someone please help me

I have a doe who gave birth last week and now she has disowned one of the litter and i dont know how to feed the poor baby. i have some baby formula will this work please help me

omg how sad- is it made for baby bunnies? if it is im sure it will work!

no its for a baby. do they make it for rabbits

Hi,

I posted about hand rearing babies a couple of weeks ago, but the post has been wiped when the forum was down. Ring your vet, I think you have to put them on some-sort of cat formula milk.

Good luck

Hi Happy Hare, what a sad post for it to be your first one Are you sure the doe has abandoned the kit, what did she do which makes you think that?

mom has taken it out of nest in to the run, when i put it back she moves it again and it is half the size of the others

ah so she see's it as the runt then

Unfortunately I'm not an expert with kits, as I've not had any experience with them at all. I'm sure it was Cimicat that some people have used to feed kits, the baby obviously has to kept warm though. Where is it just now?

in a shoe box with hay and some of the moms fur

has it had anything to eat recently?

not unless the mom fed it before she moved it

Is there any way you can get someone to hold the mum in their arms so that you can hold the kit to her teats so it can get something to eat?

good idea will try that now.thanks will let you know how it goes

This might help

The hand-rearing of baby rabbits is rarely successful. Experience is essential as the technique is quite different from that needed for other species, and most babies rabbits are killed accidentally by feeding too fast and the milk being inhaled into the lungs. Sadly, babies affected in this way die within 2 or 3 days from pneumonia.

Therefore, before you even consider hand-rearing infant rabbits, you must first be sure that this drastic action is justified and essential. If, for example, the babies are orphans, an alternative to hand-rearing would be placing the young with another litter if they are only a few days apart in age.

A common mistake by inexperienced rabbit keepers is that if they don’t see the mother paying regular attention to her litter, then she must be rejecting them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mum only stands still over the nest for 4-5 minutes once a day, usually during the night, and during the rest of the time she will show no interest in her litter whatsoever. This is probably a carry-over from wild rabbit instincts where it is essential that the mother does not lead predators to the nest site and therefore a brief visit once a day increases the chances of survival of the litter. If a baby accidentally gets carried out of the nest by hanging on to a teat, the mother will make no effort to put it back in the nest. She appears not to recognise the youngster as one of her litter, and sadly the baby stands a strong chance of being mutilated or dying from cold unless spotted by the owner and placed back in the nest.

If you are absolutely certain that mum is ignoring the babies (the skin of such babies appears to be too big for their bodies, and they have a wrinkled appearance), and she appears to have milk, you could try holding the mother steady and placing one or two babies at a time underneath her so that they can feed. Sometimes the stress of this procedure can cause mum’s milk to dry up, but it is definitely worth a try. If mum appears to have no milk after 2 – 3 days, an injection given by the vet should resolve the situation.

Once you are sure that the babies must be hand-reared, make sure you have all the equipment needed for the task, and are willing to spare the considerable amount of your time needed to be successful. Sometimes it is best to assume you will have losses, and any that survive are a bonus. If you are unsure that you want to take on this daunting task, contact your local rescue centre or veterinary surgeon to arrange for them to take them on. Thankfully, nature has decreed that by 31 days old the babies must be independent due to mum usually having another litter, so at least you know that the intensive care only lasts for just over a month, although hand-reared babies have special dietary needs until 3-4 months of age (see post-weaning care, below). The eyes of baby rabbits open between 10-12 days of age, although they can hear by about the fifth day.



Good luck!


Milk Formula
Cimicat milk substitute (powder), available from most Veterinary Surgeries (they may have to order some in specially).
Avipro (probiotic) or similar product, usually available from your vet.
Abidec multivitamin drops, available from chemist/supermarkets.
Equipment Required
Box (high sided or with lid, allow for passage of air and daylight) lined with a towel/shavings with hay on top, placed in a warm area (important for newborns). This will need to be swapped for a larger more suitable cage as the babies grow and become more active, such as a plastic indoor cage sold in most pet shops. If the mother managed to pull fur to line the nest, then it is a good idea to use this to help keep newborn babies warm. Change the bedding daily or as required.
You will also need another smaller box for use during the feeding routine (see below).
Miltons Fluid/tablets
There are two main ways to foster feed:
By syringe – 1ml syringes (available from your vet or chemist shop); 2ml syringe for rabbits over 3 weeks old and feeding well (available from your vet). This size is much more difficult to use as it is harder to control the volume of milk consumed at one time. I personally prefer to use 1 ml syringes throughout, even although the process takes longer as you have to refill more often

