Orphaned, not eating help!

[Kristen]

My holland lop had a surprise litter this past weekend and only 1 has survived. After a vet check on Monday I was told to treat it as orphaned because the mom was clearly not feeding and she doesn't have a lot of mammary development. Again this was an accidental litter and her first, I wasn't trying to breed.
Since Monday the baby has eaten kmr but it never seems to look full. Last night I could barely get it to take a few drops, so it should be hungry but it's acting the same way now. I can't get it to eat and it's so small, please any help will be appreciated! I will be calling my vet as soon as they open today, but that's not till afternoon and this baby needs food asap!

 

[JBun]

The problem with hand feeding kits is that the aspiration risk is extremely high. It's possible the baby has aspirated the milk and has developed pneumonia. For aspiration pneumonia, the treatment could include getting the rabbit immediately on antibiotics and possibly oxygen, though this is with older rabbits. I'm not sure how possible this is when dealing with newborn kits. Outcome once aspiration occurs isn't usually very good, but I do hope the best for your little kit and hopefully your vet will be able to help it.

 

[woahlookitsme]

I am going to agree with JBun. Sadly after the baby has lost the strength or will to feed it’s an unlikely battle. I’m sorry that you had to go through that.

I don’t know why the vet would have told you to hand rear a baby. It’s very difficult to do and in the 8 years I raised rabbits I never had any survivors of hand rearing.

Did the other babies ever look fed?