7 days old. Need Help (underweight?)

[Deano85]

A stray rabbit I caught gave birth. They are 7 days old, do they look underweight ?

 

[SableSteel]

Yeah, looks kind of underweight. You shouldn't be able to see the loin or pinbones so well defined.

 

[Preitler]

What do you feed the doe? You can add some oatmeal and sunflower seeds (I sometimnes put some sunflower oil on the oatmeal) to her diet, and she should get unlimited food now, at least hay and green forage should be unlimited (If she was a stray she is used to green stuff, everything that grows outside)

There are herbs that can increase milk flow, like fennel or nettles, a google search for "increase milk rabbit" should give hints.

Other than that, how many kits are there? As long as they are all growing everything will improve at about 2 weeks when they start to nibble solid food (should have easy access to everything mom gets ), even if they are on the skinny side they are still alive after one week, so it could be worse than it is.

 

[Deano85]

She wont eat hay. I feed her tall grass, dandelions, romaine lettuce and the odd carrot. I feed her quite a bit but not unlimited, I will now.

There are 7 and id estimate her weight at less than 3lbs.

 

[Preitler]

I would gradually add something rich, like what I mentioned above, about a trablespoon or so per day, and high protein pellets wouldn't hurt either. You're feeding 8 rabbits now, not just one , nursing does don't get fat.

 

[Deano85]

Thanks for your help.

 

[Preitler]

I want to emphasize the "gradually" part, her digestion might need to adjust, so just start with a small amount and ramp up over 3-4 days.

 

[JBun]

If you don't feed pellets, or if the pellets aren't at least 15% protein and alfalfa based, I would suggest adding alfalfa hay to her diet. She'll need the extra protein and calcium while she's nursing. Even though she won't eat dried grass hay, there's a good chance she'll eat the alfalfa hay. Most rabbits like alfalfa hay, though it should only be fed to young growing rabbits and nursing does, and best fed in balance with a grass hay or fresh grass. Like was mentioned, nursing does need lots of food, so just make sure she always has grass to eat, and a good amount of alfalfa hay as well .

If you would like to get her to the point of accepting grass hay, what worked for a stray I took in was drying some of the fresh grass and feeding a mix of the fresh and dried. Then once she was only eating the grass I dried for her, I started mixing it with farm baled grass hay. Eventually I could feed just the farm baled grass hay to her.

 

[Deano85]

Update, I added pellets and oatmeal to her diet. She really likes the oats but I have been sparing with them. They look a bit fatter than previous. My concern is the last picture, it's the smallest next to the biggest. It doesn't have a concave belly but looks to be half the weight. Anything to be worried about? Thanks

 

[JBun]

It doesn't look like a peanut to me(if it's a breed where peanuts can occur). So it could just be a runt, or it could have a health issue causing it to be underdeveloped.

If you think extra feedings would help, you could try holding it to mom's belly for some extra nursing. You would need to give time past when she last nursed, so some milk is in there, and be very careful holding the baby to her so it doesn't get kicked or thrown.

 

[Deano85]

I feel the mother is not tame enough to try a force feeding. Should I try to supplement the smallest ones with hand feedings or should I just focus on the mothers nutrition. I covered the nest with alfalfa hay at what age will they starting eating some of it?

 

[Preitler]

I do not supplemental feeding, too worried about upsetting the stomach and making things worse. What I do is taking out the fattest 1/4 or 1/3 of the litter for one feeding so the little ones have better chances at the milk buffet. I woulkd say this doesn't hurt the well fed kits as long as they get 3 meals in a row.

I do that with small kits, when they are over 10 days they are going to nibble solid food soon anyway, I offer them a small amount of sdamp pellets mixed with oatmeal. Often runts more or less catch up then if there isn't some underlying issue.