Found a baby rabbit - Advice please PICTURE ADDED PAGE 2

Got a call from my hubby this afternoon, they had found a domestic rabbit running round the cellar at work, goodness knows how long its been there or how it even got there.

Weve managed to catch it, which was no mean feet in a huge industrial cellar. Had it to the vets. Male, one testical can be felt apparently so the vet reckons less than 4 month??? Not microchipped.

Hes thin, well I can feel his spine and hips easily.

Hes currently in my dog crate away from my 2 outside rabbits. Mine are both vacinated so are they safe?

Ive given him hay and a couple of dandilion leaves, water in a bottle and a bowl and some pellets but my pellets are a mix of excel normal and excel senior.

Soooo what should I be feeding him. How long do I wait for someone to claim him before deciding if he is ours.

Hes been to the vet and registered on their lost/found. Ive put a thing on facebook but not said what sex/age/colour. Going to put some posters up.

Hubbys work is close to a cycling/greenway so he has possibly been dumped.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as Ive always rescued adult buns before.

Have to say he is very cute and when hes had chance to chill I will let you all see him.

I would get him to the vets for a check up to make sure he is ok

little-laura said:

I would get him to the vets for a check up to make sure he is ok

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Looks like hes been to the vet already

That's what we've done with the stray we have, posters and on the lost/found list at the vets, facebook and twitter with minimal description, no microchip though

I think it's like 28 days :? That's what someone on my thread said But we're taking Charlie (the stray) to be vaccinated this week, just for my piece of mind. Mine are all vaccinated and she is nowhere near them, but I would feel better for her too then. Vet said her teeth are fine, ears, bum etc but doesn't feel as though she has been spayed because she can't feel any wound bits inside, but they wouldn't be able to tell unless they have a proper look.

I started giving a minimal amount of SS pellets, she now has a small handful, as her poops were so tiny and black when she first got here. She eats loads of hay though and her poops are now very big and golden she's drinking from a bowl fine and has had some hawthorn along with the other bunnies, she loved it

She's incredibly nervous, I don't know what happened to her before living in my moms cousins neighbours garden for 3 days then being chased by gun dogs! I think she's traumatised tbh.

I believe its 7 days of advertising and then you can keep him. Can't wait to see a pic

Oops yes sorry lol

Then it's te case of giving him plenty of hay and food to get him to a healthy weight

thanks evryone. Soooo can i give him veg/fruit/greens????

If he's been down there a while I'd stick to hay, dried grass and maybe a few dried herbs and water for a few days then slowly add some normal adult pellets as they are less protein so shouldn't upset his tum too much.

Feed little and often for the next few days until his tum settles down

rngpwelfare said:

If he's been down there a while I'd stick to hay, dried grass and maybe a few dried herbs and water for a few days then slowly add some normal adult pellets as they are less protein so shouldn't upset his tum too much.

Feed little and often for the next few days until his tum settles down

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Thank you. Ive seen him drink and he is nibbling hay as I type, hes had a couple of the pellets I put in, I shall remove them now for a few days and just ensure hes got lots of hay. the only dried stuff I have is dandilions.

My next question, and I know its jumping the gun a bit but I need to know about neutering, never had to do it before, mine have all already been done, so do I wait till I can see his plums? Then theres the bonding thing. I have a male/female who are very much inlove. I simply cant end up with a single rabbit its not practical for me so he will have to be bonded with my other 2, of course providing his owners dont turn up.

He'll be fine with the dried foods you have and the hay.

You can't do anything for the next 7 days but I very much doubt you'll find the owners.

I'd do his vaccination first and then worry about neutering him once his testicles are down completly, give him a few weeks for his hormones to drop and then as you say bond in with your pair .

Awww, little poppet. Well done for catching him! :thumb: He's probably feeling quite stressed at the moment, so I'd give him somewhere to hide, like a cardboard box maybe, or cover the crate with a blanket. I'd agree with unlimited hay and maybe a little parsley, but no other fresh food or pellets at this stage. Make sure he has a bowl of water as he may not be used to a bottle.

Have you reported him to your local police station? I'd ring round all the local vets too, and Google 'Missing/lost rabbit *your area*' to see if anyone's posted anything online.

