Desperately need help please

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Love your rabbit
Shop deals on ebay
Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
C

Cassy315

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2018
Messages
50
Reaction score
9
Location
South Africa
Please can someone help me. I am hand rearing 3 baby bunnies. They are 8 days old today. The one is still microscopic (think he may be a peanut but he seems well) the other can not latch but otherwise is okay, the biggest one is doing great except that his head is always skew. The others can sort of crawl but he just rolls around. I can't post pictures but I can email or whatsapp. Please help. Not sure what to do. They are all small and all are slightly deformed in their own ways
 
Caring for orphaned babies is very hard. Do you happen to have another litter that the mom is caring for and foster them to that? That would be a great idea. Check out this website for taking care of orphaned babies- https://rabbit.org/faq-orphaned-baby-bunnies/ Scroll towards the bottom and it will tell you how to care for domestic orphans. I will hope for the best for those little guys. Good luck!
 
Thank you for replying. I have been feeding them since 2 days old. I'm just not sure they're supposed to be so tiny. I don't breed rabbits at all, just took these in and they had babies(2nd litter) but I'm not sure what to do. Like I'm not sure if their deformities are fatal or okay or what. The peanut passed a few hours ago. I want to know how or if I can fix the skew head etc. If that makes sense. I have photos of how tiny they are but I am struggling to upload them. The biggest is probably max 2inches?
 
No, she has rejected them. I have another female bunny caring for them (nesting them, 'feeding them and cleaning and stimulating them). She isn't pregnant and doesn't have her own young litter but she is amazing. I've had her since 11days old(A dog dug up their burrow). Sorry about the rambling. The actual mom of the babies had 7 babies, 3 of whom had their organs on the outside (they have passed) one cyclops baby with heavily deformed legs(also passed), then 3 "normal" ones. One that I think was a peanut and then the one that doesn't latch and the one with a skew head. He has a big ball body
 
If the female seems to be having no trouble feeding and caring for them, then I would leave them with her. From the way that you are describing them, it doesn’t seem like they will make it. It’s very sad to hear but you can only hope for the best. I wish you luck with your new babies! If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask!
 
If they do have genetic disorders, all you can do is wait to see how they do as they grow, provided it's not causing them any pain/suffering.

Photos would help. Maybe you could look up instructions online, on how to resize photos with whichever computer or phone you are using.
 
Kinley said:
If the female seems to be having no trouble feeding and caring for them, then I would leave them with her. From the way that you are describing them, it doesn’t seem like they will make it. It’s very sad to hear but you can only hope for the best. I wish you luck with your new babies! If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask!
Click to expand...

The female doesn't actually have any milk. She is doing a great job, I just do the actual feeding although she happily nurses them often, even without milk.
 
majorv said:
I would advise taking them to a rabbit savvy vet to see if these genetic disorders will be a problem as they grow. He may or may not recommend they be put down, but at least you’ll know.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I'm just worried it's something silly that'll sort itself out as they grow and then I put them down for nothing
 
Cassy315 said:
The female doesn't actually have any milk. She is doing a great job, I just do the actual feeding although she happily nurses them often, even without milk.
Click to expand...

Have you noticed if she might actually be producing some milk? It can sometimes happen with non pregnant animals when they are around newborns, and even ones that have been spayed.
 
Last edited:
Cassy315 said:
Thank you. I'm just worried it's something silly that'll sort itself out as they grow and then I put them down for nothing
Click to expand...

That’s why I recommend getting a knowledgeable vet to look at them. We had to take a couple of young kits to the vet because of genetic or other unusual issues. We felt better about the decisions we made because of that.
 
Sorry for a super late reply. They are a handful. So the two are doing very very well. Growing now that they are on other stuff other than just milk and finally got a rhythm to their feedings. My female has started producing milk so this morning I could skip their feed as they had nice big bellies.
 
This was the biggest one last week when I posted this
 

Attachments

  • 20190310_071757-1224x1632.jpg
    20190310_071757-1224x1632.jpg
    29.9 KB · Views: 19
This was taken last week. But they are about the samesize now. I don't know why they look so fuzzy
 

Attachments

  • 20190313_090618-1288x966.jpg
    20190313_090618-1288x966.jpg
    57.5 KB · Views: 25
Are they as small as they look in the photos? They look absolutely tiny, but sooo cute! I'm glad you were able to figure out how to post photos. That's great your doe is producing milk now for them.

@Augustus&HazelGrace It's something about being around the newborn that stimulates the necessary hormones.
 
They are super tiny. They are eating some hay and pellets now too with their milk and it seems so weird because they are super small. I have no idea why they are so tiny. They do get seen by a vet and she says they look fat and healthy from what she can see. It's so strange
 
Yeah, they do look healthy in the photo, just tiny. Please keep us updated if that's alright. I would love to see how they progress in their growth. Plus they are just so cute and fun to look at :)
 
I was thinking maybe they were just pram but they seemed normal size in the beginning. I manually opened their eyes on day 14 or 15 as they were a bit delayed. They no longer just roll around dragging their giant heads. But their heads do seem a bit heavy for them. They've grown quite a bit since those pics but they are still quite tiny. Almost 3 weeks old now
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top