Baby Rabbits
04 April 2004, 11:22 PM
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Baby Rabbits
My female rabbit had 6 kittens last Sunday and basically rejected them. 3 died, they were scattered, thrown out of the hutch and were not being looked after well.
To prevent the last 3 from dieing, we brought them into the house to be hand-reared. I'm currently feeding them alternative meals of Lactol for small animals and recipe of evap.milk, water, egg yolk & honey. So far they are feeding well on the syringe and taking in the mixture.
My question is...what can I do next? At approx 10 days of age, they are supposed to eat a protein / vitamin enriched faeces delivered by their mother, to convert the pH in their stomach to accept the grass that they would normally eat. Is there anything I can make or buy to mimic that? Or am I just going to have to strap a nappy on the mother and "catch" the droppings?
Anyone have any experience of rearing baby rabbits?
To prevent the last 3 from dieing, we brought them into the house to be hand-reared. I'm currently feeding them alternative meals of Lactol for small animals and recipe of evap.milk, water, egg yolk & honey. So far they are feeding well on the syringe and taking in the mixture.
My question is...what can I do next? At approx 10 days of age, they are supposed to eat a protein / vitamin enriched faeces delivered by their mother, to convert the pH in their stomach to accept the grass that they would normally eat. Is there anything I can make or buy to mimic that? Or am I just going to have to strap a nappy on the mother and "catch" the droppings?
Anyone have any experience of rearing baby rabbits?
04 April 2004, 11:49 PM
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LOL...ok - there are a few on Fotopic. I'm trying to take some pretty much every day as they are growing so fast!! http://ajsphotos.fotopic.net/c146696.html
05 April 2004, 05:16 AM
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aaww bless I've never seen photos of such tiny rabbits before.
I've got no idea what you can feed them with though.... have you phoned the vets for advice?
Good luck with them
cath
I've got no idea what you can feed them with though.... have you phoned the vets for advice?
Good luck with them
cath
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05 April 2004, 09:44 AM
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Hmmm are they babies of the babies you got from me lol
They are so cute.....
But sorry havent a clue tho as I was lucky mummy didnt reject her babies
Maybe phone a vet and ask
Hmmm are they babies of the babies you got from me lol
They are so cute.....
But sorry havent a clue tho as I was lucky mummy didnt reject her babies
Maybe phone a vet and ask
05 April 2004, 10:15 AM
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mice i done something similiar to that
a few yrs back my rottweiller baby give birth to a few pups and they were premature and she didnt know how to look after them and was over protective and crushed a couple of them by mistake coz she tried to protect them it was so sad
and the rest of them were getting cold and no feed so the vet told me what to do, so the wife and i took care of them for a few days and fed them with a syringe and placed a hot water bottle under the blankets in the box and after they did the toilet we used to clean them with water and cotton buds and coz they were too weak and small a few more died, it was tragic and then we had a big nice cuddly one left and poor animal died after a few days, it was heart breaking, lil defencless animals it was horrid
and then after 3 yrs my lil glenda died coz of a tumor in her leg i had to get her put down u may remember that 2 yrs ago i posted about it
a few yrs back my rottweiller baby give birth to a few pups and they were premature and she didnt know how to look after them and was over protective and crushed a couple of them by mistake coz she tried to protect them it was so sad
and the rest of them were getting cold and no feed so the vet told me what to do, so the wife and i took care of them for a few days and fed them with a syringe and placed a hot water bottle under the blankets in the box and after they did the toilet we used to clean them with water and cotton buds and coz they were too weak and small a few more died, it was tragic and then we had a big nice cuddly one left and poor animal died after a few days, it was heart breaking, lil defencless animals it was horrid
and then after 3 yrs my lil glenda died coz of a tumor in her leg i had to get her put down u may remember that 2 yrs ago i posted about it
05 April 2004, 12:09 PM
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Kat...these ones are already spoken for, if they live.
Kaz - LOL - no, these ones are babies of the two that I had from you. We had Chaos spayed slightly too late, it would seem! I think that the male baby from last time is having a bit of an hierarchical hissy fit and is throwing out any babies from Chaos as he is now the "weaker" male, having been castrated.
