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mum rejecting baby advice please

J

janedurham

New Kit
Hi i am hoping someone can help me my bunnie has just had a litter of 3 babies unfortunately 2 of the babies died the other was very cold however i manged to warm baby up and put him back in the nest mum then started to scrat him out of the nest and chew at his ear so i took baby away along with mums fur and made him a nest in alittle box and i have been giving him some kimi milk from a dropper every two hours which he has been taking well. i read in a book that i could try mum on my knee and let the baby suckle from her but it mum doesnt seem to have any milk is there anything else i can try ? is feeding baby every two hours enough or too much ? does any one have any other advice for me . i rescue guinea pigs and im a dab hand at hand rearing babies but feel alittle out of my depth with rabbits so any advice i would be very gratefull of .

jane
 
janedurham said:
Hi i am hoping someone can help me my bunnie has just had a litter of 3 babies unfortunately 2 of the babies died the other was very cold however i manged to warm baby up and put him back in the nest mum then started to scrat him out of the nest and chew at his ear so i took baby away along with mums fur and made him a nest in alittle box and i have been giving him some kimi milk from a dropper every two hours which he has been taking well. i read in a book that i could try mum on my knee and let the baby suckle from her but it mum doesnt seem to have any milk is there anything else i can try ? is feeding baby every two hours enough or too much ? does any one have any other advice for me . i rescue guinea pigs and im a dab hand at hand rearing babies but feel alittle out of my depth with rabbits so any advice i would be very gratefull of .

jane
Click to expand...

Hand rearing Newborn kits is often unsuccesful :cry: These links might give you some advice

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

http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/handrear.asp

Good Luck

Janex
 
How old is it?
It has a much greater chance of surviving if it's gotten the mother's first milk, which she sadly only produces for a short while, a few hours to a day I think:?
Two hours is what most people do, make sure you rub the baby's belly to make it urinate afterwards (using a wet towel or something, to simulate its mother's tongue)

Good luck.
 
Dont know much about this either btu do know that you have to wipe there bums too to stimulate them to poo... the mum woudl lick their bums to do this.
Have you tried rubbing some of the mums poos on the baby to help it smell of her ? may make a diff. Maybe just having them on your lap and petting both may help too?

Really hope it goes well. Think it is hard to do successfully but Charlie was from a litter of about 6 where teh mum died not long after birth and all kits survived so it is possible. Charlie is now 18 months old and was teh runt and they didnt htink he'd last even a year... still going strong tho :D

Is the mum doing well? Could be that if she isnt well or happy that that may be the answer? (just throwing things out there :?)

Just keep at it with teh feeding, keepign warm, getting to poo etc... wishing you all the best :D
 
If mums milk supply has dried up puting her back with the baby is not going to improve the situation.

However if mum is healthy adding some of her ceacal pellets to the milk feed will help the babies gut build up a selection of supportive digestive flora, as babies are particularly prone to gut infections such a enterotoxema, coccidia and mucoid enteritis.

At weaning age there is also reports of a good success rate using Zantac or Tagamet as a PH balancer to hep the young rabbits gut adjust to the dietary shift. Weaning is the most critical stage in hand rearing, this is where most rabbits are lost to GI issues.
 
hi thanks for all your advice at the min i am feeding her kimi milk from a dropper every couple of hours she does seem to go cold but soon warms up again i was hoping that was because she has no other babies to snuggle up too. she is 2 days old now mum still has no milk but is very well in herself i am just giving her lots of tlc at the min.

jane x
 
janedurham said:
hi thanks for all your advice at the min i am feeding her kimi milk from a dropper every couple of hours she does seem to go cold but soon warms up again i was hoping that was because she has no other babies to snuggle up too. she is 2 days old now mum still has no milk but is very well in herself i am just giving her lots of tlc at the min.

jane x
Click to expand...

If the kit is getting cold you may need to keep him/her on a heat pad 24/7.

Janex
 
Hi just wanted to let everyone know i lost the baby today:cry: thank you for your support and at least he was loved the short time i had him .

jane xx
 
personally i would of had mum on my lap upside down and letting the kit suckle every couple of hours if i didnt have i foster mum bun at hand!!!

Sorry for not getting to you post earlier! so sorry about the baby!
 
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