Wild baby bunnies flooded out of their nest! Another UPDATE

[schellie69]

I would think at that size they would be starting to eat solid food you could offer some grass that maybe was around the nest area and see how that goes. Is there a vet in the area that may know about any wild life rehab people would be my next idea.

 

[equine623]

Eyes open, ears up, fully furred and at 4" long suggests approx 3 weeks, give or take a couple days. Especially if he was able to take off and get away from you initially, that's a good sign. You can try dandelion greens, clover, alfalfa hay would be better... can also offer oats (like the kind you make oatmeal from).

On the heating pad is good, keep the box covered they stress very easily! Once he is warm, dry and moving voluntarily, offer a rehydrating solution before you offer any food. If you have access to pedialyte you can use that, not gatorade though!! Otherwise make a solution yourself:
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 tsp salt

Do you know how to check for dehydration? After that amount of time I would expect him to be mildly dehydrated, but he shouldn't be at the sunken eye stage so oral fluids should suffice. Be extremely careful when giving fluids, it is really easy to have them aspirate the liquid and end up with pneumonia, which is a death sentence. A drop or two at a time in the mouth, unless he drinks from a bowl which is doubtful. You'll want to give 1-2 ccs (1/4 - 1/2 a tsp) then wait a few hours and re-evaluate.

Also once he's alert put the box only half on the heating pad, so he can move away if he gets too warm.

Good luck

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Thanks so much! Yes, he already let me know that he was too warm on the heating pad. He has started moving around and his eyes look good. I know how to check for dehydration in humans by pulling on the skin and judging the amount of time it takes to return to normal. I assume it's the same for rabbits.
I'll make some of the fluid before offering greens.
I'm hoping he'll recover quickly. The rain is supposed to stop sometime today and I'd like to be able to return his to his littermates asap.
Thanks so much.

OH, one more question - dandelion greens are hard to come by right now. My chickens love them and keep the yard clear of them. What about wild strawberries leaves? We have an overabundance of them growing around the house, all pesticide free of course.

 

[Anianna]

Do you have any clover? That's a favorite of wild buns.

 

[equine623]

Wild strawberry leaves would be ok to offer, also if you have collard or mustard or turnip greens, those might appeal to him.

The skin tent is the way to check for dehydration, yup

Of course if he pees then you know he's in good shape

 

[gritsar]

He's back in the nest with his siblings tonight. I'm concerned that mama won't be able to feed them with them in a flowerpot on its side, but DH says she'll figure it out.

I set up the tent of sticks as you suggested Equine and will check in the morning to see if its been disturbed. We are supposed to get sunshine tomorrow.

 

[equine623]

Keeping my fingers crossed that mama came back and the sun smiled on you!

 

[naakte]

Be oh so careful what you bring in from the wild, I brought in 3 kittens who landed on my back doorstep 4 years ago. I bathed them (fleas were in their eyes they were so bad), their hair was falling out /breaking off even though they were only about 4 weeks old. I used my dog clippers to get their hair even. I ran out and bought kitten milk. My God they were skin and bone. I took pictures of them ect. I did all of this in spite of the fact that I had/have 11 chinese crested show dogs. I took the 3 kittens to the vet to see what the gunk was around their eyes and she said it would be best to just put them down. I was sad because my hard work in caring for them was to no avail. I cried all the way home. when i got home my hubby was grooming dogs, and i didnt give it much thought never having been exposed to anything. less then 2 weeks later 2 of my dogs had what was diagnosed as ringworm. Ellie my show hopeful had an uglier thing on her that looked more like an ugly weeping scab that the vet said was also ringworm, but more severe. I went home and bathed every dog with malasab (sp) expensive shampoo and treated the 2 afflicted dogs with ointments I shaved ellie who was a powder puff to a hairless chinese crested cut so i could dress her scab, and also be able to see if anymore developed. I bought a special black light with a mag glass to inspect my floors, I cleaned the non carpet floor with Chlorhexidine. after 3 days of chaos I fumigated my house and then steam cleaned my carpets. a month later my grandson laid all new carpet, and we burned the old. I put my small kennel on complete lockdown for 6 full months. No shows, and the litter i had on the ground had 3 puppies i would normally have homed at 12 weeks ended up staying home 3 months longer than they normally would have. It was a good thing that most of my dogs are of the hairless variety, because the ringworm on berta was clearly seen early on, I only discovered Ellies scab because i was looking. The worst thing i can remember was caging Ellie and berta because they did have it and I felt awful, but I had no other choice. I spent close to four thousand dollars all said and done. Ellie ended up with a horrible scar at the scabby ringworm site on her side, I never showed her, but homed her with a friend who loves her to death. Berta, a true hairless was always my husbands dog, they picked each other. bertas ringworm was not very bad. and very much like you see in pictures of ringworm on humans, as she is a true hairless, and you could see it clearly. I will never ever bring baby animals into my home where my dogs live.
I cant say I will never help an animal in need, over the years I have helped a few CC rescues. I keep them separate for a few weeks. Why didnt i do the same with the kittens>? In hindsite of course i wish i would have, they were babies though and i had until then zero experience with ringworm.

from my experience with ringworm, I have discovered the following..
You can make you own malasab shampoo by mixing chlorhexidine with common vaginal cream I used walmart brand miconazole.
if you have accidently touched ringworm, you can wash your hands with selsun blue shampoo leaving it set 5 min before rinsing followed by good lotion.
Grooming tools can transfer ringworm.
ringworm is not as its name emplies a worm at all. it is a fungus.
The biggest thing i came away with is realizing my first loyalty must be to the animals I am steward to. I owe them that.