HEEEEELP PLZ IT'S URGENT :(

[Bamby]

I woke up this morning to find one tiny little pink newborn baby rabbit in the cage of a male and female rabbits.There was only one baby there and some blood!!! I called the vet and they told me that the father has eaten all the rest during the night while we were asleep I've separated the male from them now, but the female is totally careless of it's new baby! In fact I'm so afraid coz it's sitting on it sometimes!!! I don'tknow what to do? Shall I separate her as well?? if I did who's gonna feed her then? Aren't babies supposed to be with their mother and feed on her milk??? Plz somebody help me. This whole thing is so new to me and I just don't wanna loose this poor thing :s

Waiting for your urgent reply.

Thanks.

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

Take the mother out of the cage and try to get the baby to nurse off of her. To do this, turn the mother upside down and rest her in your legs. You need to be sitting on the floor for this. Gently hold the baby and guide it to the nipples. There are eight nipples. If the baby doesn't even try to eat, then you need to consider force feeding.

First off, I forgot to ask if the baby has a full belly....it will appear swollen? If it does, leave it alone. You would need to put a box in so the baby stays warm. Did the mother pull fur?

Good Luck, Sharon

P.S. Use Kitten Milk Replacer (liquid only) and an eyedropper (very small) if you need to hand feed. Also, make sure you don't get any milk into the baby's lungs.

 

[Bamby]

Thanx for answering... the mother is very jumpy and wont let us touch her since this morning... at the moment shes sitting on the baby and she licked him before.. should we still take it out?

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

If she is licking the baby, that is a good sign and I would leave it alone. Did she build a nest out of fur. Is the baby fat? If you can give her a treat, then see if you can take a peek without disturbing her.

Sharon

Hopefully she will take care of it! Sending good thoughts.......

 

[Bamby]

she didn't make a nest.. we already fed the baby a little milk with water cuz that's what the vet said we should do...but we think that the mother isn't feeding him cuz it keeps trying to drink from under her and she moves away.. as well as we are afraid shell trample him, cuz she keeps walking over him, is that possible?

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

It is possible.... Is there anyway that you could take the mother out and hold her...and then try to get the baby to nurse. The baby will do everything on its own...all you have to do is hold the mother rabbit still so she can't hurt the baby or kick...and just hold the baby in your hand so as it doesn't fall.

Good Luck...Sharon

 

[Bamby]

shes very violent.. i tried to pick her up but she attacked me :S i'm not able to hold her, and even if i did, i wont be able to hold her still

 

[pamnock]

Because does will mate immediately after giving birth, you may be expecting another litter in 31 days.

Will the doe sit on your lap with a towel over her? You could them put the baby under her to nurse. (Give the doe a treat to help her relax).

Cows milk can cause intestinal bleeding in rabbit kits, so it is not a good choice for foster feeding. Because it is easy for the babies to aspirate the formula, when foster feeding (especially if someone inexperienced is doing it), it is best to attempt to get the baby to nurse from the doe.

Normally, a doe only nurses her young 1-2 times a day, so it is normal for her to appear to be inattentive.



Pam

 

[bluebird]

I hope the baby is ok .how does the vet know the father ate the others. its highly unlikely and if he did there would be body parts in the cage as they don't eat the heads.bluebird

 

[gentle giants]

If you have to feed it yourself, try the kitten milk replacer you can get at any pet store or about any grocery store.You can also get miniature nursing bottles at Damars, a rabbit supply place. Here is a link to the site: http://www.damars.com/ Hope it helps.

 

[DaisyNBuster]

ray:for that baby. Please keep us updated.

Pam is right with more babies in 31 days. Mark it on your calendar. It happened to me.

Vickie

 

[RebeccaUK]

I hope this baby pulls through. Keep doing the best you can for it, I hope the mother will accept it eventually.

 

[Carolyn]

Welcome Bamby,

Nothing to add that hasn't been said other than my thoughts and prayers.

-Carolyn

 

[fire22]

A rabbit will straddle over the baby to feed it it will no lay down on it's side like a cat or dog will. Are you sure she is sitting on it she may be feeding it.Also if you lay the doe on her back on your legs and gently push it's head back toward the floor it will put her in a trance. Then let the baby feed.

 

[Kestal]

I'm sorry to hear that you lost most of the litter. I will be honest with you having only one newborn with momma not feeding her the odds aren't good. Its difficult to hand feed baby kits for a couple reasons, One its really easy to get milk in there little lungs and second there is no milk sub for rabbits so you have to use either kitty or puppy milk. I've had the best of luck with the kitten milk. also you have to keep the kit really warm that's extreamly important if it gets to cold for to long you will lose it. What you wanna do if momma bunny is not doing a good job which it sounds like specially if she didn't make a nest you want to get a small basket and make a small nest for the kit yourself to keep it warm you want to try and get the kit to feed off momma first hold mom upside down and put the kit on her stomic and see if it will nurse of momma you want to do this twice a day and each time cheack the baby tummy when its done for plumpness. if the kits is only a day or two old you will be able to seethe milk in it, it will look like a little white purl in the kits tummy. if that doesn't work cause momma doesn't have any milk or you can't do that for what ever reason then you need to get a small droper and some suplement milk and mix with a little water like the vet said.You have to be EXTREAMLY careful and slow as to not get milk in the kits lungs. squize the dropper till there is a small drop about to come out and put that in the baby's mouth and see what it does it should swallow and hopefully sucklle on the droper. If you weren't able to get the baby to nurse on mom cause she didn't come into her milk you might ask your vet about and oxytocin shot for the mom it should make her milk come in. I wish you the best of luck and hope your kits makes it.

 

[Kestal]

Also keep and eye on your bun since you have no idea what time your litter was born its very possible she is pregnant again. rabbits can get pregnant 30-60 min after giving birth. She will be pregnant for 28-30 days before the next litter arrives watch for her pulling hair or gathering up hay and stuff for nesting about a week or two before the due date, and make sure you keep the male separated from her now untill you get them spayed or neutered unless they are your breading pair then keep them separate unless you have them breeding. And if your worried cause she didn't care for the first litter its often common for some rabbits to ignore or abandon there first kits. My best mom abandon her first litter, if she abandons her second litter however i wouldn't try breeding her again some rabbit just aren't good moms. Best of luck

 

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