babies

a customer phoned the store today begging for help, her female lionhead rabbit who is 6yrs old had given birth to 7baby bunnies on saturday night, she admitted the litter was planned ( reason unknown )

she realised on sunday the mother wasnt with the babies very often - i explained she would probably only be with them at night and to feed them cuz they keep each other warm in the nest, she thought the mother was neglecting them and removed them all from the nest but not realisin what to do with them she put them back in the hutch today (they were away from mum all night) but the mother immediatly attacked them and killed one, so yet again she removed them, she brought them into the store and now i have them.

i have no idea how often to feed them, i have been feeding them lactol (they are eating fine) i have been offering them lactol every 2 - 3 hrs, hoping they will know themselves when to eat but i dont want to over feed or under feed them.

please help

In the past I had done some research on this. My oldest doe had an unexpected litter (long story) and I was paranoid. I researched incase she gave up on the litter. I would reconmend feeding 3-4 times a day. YOu also have to stimulate their behinds or they won't urinate or deficate. This will kill them. If you have a doe with a litter you might be able to introduce them to her so she can do that job. The survival rate of mommyless litters is very low. I can't guaruntee that they will survive even under perfect care.

It is such a shame when people breed rabbits without getting the facts straight and making sure they are prepared for what can and will happen. I was even amazed by how great rabbit mummies are with their kits. I wish the best of luck and hope that all works out for you and the youngsters.

best of luck!

:roll: its a subject i havent really looked into as my buns are all neutered, i phoned the vet she recommends feeding every 3 hours even through the night, which i done last night

oh poor you. How nice of someone to leave you to pick up the pieces for them. A phone call to the vet or a quick flick through a book would have prevented all this in the first place.

I wish you every luck with the babies and hope things work out alright. Keep us posted

Betty

Good Luck Debbie, one of my does had babies 18 months ago (very unplanned) she abandoned them well and truly so we had to hand rear them we fed them every 3 hours, but you need to make them pee and poo by rubbing there backside and belly after they eat!! bit like burping a baby.

Best wishes and i hope all goes well. :rabbit2:

wow a 6yr old rabbit having 7 babies, most breeders retire there rabbits at about 3 yrs old as u can tell they cant cope as they used to and when older they usually have less babies about 3-4. The mother would of proberbly looked after the kits if she had just left her to it as rabbits r not very motherly and will only go the nest to feed and only usually feed once a day but she took them away from the mother for a long period of time and when sshe put them bk they would of had all sorts of 'strange' smells on them so mother wouldnt of recconsed the babies, if was going to breed her do she should of done more reaseach into and it wasnt fair on the rabbit expeciting it to look after a litter at her age some 4 try old rabbits can have difficulty
bes=t way to stimulat a kits unrine it to wet some warm cotton woll and rub
becky

thank you everyone for the help, am useless at this! they are doin the toilet and eatin ok. :roll:

as i say i only know what the customer told me it could be a load of rubbish for all i know x lol

Ur a star Debbie by the sound of it, good luck

good luck with rearing these babies, it is very good of you to take them in well done :wink:

Why, Oh Why do these people enter into 'breeding' rabbits when they do not have a clue what they are actually getting into? :x At 6 years old the rabbit should've been left to have a happy retirement anyway. :x

The mother rabbit was probably looking after them OK as they only feed them around once every 24 hrs & they don't sit there & fuss them continually like other species (in fact the often try to pretend that nothing's there - its a predator/prey instinct)!!

The reason the doe attacked upon reintroduction was that the babies smelt strange & not of her anymore. I wonder if they actually tried rubbing the babies on her coat to pick up the scent again?

AS a human foster mum, though, Debbie, it means you will need to feed the kit more than the mother rabbit would (perhaps someone else can advise on this?) I think it to be approx. 2-3 times daily.

You will need to use Lactol at kitten dilution &need to thoroughly wash & sterilise any feeding equipment after each use (eg. using Miltons, etc) to prevent bacterial infections.

The lactol should be made with cooled boiled water.

You will need to top & tail them before & after each feed to clean the mouth & stimulate urination/defaecation.

I would recommend using a glass eye dropper as a syringe (even 1ml syringe) can be too tricky to feed with, as it it is possible to squirt too much down the throat this way.

Also if the kits are fed by syringe, after 24hrs they will lose their sucking reflex & cannot be fostered to another mother rabbit.

The mother rabbit probably has more sense than the owner! :evil: