Itty Bitty Baby – Need help

[Gizmo_Fluffybutt]

A friend found a tiny baby bunny in her garage and called my fiance and I since we have a bunny. Apparently the cat brought it in, and her brother saw the cat pushing it around yesterday, so we know it hasn’t been with mommy for a little while. We went and picked it up and bought some puppy (goat) milk, but we’re not sure what we’re doing. The bunny still has closed eyes, but moves around tons. He went right into Josh’s hand and nuzzled up to him. We tried to feed him and he had just a little, but didn’t seem too interested.

Any suggestions? How often and how much should we feed him? When do bunnies ween and how do we do that? What about using the bathroom; do we need to stimulate the bunny like you do with kittens?

Thanks in advance!

[JK]

I’m not sure what to do but I have emailed the community leaders for help!!!! Good luck!

[bunnytowne]

awe yes I would rub the tummy to stimulate gas etc.   and I know feed stores and tractor supply  and maybe even vets would have the proper formula for a baby bun and a few drops is fine. dont’ watn to over feed them as it can make them real real sick.  I am sure someone else knows where to get it and what it is called to feed them with.

I remember a time when I had bottlefed babies cuz the mom died.  fed them with my baby doll bottles they lived too. so quite possibly yours will survive too. other people have had to do this b4. so when they come on with advice maybe something more can be added to waht I have said here.

well good luck with the baby and good healing survival vibes coming it’s way. awe

[Gizmo_Fluffybutt]

Here’s a pic of the baby bun. Any ideas what I should make a nest out of?

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[Lisa_43]

If you don’t know how to feed a baby rabbit (which can be hard) I would take it to someone who does, maybe a rabbit rescue.

The last thing you want happening is for this poor little thing to die through lack of knowlege or experience. Not trying to say you know nothing but these little creatures are so delicate.  Or if you know of somone that has experience you could get them to help you.

Thankyou for rescueing him/her. I had babies to look after and thought one may of needed hand feeding, I read up at how hard this can be, lucky for me tho mum took him back in and started feeding him.

Nesting materials you can use hay and if you have another rabbit start grooming their hair and use that in the nest also.

Dana Krempels is an expert on rabbits, you can post a question on this link and she will get back to you.

http://www.allexperts.com/browse.cgi

[MarinaB]

Hello,

I had a little bit of experience with wild babies as I saved one from a magpie… He actually was easy to care for, I fed him with a 3cc syringe every couple of hours, even though it is recommended to feed them only early morn, late evening, like a mother would. Basically, you need to avoid overfeeding and making their tummies too full.

The sad end of my story came a month after I got my baby (he was still blind when I got him). I had read that you need to feed them cecotrophs to get the good bacteria in them, but I didn’t have access to any adult bunnies. He was a happy bunny and would run around and follow my hand…I tried introducing lettuce to him slowly, hoping for a miracle. He would get diarrhea, and I would give him pedialyte, which would help, but one morning he just died. I learned a hard lesson, but now, if that ever happens again, I’ll steal my adult bunnie’s nightime poops for the baby to eat. Hopefully won’t be necessary!

So, I guess you will just need to figure out how to get some poops from your bun before she eats them and feed them to the baby!

Good luck!

Keilwerth

[BinkyBunny]

I can’t tell if the is a wild or domestic bunny.  Looks like a cottontail. Check out this great link from the House Rabbit Society.  It addresses everything, but if you want to get to the feeding first, it’s towards the bottom. http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html.   This will at least help until you can get hold of a wildlife center.

I suggest calling your local humane society.or wildlife rehabilitation center.  Many animal rescues and humane societies have a wildlife department, and they take care of baby birds, squirrels, wild rabbits etc.  So, if they determine it is a wild rabbit, then please let them handle it so it will have the best chance of being put back into the wild.  

 

Keep us udpated!

Oh, by the way, here are some photos of what baby cottontails look like – they really look like the rabbit you have – even the dark black rim on the ears!:

[Sarita]

http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/wildlife/rehabilitators/georgia-rehabilitators.html

I suggest calling them even if they don’t list rabbits – they may still be able to help by either taking the baby or recommending you to another rehabber.  Even call those not close so they can give you some recommendations.

