Hi,
DO NOT USE KMR!! Or Goat's Milk. That is very old school ideas that come from that ancient time when it was thought that cats and rabbits were alike. There are fundamental differences in the guts of rabbits and cats. Rabbits are herbivores and are hind gut fermenters.....cats are carnivores and eat meat. Big difference. In the rehab world, we do sometimes use KMR or Goat's Milk to precondition an intake's gut....but those formulas are nothing much more than water....and they are used very short term. They are totally inappropriate nutrition for a rabbit. Even the professional formulas we use in rehab can't match a rabbit's milk....close, but not quite. It is likely that these rabbits may need formula in their diet. The best we are using with rabbits right now is Esbilac Puppy Powder....not the pre-mix liquid.....the powder. We generally feed approx. 10% of body weight twice a day....once a day if they are eating solids. And as mentioned, and we use in rehab, a probiotic is certainly indicated in this situation. That gut still has to convert to the acidic adult gut....and if you can buffer and control that conversion with probiotics, the more likely the babies are to survive the true weaning (and I can assure you that these rabbits are not weaned and do not have what I call a "ready gut"). I also do not feed cecals from another rabbit....another outdated idea. First, if you are getting cecals from a rabbit...something isn't right. They need them to support their own system. And you never know if you are transferring parasites. And the idea about feeding cecals is another of those ideas from a time that little was known about rabbits. We are routinely raising cottontails (and they are much more difficult than domestics) that never get cecals from their mom or another rabbit. I raise cottontails strictly on the Esbilac powder mixed with Bene-Bac (a probiotic). They are also bedded in alfalfa hay....food all around. I never offer cottontails pellets during rehab...but I do with domestics...and I also give them small amounts of high nutrition greens such as kale, dandelions and carrot tops. The primary concern in baby rabbits....and often overlooked....is hydration. This is one of the primary killers of baby rabbits in rescue. We think nothing of sticking these guys with sub-q fluids.
So in summary, based on my experience of hand raising hundreds of baby rabbits---
If you offer a formula, use Esbilac Puppy Powder. Offer a diluted formula of about 1 part powder to 4 parts water and then over a period of a couple of days come up to full formula of 1 part powder to2 parts water.
Add a probiotic to the formula.
Offer unlimited hay....mostly alfalfa but grass hays too.
Offer very limited high nutritional greens.
Offer a high quality pellet.
And one final comment....in most US states....it is illegal to remove a rabbit from it's mother until they are 8 weeks old....and that is true even in this backward state of NC.
Good luck. It will be a challenge but I can assure you that these guys can pull thru if you play your cards right. We do it every year from February thru October with wild rabbits and from time to time with domestics. Think smart and understand how a rabbit works....and keep in mind that it is not a cat or a goat.
Randy
. I completely agree. My experience is only through reading about others, I have never experienced anything like this first hand.
