I don't know what to do?! - RIP

[NewRabbitOwner2013]

Ok. We have a 2 week old New Zealand White kit. Its mother stopped feeding it and is starting to stop feeding its siblings. It sleeps most of the time, but it can hardly walk/crawl. (Sometimes it gets bursts of energy for a few steps.) We are feeding the one Kitten Replacement Milk to try to get its strength back up. Currently, when it goes to the bathroom, the poop (if it is poop) is yellowish and mushy. And we think the pee is coming out half like strings of jello, and half like regular pee. It is slowly getting more and more like normal.

Can we do anything else besides feed it KMR, or is there something more we can do? Please respond soon.

Also this is its mom's first litter. Could this be the reason why this is happening?

 

[Azerane]

Many first time rabbit mums don't care for kits properly. You can try holding the mum in your lap so that the kits can suckle without mum getting away. Other people will have more knowledge.

 

[JBun]

If you can't foster the babies to another doe, then you can either supplement hand feeding or you can hold the mom and put the babies up to her to nurse, if she still has plenty of milk coming in. You can hold her on her back and place the kits on her belly to nurse, but you have to be careful that she doesn't kick or move and throw the babies off. Another safer way is to place her on your lap and have someone bring the kits up from underneath your legs to let them nurse off her while you hold her still. It would be better if you can help mom to nurse them as opposed to hand feeding if at all possible.

If you are going to do the hand feeding, you want to make sure to make the milk a thicker consistency than the directions call for. Baby rabbits need more fat and nutrients. It's also good to add some plain heavy whipping cream and probiotics to it.

3 parts powdered KMR
3 parts water
1 part heavy cream
pinch of probiotics

I think the yellow mushy poop is normal when they are nursing. If the thickened urine is actually urine and not poop, it could be thick due to dehydration. That baby does sound very dehydrated if it is weak and lethargic. If it is really bad, it may help to give it a little plain pedialyte, to boost it's electrolytes.

Yes, it is somewhat normal for first time moms to struggle knowing how to properly raise their litters.

This link is for hand raising baby cottontails, but it has some good info that also applies to domestic baby bunnies.
http://www.2ndchance.info/bunnies.htm

 

[majorv]

It doesn't sound like your 2 week old is doing too good. Definitely see if you can hold mom and let them nurse. Also give him some plain pedialyte as soon as you can. If he loses too much energy he won't have the strength to suck.

 

[NewRabbitOwner2013]

It doesn't sound like your 2 week old is doing too good. Definitely see if you can hold mom and let them nurse. Also give him some plain pedialyte as soon as you can. If he loses too much energy he won't have the strength to suck.

It doesn't and its mom has been very mean the past day. We can't even walk past her cage.

 

[NewRabbitOwner2013]

Many first time rabbit mums don't care for kits properly. You can try holding the mum in your lap so that the kits can suckle without mum getting away. Other people will have more knowledge.

Yeah we know. The mom won't let us open the door of her cage without lunging at us. We are hoping and praying that the KMR revives it enough so that we can put it back in with her.

 

[NewRabbitOwner2013]

We're still stuck on what is going on when it goes to the bathroom. Has anybody ever seen/hear about something similar to this before?
We're thinking it may have kidney failure, Pneumonia (because it was found laying under its mom's water bottle), or it missed a feeding and is just really weak.

 

[majorv]

The poop/pee definitely isn't normal. Even when they're nursing they should have dark round pellets, just very small. Prognosis doesn't sound good for that little one. All you can do is keep doing what you're doing and try to hydrate him with pedialyte or some other plain electrolytes.

 

[NewRabbitOwner2013]

It died last night some time. We are pretty sure it was from Pneumonia because it had a really hard time breathing before it passed. At least we still have 2 kits left.

 

[majorv]

Sorry to hear that. He may have been hurt when he was stuck under the water bottle. Best of luck with the other two.