[bunnytowne]

wow y’all have such good advice. I never thougth of wildlife sanctuary adn so forth. glad y’all came on to further inform about the baby bunny. if  that person had listened to me it might be dead now. gosh. I will remember this next time someone asks. wildlife sanctuary wildlife rescue.

[bunnytowne]

funny thing tho the babies I raised from domestic bun who died they survived all but one who ended up splay legged. well anyway. someone up above had have been watching over them. I dont’ remember waht we fed them was called. they would wake me up at 4 a.m. scratchign around so I knew they were hungry and got up to feed them ahaaha. I luvd it  but yes wild bunnies are different than domestics.

[rabbitsmba]

Yes, a wildlife rehab centre is where the baby needs to be. Most cottontails will die in captivity. Wrap it in a blanket, put it in a box and keep it in a dark, quiet area until you can get it to one. Try not to handle it too much. A wildlife centre is it’s only real chance at survival, they are not meant to be indoors with humans.

Thanks for helping the little one – I hope he has a happy ending!

[Gizmo_Fluffybutt]

Update –

Baby bun is doing okay for the moment. We got up at 4 to feed him, but he pretty much refused. I was able to get him to feed this morning and he did use the bathroom. I’ve made him a nest out of towels, hay, and fur kindly donated by Gizmo and we weighed him against what he weighed yesterday to make sure he actually got food in him. I’ve spent all morning calling rehab centers and rabbit vets, but haven’t found anyone to take him yet. So far I’ve gotten nothing but answering machines and vet offices that do rehab but are about to close, which is a problem as my car is being held hostage at the shop for a couple more hours. I’ve got some more numbers written down to try so I’m crossing my fingers we are able to get in touch with someone. If not, then hopefully we can get him through until Monday when everyone opens again.

[Gizmo_Fluffybutt]

Well now I’m just getting frustrated. Everyone I actually get on the phone gives me conflicting information. One group told me to put him outside and he’d be fine as rabbits leave the nest young (even after I told them his eyes weren’t open yet). Based on his weight (59 grams) another group told me absolutely not. One rabbit vet said to feed every 4 hours. Another told me twice per night, and another said once per night. Some have said no milk at all, just dandelion and soft grasses with some water (they said the goat milk would make him sick), others told me soy baby formula and others said the goat milk is good and to supplement with electrolytes.

So, still haven’t found anyone to take him and I’m confused about what to feed. Also, I’m concerned that some of the groups really don’t know how to care for him any better than I do, like the woman that said to feed him every four hours.

[Sarita]

Oh goodness – would be best if you could find a licensed rehabber to actually take him. I’m sure each rehabber has their own protocol for what has worked for them.

[Scarlet_Rose]

I agree that the baby seems to be a cotton tail and needs a wildlife rehabber.  They do not belong in a household and I know of no-one who has successfully raised one in captivity.  I do know that you should not use puppy formula, it should be kitten formula (KMR), I think it has something to do with the protein and digestability.

I picked this up off the HRS web site, it is a directory on wildlife rehabilitators:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/

Here is the web sites link to a listing of rehabbers and there are quite a few in Georgia:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactA.htm

The baby would be best off if you were able to find the nest to put it back in.  Is there any way you and others can have a look around?

Here is some good information from the HRS and I would follow it rather than trying to sift through your conflicting information:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html

http://www.rabbit.org/care/orphan.html

If the baby won’t eat the full amount at one time, then I would say try more frequent feedings of smaller amounts.

 

 

[rabbitsmba]

Scarlet Rose posted some excellent links to help you out. And so you know, yes, baby cottontails leave the nest and their mother much sooner than domestic babies do, but the cut off weight is 100 grams. Anything below – which is what your baby is – needs to be nursed and cared for – anything above is able to survive on it’s own.

I’m so sorry you are having such trouble trying to help this little one. Keep trying and keep us posted – we will help as much as we can!

