URGENT

[CalifornianKit]

Urgent!

My first time doe had 8 kits and my long term doe had 6. Ihave been fearing lately that thei first doe wasnt nursing but i kept seeing her nursing the babies but they never had ping pong bellies after the 2nd day they were born. Today i went out and 2 of the 8 babies were dead because of starvation. One of the 8 froze to death around day 2, but now the mother only had 5 babies. I gave 2 of the 8 litter to the mother with 6 but i was afraid to give her more because i dont want her over her head, so now i have 3 little 5 day old dehidrated babies in a shoebox with lamb fleece in it because their own mother had pee'd in her nestbox. We are fixing a 1/2 water 1/2 pet milk solution.

Is this ideal for the babies? I dont have enough time to do some research when these babies need care NOW.

 

[maxysmummy]

:'( i wish i had some advice to give you. perhaps instead of feeding some of them primarily on the milk mix you could have a rotation of babies, so half on the breast, half on the formula then the next day swap ?

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

I would give the doe that is lactating all the babies. I have had mini-rex raise 11 of their own and they were way smaller than you californians.

 

[CalifornianKit]

I am pretty sure the mother isnt producing milk. Ive SEEN the babies nursing from her but they dont seem to be GETTING anything. Im not willing to put these babies with the other mother unless she cannot smell them as she tends to get agressive towards newcomers unless you remove her snese of smell and she cannot tend to the 8 she has now that way.

I gave them the replacement milk and they all drank a little bit. I tried stimulating them to go to the bathroom but im afraid they dont have enough in their system to use the bathroom =\ im going to try again after i feed them in around 2 hours. I have them under a heat lamp, in lamb wool, covered by tissues.

 

[CalifornianKit]

RAL Rabbitry wrote:

I would give the doe that is lactating all the babies. I have had mini-rex raise 11 of their own and they were way smaller than you californians.

The doe will not feed over 8 babies. She had a 9 litter once and completely refused to feed the 9th baby because he was the smallest and weakest. She has never, for some odd reason, fed more than the healthiest 8 =\

 

[Blaze_Amita]

I would use KMR kitten milk replacer, with a little colostrum if you have it on hand. THat's what I did for a dwarf baby that was neglected and I wish you the bestest of luck! Hand rearing is HARD, I have tried and many many times failed.

 

[mistyjr]

You can also hold the mom down and let the babies eat. Have you checked the other mother to see if there are any milk?

 

[CalifornianKit]

i know their mother is out of milk, period. Like... none whatsoever. The other mother has milk and has some very beautiful 6 day old kits who will be the new 2's brothers and sisters from now on. But the mother is extremely agressive and attacks me when i try to touch her when she has babies around. Im not going to put these babies and my own skin at that kind of risk from her.

I asked my bunny expert, who has raised MANY kits what to feed them and she told me a 1/4 c pet milk, 1 egg yolk mixture. They all seem to like the mixture and they already seem to be lookin fuller to me. One in particular LOVES this mixture and almost had a ping pong belly after his first feeding. I was warry of over feeding him after he is so malnurished. Theyre under a lamp and they seem to be keeping themselves warm and happy now.

 

[maxysmummy]

ray:ray:

i hope they all make it, my thoughts are with you

 

[TinysMom]

[*] Formula recipe

• fresh, whole goat milk - 1/2 cup
• KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer by PetAg) - 1/2 cup
• lyophilized (freeze dried) colostrum - contents of 10 capsules, or 1-1.5 Tablespoons
  • This is available at most high-quality health food stores, either in bulk powder form, or in capsules. It's expensive, but will give the babies their best head start.
• heavy cream - 3 cc (a cc is the same as one ml, or milliliter), equal to about 1/2 teaspoon

Mix ingredients together in a lidded container, and shake very well until colostrum is dissolved. It's best to mix this a few hours in advance so that the colostrum has time to soften and suspend easily.



More details are here, and I have successfully used this formula to feed babies - my last one to use it is now approx. 10 pounds - a young flemish giant buck.

 

[TinysMom]

I meant to add that I got the powdered goats milk & colostrum at the feed store and did this all with powdered KMR and stuff.

 

[SMALL S RABBITRY]

I have used kitten milk replacer mixed with bone mill and karo surup.

Just mix 1/2 cup of kitten milk replacer to 1 table spoon of bone mill and 1 table spoon of karo mix well and warm in microwave.......Toby

 

[TinysMom]

Just as a reminder in case this thread ever comes up in a search for "formula" or something...the link I shared for formula is by Dana Krempels (a well respected rabbit expert) and is NOT for wild babies - only for domestic ones.

The full article is here:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html


I would hate for someone to do a search for formula for a wild rabbit and find this thread and think it would work - as I know the dietary needs would be different!

 

[CalifornianKit]

Thank you. Update on them. Theyre finally warm now. Plus theyve all been eating like little piggies. Ive set up a feeding time every 4 days for them. Theyre eating a couple of mL every time and SOMEWHERE i researched that they should be eating around 7mL per day so i think theyre on the right track.

 

[mistyjr]

Glad that they are doing better.!

 

[CalifornianKit]

I guess i better update this....

I lost 2 kits out of the 5 remaining. One of the outside bunnies that was with the other doe and the runt kit i had been nursing died this morning.

I also figured out why Jade quit nursing them. She was ill. She died 2 days ago. I had checked on her a few hours earlier and then i went outside a little while later and she was on her side "asleep". Im trying my VERY best for the 3 remaining babies. If i get even ONE doe i plan on keeping it. Especially if it is one of the hand raised ones.

 

[SMALL S RABBITRY]

Sorry for your lose

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I'm sorry I didn't see this earlier, but for future reference. Hand raising is HARD and usually fails. So rather than trying that, I'd have suggested maintaining two nestboxes.

Put one in with the doe during the day, the other in at night. Does will usually nurse twice a day it seems, sometimes more if they are heavy milkers. If the kits seem thin, you could supplement with some replacement milk but I would have definitely tried to get them some naturally.

Then at 4 weeks, you could slowly wean off 5 and keep 8 with her. Weaning at 4 weeks is not ideal but can be done by introducing lots of hay and limited pellets. Sometimes this will have a better success rate than hand feeding.

I'm sorry for your losses.