Moses -
Sad. It's so easy to get attached to these little things.
I've asked vets for advice, but there is nothing on the market that compensates for mother's milk / droppings. All the information I've read and from the vet themselves state that hand-rearing baby rabbits is pretty much destined to fail, but am perservering. They are so cute.
As I said, their next hurdle will be the change in pH in their tummies that should occur around this week, when they should be fed the caecotrophs from their mother. If they aren't fed this, then they will need to spend their lives on milk, unless I can ever so gradually introduce greens into their diet.
Kaz - LOL - no, these ones are babies of the two that I had from you. We had Chaos spayed slightly too late, it would seem! I think that the male baby from last time is having a bit of an hierarchical hissy fit and is throwing out any babies from Chaos as he is now the "weaker" male, having been castrated.
Moses -
Sad. It's so easy to get attached to these little things. I've asked vets for advice, but there is nothing on the market that compensates for mother's milk / droppings. All the information I've read and from the vet themselves state that hand-rearing baby rabbits is pretty much destined to fail,
but am perservering. They are so cute. As I said, their next hurdle will be the change in pH in their tummies that should occur around this week, when they should be fed the caecotrophs from their mother. If they aren't fed this, then they will need to spend their lives on milk, unless I can ever so gradually introduce greens into their diet.
05 April 2004, 12:29 PM
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Originally Posted by **************
Can't you just take the droppings from the other rabbits cage and give them to the babies? W69's rabbit 'Dougal' produces more turds than you can shake a stick at if you want some posted to you 
Rabbits eat a hell of a lot of **** then. If the rabbit ever tries to lick me again now I know what it eats its gonna get a slap
05 April 2004, 12:47 PM
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SiDHEaD - correct.
There are 2 types of droppings. First there's the caecotrophs, which are slightly gooey and are covered with a mucus membrane (sorry for all those reading this and eating their lunch..!). The caecotrophs are larger in size than the normal droppings, but made up of smaller *****. The rabbit will then re-eat this caecotroph. This then re-appears as the hard ball that everyone knows as a rabbit dropping.
Fortunately they don't eat every single caecotroph, but short of putting a nappy on the mother rabbit, I'm not sure how I'm going to collect them to feed to the babies...Hence why I'm wondering if there's a product on the market or something I can make which has the nutrients / vitamins in order to change the babies' digestive tract into accepting grass.
There are 2 types of droppings. First there's the caecotrophs, which are slightly gooey and are covered with a mucus membrane (sorry for all those reading this and eating their lunch..!). The caecotrophs are larger in size than the normal droppings, but made up of smaller *****. The rabbit will then re-eat this caecotroph. This then re-appears as the hard ball that everyone knows as a rabbit dropping.
Fortunately they don't eat every single caecotroph, but short of putting a nappy on the mother rabbit, I'm not sure how I'm going to collect them to feed to the babies...Hence why I'm wondering if there's a product on the market or something I can make which has the nutrients / vitamins in order to change the babies' digestive tract into accepting grass.
05 April 2004, 12:52 PM
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Here's a better worded explanation from the British House Rabbit Association :
Rabbits are herbivores. They are designed to eat grass and young shoots, grazing 2 or 3 times a day. They then return to their warren to digest their food and obtain the best value from it. Rabbits have a very clever mechanism to enable them to gain so much nutrition from it. Rabbits have a special enlargement in their large intestine called the caecum (pronounced seek-em). This is like a massive appendix and it is filled with bacteria, which ferment the food that the rabbit eats.
When it has been sufficiently fermented the rabbit then passes the contents of the caecum as a special kind of stool called a caecotroph (pronounced seek-otrofe).
The caecotrophs are soft pellets covered in mucus. The rabbit has a reflex which makes them lick their bottoms as the caecotroph is passed enabling them to eat it.
For this reason you should never see caecotrophs.
