New owner with baby buns (no mom!)

[Bucktooth]

Hi guys,

I will try to make a long story short, I'm a registered vet tech and work in a clinic/hospital. A client brought in a basket of rabbits, I think they were her granddaughters. A dog had killed their mother. They are domestics not wild rabbits. They were just getting peach fuzz fur and had their eyes closed. Initially I planned to euthanize them all (there were 6) but only two looked hurt from the dog so I put those two to sleep and kept 4 to try to nurse. 2 looked good all along and two looked bummy and small. Yesterday the small ones got diarrhea, one died before I even got to the clinic and I nursed the other at the hospital all day but I did put him to sleep at the end of the day as he didn't improve and looked to be in distress.

The two I still have look awesome. They are about 2 weeks old and come out of the nest and run around the container they are in. They nibble pellets and hay and they grow a lot every day!

They look a bit grubby because they have milk replacer stuck on their chests. It's impossible to get off...any suggestions? I have tried warming with a soft cloth and trying to wipe off, that doesn't help. And I clean them after each meal.

Is it ok that they come out of the nest? I was feeding every 8 hours but they were looking fat and I know over feeding is bad so I feed milk replacer every 10-12 hours, I add acidophilus. I am worried they are going to get sudden diarrhea too. What can I do to try to minimize this? I would like to keep these rabbits. Btw I have veterinarians who will help me but they aren't rabbit specialists. They gave me a sheet of instructions when I first took this on and I followed them carefully and the rabbits lost weight and looked awful so I figured out what worked for growth/weight gain by trial and error.
I understand the odds of them making it are slim, someone told me 0-10% . I feel awful about the other two but I did my best!
Thanks for listening!

 

[Bryant]

At two weeks they're five to come out of a nest. In fact, if they're insie or the climate isn't too cold at night, you could consider removing the nest box altogether. My first time mother Lux had a small litter of 4, and i removed her nest box out at two weeks. They were outside, but given the August temperatures, they did perfectly fine. Their fur is grown in to insulate them and they can and will still cuddle together.

Rabbits nurse once out twice a day, 4-5 minutes altogether. So use that to gauge what you think it's right. Rabbit milk is extremely caloric, so take that in mind. If you're using something to actually replicate the rabbit milk, u would stick to something closer to what i said above. If it's more of a... "catch all??" Milk replacer, i would stick to doing it twice.

Start giving them water bowls if you haven't already. They're starting to nibble hay and pellets so they're weaning themselves a bit already. Water will help with that, and may be nice for their stomachs if they're getting diarrhea from the transition off of milk at the same time keeping them from being dehydrated.

Honestly i think at two-Three weeks that you have a relatively okay chance at them surviving.

 

[Bucktooth]

Thank you

 

[majorv]

Make sure they're drinking water, or you could give them some unflavored pedialyte if they're not. Push hay also as they're switching over more and more to pellets. Keep probiotics on hand during the transition too.

 

[Bucktooth]

I gave them a little dish of water, and they love it, they have started running around a lot. The hay they have is alfalfa is that ok for little buns or should I get them grass hay instead. It said it was for growing rabbits that's why I got it. Also, the pellets, should I introduce those slowly? Or just give them a dish full? This is truly nerve wracking. Every time I look I hope I won't find them ill.
Thank you so much for the help!

 

[Azerane]

Alfalfa hay is perfect, it is just the thing for growing rabbits until about 6 months of age.

As for the pellets, I think they need to be introduced slowly, but I'm not 100%

 

[majorv]

I wouldn't give them a dishful. Little ones generally won't eat a lot of pellets as long as they're still getting milk. Mom usually starts cutting back on the nursing and so the babies gravitate more to the pellets during the weaning process. This is usually around 4 weeks for our rabbits. Up until then they should just nibble on them some.