# Sign of Pregnancy



## ilovetoeatchocolate (Aug 14, 2009)

Hi everyone, forgive me for never being around. I have six rabbits and also volunteer at the animal shelter so I don't have a lot of time. Today at the shelter I was lifting a rabbit out of it's cage for a run and it was very fat. When I felt it's stomach I also felt these weird nubby things. It felt and looked like nipples. The rabbit's card said that this rabbit was spayed. What are the signs of a rabbit pregnancy? Why did this rabbit seem to have nipples? Should I alert the vet staff? Or could she have had a litter that just didn't make it. 

Shannon


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## missyscove (Aug 14, 2009)

All rabbits have nipples. 

While I don't know if this is true in rabbits, I do know that in dogs, unspayed females will have significantly larger nipples than spayed ones. If this also applies to rabbits and she was just recently spayed, that might explain it.


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## Flashy (Aug 14, 2009)

Did you feel nipples like on a regular rabbit (all rabbits have nipples, all the time), or were they very protruding and swollen?

If she has been spayed at the centre then this could potentially be the residues of hormones, especially if the spay was effectively an abortion.

It could be a false pregnancy-spayed bunnies do have them too.

Equally, this could be a very fat rabbit who just needs to lose weight, but who has raised litters in the past.


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## pamnock (Aug 14, 2009)

The nipples would protrude and be more noticeable in a rabbit with a distended stomach. Swollen nipples aren't necessarily a sign of pregnancy because the milk doesn't fully come in until a couple days after giving birth. At this time, the mammary glands become more engorged than when just producing colostrum. When just one nipple is swollen or hard, cancer or infection is often the cause.

Pam


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