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6 day old baby rabbit growth on head, help!

E

elsdon

New Kit
Hi,

Looking for some advice. I rescued a heavily pregnant rabbit who had her babies last Friday. So as not to stress her or anything I have left her alone as much as possible just cleaning her wee area quickly as poss and giving her plenty fresh food once a day.

I had a peak in at the babies while she was eating to check them and one of them has what appears to be a growth on its head with some blood. I'm not experienced in nursing rabbits with young at all and I make sure I don't touch the babies as I'd hate for her to turn but now I'm really worried what this could be or that it could get infected. I can't pick it up to check it for fear of her killing it and then don't want to leave it and it to be sufferering and die anyway.

Any advice much appreciated! Thankyou
 
I would pop the bun to your rabbit savvy vet and see what they say. I have no experience with baby buns and if they can go anywhere without Mum etc. Hopefully somebody can advise you about transporting baby.
 
You need to remove the Doe from the hutch, rub your hands in the Doe's bedding to get her scent on them and then carefully pick up the kit to get a better look at what is wrong. The Doe may have overgroomed the kit and removed an ear.
 
Yes normal circumstances id take the rabbit straight vets but can't take one out as she may kill it when I put back and can't take them all together as that will unsettle her also.
I'm going to phone the vets in the morning and seek advice anyway. Just feel quite helpless :(
 
Rabbits rarely eat their young just because of a human scent but if it makes you feel better do what Jane said and move mum out of sight, rub your hands on her and in the bedding and then examine the kit. If something is wrong I imagine you'd either have to take the kit to the vets on some kind of heat pad or ask the vet to visit
 
Could you post a pic or send a pic to your vet perhaps? :wave:

ETA without using flash though...
 
Thanks for the replies. It's too dark out there now for me to get a photo of it. Both ears are still there though so not that it looks like a lump with dried blood on. I am going to phone the vet in the morning and see what they suggest and in the meantime just let nature do its thing. I've also emailed a couple of local people from rabbit rescues. :)
 
Yeh, I'd ring the vet first and see what they say about handling the baby bun. Most rabbits will be fine with it but better to be safe than sorry.
 
Rabbits rarely kill their young just because humans have touched them, it is usually only if they feel threatened or they feel that they can't look after them. Lots of breeders handle the baby rabbits and take them out of the nest for photos.

But you can remove the risk by rubbing your hands on mum before touching the baby.

You need to check over all the rabbits to make sure they are not similarly ill.

When you take the baby to the vet, just to be on the safe side I would remove mum from the hutch (put her in her run), take baby to the vet and then put baby back and only then put mum back in the hutch. Hopefully she won't even realise that the baby was gone. Take some bedding from the hutch to put in a box to keep baby comfortable and smelling like mum on the way to the vet.
 
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