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eeek bunny mum died leaving babies

curlyanwurly

Warren Scout
The bunny mum that my friend took in has died, she went out to check on them this morning and found babies all snuggled togetherbnext to mum but when she stroked mum bun she'd gonen:(
babies are only just 7 weeks, eating pooing drinking weeing and munching hay but will they be ok without mums milk now or is there somthing we should give them as a substitute or extra, I know they could leave mum at 8 weeks so its only a week but they so little an it so cold.
Ive only delt with one litter and they were all fine ascwere mum so I dont know what to tell her. Also should they stay together another week or can they now be separated most of the homes she has lined up are indoor homes an one is a shed so warmer than out doors
 
oh how sad, I am sorry. I hope someone knowledgeable will be around soon to answer you. Why do you think the mum died?
 
oh how sad, I am sorry. I hope someone knowledgeable will be around soon to answer you. Why do you think the mum died?

Not sure the vet said she was healthy but thin and needed to gain weight , she showed no signs of illness it was all a bit sudden
 
At 7 weeks they might be ok without mums milk ...although idealy they should still be with mum till at least 8 weeks they wont have been having much milk and the main part of their diet should now be solid food .
They could have cimicat (kitten milk) or goats milk as a substitute ... but if they are underweight mum may not have been feeding them much , her milk may have reduced or dried up if she was ill .

Its a difficult one as re introducing milk if they have been without it for a week or more is just as dangerous as stopping it too soon .
 
Aww :( i'm sorry to hear that... it might be worth having a pm done on mum to check that she didn't have anything that can be passed to the babies, babies have a natural immunity to most things until 6-8 weeks but its worth checking (and having them vaccinated and panacured as soon as you can after that). Physically they will be fine, baby rabbits can survive without mum from 4 weeks, and sometimes have to be weaned at 6 weeks, if they are drinking from a water bottle, offer them a little goats milk in a bottle. The only thing they will miss out on is any extra learning and behaviour from mum (they'll be shown how to use the bottle and how to interact) so they'll need to stay together as a litter longer (12 weeks at least) to learn these things from each other.
 
My babies mum dues when they were just under 6 weeks.

They all survived and are doing well - they should already be eating pellets and hay by now.

I think at 7 weeks they will be fine, but you do need to find out what killed mum and make sure it's not something that might be in the accommodation that could also kill the kits.
 
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