Very young rabbit around 4 or maybe 5 weeks

[Bunny Mama]

Hi All, I brought a very young rabbit home this evening from Mundaring area of Perth. it was found wandering around the area by my sister’s fiance.

I’m pretty certain it is a wild one from around that area and now I’m trying to figure out what the right thing to do is. I contacted a Wildlife Rehab Centre that is located somewhere around South perth area and was told that all wild rabbits are domestic that have gone wild and to treat the baby as I would any other domestic “kitten.” Is this really a good thing? I know he/she will eat carrots and loves to run around and explore.

Doesn’t appear to be nasty or bitey but then again he/she is very small and very much in need of a lot of constant care I should think. I have put him/her into a medium pet carrier to sleep and as it has a small dish at hte front left some fresh water in there; along with a small chunk of carrot and a small chunk of apple.

Should I be feeding some sort of formula? Should I be feeding any special food at all? I want to get this babby bunny up to the best of health and be able to rehome him/her when they turn 8 weeks (vaccinated, vet checked and wormed). Mind you that’s if I can bring myself to do so

Would love some help and advice. I really don’t want a dead baby bunny on my hands…

[Andi]

I’m guessing your in the UK?
Baby bunnies are very hard to hand raise.

KMR (Kitten Replacment Milk) can be used, you will want to add a probiotic, becuase the baby bunny needs this to help his guts regulate better, his mothers milk would have been giving it to him before. Acidophilus works and u can open the capsle adding a bit to the milk, so does other healthy rabbit cecotropes as it has all that good bactiria in it.
Mother rabbits feed in the morning and evening so you don’t have to worry about feeding every few hours. I’m not sure if at this age the baby rabbit can go to the bathroom on his own, i think so though but I will leave that up to someone with more information on hand raising orphans.

I’m sure others will have more helpful information. Good luck!

[Bunny Mama]

Thankyou for your help. I am actually in Perth Western Australia . I will check out the milk and additive situation. I haven’t seen much in the way of pee and I haven’t seen any poop as yet. I will have the baby sleeping beside my bed until he/she is at least 8 weeks of age and in that time I should have a hutch for him/her of their own. I have 7 buns of my own and I really didin’t want to take on anymore as the vet costs alone will be high enough as they are. Although I will make sure this “kitten” is vaccinated, wormed and vet chek even if I don’t rehome it.

It’s sooo cute and sooo tiny. I really think it is closer to 4 weeks of age. I have a doe who has literally just being diagnosed as having a phantom pregnancy and I want to see if she will take this baby bun on. She wasn’t interested when I first attmepted it so I will try again tomorrow. I know she was producing milk so she may, if she chooses to take Baby (that’s buns temporaray name) on to nurse him as a foster Mum. Keep the information rolling in. I need all the help I can get.

Thankyou all in advance.

[LoveChaCha]

Well, if it is a wild bunny, I would suggest keeping it away from your bunny. You don’t know what wild bunnies have on it, even if it is a baby. There are fleas and diseases that wild bunnies have and it can jump to the domesticated rabbit that you have. I would strongly advise you not put the two rabbits together. Wild rabbits aren’t even related to dometicated ones and rabbits need to be bonded. They can’t be stuck together in an instant.

Wild rabbits get out of the nest quite early and are on their own. They don’t stick with mommy for very long.

In addition, is your domesticated doe spayed? That could be why she is having phantom pregnancies.

[Bunny Mama]

I was told she was speyed when I got her but I am unsure now. I have taken her to the vet twice to get her checked, xrayed and the vet didn’t say anyhing to confirm she is steralised. Must give them a call to see if they were able to tell. She was originally a show quality bunny and I do know if she was speyed it would make her ineligible for showing anymore. She was producing milk and building a nest and even put on a lot of weight. No babies. The baby bunny is safely in the carrier and I will simply have to keep him/her close to keep and eye on baby. I will look at getting the kitten milk replacement and the probiotic powder and a clean syringe. The one I have ws used for a sick bunny I had who died from what I think was floppy bunny syndrome I will also have to keep an eye on the toileting. Not sure if baby bun is really up to scrathc on what to do. I have a flea treament I got from the vet for my other busn so when I can I wll treat baby bun with it. I didn’t think wild rabbits and domesticated ones were really related. The Wildlife Rehab Centre I called didn’t seem to be too sure Bonding acan take time an patience so at this stage better I keep the other buns away as I don’t know what I am going to do with baby bun and I don’t know if he/she has any nasty bugs, etc. He/ She will still get plenty of attention as at the age of 4 weeks they need it.

[Andi]

I don’t know about rabbits in Australia – Domestic vs Wild etc, so i can’t answer or give suggestions there.

