Reasons for a Rabbit Not Showing Estrus: Possible Cause

Section 1: Reasons for a Rabbit Not to Come into Heat

1. A rabbit that is either overweight or underweight may experience difficulties in coming into heat. In such cases, pet owners should carefully manage the rabbit's diet to maintain a moderate body condition. This means ensuring the rabbit is neither too fat nor too thin.

2. During winter, rabbits may not come into heat due to a lack of sunlight and a shortage of fresh green feed. To address this, pet owners should take their rabbits out for more sunbathing when the weather is milder in winter. Additionally, if fresh greens are scarce, pet owners can supplement the rabbit's diet with vegetables like carrots, cabbage leaves, or pumpkins to provide essential vitamins and meet the rabbit's nutritional needs.

3. Illness in rabbits can also lead to a lack of heat. Conditions such as vaginal malformation or fallopian tube narrowing can prevent female rabbits from coming into heat. Generally, such rabbits may need to be culled.

4. The rabbit's age, breeding methods, and breed can all influence when they reach sexual maturity and thus come into heat. Some rabbits may start to come into heat as early as 3 months old, while others may not until they are 5 to 6 months old.

Section 2: What to Do If a Rabbit Does Not Come into Heat

For female rabbits that are not coming into heat properly, in addition to adjusting management practices, the following measures can be taken if necessary:

1. Administering herbal medicine to stimulate estrus: For instance, mix 10g of motherwort and 25g of black beans with water and boil for 20 to 30 minutes. Feed this mixture to the rabbit, and the cooked black beans can be given directly. Typically, feeding the rabbit this mixture for 3 to 5 days will stimulate estrus.

2. Using hormones to induce heat: Unusually, rabbits that do not come into heat can be injected with drugs like pregnant mare serum to stimulate estrus.

3. Using a male rabbit to induce estrus in a female. For rabbits that have not come into heat for a long time, placing them in a cage with a male rabbit can encourage the male to court the female. Allow the male to chase and mount the female for 1 to 2 hours. Then, remove the female. If the female still does not show signs of heat after 5 to 6 hours, repeat the process.

OxyPet Doctor's Tip: There are many factors that can cause a female rabbit not to come into heat. Pet owners must identify the exact cause to effectively address the issue of the rabbit not coming into heat.