What to feed baby rabbits - Care and Feeding of Orphaned Domestic Rabbits
Prior to you take the baby domestic rabbits into your care and effort to bottle feed them, kindly consider ...
Unless the mother rabbit is known to be dead, there is a good chance great opportunity is feeding her babies, children if she seems to be ignoring themOverlooking Rabbit mamas feed their infants only twice per day, and then leave them alone.
If mom rabbit appears to be "disregarding" her trash, check their condition prior to you meddle. If the children' bellies are round and full-looking (you sometimes can see a whitish patch where the milk-filled belly programs through the thin skin of the stomach), they are warm, their skin is a healthy, dark pink, and not overly wrinkled, and they are sleeping calmly in the nest, then mom is feeding them. If the infants are extremely wrinkled, cold, bluish in color, have actually reduced tummies, and maybe are even crawling around searching for mama (rather of nest-sleeping, as a well-fed baby ought to), then you might have to intervene.
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Before managing the children, wash your hands well with disinfectant soap and warm water. Your hands are covered with bacteria, no matter how clean they might seem, and these can be hazardous to infants whose immune systems are not yet mature enough to control bacterial growth, must dangerous microorganisms be consumed. As soon as they're clean, scrub your hands in a little bit of clean, fresh hay and on mom's fur to scent your hands.
Put the babies in a safe nest box in a location easily accessible to her if the mama bunny is healthy and active. The box needs to be shallow and long enough for mama to jump in without stomping on her babies, however too tall for the infants to unintentionally crawl out. Line the bottom of the box with a soft towel (no loose strings or holes! These can tangle around tiny necks or limbs and cause deadly injury or fatality!). Put a thick (3") layer of soft, lawn hay or straw on top of the towel, and make a small "well" in the hay. If the mom has currently constructed a nest of her fur, place the fur in the "well" and gently move the babies into the nest. If she did not pluck any fur for a nest, and if she is calm, you might be able to gently clip some away from her chest (Not too much! A handful is great.) and line the well of the straw nest with it.
Before you handle the nest and infants, love and stroke mom rabbit to calm her. She is unlikely to be disrupted by your activities if she is enjoyed, and trusts you.
Make certain mom sees the infants in the nest and can easily join them. Put the box and mama in a quiet, private location (a clean, disinfected restroom with a baby gate in the doorway is a great option) and let her get familiarized with her surroundings and her family's place.
If the mama has been separated from the children for more than 24 hours, and declines to feed them, you can try to carefully, however firmly hold her over the babies till they can get a meal. Stroke the mom, speak to her gently and like her, making her feel protected. After the very first feeding, you probably won't need to do this again. She will look after the children on her own.
If the mother rabbit is very ill, dead, or showing hostility in the direction of her infants, you could need to eliminate them and feed them without her help. Prior to you take on this formidable task, think about the following:.
If not, you'll have to offer the children with an unique, immunoglobin-rich substance called colostrum. Without a colostrum "starter", the children have a lower chance of survival.
If the infants actually are orphans or have been abandoned by their mother, here's a protocol that's succeeded for us.
1. Keep the children in a warm (about 75o - 78o Farenheit), peaceful place in a nest similar to the one described above. (Bunny fur is the best lining, however clean cotton wadding will do as a replacement. Just be sure the infants do not get tangled in it.) DO NOT use an electric heating pad. Two or more infants normally have the ability to cuddle and keep each other warm if they have a great, cushioned nest. If there's just one baby, a warm water bottle covered in a soft towel can offer an excellent synthetic heat source, however make sure the baby can crawl away from the bottle if it feels too warm.
2. The nest box should be at ground level, in a space where kids and pets are not allowed (at least till the babies are consuming solid food and from the nest). For the first few days, keep the room reasonably dimly lit and quiet.
Feeding the Babies.
Formula and feeding materials.
You will need:.
plastic sanitizing steam bag (offered at many drug stores, these are made use of by females to decontaminate breast pumps and other nursing materials).
very small nursing nipples.
