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Mother Not Feeding Babies? Advice Needed Asap Please.

Rabbiting on

Warren Scout
I think my rabbit has stopped feeding her 2 1/2 week old baby's, what do I do?

I noticed she didnt go in to feed them last night, or tonight, she usually feeds them around 9.15. I covered them over around this time so I could tell if she had been in, when I went back the nest was still the same.

When I held one she used to lick my hand, she is not doing this anymore.

I have tried putting her in the bed and she does not want to be in there, even biting and scratching me to get out :cry: This is not like her at all.

I tried holding her over the babies, they tried to latch on, she did not want to know. So I have had to hold her like a baby and latch them on myself. They didn't seem to get anything, going from nipple to nipple but not staying with one getting fed, I tried this with 2 of the babies with the same response.

Please someone help asap.
 
She was not bothered by me handeling them untill yesterday. I really dont know what to do.

Would it be ok for me just to get milk and syringes in the morning? I will be out early.

How can I be 100% sure that she is not feeing them?
 
well i dont think they should be held as diffrent sents can put mum off i would recomend goats milk though it helped our bunny
 
It would be unlikely for her to get upset at 2.5 weeks.

First thing... does she still have milk? No point holding them to her if she doesn't. If she does then it may just be she swapped schedules so don't panic.

Check whether the babies are dehydrated, pinch the skin and see if it tents or goes back to normal. If it tents then offer the babies water, that will stop them dehydrating in the short term. If they're not, likely hood is you missed her feeding.

If possible its best to avoid swapping them onto fake milk now as this is the worst time for loosing babies when handrearing so most likely to upset their tummies. So last resort.

Adding a water bottle of lactol may help mums milk production. If you do need to hand rear its also good to have it to hand.

At 2.5 weeks the babies should be starting on solids now or in the next day or two.

Tam
 
I have beeing touching them since they were born, she had no problems with this till now.

Where do I get goats milk from and can it wait till morning or should I get it now? I also dont know of a chemist to get syringes, although I do have a couple but they are the 5ml ones, too big I think?

Also I dont want to just take them away incase I have missjudged. I need to know for sure.

They also didnt feel as warm as they usually do. But acting the same though, not crying either.

Oh what do I do?
 
Yes they have been nibbling on the pettets last night from my hand.

Where do I get Lactol from? vets?

How will I know for sure that she is not feeding them and have to take them away?

And if I do have to remove them is that them away from the mother for good or do I put them back in the nest after feeding?

Would she take offence if I did feed them the once so I know they have had something?

I cant loose them now :cry:
 
No reason to take them away. Even if they need help feeding staying in the nest and growing up with mum will do them good.

Goats milk try supermarket or health food store - you want full fat. Or you can get kitten replacer (lactol/cimcat) from big petshop/vet.

They are old enough they may drink it from a bowl (with supervision) otherwise be very very careful to feed them gradually with a 1ml syringe.

If they are dehydrated feed them now with water (boiled & cooled) and a syringe or eye dropped. Otherwise they should be fine til morning.
 
Give her nipples a squeeze and see if any milk comes out ;) It won't be loads just a dribble.

She's unlikely to turn on them at this stage so as long as you don't see signs of aggression I'd leave them where there are. They'll be out of the nest and hopping around very soon.
 
They are out of the nest maybe this is what she dosnt like?

Im going to check on them, hopefully they have been fed, will report back later.

Thanks gals :)
 
Once they start running about they tend to mug her for dinner rather than feeding in the nest so that might be why it didn't look disturbed :)

Got my fingers crossed :)
 
Right so I had bought goats milk yesterday and went to the vets to get some syringes, only to be told not to give the goats milk and to give the puppy milk.

Well anyway I brought them in last night to feed them and guess what- they didnt want it! The also didnt want any today, although they licked it from their lips.

So does this mean mum is feeding them, just at different times? I have seen them trying to "mug" her and she does not like it at all, she jumps away from them. They are starting to eat with her also. :D

They seem fine actually, jumping about, eating food etc they also look fine.

So maybe just a case of me being worried, what do you think?
 
It does take awhile to get them to drink from something different. If they've started on solids they may be fine either way though. Fake milk has the potential to upset guts so if they are doing fine then might be best to leave them to it.

Did you check whether they are hydrated? Make sure there is a water bowl/bottle they can reach.

Tam
 
the mom i have is like that but the babies are fine ive found they much prefere water in a shallow bowl though nine times out of ten they sit in it, :roll:so i put a towel under the bowl so they can stand one that and sort of dry there tooties but that me being soft, i have more than one water bottle to and the babies use both bottle and bowl, i also put two lots of food down separate so mum can try and feed on her own without getting bombarded mine are 3 and half weeks now and are still feeding but not at set times any more ive noticed but they have tubby bellys so i know they are ok
 
In a worst case scenario,

get some soft Heinz non-meat baby food,

use your mircowave to heat a glass of water boiling hot.

Use a syringe to suck the baby food in, say a 3 cc or 6 cc syringe.

Put the syringe w/ the baby food inside in the boiling water for a few min.

forcefeed your baby bun w/ the syringe food
 
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