New baby bunny! Please help!

[Snowball_101]

Hi everyone, so my neighbor gave us another bunny because they were going to give the rest they had to a local shelter. We accepted it but we were not prepared at all. So first, we introduced it to Snowball and it went really well. Snowball put his head under the baby asking to be groomed. He cuddled next to it but has not groomed it yet. He was binkying and running around so I guess he was happy. The baby also seemed pretty happy. But the baby keeps putting her head under Snowball’s tummy. She likes to cuddle next to him and follow him. My neighbor told me that they’ve been feeding their rabbits cabbage and carrots only which made me really sad. I’m giving the baby Timothy hat and alfalfa hay based pellets. I don’t have any alfalfa hay. The neighbor also said it’s two weeks old. I don’t know what to do and if I should separate them. Please help me! Here is where I’m keeping her and some other pictures. (The poop is the baby’s)

 

[Snowball_101]

Also when they are separated, Snowball goes CRAZY. He becomes restless and bites his cage/digs at it.

 

[Blue eyes]

I hope one of our breeders comes on here to give advice. If the baby is just 2 weeks of age, it is putting its head under Snowballs tummy looking to nurse. He is too young to be weaned and should be still nursing from his momma.

 

[Snowball_101]

I know that’s what I thought! But my neighbor said their mother wouldn’t give them milk and was neglecting them. The baby is eating hay just fine though. I’ll buy some alfalfa hay tomorrow.

 

[majorv]

The kit looks more like 3 weeks old but still awfully young to be without its mother. I would push plenty of hay and then slowly add a good quality pellet. I would suggest using the hay you give your other rabbit and get alfalfa based pellets for the kit.

 

[Snowball_101]

Update: the baby is doing kind of okay. This morning it was very weak and feeble so we did some research and got it some goat milk based formula. The kit loves it. We made it a little nest with alfalfa hay and a heating pad. However, it only goes in there unless we put it in there. We’ve been feeding the kit alfalfa hay and Timothy hay. It hasn’t eaten pellets yet. Recently though, it just sits outside of its nest and stares at nothing. It prefers to be cold instead of warm. It eats hay but takes a long time chewing it. It doesn’t run around a lot either. Not very active. We’ve given it 30 ml of milk today to keep it alive. Also Snowball has stopped caring about it... the kit follows him and Snowball doesn’t seem to care. Maybe a sniff or two but that’s it. It breaks my heart also I can’t see if it’s skin is wrinkly because of all the fur it has. I try feeling the tummy but I just feel fur.. orangish pee as well even though it’s only been eating hay and water. Poops a lot though.

 

[Snowball_101]

Update: the kit woke up from a nap and suddenly started having seizures, acting dizzy, and couldn’t stand. We didn’t change anything in its diet. I think it’s going to die it was too young

 

[Hemond’sbunnies]

Update: the kit woke up from a nap and suddenly started having seizures, acting dizzy, and couldn’t stand. We didn’t change anything in its diet. I think it’s going to die it was too young

Hello! Being this young, this baby should still be on milk. And greens for a baby this young was very dangerous. The seizures could very well be from low blood sugar, from lack of milk. Is the baby still alive?

 

[Preitler]

Oh my. The neighbour was wrong, the mother didn't neglect it and fed it just fine - the kit wouldn't be there otherwise. If someone has zero experience with breeding rabbits normal behaviour could be misinterpreted as neglect.
It might be moot already, but anyway, if all it was used to was cabbage and carrots, then that's pretty much all it is able to digest. It needs days, weeks of introducing other stuff, to grow the right tummy bacteria to break that down (they get their first set of gut bacteria from mom). I would offer exactly what it was used to, what it's mum is used to. It doesn't matter if it's healthy in the long run or not, right now, at that age, any changes are problematic.

What did you use as milk formula? I used condensed goat milk, with egg yolk and syrup, can send you links. Don't overdo it, no matter if it loves it, it's better to go a little hungry than overfed (30ml sounds like really a lot, would start with max5-10 and increasing with every feeding), that too takes some time to adjust.

 

[Snowball_101]

Sadly, it’s no longer alive. When we got it, the kit was already pretty weak. It was very slow when it followed Snowball and it was all bones... I couldn’t feel that it even had a round tummy because under the fur, I only felt ribs. Neighbor also said that most of its siblings had already died as well. It was very sad and I’ll take this as a lesson. Thank you for the help everyone. It just confuses me how it suddenly began to have seizures out of nowhere. It was so scary and I cried my eyes out. Just minutes before its seizure Snowball began to cuddle with it and groom it a lot. It’s almost as if he seemed to know. So sad.

 

[Hemond’sbunnies]

Sadly, it’s no longer alive. When we got it, the kit was already pretty weak. It was very slow when it followed Snowball and it was all bones... I couldn’t feel that it even had a round tummy because under the fur, I only felt ribs. Neighbor also said that most of its siblings had already died as well. It was very sad and I’ll take this as a lesson. Thank you for the help everyone. It just confuses me how it suddenly began to have seizures out of nowhere. It was so scary and I cried my eyes out. Just minutes before its seizure Snowball began to cuddle with it and groom it a lot. It’s almost as if he seemed to know. So sad.

Low blood sugar causes the seizures it’s very common if a baby doesn’t get the milk It needs. It’s very hard to save them as It happens very quickly just like a person. At least you know that It found comfort before It passed. So sorry you had to go through this.

 

[rabbitlover2019]

I am truly sorry to hear of the loss of your Kit
Snowball is very lovely rabbit.

never ever give rabbits syrup/sugar and any thing sweet

 

[Snowball_101]

Thank you for the help. It’s in a better place now

 

[majorv]

Sorry to hear, but the little one didn’t have much of a chance under the circumstances. It’s tough, I know. We had over a hundred litters during the 8 years we were breeding/showing, and it was never easy losing them at a young age.