There are many various types, and sadly couple of pet supply shops carry the tiniest nipples that are best for baby rabbits. The ones for kittens are the next finest thing if your local animal supply store does not bring nipples ideal for baby squirrels and rabbits.
nursing bottle or syringes.
The type of bottle or syringe you purchase will depend upon the nipples readily available in your store. They normally are paired. A range of feeding supplies are offered online from The Squirrel Store. Order them while you use the kitten materials locally readily available, and you'll have much better nipples and syringes in a few days.
Formula recipe.
fresh, whole goat milk - 1/2 cup.
KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer by PetAg) - 1/2 cup.
lyophilized (freeze dried out) colostrum - contents of 10 capsules, or 1-1.5 Tablespoons.
This is offered at many top notch organic food establishments, either in bulk powder type, or in capsules. It's costly, however will certainly offer the infants their finest head beginning.
heavy cream - 3 cc (a cc is the exact same as one ml, or milliliter), equal to about 1/2 tsp.
Mix ingredients together in a lidded container, and shake very well up until colostrum is dissolved. It's finest to mix this a few hours in advance so that the colostrum has time to soften and suspend easily.
They are normally more excited to accept warm formula.
Feeding Procedure.
The most crucial thing to prevent is aspiration (inhalation) of formula by the babies. The smallest drop of formula in the lungs can trigger fatal pneumonia within a couple of hours.
1. Steam disinfect all syringes, bottles, and nipples as per directions on the decontaminating bag.
Baby rabbits are wiggly, and unforeseeable. A drop of only one or 2 feet can be fatal, specifically if the baby has a tummy full of milk.
3. Hold the baby horizontal in one hand, and the bottle/syringe in the other. If you cover the bottle in a washcloth or cotton pad, enabling a fold to drape over your hand with the nipple protruding, the baby will have the ability to "paddle" with his front feet, as he would his own mommy's bust.
Infants commonly resist feeding at initially, and you should overcome the temptation to require feed. If the baby spits out the nipple, then simply wet the baby's lips with a drop of warm formula so he'll lick it off. (If you're fortunate, the baby will swiftly discover the Turbo Sucktm: this can clear 15 cc's of formula in as small amount as 9 seconds!).
5. DO NOT SQUEEZE TOO MUCH FORMULA INTO THE BABY'S MOUTH! It's better to err on the side of care than to have the baby inhale milk!
If the baby grabs the nipple and starts suckling, allow him to do so without adding any pressure yourself. The baby needs to be able to suckle with adequate strength to clear the bottle or syringe (as long as the plunger is sufficiently lubricated in advance with a bit of pediatric simethicone suspension) without any help from you. If you provide additional force, the baby might unintentionally aspirate formula that's coming in too fast!
7. If the infants do not suckle, it's not a significant trouble. Most will certainly know how to lap/sip from the tip of the nipple, and this is in fact much safer, in regards to lowering the risk of goal. Try to hold the nipple sideways or downpointed, relative to the mouth, to further lower the danger of aspiration.
We hope this doesn't occur, however if the baby does aspirate formula, it can totally block the air passage and trigger the baby to pass out. This does not have to be a fatality sentence, but the following "Bunny Heimlich" maneuver is the only hope of conserving the little one.
hold the baby extremely firmly between your palms, one on each side of the rabbit.
stabilizing the back and neck firmly so they do stagnate at all, raise the baby above your head, so his nose is pointing skywards.
with a firm, downward movement (not too fast!), swing the baby downwards to your feet, (being very mindful not to come too close to the floor!).
repeat the treatment two or three times, as needed. The weight of the baby's internal organs pressing against the diaphragm when you swing down ususally provides sufficient pressure to remove air from the lungs, as well as the drop of milk obstructing the airway.
STOP THE MANEUVER IMMEDIATELY as soon as you feel the baby start to move.
Seek advice from your veterinarian about whether to put the baby on prophylactic prescription antibiotics to avoid aspiration pneumonia.
