Nursing with Goat Milk

[Abby Mattimoe-Harris]

I have a 2 and a half week old Holland Lop that I want to nurse because his mother isn't producing enough milk. I have heard goats milk can be used to nurse rabbits. I need to know, Should I dilute it? How much should I feed? And How many times a day does he need to eat?

 

[majorv]

Do not dilute it. Some add a little heavy cream, to add some fat to it. Does nurse 1x-2x per day but you might have to do it more often unless you think the kit is getting enough. His eyes should be open and walking around so you can either use a syringe (taking great care not to aspirate the contents) or try putting a little in a small bowl and see if you can get him to lick it up. Either way he will still need water for hydration. Also give him hay. Has he nibbled on Mom’s pellets at all yet?

 

[Bellamy+Lilah]

I have a 2 and a half week old Holland Lop that I want to nurse because his mother isn't producing enough milk. I have heard goats milk can be used to nurse rabbits. I need to know, Should I dilute it? How much should I feed? And How many times a day does he need to eat?

I have used powdered goats milk from a Rural King store and it worked out good. They grew up happy and healthy. There were about 3 out of 9 baby bunnies in the litter I had that weren't getting enough milk so that's why I had to do it. The powder packets had instructions on them for how much water to dilute in them and for the milk to be room lukewarm - not hot or cold. One thing I would suggest just to be safe is to use either bottled or filtered water. Where I live, tap water has a high amount of chlorine that could hurt them. Water plants treatment facilities have to use all kinds of chemicals sometimes to treat the water so you never know what is really in it.

 

[Bellamy+Lilah]

Also I would feed mine once in the morning and once in the evening as needed depending if their bellies looked full and plump or not.

 

[Bellamy+Lilah]

And be careful when feeding with a small syringe - try as best you can not to get it up their nose where they'll inhale it and it WILL take several sittings for them to get used to drinking from the syringe. They get the hang of it though. Mine acted like they were more comfortable when they could push their paws up against one of my fingers while drinking cause that's what they do when getting milk from their momma bunny.

Yours might learn faster though, mine were only about 4 days old when I started having to assist giving milk. The ones that weren't getting enough were probably pushed out of the way or had trouble finding a nipple in the short time the doe nurses them.

 

[Abby Mattimoe-Harris]

I got some powdered goats milk made for kittens and puppies from a local feed store. It worked great! He is 7 weeks old now and doing great. He is still quite small but he is a tank.