Help baby rabbit

[Charley Chuckles]

Friend has baby rabbit .... Can't find mother. What should she feed him??? Can FV be used, or can she use just born for pups/ kittens? I really don't know what to tell her, eyes not open. Help, it is in a warm situation. How often to feed , thanks guys

[Nancy in New York]

Rabbits are HARD.
Is there anyway that she can find the nest, put him back and cover it up?
Some people will put a mark on the top of the nest and if it's disturbed the following day,
they know mama has been back on.
Also bunnies to NOT eat like little squirrels. I think they only eat once or twice a day.
Hold off until an expert comes on. :tilt

[Charley Chuckles]

:thankyou Nancy

[Nancy in New York]

Abby I am going to move this up to the emergency section to get some more eyes on this.
Hold on, moving you now. :grin2

[Nancy in New York]

I got this link Abby, but still not sure if you should try to reunite.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html

[Squirlgirl]

I would try to find the nest and put the bunny back. Mom does not tend to the nest like squirrels do. How did your friend get the baby?

[Charley Chuckles]

I would try to find the nest and put the bunny back. Mom does not tend to the nest like squirrels do. How did your friend get the baby?

JB got bunny, her dog :osnap:osnap

[Charley Chuckles]

Bump please

[Fireweed]

Have you spoken with Rhapsody? She's a bunny person - might be able to help...?

EDIT: Just PMd her and sent her this link.

[Duckman]

I'm going to ask Jackie to come here and help. She has bunnies right now too. They are VERY hard though.

[Squirlgirl]

Is the bunny injured? what does bunny weigh?

[Charley Chuckles]

No Ingrid's eyes not opended

[Charley Chuckles]

Damn spell correction ,,

[Rhapsody]

Baby bunnies can eat 5-10 % of their body weight...... either Fox Valley or KMR --I recommend KMR.
Its best to get the night droppings from an older rabbit (Cecotropes) and mix in the formula.

[SquirrelRefuge]

I have a page on the squirrelrefuge.org site for bunnies with links that should help. http://squirrelrefuge.org/bunny%20rehabilitation.html


If you know where the nest is you can put the bunny back in the nest and circle it with a heavy coat of flour to check for tracks. That is really the only way to tell for sure. That and checking in the morning to see if there is a milk line. That really only works on bunnies with little fur.

Baby bunnies are unlike squirrels in that they need to eat more at each feeding and less often. Mom only feeds at night. Baby bunnies have no scent so if she isn't right where she left the bunny she wont find it so if you don't know where the nest is, then congratulations, you are now a bunny mom!

You want to get at least 10% body weight at bed time and first thing in the morning. The rabbits I have in my care are eating almost 15% their body weight of KMR. It can take a lot of patience to get a bunny to eat but if you stick the nipple in their mouth and just sit patiently, they will usually start to suck. You can hold each side of their mouth gently against the nipple and sort of push the nipple in and out while pushing a little milk into the nipple to create a bit of suction to get them started. They also seem to do ok with the nurser bottles unlike squirrels that aspirate quickly on those. It can take them a while to get use to the nipple.

You can use the same formula for squirrels under four weeks (32/40) or KMR. I have a little better luck with KMR. If the bunny wont eat at least ten percent then you can feed more frequently. The bunny should never lose weight. Be sure to stimulate them to urinate and deficate.

Its true that bunnies are hard to successfully rehabilitate, but if you are patient, keep their GI track sterile by cleaning all the implements and keep their milk refrigerated, only warming right before feeding, lots of people are successful in caring for them. If the bunny gets bacteria in its GI tract it will get diarrhea and a bunny with diarrhea is usually a dead bunny in short order. Do not give acidophilus to bunnies since they don't have that bacteria naturally in their gut. I've had bunnies come in that have been given this and it usually doesn't hurt them but it wont help either.

