What Rabbits Do You Have? Show Off Your Rabbits Here!

[Monstro]

If mama hasnt had her mulk come in Calf Manna can help with that

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Yeah she isn't feeding them they were squealing and moving around, and their bellies are not round in the slightest. Someone said to try goat milk on another website but I'm not sure how exactly to do that

I always try to have at least 2 does kindle at the same time in case fostering is needed. I've tried hand feeding a kit that couldn't compete in an extra-large litter (11) and it wasn't successful, but he survived because the other doe had a smaller litter and took him in without fuss.

That said, regular feeding is critically important, so if you're not seeing "frog bellies" and you're unable to get the doe to feed the kit by placing the kit under or on her, you can try hand feeding: http://www.mybunny.org/info/caring-for-newborn-baby-rabbits/. You'll need the syringe with the nipple that comes with the kit.

Good luck!

 

[BantamLover21]

Yeah she isn't feeding them they were squealing and moving around, and their bellies are not round in the slightest. Someone said to try goat milk on another website but I'm not sure how exactly to do that

Ideally, you could get the mother rabbit to feed her kits, since rabbit milk is the only perfect food for optimum kit health and growth. However, if your doe doesn't appear to have milk or isn't feeding them, and you want the kits to survive, I would try hand feeding them. I have had success using the following formula for hand feeding kits:

4 tablespoons canned condensed goat milk
Half an egg yolk (approx.)
1 tablespoon corn syrup

Warm up the mixture before feeding. Use an eyedropper/syringe/pipet to slowly drip one drop at a time of the formula into each kit's mouth. Some may have a better sucking reflex and actually latch on to the syringe, allowing you to give more than one drop at a time. However, slower is often better to avoid aspiration.

I've only had to feed one kit full-time (the others I just supplemented; they were getting milk from mother too), and I don't remember how much he got each day of the formula. I would start out simply giving each hungry kit as much as it will eat in a reasonable amount of time, probably no more than 2 ccs. Feed 2-3 times a day depending on how much you can get into the kits at each feeding. Don't expect their growth to be as good as it would be if they were feeding naturally, but if all goes well, they will survive. The one kit I hand fed from about 2 days old to weaning grew slowly, but he did eventually make senior weight and became a healthy (and very friendly) animal.

 

[CeleAndShade]

We have started the holding the doe on her back and feeding them, 4 of 6 wouldn't eat and I checked this morning and 3 died one won't eat anything no matter what we try, the other two will eat from the mom and they have big round bellies now .

 

[Old Philosopher]

I always try to have at least 2 does kindle at the same time in case fostering is needed. I've tried hand feeding a kit that couldn't compete in an extra-large litter (11) and it wasn't successful, but he survived because the other doe had a smaller litter and took him in without fuss.

That said, regular feeding is critically important, so if you're not seeing "frog bellies" and you're unable to get the doe to feed the kit by placing the kit under or on her, you can try hand feeding: http://www.mybunny.org/info/caring-for-newborn-baby-rabbits/. You'll need the syringe with the nipple that comes with the kit.

Good luck!

Urgent question about fostering!!
I have 2 does kindling within 3 days of each other. The first one to kindle destroyed all her nesting material in her box and made a hair nest on the wire outside the box. I rebuilt the nest which she also destroyed. She kindled 2 days ago and had 5. Now she has even removed the last bit of hair from her cage and the kits are all over the place. One died at age 2 days. Another is a "runt" obviously not getting fed enough.
The second doe kindled last night. She has a classic nest and 5 happy kits.
I am tempted to foster the kits from the first doe to the 2nd doe, because their continued care from the 1st doe is highly questionable.
Am I jumping the gun? I hate to loose more of the infants due to neglect.
HELP!!