Preparation Of Milk Substitute
1 part Cimicat : 2.5 parts cooled boiled water.
¼ - ½ teaspoon Avipro.
0.5ml – 1ml Abidec depending on the quantity of milk prepared.
Enough milk should be prepared at a time to allow for one day’s feeds, making it fresh daily and keeping it in the fridge between feeds. Syringes, teats and other feeding equipment can be left soaking in a fresh solution of Miltons Fluid between feeds, rinsing thoroughly before use.

Establishing a Feeding Regime
It is vital that newborn babies are kept reasonably warm until their fur has grown sufficiently (around 7 days old). This is especially important for single orphans, although care must be taken not to let them overheat – the babies must always have the option of crawling away from the heat source if they need to.

The younger the baby is the more difficult it is to hand-rear successfully. There are two main factors responsible for this. Firstly, it is very difficult to control the amount of milk going into the rabbit’s mouth at a time, and if care is not taken it will breath milk into its lungs (usually confirmed by milk coming out of the nose) resulting in aspiration pneumonia which is usually fatal. Secondly, baby rabbits need their mother’s milk not only as a source of nourishment but also to supply them with the appropriate gut bacteria for them to be able to digest their food (milk) properly. Without this they fail to thrive, develop diarrhoea and die. This is the reason why probiotics are added to the milk substitute with every feed. It is common for hand-reared babies to have poor tolerance of change of diet or the addition of fresh food such as vegetables. It is totally disheartening to successfully rear young rabbits to then lose them at 10 or more weeks old due to changing the diet suddenly. I personally never give hand-reared babies any fresh fruit or vegetables until they are at least 4 months old, and even then I introduce it very gradually. The only exception to this rule is if hand-rearing wild rabbits, as in these circumstances it is vital that they are offered a wide variety of grasses and other plants that they would normally find in the wild from about 3 weeks onwards. Stick rigidly to one type of good quality dried food, and if there has to be a change at any stage, mix the two foods together for at least a couple of weeks, gradually increasing the new variety until the change over has been made. Very little (if any) dried food should be offered to baby wild rabbits as it will aid in their rehabilitation for release in the wild if they are given as natural a diet as possible.

It must be remembered that although the mother rabbit only feeds her babies briefly once a day, the milk being fed during hand-rearing is only a substitute and is not as rich as the “real thing” and therefore you need to feed the orphans 3 or 4 times a day, spacing the feeding times as evenly as possible. It is not necessary to feed during the night unless they are not feeding well, in which case you need to feed them every few hours until they are taking a few mls at a time. The quantity of milk taken varies from infant to infant and from one feed to another. The guide above is compiled from a study I carried out when hand-rearing 6 orphaned babies, to give an indication how much you can expect a baby to take on a daily basis.

Baby rabbits can take 2-3 days before they settle into a feeding pattern, and if there are several to be hand-reared it is beneficial to feed all babies once, placing each one in the smaller box after feeding as you go along to ensure that you don’t miss anyone, and then “go round again” to make sure they have all had enough to last until the next feed. It is common for a baby who has only taken a small amount at the first “sitting” to be very greedy at the next. Again, replace the babies one at a time into their “home” cage when they have had their second feed.

The milk should be warm but not hot (test it by putting a few drops on the back of your hand). Hold the infant with one hand whilst gently inserting the teat or syringe into the mouth with the other. They often wriggle around and jump whilst feeding so take care not to drop them! If the babies are under 6 days old you will need to stimulate urination. This is a straightforward task. After each baby has been fed, wet a finger or cotton bud in warm water and gently tap or stroke the genital area. Have a tissue ready!

By about 3 weeks of age the babies will start to nibble on hay, followed shortly afterwards by eating small amounts of rabbit food. At this point you will need to introduce a water bottle so that they can drink ad lib. The quantities eaten will gradually increase until about 4 ½ weeks where you should find that they will no longer want milk feeds at all. If you find you have one or two who are still enjoying the milk routine, gradually wean them off over a period of a week.

