Questions about stillborn kits...

[Pookinaround]

Unfortunately I just found my first dead kit. It was a large, single kit that was possibly stillborn. Not sure if it was born alive or not but I suspect not. The only thing I was able to see was what looked like some abrasions around the mouth.

I have a couple of questions...when a mom has a stillborn kit do they usually go on to have healthy kits later or are they more likely to have more stillborn kits in the future?

How common are stillborn kits? I know that without a necropsy I'll never know the exact cause of death but I was wondering if anyone knows of some general factors that could cause it?

 

[Riven]

Sometimes mom's will have stillborns and then normal litters, or sometimes a stillborn and live kits in the same litter.

Sometimes when the baby gets too big the labor is difficult and the baby doesn't make it through the birth process. Sounds like that was the case with your mom and she probably had to pull him out ( abrasions on the face).

If I have a mom that has big babies that are still born twice in a row I'll try her with a different male as sometimes it's genetic. If a chin mom would have high blood sugars it could cause a big baby as well ( gestational diabetes basically like people get).

I personally would re-breed her and see what happens and you'll know to keep an eye on her. Sorry about your baby, it's always sad to lose one.

 

[Pookinaround]

Dad is my biggest and best male and mom is a fairly large chin too. She had successfully given birth to two different litters of single kits before but this was her first time with this male. I was really looking forward to seeing what their kits would look like :-(

 

[Dreamlite]

I would give her another chance. If she's had good litters before I would keep her. Was she bred to this male before? If this is her 1st litter to that male I would switch males. Stillborns are soo frustrating.

 

[Spoof]

I wouldn't worry about one stillborn. I usually have a couple a year and who knows what causes it. Sometimes maybe they didn't get the placenta off fast enough, maybe the baby got squished by mom accidentally or something was wrong with mom towards the end of pregnancy. I do have a repeat offender mom that I pulled out of breeding last month. She has had three litters of twin stillborns after 8 years with the same male and many healthy litters. I don't know what caused it. They all looked very healthy and fully formed, dry, fluffy.

I don't normally have singles stillborn but I don't have singles often either.

 

[Danderson]

I had a stillborn 2 days ago and he was a gorgeous huge boy...Momma has littered many times for Tab but this was her first with one of my boys...Daddy is not real big but his parents are huge and Ace is a big girl as well...I am keeping them together to see what happens next time but will probably separate if she has another stillborn...It always seems to happen to the ones you are on pins and needles waiting for!

 

[Vyxxin]

This is one of those times you're kicking yourself for not being there when she littered. Get used to it, you'll have a LOT of those moments in the breeding world unfortuneately. I usually won't re-pair two chinchillas based on one dead kit. Things happen beyond anyone's control which doesn't make it genetic. Something as simple as mom stepping on the newborn wrong (this happened to me last week) could've caused it and that's nowhere near genetic. NOW, if it repeats...re-pair...if it repeats...pull her from breeding. I have one female here that's given me three litters. First litter was twins, one died early on. Second litter was a single dead kit, third litter a single dead kit. She's been switched to a new male. Depending on how her next litter goes will determine her breeding future here. It's always the ones you have highest hopes for that will be the biggest disappointments.

 

[greychins]

I tend to agree with the others. We've had some stillborns, but so far, those females have gone on to have live kits in future litters. Even sometimes preventable deaths, you just can't be there for everything. Had one litter where the one kit was fine, the other never got out of the sack. Why mom didn't get him out, I don't know, she never had that problem before or after, but that time she didn't. Had I been around, maybe he would have lived, but the reality is, I have a job and can't be with the chins 24/7.

Same goes for stillborn kits. One of my females had a stillborn last week. She's produced living kits in the past, and I have no doubt she will again have living kits in the future. It's just something that happens sometimes.

What I do (and I would think most breeders do) is keep records of babies. In my records I have things like birthdate, ranch brand (for me, MNWI B___), dam, sire, how many kits produced, how many kits survived, and what happened to the kits (i.e. sold, kept, died, etc). That way, if a pattern develops, it's easy to notice. I have this all in an excel sheet, and I can easily look at that and determine if a certain pairing is consistently producing stillborns, poor quality kits, etc.

If I had a female that consistently produced stillborns, then I might try her with another male, if I had another one that I felt she complemented, but if not, she would be pulled from breeding and sold to a pet home.

 

[Zoaea]

Sometimes maybe they didn't get the placenta off fast enough

How come the plecenta being on longer would hurt? The plecenta begins pumping the extra blood it holds to the newborn as the cord begins to constrict. So if anything more complications would arise if she severs it quickly. Some animals even leave it intact (obviously not a good idea for a prey animal that needs to run at birth).

Sorry slightly off topic but I think you can strike it off the list of possible reasons.

 

[Dreamlite]

If its covering the head it can cause suffication. So the plecenta can cause what looks to be a stillborn kit. Without being there when it was born there is no way to know for sure.

 

[EMSChins]

I think you are confusing the placenta with the embryonic sac.

 

[Spoof]

Sometimes it gets wrapped around their neck, middle or leg and will suffocate them if mom doesn't get it off fast enough. I cut part of one off of a kit's leg last month.

 

[CTChin]

Over the years, I've had a couple of births that involved the mother pushing out two kits in rapid succession. They only seem to be able to concentrate on one kit at a time. If I wasn't there to pull the sacs off the second kit, I may of found what I thought was a "stillborns."

 

[chechinchillas]

I have had a couple of stillborn kits and they have been very large babies. I have also found a couple that were stillborn because the embryonic sac was still on the nose.

 

[Zoaea]

Ah ya if she meant embryonic sack that would make sense, the placenta is only the organ that helps exchange nutrients. ive lost baby animals that had the sack only on their face, its sad because the mom was so close to doing it right. =(

 

[Pookinaround]

I think it is time for some good news!!! UPDATE...the momma (Rogue) who this thread was originally started over GAVE BIRTH TO TRIPLETS TODAY!!!! (Sired by Wolverine)YIPPPEEEEEE Mom and babies are all doing well so far.

PAC C5 - standard male 63g.
PAC C6 - beige female 52g.
PAC C7 - standard male 36g.

I found the first one last night around 1am and when I checked today I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 more... GO ROUGIE!!!

 

[chechinchillas]

Congrats!

 

[EMSChins]

Congrats Rhonda!

 

[Pookinaround]

Thanks guys! I have been singing "Don't call it a comeback" all morning. It is nice to see something that has the potential to be bad actually turn out well....I was so afraid of it happening again with her but yayy she's good!

 

[Zoaea]

Grats, you should marinade us in pictures. ;P Rogue and Wolvarine, its destiny. Was that the same male as last time btw?