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how to care for bunny orphan???

H

huney

New Kit
As I said in introductions we found a dumped baby bun huddled on our dourstep 2 days ago.

I am assuming it's only a couple of weeks old. only just big enough to fit in your hand. (just learning to lap) I have been giving it kitten milk twice a day. it had about 4 ml first time and about 10 ml this morning. The bun is taking quite well to licking the milk from it's lips from a syringe.

I think it may have been here for about 2 days before we found it. (the dog next door was making heaps of noise which has stopped since little bun arrived). It was very lethargic but has picked up in activity since yesterday afternoon.

NO POO YET. What does that mean? I think His/her tummy was a bit empty when we picked it up. Otherwise it looks to be in good working order. Nice shiny coat, clear eyes, alert,activity levels on the increase.

Any suggestions for care? What does it eat. Not interested in rabbit mix we bought?

Thanks Huney
 
Okay - you have to stimulate them to poo and wee as the mum would! It is vital that you do this - also feeds peopbably need to be Far more frequent than this.

Someone else i am sure will be able to tell you how as i have never had to do it but try googling hand rearing baby rabbits in the mean time as you really HAVE to get it to go to the loo asap!
 
Just found this......


TOILETING
Very young mammals need stimulating to produce urine and faeces before feeding.
It may have lost its mother hours before and have a very full bladder!
To toilet small mammals, dampen a small piece of soft facial tissue or pure cotton wool and gently stroke
the urino-genital area with a downwards motion.

Good luck - and WELL DONE X
 
I googled bunny raising, The reputable sites all say to only feed twice a day for orpans roughly between 10 - 15 ml depending on age.

They also said they won't need help toileting if their eyes are open. But their really wasn't much info on this section. So any more feedback would be great.

Thanks Huney
 
Thats great........ i just remember my friend hand-rearing once and was sur eshe was doing it every few hours !:oops::oops::oops:

There are people on here who have done it before so they will actually know what they are talking about!:roll::D
 
How old is it? Are it's eyes open?

If it's lapping it should probably also be starting on solids so make sure hay is available.

It's age will depend how much it should be drinking. With kitten milk you need to feed 3-4 times per day, starting with 4 for young and dropping off as they wean.

Tamsin
 
Hi, we hand reared a 3 week old wild bunny, who had been handed into the vets. We fed her on Cimicat with a 1/4 teaspoon of biolapis to help get her gut working. She was fed 3 times a day, although I think they only need feeding a couple of times as the mother only goes back to the nest infequently. We also encouraged her to toilet and did it for about a week, until we notice tiny poos being produced without help ( her age was only a guess, so she could have been younger). We started her on hay, a small amount of grass and dandilion ( they all love dandilion). Saying this she was a wild bunny, domestics may be more delicate and we have never bred rabbits, someone with more experience may be able to advise on weaning. We fed her milk, probably longer than needed but stopped when she seemed able to feed herself well, about 5-6 weeks. She survived, into adulthood, but sadly had to be put to sleep after breaking her leg in a freak accident.:cry:
Hope all goes well with your baby!
 
It's Eyes are open. But it (appologies for "it" we have no idea what sex he/she is) has limited lapping ability. It can lap a little but not really good at gaging the distance to the drink. She (i'll call it she for now) is getting better at it. I give her a little go at lapping every time I feed her.

She seems quite content to sit on my sons lap getting stroked. She seems to have bonded him. And snuggles up to him if she is put on the floor for a little stretch. Other wise we have been keeping her in a carry cage inside the house.

huney
 
Bunnies eyes open around 10-11 days so that puts him at least that old. These are pictures of the rabbit I hand reared:

12 days
baby3.jpg


15 days
baby15_1.jpg


19 days
bunny19_2.jpg


26 days
baby26_4.jpg


34 days
baby34_2.jpg


Lapping is best as it's less likely to cause aspiration. They start eating solids about 2.5 weeks, usually starting with softer bits of hay or grass. I put mine from a carrier into an indoor cage about the same age (carrier in the cage for a sleep area).
 
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