Bottle raising rabbits, help me?

[Bug n Flock]

First time rabbit breeder. Doe is 2 years old and I am told that that may be the reason for the issue. She is a proven breeder tho by previous owner. 4 babies born sat night/sun morning. Mom's milk never came in. I noticed yesterday, after it was already too late to save one of the kits. The other three seem to be doing ok. Have gained between 4 and 9 grams each since this morning when I finally started making actual progress getting food in them.

I have raised orphan mammals before so am not completely inexperienced, but still am pretty clueless what I'm doing with these bunnies.

Feeding them KMR mixed with a pinch of acidophilus currently. Have ordered powdered goat colostrum and some bene-bac probiotic which should be here by Friday. Also getting some heavy cream today to add a splash into the mix. I know about manually pottying them, etc. Any helpful advice would be appreciated, tho.

Father is supposed to be a Flemish Giant, but I have my doubts. As of 1430 they weigh 74.03g, 73.35g, and 69.15g. At 0902 they weighed 65.08g, 68.79g, and 64.68g. Two days ago (first time I weighed them) they weighed 74.41g, 75.25g, and 70.80g. Obviously they are in rough shape. Spines out, ribs showing, etc. Hips.

Their bellies were sunken and wrinkley, but now are more plump and the skin much smoother. Their urine never got dark, thick, or crystally.

Lmk if you have questions or anything. Advice muchly appreciated, or feel free to follow along for photos and updates and stuff.

First photos are when they were just born, ones farther down are more recent, and kind of hard to look at. But they are in ICU and improving rapidly. Eagerly feeding on multiple cc's of formula every few hours. Once they regain condition I will try to shift to a more natural 1-2×/day feeding schedule.

 

[Jessica Thompson]

Ok one of hing there soooooooooo cute

 

[cassie]

I don't know if this will help, but I have raised various orphans that need rich milk on undiluted evaporated milk. Sometimes I added other stuff to it like an egg yolk or something.

 

[Bug n Flock]

Still doing pretty good this morning. All have gained weight. The black one has a touch of diarrhea. I think I know what it's from, though, and am monitoring closely.

 

[Bug n Flock]

Soft stool cleared up, and all babies are now over 80g. giving them powdered goat colostrum and benebac now also in their formula.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Hi Bug N' Flock! Nice catch on seeing they weren't getting enough.
They definitely changed from being born to the recent pics before you started feeding.

I have experience with feeding babies as young as yours...but it was over 20 years ago. I'm trying to remember if I had the sheep at the time. If so, it would've been lamb milk replacer. If not it would've been cow's milk. There was nothing else I could've given them...this was all pre-internet.

In my case, a mother had babies in a bad spot and a few died of exposure. She didn't take them after I moved them so I brought them in, started them in an aquarium until they were almost grown. I had small dwarfs at the time. I was still inexperienced at the time and the adults didn't take well to reintroduction. They killed the one and broke the other one's leg. But Miss Bunnrunner was a trooper and a tough bunny. But she did end up being rather nasty being hand raised.

It appears you're doing well with your feeding schedule and strategy. They appear improved in the last pics. I'd like to follow and see how it goes.

I hope things keep going well.

 

[Bug n Flock]

Nothing should be allowed to be this cute. There should be a law against it.

The big one topped 90g at this morning's pre breakfast weigh in. Cross your fingers it makes it to 100g and the size of a newborn kitten today! Even the smallest is over 84g now. I am so happy they are doing so well. 1 week old tonight.

 

[cassie]

Congratulations!! When you get them raised, please post to the forum exactly what you did. I am sure a lot of people would like to know and to file it away for future use. The bunnys look great!!

 

[CapricornFarm]

I would use goat milk if available, much richer than cows milk. Also easier to digest. You are doing a good job.

 

[cassie]

I would use goat milk if available, much richer than cows milk. Also easier to digest. You are doing a good job.

Goat milk is easier to digest than cow's milk, but it is not richer than cow's milk. On an average, it is about the same. When I was shipping goat milk, the legal minimum for butterfat was 3.2% while cow's milk had to be 3.5%. Like cows, goats vary a lot. The mini goats, Nubians, and Boers tend to have richer milk than the average dairy goat just like Jerseys will produce a richer milk than Holsteins. That said, if I were going to feed goat milk to baby rabbits, which is probably a good idea, I would buy canned goat milk and feed it undiluted or maybe diluted 6:1. Meaning six parts evaporated milk to one part water. That is the formula given to me by the AKC years ago for raising orphan puppies.