Baby wild rescue..please help

[kimij67]

Hello my name is Kim and before everyone jumps the gun let me say that I am a vet tech, and I HAVE ALREADY CONTACTED MY VET..I just know that those that raise bunnies everyday have very helpful advise and so I am going to try here as well..Let me begin with I am very familar with raising and releasing baby bunnies back into the wild, I have been doing it awhile now, but always before the bunnies I have gotten have been very young most with their eyes not even open , I also rescue and release baby squirlles..sometimes I am bottle feeding something every 30 minutes around here. But three days ago a client brought me 2 baby bunnies left from a litter that was attacked by her dogs, the mom was also killed. These little ones are quite older,eating great and moving around good...the weather here has been very cold so I was waiting for a week or two when it warms up a bit before the releasing. then tonight the larger of the two all of a sudden out of no where threw his little head up and had foamy white snot running out of his nose and was mouth breathing..almost like he was choking on something, I have checked his mouth and tried to get all the snot I canout of his nose..(the whole time he is fighting me as I have not touched them unless necessary..like this) it has now been going on for about 3 hours..almost like an asthma attack..The vet thinks he may have aspirated something and will clear it on his own..I just wanted to see what others thought I should try to do to bring this little one some relief.

Thank you.

 

[Haley]

Have you tried using a baby bulb to suction the snot out? I really dont have any experience with anything like this. Im going to send you a pm with the email address of a woman I know who does cottontail rehabbing. Maybe she could help you.

Bless you for trying your best to help these litle ones. Have you checked to see if theres a wildlife rehabber near you?

 

[kimij67]

Yes there are several wildlife rehabs in Central Texas, the problem is I live in a rural community and its quite a drive to any of them. I did try to suction the nose, and I was able to get some snot.the thing with wild bunnies is the more you hold them the more stressed out they become and the worse things get..so the more I suctioned, the more it struggled, the more snot build up and the harder it would have breathing. I checked before I went to bed and again at 3this morning and it is calm, but still taking in puffs of air with its mouth...I go to work in about an hour hopefully it will hang on till I can get there. I'll update this afternoon. Thanks for responding though..I was beginning to lose hope of getting a response.

 

[kimij67]

Well dang it, by the time I got downstairs from my shower this morning the sick one had passed away. what a tragic life..to one day be nice and cozy with mom and the next having dogs rip your family apart and end up with what you fear most..humans..trying tot ouch you.

The last little one is eating , seems a bit upset over the loss of the sibling, after I took the body out it hopped over and sat where the body was...until I put some fresh food in..then it went back to its old corner where it like to sit and started eating. poor little thing. I hope the weather warms up here quickly so I can get it back out into the wild where it belongs.