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Found baby cottontails...need help

T

torrey

New Kit
My wife found a nest of baby cottontails while mowing the grass at a city park. 3 were dead and the other three looked a little skinny. There is no where to take them where we are so we took them in and have been feeding them replacement milk. This was 10 days ago and we figure they were about 2 weeks old.

There eyes were open, hoping around. We slowly started feeding them some grass and veggies. We are now feeding whole goats milk giving them grass and veggies and they have plenty of hay and water but aren't eating the hay or drinking the water, just drinking the milk.

This morning, one of them was laying on its side and would streth out, head wa back and it ended up dying. Not sure why?

I've read that if they aren't eating the stool that they produce they can become malnourished.

Couple things:

Is there something I should be doing different?
How can I get them to start with the hay and water?

Help please!
 
Hello, sorry can't really help other than to say that there are lots of experienced people on here who will be along shortl I'm sure and also I think its very hard to rear tiny babies so you may be doing everything right already :(
 
Maybe you should have left them there because mom rabbits hide their babies then go away to avoid attracting attention to the babies from predators, but they come back later to feed them. And baby bunnies reared by humans are usually not healthy and tend to have very short life spans, unfortunately. Good luck to you and the babies.
 
bunnies

She would have left them there if hey looked healthy but with three of them dead she assumed the mom wasn't around anymore.

If they weren't being fed the other three probably wouldn't have made it either. :-(
 
Hi :wave:. They would benefit from some probiotics added to the milk as they are very prone to diarrhoea which can lead to death especially around weaning time. Not sure whereabouts you are but Fibreplex or Biolapis (made by Protexin) is very good or maybe you can buy probiotic powder from a petshop. I would keep feeding the milk along with grasss etc for another week or two then gradually decrease the amount of milk and offer them water. They should start drinking when they are thirsty. Continue with the probiotics until they are at least 8-9 weeks old and fully weaned.
Good luck.
Emily
 
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