# Advice ASAP please!



## madmouse (May 19, 2012)

Yesterday my banded doe gave birth to a litter of 13. The pups and mom both seemed fine. Mom is very attentive. But today I find that most pups have empty bellies and not a single one has a completely full belly. I tried hand feeding but none of the pups will accept the KMR. Many of them were cool and inactive (despite the fact that mom is sitting on them). Most had their ribs showing and none had gained weight since yesterday. I've culled all but those with the fullest bellies who were stronger. Is there anything else I can do? Is there any way I can tell whether this is a problem with the pups or with mom's lactation?


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Was it her first litter? I'd assume its a problem with the doe not producing enough as there was some feeding activity, so best I can say is keep an eye on them & see if they have any signs for the better tomorrow. Any does you can foster to?

*Edit: In my area, another of the local breeders had a litter of about 13. She brought them over to my place to sex & reduce @ day two, and I noticed all their bellies were empty, and they were looking poor. After reducing, the next day she uploaded a picture of the remaining 7 and they all had very full milk bellies. I thought it was unusual, as I have never had that happen to me. Maybe as they stimulate her more, she will start producing more?


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## madmouse (May 19, 2012)

Yes, it is this doe's first litter, but she's not particularly young, around 4mos. Sadly, I don't have any available foster moms. I have a doe due within the week, but these guys will not last that long at this rate. Do you think that this is something that would happen again in the future? This doe is my last banded and she's got the best markings I've seen in three generations, so I'm eager to try again with her in a couple months. If she failed to nurse again and a foster raised the pups, would the daughters be likely to have the same problem? I'm hoping that culling the litter will help, but I checked on them a little while ago and saw no milk bellies. If the bellies are still empty tomorrow and/or the babies have deteriorated, I will probably cull them all.


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## andypandy29us (Aug 10, 2012)

maybe there are too many in the litter how many did you cull them down too?


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## madmouse (May 19, 2012)

I had culled them to five but it didn't seem to be working... Then this morning I was delighted to find that all five had at least a little milk in their bellies. I culled them further to three does and it looks as tho they will be ok. They've gained a half gram in less than 12hrs. Yay!! Perhaps the mom just has very little milk or it took it a day or two to start flowing properly.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

Id guess it was the size of the litter, mice have 10 teats but I would assume not all will give the same amount of milk, ive read with dogs that the back teats give the most milk. So a bigger litter means less milk to go around in a normal female. If you then get a doe who for whatever reason isn't producing as much milk that's even less milk to go around.
I allways cull my litters down to 6-7 as soon as unless I have a reason for keeping more, but I normaly have does birth together so they can share the work. The more nutrision the babies get the better it is for them.


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