1 week old baby rabbit abnormal pee

[Lin_0330]

Rabbits are one of the toughest animals to bottle raise.

Rabbit milk is quite different from other milks, it creates a curd of cheese basically in the young rabbits stomach to last it basically all day while the mother is away grazing and eating. This curd is slow to digest and will last the baby rabbit many hours.

When you feed other milks they do not create this curd and tend to give the rabbits the runs. We lost one of our first mother rabbits and had young babies and we called the local vet to ask what to do and she basically told us that even vets don't any effective way to feed baby rabbits.

How do you know that the mom isn't feeding the babies? You do realize that they will only feed maybe two to three times a day right. I always kept a two room cage setup, one side with a small raised hole for the mom rabbit to access and then I would pack it full of hay which gave her place to make a nest for the babies. The mom would stay out and about in the main cage most of the day and then go in and feed the babies two or three times a day until the babies got a bit older. Once they were old enough to escape the den on their own I moved them to a much larger pen so that mom could get away from the babies, otherwise they get a bit overbearing.

One has to be careful about intervening when it comes to mother nature, mother nature is vastly more complex than we generally realize and about all we manage to do most of the time is get in the way of mother nature.

I hoped so much that mother would feed them as mother’s milk is the most nutritious. But sadly no, after 2 days the babies belly is still wrinkled and two of them looked very dehydrated. I intervened on day 3 evening by holding mother tight and put one baby on her belly to suckle. I can see baby rabbit is trying very hard but it keeps changing nibbles and it’s belly is no way near to round. I have given mother rabbit coriander, cooked soybean, rolled oats, lettuce, alfalfa and even the milk formula itself, basically anything I could find online that says “it helps doe to produce more milk”, but still no milk.
I am still bringing her to my “nursing room” to let the baby have a try, even though no success so far. I will keep trying, but for now, if I don’t feed them they will definitely die.
Will see how it goes. I have been waking up at 4am to feed them as there are 8 of them and I need to go to work at 7am.....
Finger cross on them
Thanks!

 

[MountainGaurdian]

It has been about 17 years since I last attempted to bottle feed rabbits so I thought I would go and see what I can find "now".. There is a rabbit milk replacer called Wombaroo but it is only sold in Australia and they will not deliver outside Australia.

I used a mixture of our fresh goats milk mixed with a small amount of liquefied (goat) cheese for our rabbits, but it was hit and miss, most still died if they were young, though we had some that were older that managed to survive bottle feeding.

You might find this useful...
http://www.mybunny.org/info/caring-for-newborn-baby-rabbits/

""Baby rabbits should be fed Kitten Milk Replacer (KMR) or goat milk, which you can buy at pet stores, or sometimes even a local veterinarian's office. Because rabbit milk is the most caloric of all mammals, we add in one tablespoon of 100% heavy whipping cream (no sugar) to each can of KMR."" >>>>Taken from above website<<<<<

 

[Lin_0330]

It has been about 17 years since I last attempted to bottle feed rabbits so I thought I would go and see what I can find "now".. There is a rabbit milk replacer called Wombaroo but it is only sold in Australia and they will deliver outside Australia.

I used a mixture of our fresh goats milk mixed with a small amount of liquefied (goat) cheese for our rabbits, but it was hit and miss, most still died if they were young, though we had some that were older that managed to survive bottle feeding.

You might find this useful...
http://www.mybunny.org/info/caring-for-newborn-baby-rabbits/

""Baby rabbits should be fed Kitten Milk Replacer (KMR) or goat milk, which you can buy at pet stores, or sometimes even a local veterinarian's office. Because rabbit milk is the most caloric of all mammals, we add in one tablespoon of 100% heavy whipping cream (no sugar) to each can of KMR."" >>>>Taken from above website<<<<<

Thanks!
I live in UK. I bought kitten milk replacement for my rabbit (First I bought Lactol which has protein 32% fat content 24% but I found it might be too sugary as it is a bit sticky then I found Royal canin has protein 33% and the highest fat content 39% so now I am on Royal canin). I also mixed it with fresh goat milk.
Haven’t tried heavy whipping cream as I thought they made from cow milk and I am bit scared.
I also got probiotics to help them build up beneficial bacteria in their gut.
Their poops are looking good, no diarrhoea. All willing to drink milk and has the energy to move around.
Finger crossed

 

[Lin_0330]

If all of them do survive from bottle feeding, I am going to buy a lottery

 

[MountainGaurdian]

Most heavy whipping cream does come from cows but that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[MountainGaurdian]

If all of them do survive from bottle feeding, I am going to buy a lottery

I am trying not to be negative, just realistic, I would count on them dying, do what you can but don't expect too much. If they survive then you can be blown away by how it worked out, but it can be really upsetting if you approach it expecting them to survive. Why I noted earlier that when we intervene in mother nature we usually cause as many problems as we solve as we are unable to fully understand the complexity.

If you expect failure and you get even one survivor you should feel elated and amazed. If you expect success and they all die it can be a pretty sad experience. Been there a few times with rabbits and young kittens. Sometimes it works out well, though most of the time not as well as we hope...

 

[Lin_0330]

I am trying not to be negative, just realistic, I would count on them dying, do what you can but don't expect too much. If they survive then you can be blown away by how it worked out, but it can be really upsetting if you approach it expecting them to survive. Why I noted earlier that when we intervene in mother nature we usually cause as many problems as we solve as we are unable to fully understand the complexity.

If you expect failure and you get even one survivor you should feel elated and amazed. If you expect success and they all die it can be a pretty sad experience. Been there a few times with rabbits and young kittens. Sometimes it works out well, though most of the time not as well as we hope...

I know right, it’s so sad. I searched for advice online and everywhere the article is saying their survival is weak. Especially this is my first litter, I never experienced newborn “mammal baby” before as all my other pets are neutered, chicks are quite easy going except for those which born weak.
When the mother rabbit abandoned them and there is no milk coming out from her. I literally went and dig a hole under my cherry trees, that’s where I normally put my animals to rest (goldfish, chicks which didn’t made it and hamsters).
But I am trying to be super happy when it comes to feeding time, I think animals can sense that. If I am sad and despair the baby rabbit may feel the same.
I will keep posting. If they didn’t make it, they still had a warm nest and full belly till last moment, that’s enough
Thanks!

 

[MountainGaurdian]

That is the sentiment I take, It may not be in my power to make them survive, but I can do what I can to give them the best chance at it, and make a short life of suffering as comfortable as I can at the very least.

My kids have brought in many a wild bird that has fallen out of a nest in a tree and we cared for them as best we could until they died. My son John has brought in at least 8 of the things over the years, and every time he is hopeful and ends up in tears when it dies in spite of our efforts. Living on a farm we have raised all kinds of wild animal babies from a pinky vole which crazily was raised by our pet mice to injured snakes, young injured Canadian geese, baby squirrels, preying mantis, wild mice, wild rabbit etc etc etc... My kids bring any and all injured sick or dying animal they find home for us to try and save them...

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

1000%
They are totally different breed. The mother rabbit is a New Zealand white. The other female is a orange french lop. The male is also a New Zealand white. What’s more I saw she giving birth (not exactly, she was hiding in her nest) but there is blood around the mother rabbit butt when she came out. Then I was like OMGGGGGGG, and immediatly isolated the other female rabbit.

ok

 

[Lin_0330]

Stepping into day 10.
Still have 8 fighters.
A bit concerned they might be gaining weight too slow.
Trying to find a richer goat milk for mixing my milk powder, or maybe goat cream?