 

[Diannastarr]

HMMM I foster one runt that was not getting enough by using my own instincts to save them all, since i never owned rabbets ever before , but my husband come home with a 6 month old female he got her from a man who abused her and kept her in a bucket so 2 days later after we got her she had 8 babies in the middle of my kitchen floor, they had no home at all so we got a small mesh side play pen for them and right after they were born i had wrapped up the babies in some towels and made a nest out of old towels were they could be warm together , the mother was not acting interested in her babies at all,i was up all night checking on them, then the first baby to be born was not doing well at all and a day or 2 later she was fast becoming the runt & clearly not going to live, so i began to feed her goats milk, that saved her life and the mother would feed the other babies only at night...? but at least she fed them , so that worked ok as i encouraged the young mother to be more motherly towards her babies and eventually they all were nursing when ever they needed to no matter what time of day. i have no idea if any of this was normal at all but they all survived and most found good homes after they got older, my picture is of the mama bunny & her runt daughter we kept, at my kitchen door looking for carrots,they free range with my hens 24/7 and lived well together like that since i will never kept animals in cages so they had been free to live wild eating wild and some rabbit food,out with my hens , but i would say do what you feel is best for those babies,also i got the goats milk from walmart & safe way .if it were me i would step in and save those babies. and maybe not use that same mama rabbit again for another litter but let her grow up some more.

 

[BirdsNRabbits]

Urgent question about fostering!!
I have 2 does kindling within 3 days of each other. The first one to kindle destroyed all her nesting material in her box and made a hair nest on the wire outside the box. I rebuilt the nest which she also destroyed. She kindled 2 days ago and had 5. Now she has even removed the last bit of hair from her cage and the kits are all over the place. One died at age 2 days. Another is a "runt" obviously not getting fed enough.
The second doe kindled last night. She has a classic nest and 5 happy kits.
I am tempted to foster the kits from the first doe to the 2nd doe, because their continued care from the 1st doe is highly questionable.
Am I jumping the gun? I hate to loose more of the infants due to neglect.
HELP!!

If I was in your position I would foster. What breed is the first doe? The only thing I can think of that might cause complications is the number of kits vs. the number of teats the doe has. There would be 8 kits with one doe (not counting the peanut/runt as it will probably die as well). To be honest, I'm not sure how many teats a doe has. Does anyone have an answer to that?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Does have 8 teats but many does will feed a litter twice a day and I have had does successfully raise very large kits out of litters with 10+ kits. If your doe who you would foster onto has good milk production I would cull the runt and foster the rest.

 

[Bunnylady]

Urgent question about fostering!!
I have 2 does kindling within 3 days of each other. The first one to kindle destroyed all her nesting material in her box and made a hair nest on the wire outside the box. I rebuilt the nest which she also destroyed. She kindled 2 days ago and had 5. Now she has even removed the last bit of hair from her cage and the kits are all over the place. One died at age 2 days. Another is a "runt" obviously not getting fed enough.
The second doe kindled last night. She has a classic nest and 5 happy kits.
I am tempted to foster the kits from the first doe to the 2nd doe, because their continued care from the 1st doe is highly questionable.
Am I jumping the gun? I hate to loose more of the infants due to neglect.
HELP!!

If you think your first doe is just incompetent, you certainly can try fostering them on the second doe. Does can't count; I've never had one have any problems with me slipping a couple of extra babies into the nest box. The only problem I've run into is size; if some babies are significantly larger than the others, they often out-compete the smaller ones.

Incidentally, runts and peanuts are not the same thing. A "peanut" is a bunny that inherited the dwarfing gene from both of its parents; unless you are dealing with a dwarf breed, peanuts are not a thing you will have to deal with.

A bunny may be runty for a lot of reasons. In the case of the rabbit in the back of this picture

its markings appear to be what we would call a "Charlie," indicating that it most likely has a genetic condition known as megacolon. Just how severe the symptoms of megacolon are can vary with the rabbit, but basically, they have seriously dysfunctional digestive systems. All rabbits with megacolon do a poor job of absorbing nutrients from their food, so of course, they are "runty." They are also prone to periods when the digestive system stops working altogether, a condition known as Gastrointestinal (GI) stasis. For this reason, rabbits with megacolon need to be watched closely, since GI stasis can kill, sometimes rapidly.

the mother would feed the other babies only at night...?

That's normal. Rabbit mothers generally feed only once or twice a day, generally around dawn and dusk. They typically avoid the babies the rest of the time (by not coming and going around the nest area, a wild rabbit doesn't attract predators to it).

 

[MalMom]

We picked up these three today. I was told one is a lop (what kind??? ) and the other two were lop/Rex mix. I don't really care what they are. They are the start of our backyard meat rabbits. They are all suppose to be does, but I need to check tomorrow. Then we will just need a buck.