9. Until they open their eyes (at about the age of 10-12 days), manage the babies as little as possible when you're not feeding/grooming.
How much to feed?
The following information on feeding quantities are from the House Rabbit Society FAQ on Feeding Orphaned Baby Rabbits, which is an outstanding source of extra information on this subject.
Newborn to One Week: 2 - 2 and a half cc/ml each feeding (2 feedings every day).
NOTE: Many newborn mammals can not urinate/defecate by themselves. The baby bunnies will certainly need the excitement of the mother's grooming tongue on their stomaches and ano-genital area in order to release a stream of pee and those pinhead-sized poops. Thankfully, you do not have to use your tongue.
Use a cottonball (or even a very clean and disinfected fingertip) moistened with warm water, and carefully tap/rub the urogenital location up until you feel the baby's abdominal muscles tense and get that rewarding stream of warm pee! Lots of sources recommend doing this prior to feeding, and if it works-- fine. If the baby will certainly not urinate prior to feeding, attempt again after feeding, and you will likely get a great feedback.
It could take a couple of weeks prior to the babies are able to pee and defecate on their own. Back off on the pressure, and use a bit of calming calendula lotion (offered at health food establishments) to heal the inflammation.
If the feces come out liquid or "smeary", it's a sign of potentially serious trouble. Consult your rabbit-experienced vet at the very first indication of looseness of the bowels, as this can be fatal in just a couple of hours in a baby rabbit.
One to 2 weeks: 5-7 cc/ml each feeding (2 feedings each day). The quantity will depending on bunny, and may be much LESS if the baby is little.
KEEP IN MIND: Do not allow a baby rabbit overfeed at one sitting! When a baby knows how the Turbo Suck (tm), he can nurse so swiftly that it's possible for him to ingest a volume too wonderful for his small amount stomach. It's unlikely for the belly to burst, stretching it too tight can cause pain, gas, and make the baby sick. It is better to underfeed a little than overfeed. If in doubt, let the baby rest for about a minute after feeding, then provide the nipple once again. This gives time for the stretch receptors to let the baby and react know he's really complete.
Two to three weeks: 7-13 cc/ml each feeding (2 feedings). Domestic rabbits' eyes open at about 10 days of age. Begin presenting them to timothy and oat hay, pellets and water in a shallow dish.
Three to 6 weeks: 13-15 cc/ml each feeding (two feedings) As always, quantity might be LESS depending upon the size of the rabbit.
KEEP IN MIND: At the age of about three weeks, babies will begin to experiment with solid food. Not only is it vital to continue enriching the formula with colostrum, but at this stage it is time to inoculate them with typical rabbit bacterial flora from a healthy, parasite-free grownup rabbit. When you initially take the children into your care, start to search for a possible cecotrope contributor. When they're about 2.5 - 3 weeks old, acquire a fresh cecotrope and mix it into a little amount of formula. You will most likely need to feed this as if it were medication, as the majority of children do NOT enjoy this "unique" formula. But it will assist to establish their regular flora at a time when the belly pH is most likely not to disrupt appropriate colonization of healthy bacterial flora further down the intestinal system. Shot for 2-3 days in a row seems to be enough for establishment of normal flora.
Before you take the baby domestic rabbits into your care and attempt to bottle feed them, kindly think about ...
Unless the mother rabbit mommy bunny to understood dead, there is a good chance that she is feeding her babies, even if she seems to appears ignoring themNeglecting The box should be shallow and long enough for mama to jump in without stomping on her infants, but too tall for the children to inadvertently crawl out. If the mom has been separated from the babies for even more than 24 hours, and refuses to feed them, you can attempt to gently, however securely hold her over the children until they can get a meal. If the baby spits out the nipple, then merely wet the baby's lips with a drop of warm formula so he'll lick it off. We wish this does not happen, but if the baby does aspirate formula, it can completely block the air passage and cause the baby to pass out.