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baby bun attacked by cat

Bellatrix18

Warren Scout
My neighbors kids just knocked on the door with a baby rabbit that has been caught by a cat. S/he doesn't look injured, just in shock, but I'm not sure if there might be hidden puncture wounds and I don't want to stress it out more by prodding and poking it.

I've put it upstairs in a cat carrier in the dark and I'm hoping that will help it calm down but I don't know what to do with it. I think it's a wild bun... Any advice would be great.
 
Take it to the vet

Because Cat nails contain loads of bacteria which will enter the nips.
And saliva is fatal too.
The rabbit will die.
 
first off if its wild, it will more than likely have diseases! so make sure you wash your hands thoughrally before handling other animals

do you have an animals santuary near you?

where abouts are you from x
 
Put some hay in and some water in a bowl, make sure it's warm enough (not sure how old it is).

It may or may not eat the hay, dunno about age. See if you can snap a few pics (without the flash on) to see if people here can guess the age and perhaps help a bit more on that front.

See if you can find out a bit more where the cat was seen attacking it, you might be able to locate its family in which case you could leave the baby in a carrier outside very very near the warren (like a few feet), with a blanket and hay and water and see if the mom comes to get it, not 100% sure about that suggestion though and it might end up having to be a domestic bun :(
 
Thanks everyone

This always causes me problems as there are no rehab centers near me and people living near me know me as the 'animal lover' so always bring me injured birds

The closest thing is my vets that register as a 'wildlife vets' too but their policy seems to be 'set them free or have them pts' even when there's a chance for them. It drives me crazy...

I've taken a photo of the little bun and I'll post it asap so her age can be guessed at.

I have baytril at home that i can give to her to protect her against infections and I've checked her over thoroughly and can't see and scratches or cuts but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Any advice on how to give baytril without worrying about her aspirating it also how much should I give?
 
2011-06-05_19-41-11_641.jpg


here's a picture :love:
 
Oh she's gorgeous :love: But she looks very young - maybe 4 weeks? less?

I'm not particularly experienced, just considering the size of mine at 8 week!
 
Thanks everyone

This always causes me problems as there are no rehab centers near me and people living near me know me as the 'animal lover' so always bring me injured birds

The closest thing is my vets that register as a 'wildlife vets' too but their policy seems to be 'set them free or have them pts' even when there's a chance for them. It drives me crazy...

I've taken a photo of the little bun and I'll post it asap so her age can be guessed at.

I have baytril at home that i can give to her to protect her against infections and I've checked her over thoroughly and can't see and scratches or cuts but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Any advice on how to give baytril without worrying about her aspirating it also how much should I give?

I'm sure you know but:

All vets are legally obligated to treat any British wildlife, although like you say there will be some that opt to PTS instead of treat. But they legally have to see you (for free, during normal opening hours), and provide it with any medication and treatment it needs. They are legally obligated to take it on if you don't want, or aren't able, to treat it.

Any practices who refuse to help should be reported to the BVA (British Veterinarian Association), who will act accordingly. If the vet says 'PTS' rather than treat something you believe is minor, then you are also able to report to the BVA.

Babybun is a total cutiepie and she/he doesn't seem too scared by handling. I'd call a vets and ask to speak to a vet (they're on call and you won't be charged if you explain it's a baby wild rabbit) and explain that you have baytril and how much should you give it, and what else? They should be able to estimate an age from the size description and any weight you can give them which should help. :wave:
 
poor baby:( he/she does look very young. how does bun seem now? any idea where they found her - hopefully mummy bun is close by.

i hope someone with wildie experience comes along soon x
 
Awww poor little mite, I don't have any experience with wild buns at all so would probably ring the vet or a wildlife rescue, I'd imagine keeping it warm and offering some hay would be OK in the meantime. Hope it makes it. :(
 
I;d keep him in a carrier like you have done, offer water in a small bowl as he wont be use to having one, can you also offer him some picked grass and herbs from your garden. The rabbit wont have had hay before and will probs be use to grass more. Try you local RSPCA, vets they can help you or point you in the right direction.
Well done for taking care of the bunny, keep us updated on how he's doing :)
 
Thanks for the info on vets. I know that they can't legally let an animal suffer but I've had very bad experiances with my vets. It very much depends who I see (Some of the vets there are wonderful) but I think it's when they just want to have an animal pts and I don't want to give up on them, they deny treatment to make pts the only option available. So I always try to keep spare baytril if I can in case something like this happens.

I rang my vets but they didn't answer their emergency line (I'm seriously considering changing vets but they're the only ones close to me :? ) So I rang a slightly further away vets and they gave advice on how much baytril to give and were really lovely on the phone. (Made me hate my vets even more!)

Little bun was surprisingly good with taking her baytril (I think she's a girl but... its so small down there :oops: ) and kept licking her lips.

I might buy her some lactol to make sure she stays strong, healthy and hydrated (especially since she's so small) but that will have to wait til the shops open tomorrow. I was worried she's might aspirate anything I syringe fed to her but she was so good eating her baytril that I'm a bit less worried about that now.

I think she can regulate her own body temp as every time I touch her she feels warm and snuggley so that's one less thing to worry about.

Its scary how attached I'm becoming to her. She's the sweetest thing ever and I don't want her to die on me like so many wild animals do... :(
 
She's looking a bit less active :( hope this isn't the beginning of bad news... I've put her on a heat mat just in case.
 
I've taken on a wild bun before. They can be very resilant to things, or very fragile depending upon the rabbit. One I took on was attacked by a crow, but came through ok without being taken to the vet as far as I know.
I don't think there's any legal fluff that says you can't either keep the rabbit as a pet or release it.
Wildies can make good pets. My Rag was the tamest rabbit I've ever known!
 
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