We had a MALE neutered rabbit in our shelter that lactated… yes, produced milk. So I would say it’s fair to say a spayed female could do the same, though both would be very rare. I asked my vet this week about how we can tell if a rabbit is spayed, unfortunetly not really without opening them up. They tell with dogs by shaving the belly and looking for a scar, rabbits skin heals up so nice that usualy there are no scars

[Sarita]

Yep, what Andi said about telling if a rabbit is spayed. But if she is spayed and they open her up there won’t be the recovery period since they won’t be moving organs around and removing them. And you would probably only have to pay for meds and anesthesia. It’s the only way but it’s worth it to know for sure.

[LoveChaCha]

I wish you luck with taking care of the baby bunny

Breeders do not spay or neuter their rabbits for the cause of breeding. I got my bunny from a breeder at 8 weeks old and I got her spayed this past May.

If your rabbit is doing such things – producing milk, false pregnancies, weight gain, and fur pulling then she is DEFINALY not spayed. Other signs of an unspayed rabbit is also spraying urine, bad litter habits (but some rabbits have a hard time being trained – fixed or not), circling you, making “mm, mm” noises often.

I would strongly advise a second opinion from another vet that is rabbit savvy

[jerseygirl]

Hi Bunny Mama

The wild rabbits in Australia are the same specieds as out domestic pets. They were bought out from England then breed out of control. There is also feral rabbits – ie pets that have escaped or been released  and left to breed. These you’d see in more variety of colourings though ferals can be coloured like the wild rabbits too. Confusing!

I too suggest you don’t put the kit with your Doe. Does having false or real pregnancies have unpredictable behaviours. Also, rabbit mother can kill kits from another Doe. It sounds awful but it’s a way they ensure survival of their own. So be aware, your Doe thinks she is actually pregnant.

Is their any chance your Doe could be pregnant for real?

For the kit, kitten milk replacer or goats milk would be ok.

Here is contact details for a rabbit rescue that may be able to advise you further:

Contact: Rabbit Rescue Perth
Phone: 94056554
Address: Wanneroo WA
Website: http://www.rabbitrescue.org.au

Also, the House Rabbit Society’s info on orphaned kits:  http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html

Good luck!

[Bunny Mama]

Thankyou for all your help. Please keep the suggestions and ideas coming. I took my doe to the vet as their was no arrival of kittens and she has been xrayed and also has had a urine test as her pee was an awful red/ brown colour. She came back with no problems and I have taken the advice given on the forum and won’t be introducing my wild bunnny to my othere domestic buns. Not until all have been covered by calicivirus and a vet check for the baby bun. I do have some flea treament that I bought from the same vet so will use that when the wild baby bun is older. Baby Bun eats carrrot (loves the carrot) and apple and iis drinking water on their own. Baby (can’t think of another name at this stage sleeps in my room at the end of my bed; on the floor, so that I can keep an eye on him / her. I really need to check out what sex it is Need to book Baby into the vet to make sure all is well so will organise that for next week. I’ll also organise to get Baby vaccinated at the same time. The vet I go to is great with my buns and they have vet nurses that are bunny savvy and have bunnies of their own. The vet I saw actually reads up on bunny info so I feel quite happy taking my buns to them. I am going to be hard pressed to rehome Baby as I REALLY love my buns but realistically I already have 7 buns and unless I can earn enough to put aside money for their vet treament Babby will have to find a new home.
I am going to be fussy about whomever takes Baby on. I’m going to do my best to try and keep Baby but I want to do what is best for Baby and my other buns. anyhoo, Thankyou for all the advice and have kept it all on hand.

[jerseygirl]

What flea treatment did you get? Some of them are not safe for rabbits.

Initially I thought I read it was younger but if it’s 4-5 weeks it might do ok. They do start to wean off milk in the nest at this age. However, as you don’t know what’s happened with this one, do keep trying to feed it milk. There is actually a rabbit milk replacer available in the Wombaroo range if you haven’t found something suitable. 

Kits this age also start with pellets and hay. Try not to offer carrots & apple though as the sugar could wipe out the good gut bacteria. At this age and being away from it’s mum, it would barely have began to get a good gut balance. Keep it simple with lucerne hay and the milk.

The Baby is fortunate to you having it looking out for it. I completely understand you’re not taking ot on long term with 7 of your own!

[Bunny Mama]

I only have rabbit and guinea pig mix at the moment. I ran out of pellets and can’t get them until tomorrow at this stage. I usually buy a bale of hay but won’t be able to get that until Monday so I hope what I have left will stretch Will get a bag of Hay from City Famers locally. I have been advised to get the kitten milk and use probiotics so will see if I can get that tomorow. Baby is sitting beside m in his carrier so I can keep an eye on him. I keep calling him but I don’t know what sex it is. I think this bunny may actually be closer to four weeks of age and I found out it was bought home to my sister’s fiance via his cat just over a week ago. So Baby has not been with Mummy since at least 3 weeks. I’m really surprised Baby is still alive.

[Author]

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