Fostering?

[Star and Stone Rabbitry]

Well, we got chickens a little while ago, andnow they've been growing and needed to be put in the barn. So my daddecided that he wanted to put a new chicken pen in the spot where myrabbits were. I was really excited, but worried. I had two motherrabbits that had just had their kits three days ago, and I didn't wantto upset them, but my dad wanted it so bad. I put all of my rabbits incarriers, and he tore the cages off the wall and I washed them. Thewhole process took nearly five hours, and the whole time, the babieswere away from their mothers. We put them all back together on theopposite wall of the barn, and put them all back. One of the motherswas furious, and she was acting all phsyco and stuff, but the otherdidn't mind as much. It's been two days. Theday we did thecages, a kit died from the calm mother's nest. The day after that,Another one died from the calm mother's nest, and also one from theother's. Today, all of the calm mother's kits look fat and healthy, butanother one was dead in the other mothers nest, and they were skinnyand looked like they weren't being taken care of. I'm not kidding, Imean, they were born on the same day and theyare HALF thesize others. So I put them in the good mother's nest and put somestrong smelling stuff on her nose so she couldn't smell them.

I know that was a very long story, but did I do the right thing? Imean, I know that does normally nurse their kits at night, and I'mworried they won't make it until then. I've tried replacer milk forrabbits, but they refuse to drink it. Give me some advice!

Thanks, Kiya

 

[clarzoo]

I am sorry to hear you've lost a few of your kits after the move.

What breed are these rabbits? How many babies total does that leave the foster mom with?

If it isn't too many babies the foster mom should be fine feeding thatmany mouths. It might take her a day or two to adjust to making thatmuch more milk.

If it looks like the kits are still skinny in the morning. I'd startsupplementing them with KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer) once or twice a dayuntil the mom is able to take care of them completely.



Edited to add: I like to add some heavy whipping cream to the KMR to up the amount of fat and give it a better consistency.

 

[Star and Stone Rabbitry]

They're Dutch rabbits. Both of the moms had fourat the beginning when they first were born. Two died from both litters,and I put two from one of the nest that were deserted to the othermom's. So now, My other mom (Skittles) has three in the box with her,because another one of the skinny kits died thismorning...I pretty much know that the two from the motherwho is taking good care of them will live, because they're husky andfat, but the one from the other mom is the only one left from her, andhe still doesn't look that good this morning. I've trie milk replacer,but it won't drink it...

Kiya

 

[aurora369]

You can also try to get the foster mom to nurse the weak baby.

Take the fat babies out of the nest, then place mom in nest and giveher treats/nose rubs to keep her calm. Let the little babynurse for about 5 minutes.

You can do that once or twice a day until the little one catches up with the big ones.

--Dawn