Young Wild Rabbit Rescued and Needs Help!

[m.e.]

This isn't from me, I'm posting this here for someone else:

We found a tiny baby bunny in our window well this morning. He was upto his neck in cold water and was freezing when we rescued him. We tookhim to the vet to find out how to care for him and they gave usinstructions for feeding him and told us to just make sure he is warmand that the next 24 hours are critical for him because baby bunniesare pretty fragile. We've been trying to feed him and to keep it quietbecause he seems stressed, but he isn't interested in eating and heseems really afraid of us.

Has anyone taken care of a baby bunny before? Any tips for me? He isthe sweetest little thing and I just want to help him! My girls reallylike him, too!


And here's what I told her:

here are some more thoughts...

Did the vet tell you how old the bunny was? If his eyes are open,chances are, he's weaned. So I would try tempting the bunny with someparsely or lettuce, or even some oats (the instant kind is fine).

If possible, your vet or a local pet/feed store will carry a productcalled Nutri-Cal. This will help boost his metabolism and give him moreof an appetite. Just put a pea-sized dollop on his front paw so he canlick it off.

And I know you already are, but I just want to stress that you makesure that it's in a quiet area with minimal disruptions; stress cankill rabbits.


And her response:

The eyes are open. We went to two clinics because one wouldn't let usactually talk to the vet. At the first clinic, the lady at the frontdesk told us that she thought the bunny was about 10 days old.

If you want to ask for me, that would be great. I don't have enough time right now, but might be able to later.

I was reading a few things earlier and I'm worried that we shouldn't bekeeping the bunny. I know he fell into our window well, but maybe heisn't orphaned? Would his mom still take care of him now that we havehandled him? We don't want to keep him for ourselves - we just want todo the best thing for him.

I have put some green bean leaves from our garden in his box.

 

[CorkysMom]

I'd try to find a wildlife refuge to give thebunny too, they'll know exactly what to do to help it and hopefullywhen old enough reintroduce it to the wild.

 

[naturestee]

I agree with PGG- your friend should find awildlife refuge/ rehabilitator. I was just at a public one in Green Baya week ago. I got to watch them feed greens to baby rabbits of asimilar age as that one.

 

[m.e.]

:foreheadsmack:

Can't believe I didn't think of that...

Thanks!

 

LOL M. E. you cantthink of everything IF youcould you wouldnt have needed to postit lol You did tellher correctly , Yougave her good information and got herstarted in the right direction , even 10day old wild babies willnibble on greens .

 

[samandshawn]

I've found a baby bunny twice now, thefirst I took home and cared for sadly he died after a week I was toldit was because they find it very stressful being in a differentenvironment and near humans, the second was badly injured so it took itto the vet he died that night, so from my experience wild rabbits don'tdo well when not in there natural environment, i hope this little onedoes ok

 

[m.e.]

Okay, here's an update:

Hmmm, all my searches on the internet show that there aren't any wildlife rehabilitation centers in my state.

He is eating the leaves from the garden that I left in his box and heseems less stressed than before! The vet told us that we should not lethim go until he is at least twice the size that he is now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think we'll be keeping him for awhile. He continues to eat lettuceand carrots that I put in his box. And then about 15 minutes ago, I Iwent to check on him and he had escaped from his box!! He must befeeling much better. He was just hiding out by the dresser, so weput him back in the box nad dh went back to the vet's office where theyloaned us a crate for him.

Thanks for the help and advice. I'm so glad this little bunny is doing better.


Any more advice I can offer?

 

[naturestee]

I've seen bacterial supplements at pet stores,shelved alongside the milk formula. I'm wondering if this would be agood idea? They are supposed to innoculate the intestines withbeneficial bacteria.

