• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Urgent help with 3 day old babies!!

S

Spacegirl

Mama Doe
Eve at Briar Patch is off to collect two 3 or 4 day old babies today. Their owner left the cage open and mum is gone and some other babies have died :cry:
The babies have been taken to the vets and given some kitty milk by the owners but they feel they will be better off with Eve now.
What is best to do with them? Eve has another rabbit that has 9 week old babies. Would it be a good idea to take her out and try and get her to feed the babies? How best could this be done? Is she likely to kill them?
Or would it be better to try and hand feed the babies - and if so, what is best milk to use?
Any advice appreciated!
 
Don't really know what to suggest -

Could the 9 week olds leave mum, would she still have milk, & adopt the babies, or would she kill them?
 
If the other female is still producing milk then she'll be the best mum as the milk's better than the kitty milk. To feed, hold the mum and distract with food/treats/strokes and then hold each baby in turn to a teat to suckle. Depending on the mum you might be able to hold her on her back or just lift her so she's stood on her back feet.

Keep the babies somewhere warm, if possible bring the nest with the babies and keep them in it in a cat carrier/box.

At 3 days they'll need stimulating to go to the loo afterwards by stroking their bums with cotton wool afterwards.

Tam
 
Sorry, in case that wasn't clear, don't put babies in with mum just hold them twice a day or so to suckle.

You might need to supliment - I'm not sure how much milk she'll have if her babies are 9 weeks.

Tam
 
You'd probably best contact Nix and Janice (ARC) as they seemed to have experience with this kind of thing on Jane's thread last week - they are very unlikely to survive at that age though :(
 
Babies turn out to be 10 days old.
Eve has tried putting them to the female she has but they are not suckling.
Any more ideas? We are thinking give them some milk now as their tums feel quite empty then try again with the nursing mum later?
 
Spacegirl said:
Babies turn out to be 10 days old.
Eve has tried putting them to the female she has but they are not suckling.
Any more ideas? We are thinking give them some milk now as their tums feel quite empty then try again with the nursing mum later?
Click to expand...

I'd go for the Full Fat Pasteurised Goats Milk. It'll need to be warmed to body temp, not 'fridge cold'

Sending good luck vibes

Janex
 
I think Eve has used goats milk before, with Pippa and her babies. I would do the same again. How many are there? Are Smudge's babies still with the mother or have they been weaned now?
Janice should be online after 9 tonight, maybe she has some more ideas.
 
If the other does babies are 9 weeks shes probably not feeding them anymore - have you actually checked to see if she has any milk?

We have done this before, we had a doe with a 7 week old litter and her daughter had a 3 week old litter, and she sadly died, we took the 7 week olds away from their Mum and gave her the 3 week old grandchildren. And bless her heart she fed them and reared them. This is a rare scenario and we were extremely lucky.

Yes Goats milk is better than kitten milk.
 
Yep I too have always used goats milk since I used to clean out this mad crazy eccentric rabbit womans (sound familiar to any of you? ;) :lol: ) rescue rabbits and thats where I started hand rearing and she was a font of knowledge! She even had her own goats :shock:
I feel old thinking back to those days:oops:
 
Would there be any problems if she changed over to goats milk now and they had already been started on the kiity milk? Will they get upset stomachs?
 
I would definately try to syringe feed full fat goats milk which has been warmed first if the mum of the 9 weeks old does not have any milk and then stimulate them to go to the toilet.

If the babies can be got to me I have two lactating mums I could try them to feed them from. Certainly Theo's babies were all fighting over their 'teet rights' tonight when I got home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Baby rabbits
Replies
11
Views
300
InspectorMorse
InspectorMorse
H
When can I move baby rabbits?
Replies
4
Views
1K
honeybun90
H
Amy Sanders
New Rabbit Owner
Replies
3
Views
899
Zarla
Zarla
Back
Top