This might help

The hand-rearing of baby rabbits is rarely successful. Experience is essential as the technique is quite different from that needed for other species, and most babies rabbits are killed accidentally by feeding too fast and the milk being inhaled into the lungs. Sadly, babies affected in this way die within 2 or 3 days from pneumonia.

Therefore, before you even consider hand-rearing infant rabbits, you must first be sure that this drastic action is justified and essential. If, for example, the babies are orphans, an alternative to hand-rearing would be placing the young with another litter if they are only a few days apart in age.

A common mistake by inexperienced rabbit keepers is that if they don’t see the mother paying regular attention to her litter, then she must be rejecting them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mum only stands still over the nest for 4-5 minutes once a day, usually during the night, and during the rest of the time she will show no interest in her litter whatsoever. This is probably a carry-over from wild rabbit instincts where it is essential that the mother does not lead predators to the nest site and therefore a brief visit once a day increases the chances of survival of the litter. If a baby accidentally gets carried out of the nest by hanging on to a teat, the mother will make no effort to put it back in the nest. She appears not to recognise the youngster as one of her litter, and sadly the baby stands a strong chance of being mutilated or dying from cold unless spotted by the owner and placed back in the nest.

If you are absolutely certain that mum is ignoring the babies (the skin of such babies appears to be too big for their bodies, and they have a wrinkled appearance), and she appears to have milk, you could try holding the mother steady and placing one or two babies at a time underneath her so that they can feed. Sometimes the stress of this procedure can cause mum’s milk to dry up, but it is definitely worth a try. If mum appears to have no milk after 2 – 3 days, an injection given by the vet should resolve the situation.

Once you are sure that the babies must be hand-reared, make sure you have all the equipment needed for the task, and are willing to spare the considerable amount of your time needed to be successful. Sometimes it is best to assume you will have losses, and any that survive are a bonus. If you are unsure that you want to take on this daunting task, contact your local rescue centre or veterinary surgeon to arrange for them to take them on. Thankfully, nature has decreed that by 31 days old the babies must be independent due to mum usually having another litter, so at least you know that the intensive care only lasts for just over a month, although hand-reared babies have special dietary needs until 3-4 months of age (see post-weaning care, below). The eyes of baby rabbits open between 10-12 days of age, although they can hear by about the fifth day.



Good luck!


Milk Formula
Cimicat milk substitute (powder), available from most Veterinary Surgeries (they may have to order some in specially).
Avipro (probiotic) or similar product, usually available from your vet.
Abidec multivitamin drops, available from chemist/supermarkets.
Equipment Required
Box (high sided or with lid, allow for passage of air and daylight) lined with a towel/shavings with hay on top, placed in a warm area (important for newborns). This will need to be swapped for a larger more suitable cage as the babies grow and become more active, such as a plastic indoor cage sold in most pet shops. If the mother managed to pull fur to line the nest, then it is a good idea to use this to help keep newborn babies warm. Change the bedding daily or as required.
You will also need another smaller box for use during the feeding routine (see below).
Miltons Fluid/tablets
There are two main ways to foster feed:
By syringe – 1ml syringes (available from your vet or chemist shop); 2ml syringe for rabbits over 3 weeks old and feeding well (available from your vet). This size is much more difficult to use as it is harder to control the volume of milk consumed at one time. I personally prefer to use 1 ml syringes throughout, even although the process takes longer as you have to refill more often

Preparation Of Milk Substitute
1 part Cimicat : 2.5 parts cooled boiled water.
¼ - ½ teaspoon Avipro.
0.5ml – 1ml Abidec depending on the quantity of milk prepared.
Enough milk should be prepared at a time to allow for one day’s feeds, making it fresh daily and keeping it in the fridge between feeds. Syringes, teats and other feeding equipment can be left soaking in a fresh solution of Miltons Fluid between feeds, rinsing thoroughly before use.

Establishing a Feeding Regime
It is vital that newborn babies are kept reasonably warm until their fur has grown sufficiently (around 7 days old). This is especially important for single orphans, although care must be taken not to let them overheat – the babies must always have the option of crawling away from the heat source if they need to.

