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3 week old baby, rest of litter died, now removed from Mum.

R

Raven

New Kit
Hello, I have been directed here for advice about a bunny I have been given. She is the last survivor of a litter of six, approximately 3 weeks old (estimated as babies were already fully furred and mobile when noticed a week ago). The other five passed away one by one over the last week. No respiratory signs, diarrhoea or other problems before death. The baby has been seen eating solid food and was removed from Mum as a last resort.

I have baby in a cat box with hay and a hot water bottle, dry Burgess excel pellets offered (I only have adult, will get Junior ASAP), classic water bottle in easy reach. I offered supreme recovery diet by syringe and she ate 2.5ml. She weighs 144g. Mum is a medium sized rabbit, about the size of a wild rabbit. Looking for advice as to the best way to proceed to give baby a chance of surviving.

Thank you for reading.
 
I don't have any advice but hopefully someone will be along soon with more knowledge, I think Parsnipbun has reared some babies?
Hope bunny will b ok xxx
 
natsusakura said:
I don't have any advice but hopefully someone will be along soon with more knowledge, I think Parsnipbun has reared some babies?
Hope bunny will b ok xxx
Click to expand...

Same as this, sorry I know absolutely nothing about baby bunnies but I wish you the best of luck xx
 
critical care is no good . You need cimicat or goats milk .. you also need some small teats and small syringes . we get teets from catac as we have found these are the best ... but they will take a few days to come and if baby goes with out milk for any length of time it may cause probs re introducing it to it .

handrearing with no experience is realy difficult . Where abouts are you ? Do you want us to take it ... we are already rearing 4 other babies .
 
Yes if baby can go to Barnsley Animal Rescue they s/he will have a better chance of surviving.

I was left with 4 orphaned babies of 1 week old a few years ago. Sadly two died I do not know the reason why as I was hand rearing them all the same and they seemed to be doing well.

Cimicat milk (for orphans) is the best to use and fed by syringe with a small teat attached, letting baby take what s/he needs or you may get milk down the wrong hole and choke baby or cause pneumonia. Have hay and rabbit pellets available if baby wants to attempt to nibble.

Keep baby indoors but not on a hot water bottle.
 
Thanks for the replies, I have 1ml syringes and goats milk (from my own goats!), the baby is indoors but have taken out the hot water bottle. May be able to get teats from the vets tomorrow. I am in South Wales so not local to Barnsley unfortunately!
 
Raven said:
Thanks for the replies, I have 1ml syringes and goats milk (from my own goats!), the baby is indoors but have taken out the hot water bottle. May be able to get teats from the vets tomorrow. I am in South Wales so not local to Barnsley unfortunately!
Click to expand...

cimicat would be better than goats milk, so try to get that from the vets as well.

Be so, so careful when syringe-feeding, as so many babies that are hand-reared die from aspirating the milk (it going into their lungs).

Hay and pellets are fine. Just in case you don't know, you shouldn't offer the kit veggies/fruit/treats. I would supply water in a shallow saucer or dish as well as the bottle - it may not be able to work out the water bottle.
 
Also, they need feeding often as the milk substitute won't be as rich as rabbit milk. The guidelines have probably changed by now but about 11-15 years ago my mother hand-reared a kit from birth and fed it every 4 hours at first, and then every 6 hours later.
 
Can you post a picture of the kit so we can guestimate the age? They grow up fast at that age. If it's four weeks, for example, then you can get away without introducing milk.

Goat's milk is okay and best to swap types once you have started.

Also, at 3-4 weeks, you might be better with no syringe at all. Try a shallow bowl or lid from something and see if it will drink directly - that way you remove the risk of them inhaling milk. Have you seen him use the water bottle? If not might be an idea to provide a back up bowl - hamster size is fine at that age.
 
The baby is licking drops from the end of the syringe, so no force feeding. She seems to like the goats milk. I read not to offer veggies at this stage. I have not seen her use the water bottle, so I will offer a bowl. Will put up a pic later. Thanks for all the responses.
 
photo-37.jpg


Pic of baby. She has taken 5.5ml of goat milk so far today and looks well.
 
now you have started with goats milk I wouldn't swap to anything else .

and sorry Tamsin I disagree about the age to not offer milk .. growth with be stunted if milk isn'tfed for a minimum of 6 weeks ... 8 weeks better .

if licking milk from end of syringe that's ok ... just don't squirt it into mouth .

should be nibbling hay and pellets too at that age which is good .

good luck ... please feel free to pm if you need any other advice x :thumb:
 
Yes, she has had a go at the pellets, and paddled in the water :roll:

I will update how she gets on for anyone who is interested, thanks for all the advice.
 
Lol, she does look only three weeks and a few days, no older :) Glad she's doing well.
 
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