Baby Bunny, Please Help!!!

[cassie]

As for hay vs pellets, every rabbit breeder I have ever known, including me, had pellets available in the hutch and the baby rabbits started eating them as soon as they came out of the nest box.

 

[CSAchook]

Since this rabbit is domestic, but born / has been outside his whole life. Do you think he would adjust well to being a pet rabbit? I do not think he has had much / if any eyesight until yesterday once we cleared one eye up. Obviously by pet I mean a pen (36x36) to sleep in, but plenty of running and exercise time. Currently he is in a large dog carrier in our room.

My pet rabbit is also a foundling. My DH rescued her from a cat when she was a baby. She quickly adjusted to life indoors and is an amazing pet. Super sweet and cuddly (and happy and healthy too!)

It did take her awhile to adjust to new foods. She didn’t ever learn to like alfalfa hay and ignored the pellets for the first week. But she immediately took to orchard grass hay and some snips of fresh herbs. Just my experience but wanted you to not get discouraged if the little one doesn’t take to some new foods right away.

 

[newchck]

My pet rabbit is also a foundling. My DH rescued her from a cat when she was a baby. She quickly adjusted to life indoors and is an amazing pet. Super sweet and cuddly (and happy and healthy too!)

It did take her awhile to adjust to new foods. She didn’t ever learn to like alfalfa hay and ignored the pellets for the first week. But she immediately took to orchard grass hay and some snips of fresh herbs. Just my experience but wanted you to not get discouraged if the little one doesn’t take to some new foods right away.

Thank you! I bought the alfalfa and he is showing no interest, he ate 1 pellet and then ignored the rest, but drank the milk like a champ for dinner! Really was sucking and showing a lot of interest. We have timothy grass hay for our other rabbits so I may throw some in there as well. I may try herbs in a few days once we know that he is doing well. When you rescued yours did you get it checked out by a vet at all? We are thinking of taking him to our local vet who does see bunnies. We have indoor cats and I am more worried about disease transfer. (they are all separated until he gets much bigger, and even then they may never coexist) But his little ears look clean as can be and no fleas!

 

[CSAchook]

Thank you! I bought the alfalfa and he is showing no interest, he ate 1 pellet and then ignored the rest, but drank the milk like a champ for dinner! Really was sucking and showing a lot of interest. We have timothy grass hay for our other rabbits so I may throw some in there as well. I may try herbs in a few days once we know that he is doing well. When you rescued yours did you get it checked out by a vet at all? We are thinking of taking him to our local vet who does see bunnies. We have indoor cats and I am more worried about disease transfer. (they are all separated until he gets much bigger, and even then they may never coexist) But his little ears look clean as can be and no fleas!

Truthfully, at the time we could not afford it and she seemed very healthy. That was in October. We did take her in for a checkup in January though which was as soon as we were able to. The vet was super nice and helpful and it was reassuring to know that Niven was completely healthy . We also just recently had her spayed. So I think if a vet is an option, then the peace of mind is worth it. Just depends on your situation.

Edited to add: we have no other mammalian pets so we did not have to worry about disease spreading. In your case it sounds like a checkup would be beneficial for multiple reasons.

 

[newchck]

Truthfully, at the time we could not afford it and she seemed very healthy. That was in October. We did take her in for a checkup in January though which was as soon as we were able to. The vet was super nice and helpful and it was reassuring to know that Niven was completely healthy . We also just recently had her spayed. So I think if a vet is an option, then the peace of mind is worth it. Just depends on your situation.

Edited to add: we have no other mammalian pets so we did not have to worry about disease spreading. In your case it sounds like a checkup would be beneficial for multiple reasons.

yes, our local vet is a $40 visit. The "exotic vet" is an hour drive and $80, and with all the investment put in already the local vet is going to have to be our option

 

[newchck]

Update y'all!

I think we made really great progress yesterday! Weight was 6.1oz instead of 6.2oz, which is not great. BUT he ate soo enthusiastically at 4pm and midnight, he took 8cc of formula each feeding, and wold tug at the dropper if I was not quick enough. We worked on the bad eye, and got it unstuck and got buckets of pus out. there is an eye in there, though we do not know the shape it is in. The eye is still swollen shut, but we ran to the store and purchased Terramycin and applied that to the eye. Hoping for a great day with him today too!

 

[newchck]

I am starting a different thread called the Journey of Cottonball if anyone is interested!

 

[newchck]

I am still going to use this thread for questions. I have a shallow bowl of water in the cage but have not seen Cottonball drink at all. Do I need to dip his mouth into the bowl to show him what it is? When should I be concerned about him not drinking? I am assuming for the time being the liquid in the formula is enough,but still want water available to him

 

[EverythingDucks]

I am still going to use this thread for questions. I have a shallow bowl of water in the cage but have not seen Cottonball drink at all. Do I need to dip his mouth into the bowl to show him what it is? When should I be concerned about him not drinking? I am assuming for the time being the liquid in the formula is enough,but still want water available to him

The mill is probably enough for now but it will help to wean him off of milk.
Water us very important for bunnies. Set him in front of it and drop a bit on his mouth. Be sure it doesn't get in his nose or it will drown him.
Try to do this a lot until he gets the idea.

 

[newchck]

HI all! Another question real quick. I bought KMR not realizing there were different types (My local petsmart only had 1 powder option) There is KMR brand, but I bought the Petlac brand. The petlac seems to be lower on protein and fat. Cottonball is pooping great and they are healthy poos, eating well, and very energetic. He is also gaining weight. Should I worry about switching the formula?