The caecotroph then goes to the stomach and the food is digested all over again! This is when rabbits obtain all the nutrition from their grassy diet. The caecotrophs are a major source of amino acids and B and K vitamins, so they are absolutely vital for good
general health.
For this system to work the rabbit depends upon a good source of indigestible fibre. This gives the guts something to work on. Food passes through rabbits’ intestines very quickly and fibre enables this. (It is then passed as the hard dry pellets you will recognise.)
Lack of fibre slows down the guts and then all the bacteria that would usually do so much good start to become harmful. This can make them very sick.
Rabbits are herbivores. They are designed to eat grass and young shoots, grazing 2 or 3 times a day. They then return to their warren to digest their food and obtain the best value from it. Rabbits have a very clever mechanism to enable them to gain so much nutrition from it. Rabbits have a special enlargement in their large intestine called the caecum (pronounced seek-em). This is like a massive appendix and it is filled with bacteria, which ferment the food that the rabbit eats.
When it has been sufficiently fermented the rabbit then passes the contents of the caecum as a special kind of stool called a caecotroph (pronounced seek-otrofe).
The caecotrophs are soft pellets covered in mucus. The rabbit has a reflex which makes them lick their bottoms as the caecotroph is passed enabling them to eat it.
For this reason you should never see caecotrophs.
The caecotroph then goes to the stomach and the food is digested all over again! This is when rabbits obtain all the nutrition from their grassy diet. The caecotrophs are a major source of amino acids and B and K vitamins, so they are absolutely vital for good
general health.
For this system to work the rabbit depends upon a good source of indigestible fibre. This gives the guts something to work on. Food passes through rabbits’ intestines very quickly and fibre enables this. (It is then passed as the hard dry pellets you will recognise.)
Lack of fibre slows down the guts and then all the bacteria that would usually do so much good start to become harmful. This can make them very sick.
05 April 2004, 01:10 PM
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Ah thats why he licks his **** so much then I thought they deposited them on the floor like the 2nd round of poops and then munched them up. Next time he has his face burried up his bum I know what the little sod is doing At least while he's doing that he isnt chewing all my wires or digging the carpet up 
I thought they deposited them on the floor like the 2nd round of poops and then munched them up. Next time he has his face burried up his bum I know what the little sod is doing At least while he's doing that he isnt chewing all my wires or digging the carpet up
He never has done that 
05 April 2004, 01:20 PM
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I assume female rabbits wont foster other rabbits babies like other animals do. ie you havent got any other female rabbits you can try feeding the babies from? Doesn't sound too promising if they get stuck to a milk only feed Hope your hard work isnt wasted though.
Hope your hard work isnt wasted though.
05 April 2004, 02:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Mice_Elf
Kat...these ones are already spoken for, if they live.
05 April 2004, 02:45 PM
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Small update : Have spoken to some people at the BHRA and they put me onto a specialist in this area that works in Strathmore Vets. They have recommended a product called Avipro, which is a probiotic combination of bacteria, enzymes, electrolytes and vitamins, apparently!
Sounds a darn sight more interesting than poo harvesting from the run / hutch!
I've ordered 100g of this and we'll see how we go.
Bravo : we tried putting them back on mummy rabbit by turning her on her back to hypnotise her and then putting the babies on her tummy. Unfortunately she's stopped lactating and after 3 attempts at times when she would normally be feeding them, we gave up.
Sounds a darn sight more interesting than poo harvesting from the run / hutch!
I've ordered 100g of this and we'll see how we go.
Bravo : we tried putting them back on mummy rabbit by turning her on her back to hypnotise her and then putting the babies on her tummy. Unfortunately she's stopped lactating and after 3 attempts at times when she would normally be feeding them, we gave up.
05 April 2004, 02:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Katana
Hehe good. You know who now wants a kitten too. I swear she shouldnt have watched subversive programmes like Finding Nemo, Ace Ventura and other evil films.
05 April 2004, 02:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Mice_Elf
=shakes head= How will Misty act to a new kitten? If you do seriously want a kitten, then a friend of mine whose friend has just broken up with her husband has a kitten that needs a good home.
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