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help... hand rearing 3, 5 day old kits!

Ok thanks,
I will take the babies back first thing and tell her everything you said. I won't feed them anything else now.

Thank you for your help I'm glad you've all been so friendly. I was a bit nervous of posting as some forums are quite harsh to new comers lol
 
ebony-the-great! said:
Its lactol kitten.
Should I feed them or not? They won't be back to their mom until about 8 in the morning?
Click to expand...

It's a tough call, and depends when they last fed (if at all). They can go without food for quite a while, but will start getting dehydrated if they have nothing. Syringe feeding is very difficult, so be really careful if you do attempt it.
 
I fed them at 8pm (ish) with half evaporated milk and half water. They licked it off my fingers. They are quite dehydrated as the fur sticks up when you pull it. they're not as bad since they had a drink though.

Just to add I didn't know they weren't allowed evap milk. A trainee vet nurse who seen the babies told us to try it.
 
u/d

I got up extra early today and took the kits back round to their mommy. Wills was brilliant and just lay on her back while the babies fed. I'm so relieved! Iv been up most the night worrying about them.
I let them drink until they fell to sleep. I checked the two other babies that I left with herand they have massive fully bellies.
I'm goin back round about 12ish to help do it again. Once the babies are full how often should I feed them like this? I bought them back into the house and they started jumping around. Does this mean they're still hungry?
 
we took them away because they were very weak and dehydrated. they still are quite weak and im not sure what we should do now.

we were told to take them away as they would get squashed to the bottom of the nest and wouldnt have the strength to feed themselves :oops:

to be honest im just confused!
 
That's fantastic!

Mummy bunnies generally only feed kits once a day, sometimes twice, but these need some extra feedings, so you could do one mid morning/lunchtime and one right before bed, and maybe squeeze another one in first thing in the morning if they need it.

What did occur to me is that possibly these babies are younger than the others. Bunnies have two uterine horns, and can kindle all kits in one horn (so maybe the two who are full, and the one who died), then stop if its distressing, and carry on the next day or the next or even the next. so it may be they had not yet been able to feed because they were younger and newer.

You can put them back in with her two if you want to. You can then just have a nosey in the nest to see if they are being fed and do that regularly. Equally, you could wait until you are sure they are stronger and put them back then.

Them being active is a natural response to the food being around them.
 
awww thanks sky-o,
iv been so desperate to get a reply. they seem a lot better this morning. still all wrinkly with sagging skin but can lit their heads better now. i know theyre not out of the woods yet but atleast theyre making progress!
 
They will look wrinkly for a while, but if they have big pingpong bellies that's what you are looking for. :)
 
I have no advice as I've never been in this situation, but wishing you lots of luck with the babies. I really hope they'll all make it.
 
Hiya, just read your PM

The babies I hand reared came to me aged 3 weeks which is a significant difference than attempting to rear newborns. I tried that once with 5 newborns but none made it :cry:

I would not like to give you bad advice re the feeding, as I say, my hand reared survivors had the benefit of 3 weeks with their Mum.

Tamsin (Rabbit Rehome Admin) successfully hand reared her Wildie Bun Scamp, so I'd suggest you PM her as I am sure that her advice would be much better than mine.

I haven't read the whole of this thread so apologies if this link has already been posted. I have been told the advice given on here is good :

http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/handrear.asp

Sorry not to be able to offer you much help on this one, I just dont feel qualified to do so.

Good luck with the little ones :)
 
For all those who have been reading this thread...
The babies are doing ok. I know they're still not out of the woods but they're getting there (finger crossed!)
They're a week old today :D

Their skin goes back down normally know so they're no longer dehydrated (I think)

Mommy rabbit is being brilliant and really behaving herself!

I'm getting attached to the little terrors and they're not even mine!
 
You're doing a fantastic job!

They will look wrinkly when the food in their tummies is running out. I don't think its dehydration as such given they are now feeding. When they get older they will still be wrinkly.

I have lots of bunny pictures, of healthy babies at any given day, so if you want to compare, just ddrop me a pm and I'll share my pictures with you.

Between 10-14 days they will start to open their eyes (then the fun begins), although normally around day 11-12. If they don't open their eyes by day 14, or if they open their eyes and then the eyes close, they need to go to the vets. Make sure the nest is as clean as possible because eye infections are very common.
 
The best milk to use is that lactol milk for puppies & kittens its all the same milk & you can also buy a lactol starting kit which has little teets & bottles with a brush! I've bought them just incase my mother bun doesn't look after her 5kits that she had a couple of days ago, Keeping an eye on them for now.

How old is your mum bun?? :wave:
 
They had the mother bun of a lady who had 2 giants so not 100% sure on age, but between 7-8 months old.

Just to let you all know they are doing really well. They're eyes opened yesterday same day as the two mom still has! They've doubled in weight since I took them in. The small runt is 98g, the two bigger ones are 155g and 151g.

They are so funny now their little eyes have opened!

Any ideas on when they'll start to nibble on normal foods?
 
Are they still getting feeds from mum? Have you thought about reintegrating them back into the nest?

They will start to nibble hay from before their eyes open, and the pellets will come as they start to come out of the nest.

By the way, sorry I haven't replied to your PM, I had a few horrendous days with my buns. I'll PM you back now.
 
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