Information/Articles on Birth, New Moms, & Babies

Poor nutrition, hormonal imbalance, disease, stress, or even fetuses lodged in the birth canal are some of the things that may cause a birth not to progress normally.

Signs of possible complications may include distress, excess bleeding, pale extremities, hard contractions with no results, or the cessation of contractions despite the appearance of more babies. Darker, thicker blood spotting or brownish blood can be indicative of trouble. In the case of hemorrhage generally the babies cannot be saved. Blood loss of the female can be life threatening and may require an emergency spay.

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Generally female rats will deliver with few complications if proper health, nutrition and common sense provisions for safe nesting and birth are applied.
Be sure you have your precautions in place before the litter is due. Inform your regular vet of the impending birth, research exotic emergency vets in your area, and have phone numbers handy.
Hopefully the arrival of the new litter will be natural and free from any complications.

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Signs of labor complications may include any of the following:

•Excessive vaginal bleeding
•Signs of shock (see below)
•Protrusion of stuck pup visible from the vaginal opening
•Severely convulsive labor
•Prolonged pain vocalizations from the mother
•Prolonged labor
•Contractions with little or no birth
•Multiple stillborns
•Deformed, underformed, or macerated pups
•Mother ignoring live pups already delivered
A normal rat labor should only take an hour or two. If your rat has not delivered after 3-4 hours of contractions or has given birth to a pup or two, but has not birthed another and she is actively having contractions, it is time to call your vet.
You should be able to feel if there are any more pups in the uterus. Keep in mind that the rat uterus is shaped like a “Y” with the two uterine horns merging into one birth canal. You could feel pups on either or both sides.

In the event a pup is lodged it is sometimes possible to gently massage the area with fingertips to shift it into a position conducive to birth. This is a delicate procedure and can cause harm to the pup and/or the mother. It is recommended to have the vet perform any fetal positional manipulations during labor.

Your rat should not have contractions when there are no more pups to deliver, so if she is having non-productive contractions, assume there is at least one other pup to be born. Rats with prolonged difficult labor often go into shock and require immediate veterinary care to prevent death.

Signs of shock may include:

•Labored breathing
•Slowed or shallow breathing
•Lethargy/exhaustion
•Pale lips, ears, extremities
•Lack of thermoregulation (cool rather than warm to the touch)

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If there is no nursing dam available, there is a brand of colostrum called “Nursemate ASAP” available online. It is a good idea to keep colostrum in your home if you breed rats. The colostrum can be mixed with human infant soy formula for the first 48 hours of hand feeding. The babies must be fed warm fluids every 2 hours in their first few days of life.

To feed rat neonates do not use a syringe as it can cause the babies to aspirate the formula. You can buy micro nipples from wildlife rehabber stores online and keep them in your emergency first aid kit. If you do not have micro nipples let them suck or lick from a small paintbrush or the twisted corner of a paper towel dipped in formula.

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Colostrum
The initial secretion from the mammary gland is colostrum. The colostrum is lower in volume and higher in nutrients than milk and offers the newborn rat antibodies.
While in the uterus the fetal rat is sheltered from outside pathogens and produces no antibodies. The mother, however, is exposed to antigens and develops maternal immunoglobulin antibodies which are then passed to her offspring via the colostrum. These important maternal antibodies protect the infant rat for the first several weeks of life.

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Post partum (after birth) maternal behaviors in the female rat are primarily brought on by hormonal changes in estrogen, progesterone, oxytocin, and prolactin. Environmental factors, individual line issues, and physiological factors can alter, disrupt, or inhibit these normal behaviors.
Exposure to babies will maintain maternal behaviors and the removal of the offspring will cause it to decline. It is important to note that attentive and nurturing maternal behaviors can make a big difference in the learning abilities and well being of a litter. According to studies, babies that receive more “loving” attention show higher levels of brain development than those raised by indifferent mothers.(Meany, 2000)

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