 

M.E. you need to respond to her with this :

the longer she keepsthat Baby inside the harder releaseis going to be ,, already ifthe baby is jumping the boxand hiding somewhere , it isgetting too tame , unfortunately she isnow going to have to keep it itcant be released into hte wildas it will never be afraidof humans and will becomea preditor lunch ,

no fear will equala death . argI didnt realize shewas going to bring it insideotherwise I would have suggested leavingit in a box in the garden and onlyoccasionally checking it and watering it,

She now has a bigger problem on her handsand will have to care for therabbit the restof its life , or releaseit back to the wild tame , nota good situation either way

what state or countryis she in? I cannot believe thereis No Wild Life Rehabsanywhere near her.

 

[m.e.]

I don't know where she lives, this is another message board.

Someone already said that she should not re-release the bunny, and ifshe couldn't care for it, this other person would be willing to take itin.

I believe she brought it inside because of the state it was found in (frezzing and wet).

 

[black_jack]

its a shame isnt it with wild life that our best intentions can do more harm than good.

Itsa bit of an awkward situation for your friend to be in butif it is 10 days old and she is caring for it thats probably all itsgoing to know.

Is she able to keep it?

Do we know how long it was sat in the well?

 

[m.e.]

:shock: Please tell me if this is okay...!

Per the vet's advice, we are feeding him:
1 cup whole milk mixed with one egg - we keep this in the fridge andwarm up small amounts at a time. She said we needed to give him thisbecause he needs the protein.
A little bit of plain yogurt for the active cultures.
Greens.

I think she wanted us to feed him this for awhile before we start himon rabbit food. She was going to talk to us more about food when we goback to get a bigger cage.

I've also got a little bowl of water for him to drink from.

How often should he be pooping at this point?

To me, this sounds off :?

 

[m.e.]

*bump*

 

[m.e.]

*bump-a-dump*

 

I agree ME something isnt right with that lst post

first of all IF it iswild the Vet would have calledRescue herself and never allowed for it to leaveher office. RGG!!!??? NO NO NO !!!! omg I canimagine salmanilla setting inas soon as it hits its system,If wild it will have noresistance to this bacteria, veggiesyes Whole milk NO , goats milk or Puppy/kitten milkreplacer , Plain Yogurt a tinytiny amount his Gutshould already have enoughacidopholis to contain andretain vitamins and minerals and to wardoff infections and bacteria uNLESSits caused by Egg and Milk.

Either this Vet has no clue about WildRabbits or has no Idea about Rabbitsin general . OR she never took it tothe Vets in the first place andis only guessing.

M.E. Hon distance yourself fromthis Tell this personto get it to a rescue league let themhandle it , If she follows the Vets advicethat baby is going todie in a very few days.

 

[edwinf8936]

The neighbors broght me a wil baby rabbit theircat brought home. He looks to be about 4 weeks old, maybefive,about the size of my hand. I watched wildbabes grow up in their nest in my garden last year. Their arewoods behind us and I looked around the yard adn some in the woods andno luck finding a nest. He seems to have only one puncturewound on his hip. He did run through the house. Vetis closed. Any advice?

I have him in a pen now.

Ed

 

[black_jack]

stem bleeding and keep him comfy until u can gethim to the vet leave some water and some grass for him to nibble on andjust keep an eye on him?

 

good advice BlackJack, also if you can holdhim with out stressinghimtoo badly wipe over thearea with peroxide , it willhelp stem infection , gethim to a vetASAP and let him call a rehabilitatorto take him andfinish rearing it .

 

[Blackthorn45]

gypsy wrote:

I agree ME somethingisnt right with that lst post

Either this Vet has no clue about WildRabbits or has no Idea about Rabbitsin general . OR she never took it tothe Vets in the first place andis only guessing.

M.E. Hon distance yourself fromthis Tell this personto get it to a rescue league let themhandle it , If she follows the Vets advicethat baby is going todie in a very few days.

Especially since it is illegal for anyone but a licensed rehabilitatorto keep cottontails.. a vet would have made them hand it over to arehabilitator, they're obligated by law. Or at least this ismy understanding. Sounds fishy.