Feeding a Nursing Doe Rabbit

1 Goals

A good high-yield doe produces up to 7 kg of milk per lactation; output peaks at 18 to 21 days then drops. Before the peak she makes about 280 g/day, and the first 21 days are over 55% of the total. To keep kits alive and growing, ensure plenty of quality milk.

2 What to Feed

Mainly greens and juicy feed; good legume hay should be over a third of the diet. For concentrate use soybean cake, peanut cake and bran, plus animal protein like fish meal; crude protein about 17%.

Summer: 1000 to 1400 g greens and 50 to 90 g concentrate. Winter: 150 to 250 g dried hay, 250 to 500 g carrot or beet, 75 to 105 g concentrate, plus a little salt (1 to 2 g per meal); raise amounts as needed and increase mixed concentrate after 10 days.

Do not change the feed during lactation — output drops sharply and takes 5 to 7 days to recover, which harms the kits’ digestion and growth.

3 Water and Daily Management

Meet the nutrition needs and give enough water at the right temperature.

Watch milk output so the kits are full. A good doe nurses as she delivers; a poor or first-time doe may wait 3 to 5 hours or abandon the kits — offer greens, bean juice and water-soaked soybeans to boost milk.

4 Preventing Mastitis

High-yield does with thick milk can have stagnation, and cage wire or nails can infect the gland, causing mastitis and fatal yellow urine disease in the kits. Prevent it: by weight, give sulfathiazole (0.3 to 0.5 g) and one soda tablet, twice daily for 3 days.