The younger the baby is the more difficult it is to hand-rear successfully. There are two main factors responsible for this. Firstly, it is very difficult to control the amount of milk going into the rabbit’s mouth at a time, and if care is not taken it will breath milk into its lungs (usually confirmed by milk coming out of the nose) resulting in aspiration pneumonia which is usually fatal. Secondly, baby rabbits need their mother’s milk not only as a source of nourishment but also to supply them with the appropriate gut bacteria for them to be able to digest their food (milk) properly. Without this they fail to thrive, develop diarrhoea and die. This is the reason why probiotics are added to the milk substitute with every feed. It is common for hand-reared babies to have poor tolerance of change of diet or the addition of fresh food such as vegetables. It is totally disheartening to successfully rear young rabbits to then lose them at 10 or more weeks old due to changing the diet suddenly. I personally never give hand-reared babies any fresh fruit or vegetables until they are at least 4 months old, and even then I introduce it very gradually. The only exception to this rule is if hand-rearing wild rabbits, as in these circumstances it is vital that they are offered a wide variety of grasses and other plants that they would normally find in the wild from about 3 weeks onwards. Stick rigidly to one type of good quality dried food, and if there has to be a change at any stage, mix the two foods together for at least a couple of weeks, gradually increasing the new variety until the change over has been made. Very little (if any) dried food should be offered to baby wild rabbits as it will aid in their rehabilitation for release in the wild if they are given as natural a diet as possible.

It must be remembered that although the mother rabbit only feeds her babies briefly once a day, the milk being fed during hand-rearing is only a substitute and is not as rich as the “real thing” and therefore you need to feed the orphans 3 or 4 times a day, spacing the feeding times as evenly as possible. It is not necessary to feed during the night unless they are not feeding well, in which case you need to feed them every few hours until they are taking a few mls at a time. The quantity of milk taken varies from infant to infant and from one feed to another. The guide above is compiled from a study I carried out when hand-rearing 6 orphaned babies, to give an indication how much you can expect a baby to take on a daily basis.

Baby rabbits can take 2-3 days before they settle into a feeding pattern, and if there are several to be hand-reared it is beneficial to feed all babies once, placing each one in the smaller box after feeding as you go along to ensure that you don’t miss anyone, and then “go round again” to make sure they have all had enough to last until the next feed. It is common for a baby who has only taken a small amount at the first “sitting” to be very greedy at the next. Again, replace the babies one at a time into their “home” cage when they have had their second feed.

The milk should be warm but not hot (test it by putting a few drops on the back of your hand). Hold the infant with one hand whilst gently inserting the teat or syringe into the mouth with the other. They often wriggle around and jump whilst feeding so take care not to drop them! If the babies are under 6 days old you will need to stimulate urination. This is a straightforward task. After each baby has been fed, wet a finger or cotton bud in warm water and gently tap or stroke the genital area. Have a tissue ready!

By about 3 weeks of age the babies will start to nibble on hay, followed shortly afterwards by eating small amounts of rabbit food. At this point you will need to introduce a water bottle so that they can drink ad lib. The quantities eaten will gradually increase until about 4 ½ weeks where you should find that they will no longer want milk feeds at all. If you find you have one or two who are still enjoying the milk routine, gradually wean them off over a period of a week.

ooops. don't suppose it helped any more been posted twice

Well done Betty! Posted twice or not :wink:

Fab post Betty loads of info in there, that should be made into a post of its own and made sticky!

hehe i nearly posted it again.. luckily thought i best just check what had been said already hahaha.
its all here
http://cottontails-rescue.org.uk/handrear.asp

thanks for the advice. got my hubby to hold the baby while i held the mom and the baby fed for about 3 mins not long but a start as i am told they are only fed once a day will repeat tomorrow, but am still worried as this one has hardly any fur and is has very saggy skin aimalar to discribed above where as the others have all their fur. but all i can do is try :!:

thats a great start! Much better for the baby to get its mum's own milk i would think. You need to make sure you stimulate its bottom so that it poos aswell. Good luck with the baby. It could be that there is something developmentally wrong with the baby and that is why it has been pushed out the nest but worth a try to give it a chance.