SOS 5 day old bunnies given to me

[penguinsrxcore]

I now have 6, 5 day old baby dwarfs because the mother (my dog's breeder's bun) rejected them. She gave them to me to try to nurse. Pointers? I have the formula, bottles and I change out the towels around them and heat them. HELP!!!!

 

[naturestee]

What are you using for formula? I used 1 part dry puppy formula w/ colostrum to 3 parts water to 1 part heavy cream. Make it up in small batches that will get used in a day, and only warm up what you will use immediately.

My Brittania Petite babies were too small to use the bottles and nipples I could find in local stores. If you have the same problem, you may be able to get smaller nipples from a local wildlife rescuer. I ended up using 1 cc oral syringes from my vet to feed them.

Do get Benebac and have it on hand. It can be a lifesaver. Also unflavored Pedialyte. Both of these are needed to treat diarrhea, which is more common in hand-fed babies. Also keep track if any of your rabbits tend to leave cecals laying around as these are probably the best treatment for diarrhea in babies.

With that many babies you shouldn't need to heat them. Do you have the nest? If not, try to get it or see if the owner can get some fur off of the mom. Mama's smell will help keep the babies in the nest as well as the fur being nice and warm.

Here's some articles I found when I was raising my orphans:
http://jubileeacres.net/bottlefeeding.html
http://www.2ndchance.info/bunnies.htm
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html
http://www.kindplanet.org/rabbitbabies1.html

I have to warn you, don't feel bad if you loose some or even all. Hand raising rabbits is very touch-and-go. I lost one of my two and the other was very sickly for the first two months or so. Others have no problems and all the babies grow up healthy.

ray:

 

[Flashy]

I just wonder if there is a way to find a foster mum near you, or if maybe you could foster their real mum and try and see if you can support her through nursing them. It may not be possible, but it might be worth a try.

 

[naturestee]

That's a good point. It's not too unusual for breeders to keep the babies away from a bad mom, but bring her to them for feeding. Sometimes you can place the mom in the nest box and pet her or distract her while the babies feed, or hold her in your lap and place the babies underneath. This would be much safer than hand feeding.

 

[aurora369]

Is it also possible that mom didn't really reject them? If this is a dog breeder, maybe they are expecting the mother rabbit to lie with her babies just like the mother dogs do. Mother rabbits ignore the babies except for when they feed them for 5-10 minutes once or twice a day. To the unknowledgable person, it seems like the mother has rejected the babies because she completely ignores them.

If the mother was still feeding them I would request to get the mother as well. Then you can help her to feed the babies. Placing her ontop of the babies two to three times a day for about 5 minutes for the babies to feed. That should be enough for the babies to get fed, and to stimulate milk production.

Your best chances of having the babies survive is to feed them from mom.

--Dawn

 

[polly]

I agree with Aurora, What was mum bunny doing to be a bad mum? Its a mistake a lot of people make and stress about if they do not see the mum in with the babies all the time. It can be very hard to hand raise babies its always better to try with the mother rabbbit first.

 

[paul2641]

If I were you I would just get momma rabbit and flip her on her side and let the babies suck on her tits till they are full twice daily, Very little chance they will survive on a formula.

 

[tonyshuman]

Randy was saying they like the dry puppy formula-- Esbilac Puppy Powder--if forcing Mom to feed them doesn't work. Here is a recent discussion on formula for rabbits. http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=46512&forum_id=8

At this point, I would trust Randy's suggestions as to what to feed them for formula very highly.

 

[penguinsrxcore]

only one baby is left. I'm doing everything by the books but getting pretty hopeless.

 

[tonyshuman]

Oh dear. Fingers, toes, and bunny ears crossed for you and the baby.

 

[penguinsrxcore]

thank you claire! we are trying! lots of 105 degree heat and milk

 

[paul2641]

penguinsrxcore wrote:

thank you claire! we are trying! lots of 105 degree heat and milk

Have you asked the owner of the mother can you have her to flip the momma over and put the baby on the nipple?

 

[penguinsrxcore]

too late. all have passed. the last one was doing fantastic and then he drowned in spit up or something. he was foaming at the mouth when I found him. I tried.

 

[tonyshuman]

Oh no, I'm so sorry.