down from the upper to the lower abdomen while your thump and middle finger are used to prob the abdomen with gentle pressure.

 

Of course, you can feel a lot in the belly. Amongst others, right behind the left ribs you can feel the liver; all the way up in the abdomen on both sides and just under the spine, halfway back you will feel the kidneys. You may also feel the small fecal pellets and the guts. If she is pregnant after two weeks, you will start to feel hard things like marbles, also in the upper side of the abdomen. These become progressively larger until you might even be able to feel the form of an embryo.

It is also possible to check for pregnancy by putting the doe with the buck again 12 days after mating. If she refuses, the first mating has almost certainly worked out well. If she is willing again, the buck can repeat his work. This method has the very small risk that an already pregnant doe gets mated again with the possibility of starting another pregnancy halfway through the first. This super-pregnancy occurs occasionally.

At the end of the end of the palpation the first doe gave a positive sign while the second doe did not.

 

Bingo!... the first doe is already heavy. I could feel the embryos.

 

Meanwhile, I have rescheduled the second doe for mating...

Garden Affairs

It's one of those rare days when rain went missing in the month of August, the sun shining so bright, the sky so clear and the weather is warm.

 

Lucky day for the rabbits!

 

I am taking them out into the garden for some refreshing air, fresh grass and herbs. But that's not the only reason I am bringing them out... they will also mate, am 100% sure of that, especially when the garden is a neutral ground.

 

A neutral ground is where neither the male or the female has a marked territory. It is not always necessary to have them in a neutral ground for mating to take place. Except in rare cases where the doe (female) is aggressive even when she is placed in the bucks' (male) territory. Another suitable option would be artificial insemination.

 

On this particular day, the doe had all of the buck... + had a really good time in the garden.

 

If both does were not pregnant, I could still use the garden method to have them both conceive. Another way is to take the does separately to the buck on scheduled dates.

 

Artificial insemination would have been more precise but much more expensive and harder. Besides, the rabbits will want it natural I am sure. 

 

By 9:56am I placed both rabbits in the garden. A rabbit tractor was on stand by incase they were destructive.

By 10:06am the buck had done it twice and was still attempting to mount the doe the third time. Now that's precisely what I wanted. That buck rocks!

 

The second doe should have been in the garden too if the palpation on her was negative.

Is the rabbit pregnant?

During my routine cleaning/sanitation on Saturday I saw my rabbit lying lazily on the floor... I then made a comment on how fat and sluggish she had become. I assume something is wrong with her...

 

"What is it?" "You eat and sleep a lot"

"But am pregnant, can't you see?" the rabbit fired back... I took a very long look again observing her stomach more closely. The last word that tried coming out of my mouth is 'yippee!'before my left hand crashed into  one of the bed post. I woke up and sat on the bed reflecting for a couple of seconds before reaching for my diary. I flipped a few pages, 04/08/17 it was, the day the rabbits next door mated.

 

It's been 2 weeks already and the right time to palpate the rabbits. Certainly not today though, I have got a lot of clients to attend to today. Palpation will have to be tomorrow.

 

Palpation is the process of feeling the rabbits abdomen to check for sure if she is pregnant. There are plenty other ways of knowing if a female rabbit is pregnant. However, palpation remains the surest way to know...