[KatnipCrzy]

Cottontails are one of the hardest wildlife babies to rehab.  I have rehabbed baby Cottontails- and they have about an 85% mortality rate even for experienced rehabbers.  You can get them ready to release- and they can die the day before you release them- for no apparant reason. 

I had litters that I did last summer that I colored the blazes on their head with paint pen so I could tell them apart for feeding and weighing purposes.  I used towels, a little hay and fur for a nest.  The HSUS- Humane Society of the United States- takes in fur coats as a donation- (old coats from more stylish times ) and mails them to licensed rehabbers so they can be used as nesting material as opposed to being thrown away.

Wildlife rehabbers get majorly burned out on Cottontails as they are so heartbreaking to raise for so long and then have them die.

 

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[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many prescious baby bunny pictures in one thread before!! Katnip that’s a very clever idea to paint them to tell them apart!!!

a-grim-I don’t have any advice, even advice as to how to sort through all the conflicting info. Please keep us posted! I hope you find help

[skunklionshow]

I rescued both a baby squirrel and baby bird that ended up at the wildlife refuge.  Generally, in order to avoid people just randomly taking in wild babies, thinking they’ve been abandoned, they recommend leaving them out & about for mama to find.  In each case, I had monitored the babies, in their environment for about 12 hrs.  After that time, that’s when I stepped in.  Both times the refuge seemed very “reluctant” to take these animals in.  I had expressed my concerns about my neighbor.  He has been known to shoot  (w/ a bee-bee gun) and kill “troublesome” wildlife.  I made it sound incrediably urgent that I needed to get these animals away from his property.  He did have a hx of killing off wild animals, but not to the complete extent that I gave to the refuge.

Each time I made a “generous” donation.  I specifically asked, how much monetarily will his care be, b/f he can be returned to the wild.  In each case, it was really a pittance…like $25 or something.  No matter how little money I had, I gave upwards of $50 to support their care in the refuge.  I have followed similar leads when having to surrendar a homeless animal to a shelter after being unable to rehome them. 

After attempting to care for my neighbor’s outdoor cat, when she went missing, for nearly a month, I located a no-kill shelter for him.  I regularly brought over care supplies to the rescue for several months (food, litter, & toys) until the neighbor’s sister claimed him.  She then donated additional money to the rescue. 

As long as you can demonstrate that you didn’t just willy nilly take the bunny out from under mama and that it is essential to their survival to go to a refuge, staff will often assist you.  In addition, making an appropriate donation usually helps.  I LOVE baby bunny pictures!

[Gizmo_Fluffybutt]

Sorry for being so slow to update – well, baby bun wasn’t able to pull through. I did eventually find a rehaber at the emergency vet that could take him, but unfortunately he never made it to the office. It’s just an unfortunate situation with all of this going on over a weekend when hardly anyone was available. It was incredibly frustrating to call person after person only to be turned away -at least if anything ever comes up again I know there is a place that’s close and available 24 hours. Thank you to all of you for the help and great advice. Hopefully the friend’s family will start putting kitty up, or at least put a bell on his collar so he’ll stop catching little critters.

[rabbitsmba]

Awwwww poor baby bunn – please keep in mind how difficult it is to help the wee ones. You truly did everything you could to help, but sometimes Mother Nature takes over and makes the decisions. At least she knew what love was.

[Gravehearted]

I am sorry to hear baby bunny didn’t make it. yes – i hope this tragedy will help the friend learn their lesson

[Binkles]

=\ I rather dislike cats…I really do.

[Lisa_43]

Cats are only doing what is natural to them. cats are not at fault it’s their owners fault for letting them roam. Cats should be kept inside or build a cat run, it proptects the wildlife and also their life.

[Sarita]

I’m so sorry. It can be a challenge to find rehabbers too since they are usually volunteers. I’m glad this baby had someone to care for her though in her short little life.

[skunklionshow]

I believe that every animal deserves to experience love from a human at some point in their lives.  My other belief is that every animal also deserves a name, to me that’s always an expression of human love.  Whether that love is for 10 seconds or 10 years…it’s just as important.  Best wishes to you and sorry for your loss.

[Author]

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