Basically, unless you have Cecotropes (and who ever does?), all you can do is keep their gut sterile until they are able to generate their own. Bunnies without this much needed bacteria should be kept on milk as long as possible and then when at about 90 grams, slowly offered a timothy hay, alphalpha free pellet to gently introduce solids to their diet. Do not start them on greens until they are solidly eating timothy hay or pellets or you will cause life threatening diarrhea.

If you can find a rehabilitator who has experience with bunnies, that is probably the easiest route. On the positive side, they are way easier to release than squirrels and novice bunny care givers often have as much success as seasoned rehabilitators because they have more time to give the special patience that bunnies need to survive.

Good luck and feel free to contact me at Jackie@squirrelrefuge.org if I can help answer questions.

[Charley Chuckles]

I have a page on the squirrelrefuge.org site for bunnies with links that should help. http://squirrelrefuge.org/bunny%20rehabilitation.html


If you know where the nest is you can put the bunny back in the nest and circle it with a heavy coat of flour to check for tracks. That is really the only way to tell for sure. That and checking in the morning to see if there is a milk line. That really only works on bunnies with little fur.

Baby bunnies are unlike squirrels in that they need to eat more at each feeding and less often. Mom only feeds at night. Baby bunnies have no scent so if she isn't right where she left the bunny she wont find it so if you don't know where the nest is, then congratulations, you are now a bunny mom!

You want to get at least 10% body weight at bed time and first thing in the morning. The rabbits I have in my care are eating almost 15% their body weight of KMR. It can take a lot of patience to get a bunny to eat but if you stick the nipple in their mouth and just sit patiently, they will usually start to suck. You can hold each side of their mouth gently against the nipple and sort of push the nipple in and out while pushing a little milk into the nipple to create a bit of suction to get them started. They also seem to do ok with the nurser bottles unlike squirrels that aspirate quickly on those. It can take them a while to get use to the nipple.

You can use the same formula for squirrels under four weeks (32/40) or KMR. I have a little better luck with KMR. If the bunny wont eat at least ten percent then you can feed more frequently. The bunny should never lose weight. Be sure to stimulate them to urinate and deficate.

Its true that bunnies are hard to successfully rehabilitate, but if you are patient, keep their GI track sterile by cleaning all the implements and keep their milk refrigerated, only warming right before feeding, lots of people are successful in caring for them. If the bunny gets bacteria in its GI tract it will get diarrhea and a bunny with diarrhea is usually a dead bunny in short order. Do not give acidophilus to bunnies since they don't have that bacteria naturally in their gut. I've had bunnies come in that have been given this and it usually doesn't hurt them but it wont help either.

Basically, unless you have Cecotropes (and who ever does?), all you can do is keep their gut sterile until they are able to generate their own. Bunnies without this much needed bacteria should be kept on milk as long as possible and then when at about 90 grams, slowly offered a timothy hay, alphalpha free pellet to gently introduce solids to their diet. Do not start them on greens until they are solidly eating timothy hay or pellets or you will cause life threatening diarrhea.

If you can find a rehabilitator who has experience with bunnies, that is probably the easiest route. On the positive side, they are way easier to release than squirrels and novice bunny care givers often have as much success as seasoned rehabilitators because they have more time to give the special patience that bunnies need to survive.

Good luck and feel free to contact me at Jackie@squirrelrefuge.org if I can help answer questions.

:thankyou:thankyou:thankyou:bowdown

[SquirrelRefuge]

I should mention that 10% is the normal amount to aim for with bunnies. Mine are eating 15% but they are just about to wean and are bigger bunnies. I mention it because unlike squirrels, most bunnies are not usually little pigs so you don't have to cut them off like you have to with the eastern gray pigsquirrel. Still, I do have a bunny that would probably eat more than that so there is always that rare exception. For a bunny with eyes closed you will probably have a hard time getting it to even take the normal 5%. If the bunny is only taking a few cc's at each feeding, it wont hurt to just feed more frequently. Be sure to clear the nose if milk bubbles out of the nose or drains out of the mouth if you accidentally get too much in at once. Bunnies aspirate just like squirrels so gently tipping it nose down and dabbing to clear the nares is helpful if that happens