You're buns will be fine, don't worry! I guess the vet checked him for parasites? How are his poos looking?

Hoppit! said:

Awww, little poppet. Well done for catching him! :thumb: He's probably feeling quite stressed at the moment, so I'd give him somewhere to hide, like a cardboard box maybe, or cover the crate with a blanket. I'd agree with unlimited hay and maybe a little parsley, but no other fresh food or pellets at this stage. Make sure he has a bowl of water as he may not be used to a bottle.

Have you reported him to your local police station? I'd ring round all the local vets too, and Google 'Missing/lost rabbit *your area*' to see if anyone's posted anything online.

You're buns will be fine, don't worry! I guess the vet checked him for parasites? How are his poos looking?

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Thank you. he has a bottle and a dish, Ive seen him drink from the dish. Hes eaten hay, a few pellets and a bit of carrot that I gave him when I first caught him, and a dandilion leaf. Hes in a dog crate and Ive put the pet carrier in that. Hes currently laid in the carrier, earlier he was stood on top of it. We havent had any poos/wees yet.

They generally only go in the cellar once a month at my hubbys work to check the electric meter so goodness knows how long hes been there or how he got in. It was something that should have been filmed for Youve been Framed when me and hubby were trying to catch him, the cellars huge.

The vet (not my own vet, just the local one) sexed him, checked for a microchip and that was it, I had to ask for him weighing and then we checked his fur together for creepy crawlies, he was clean apart from really dirty back legs from the cellar floor, which I will try and clean later when hes a bit less stressed.

I promise a picture soon. Facebookers are complaining cos I wont post a picture even though Ive explained why.

I know fat fluffs put a picture up of Charlie for me but no one is missing her someone did say they were missing a bun similar though which was sad other than that its been 'black lion head rabbit found in *****' but nothing

We've had her since 26th May. I hoped someone was looking for their rabbit but.. What's to say she was even from the area she was found! I'm not tooting my own horn here, but thank god she's with us, the 2 'rescues' around here are absolutely dire..

Well done for catching him. I would contact local rescues too and report him. Just to cover all the places any upset owners might try to contact.

Poor bun If it looks like he's been down the cellar for a while, then I think he'll most likely have been dumped as the vets didn't already have a report of him missing.

I think you've made the right decision not to show his photos just yet. Have you named him yet? Hope he just needs feeding up and he'll be OK xx

Here he is, taken by my hubby when he was still in the cellar. He weighs 1.39kilo

What a handsome and lucky boy I'm quite jealous that your stray bunny is colourful.. Black is very hard to photograph :lol:

Aly&Poppy<3 said:

What a handsome and lucky boy I'm quite jealous that your stray bunny is colourful.. Black is very hard to photograph :lol:

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I havent a clue what breed/crossbreed he could be, hes helicopter, then the brown patches are in spots with a brown stripe down his back. a sort of butterfly across his nose and a black smudge above his nose but we arent certain if thats dirt or his actual colour:lol:

Hes very content in our dog crate in the kitchen, I can see him from my chair, he keeps coming out of his carrier for a munch and a drink and a look around.

Pondering if anywhere does neutering vouchers??

madcatwoman said:

I havent a clue what breed/crossbreed he could be, hes helicopter, then the brown patches are in spots with a brown stripe down his back. a sort of butterfly across his nose and a black smudge above his nose but we arent certain if thats dirt or his actual colour:lol:

Hes very content in our dog crate in the kitchen, I can see him from my chair, he keeps coming out of his carrier for a munch and a drink and a look around.

Pondering if anywhere does neutering vouchers??

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Aww that's good We have Charlie in the shed so its harder to 'interact' but she doesn't want to know, she had a rough time though so it's expected

Are those kind of rabbits called butterfly lops? That's probably totally wrong :lol: he kind of looks like my dwarf lops!

Not sure about neutering vouchers, but they have those vet clinics where you donate whatever you can

good on you for not posting the pic! we had a stray conti for a weekend and i wouldnt post a pic. then rspca posted one for me and i had loads of peopl saying he was theirs :/ we found the right owner in the end!