Feed Amounts for Baby Wild BUN URGENT PLEASE HELP

We have taken in a c2 week old baby wild rabbit that someone brought into our vets on Saturday (their cat had brought it home).

We are feeding it with double strength Royal Canin Baby Cat formula (at recommendation of vets who definitely said to use double the amount of powder when making it up).

It is also starting to nibble hay and bits of dessicated lawn etc.

It MAY be getting a little bit of natural milk as we try and place it on the teats of our nursing mother once a day- BUT her babies are now 4 weeks old and eating normal food like mad and I suspect she has started to dry up.

(it is NOT kept with her in case she attacks it).

All the books/websites/articles I have now read vary widely in estimation as to how much I should feed it - and none seem to mention doubling the formula strength.
I would be doubtful about changing type of formula now as we have started on this and dont want to upset its tum - so even if another formula is slightly better it may not be appropriate to change unless there is a real health issue with this one.

The baby weighs 95gms at present and falls asleep after having about 2.5mls of feed maximum (we only managed this today - other days it was a lot less in one go). BUT some sites suggest he needs 10 mls in one sitting!!!!! He is not even as big as a 10 ml syringe!!!!

He is tiny - but is active with eyes open and full fur, ears up etc etc

So if you have reared baby wild ones HOW MUCH did you feed and HOW OFTEN and did you DOUBLE the strength of the formula?

PS the vets gave it a bill of health before I took it in, also

It usually takes them a bit to adjust so don't worry if the first feeds are smaller. Just feed until he refuses 3-4 times per day.

10ml per feed sound a bit much for a two week old. I think Scamp was drinking about 4-5 ml per feed around the 2-3 week mark. I think the max he ever got up to per feed was about 7-8ml.

If he's nibbling he might be a little older that two weeks, you could also try feeds in a bowl rather than syringe. By about 3-4 weeks (I think) Scamp drink out of a little plastic bowl and it went down much quicker and is safer than a syringe.

The doubling is probably because cat milk is much lower protein than rabbit milk. That's also why you feed more often (rabbit mums only feed 1-2 times per day). If you've got a rabbit mum that's excellent, if he continues to suckle that should encourage her milk, it might also help to swap him between teats in case ones a bit short.

I can't give any advice on either Royal Cannin food or double strength food, but IME it can take a while for babies to become accustomed to feeding from a plastic teat and the taste of formula.

I would just feed as much as baby will take...that might only be 3 or 4mls per feed. You shouldn't really force the feed down if baby doesn't want to take it because the risk of aspiration will increase, which is usually fatal.

Your mum should still be producing milk. I had a litter of babies and mum dumped on me a few years ago, and she fed them up to about 6-7 weeks.

Good luck, and we need pics

Tamsin said:

If he's nibbling he might be a little older that two weeks, you could also try feeds in a bowl rather than syringe. By about 3-4 weeks (I think) Scamp drink out of a little plastic bowl and it went down much quicker and is safer than a syringe.

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Good point Tamsin.

Wild babies mature much slower than domestics, so baby could be a bit older than he looks

Silly question but is there any way of knowing if a teat is still producing milk???? I mean do they look any different?

I cant see any milk dribbling or anything after he has a try at her.

I suspect her own babies MUST still be suckling (at 4 weeks old today they are as fat as pigs and as big as most buns you see on sale in pet shops:shock.

She is also still a bit fat and hot so I think she is still lactating.

parsnipbun said:

Silly question but is there any way of knowing if a teat is still producing milk???? I mean do they look any different?

I cant see any milk dribbling or anything after he has a try at her.

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I don't know sorry

I suppose you could try giving her nip a bit of a squeeze if she'll let you?

Hope everything goes well with your little riddler tiddler

abbymarysmokey said:

I suppose you could try giving her nip a bit of a squeeze if she'll let you?

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Yep, a bit of a squeeze and you should get a drip.

I followed this advice when I hand reared my wildies.

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