How to Introduce a Baby Bunny to an Older Bunny
How to Care for Orphaned Bunnies and Cottontails-Video
How to Treat Orphaned Bunnies and Cottontails
It's the kickoff day of spring and since it's about that fourth dimension of year for babies to start existence born, I've decided (by pop demand) to do a post on what to do if you lot observe a tiny little wild bunny, like I did concluding yr.
At the fourth dimension I knew admittedly NOTHING most caring for piddling wild bunnies, and I spent the side by side few weeks researching and learning everything I could while caring for him.
Starting time of all if you notice an abandoned wild infant bunny, check effectually to meet if the nest is nearby as many times the mother will be close (the mother will only feed the baby a few times per twenty-four hours when it's safety, early in the morning and in the evening) If there is no doubtfulness in your mind that the little baby is not existence cared for by the mother, the side by side all-time thing you lot tin exercise is to take it to a wild animals rehabilitator…and if this isn't an option, it'll need you to care for it until it'southward old enough to be fix gratuitous.
Cottontails are a lot smaller than regular pet rabbits then you tin can imagine how tiny their babies are. Cottontail babies (kits) are about half the size of most domesticated rabbit kits and from what I hear, are extremely hard to keep alive.
I documented everything so that it may aid others who run beyond a little 1 that needs aid. In that location are many different means, but this is the way I did things…and if you lot take whatever experience with baby bunnies, delight share at the lesser in the comments! 🙂
(By the way, this method can be used with babe domestic bunnies also)
How to Care for Orphaned Bunnies and Cottontails Tutorial
Formula Preparation & Feeding
UPDATE: I was subsequently told by a wild animals rehabilitator that Flim-flam Valley Twenty-four hour period One Formula for rabbits is the best, every bit it takes the guesswork out of mixing upwardly your ain formula. If yous don't take admission to this, you can mix up the formula below:
- 6 tbsp. water
- 1 egg yolk
- 6 tbsp. evaporated goat milk
- 1/8c heavy whipping cream
- 1tbsp Karo syrup (adding caro syrup is controversial through the bunny world and after much debate, I ended up adding it…some don't add together information technology at all, so you can make that decision)
I put all the ingredients in a mason jar and shook information technology all up, and so stored it in the refrigerator. At about v days, I threw out the old, and started a new batch
I used a glass 2oz dropper to feed the formula with. At beginning I tried using a tiny syringe but found that the eyedropper worked best. I bought this one from Sprouts, only you can also get one similar I used Hither
And then I warmed information technology with water (I prefer Not to use a microwave, to prevent nutrients being killed)
The glass part on this dropper is about 2 in long from the handle to tip. I measured his feedings by how many droppers-full he ate, and considered information technology one dropper-full when the milk line was about 1/2in downwards from the handle (about one/4tsp)
Make certain it'due south luke-warm
His first feeding took me a little while to get the hang of it. He was a little dehydrated and I wanted to brand sure that he wasn't being fed likewise little or too much. I wrapped him in a washcloth with just his head sticking out, making sure to concord him upright (not laying on his back). I just slipped the tip of the eyedropper under his lip and fed him drop by drop, feeding him slowly to avoid getting milk up his nose or aspirating information technology into his lungs
I fed him approx. 5x daily, most every 4 hours. Sometimes he ate ii droppers total of milk, and others he would only take 1/4 or i/two dropper full. Only I would pay attention to how full his tummy was, to decide on if he needed to swallow more than or non.
He was a little older in this film and didn't use the washcloth for this particular feeding since he had already got the hang of being hand fed…
The next 2 pics are before and after pics of his beginning feeding. Notice how wrinkled and empty his tummy is earlier eating, and how full and content he is after eating. I had to make sure non to overfeed though, every bit his tummy should never exist round and tight. If your bunny is older and furry, it's harder to meet their tummy, so feeding about x% of their weight 3x daily is what ane specialist said she does that I read about.
Before Eating
After Eating
After yous're done feeding, brand sure to clean and sanitize the eyedropper for the next use, just as you would a human baby bottle.
Likewise, the mother bunny will gently lick the babe'due south abdomen and genital area afterwards feeding to stimulate elimination. To mimic this you can use your clean moist fingertip, or use a warm moisture rag or cotton brawl. Personally, I have found that rubbing them with my finger while holding their little bottom under a warm gentle stream of water works great (see video at the top of this postal service).
Prepare Nursery Box
I used a plastic tote to keep my baby in and made sure it was kept in a safe Quiet place, every bit baby bunnies can get stressed quite easily.
Kit'south can keep warm without the help of a heating pad if the environment is around eighty degrees or warmer. Annihilation colder than that, they'll need a heating pad. I slipped my heating pad into a plastic handbag (to keep the pad clean) and placed it across Half of the bottom of the tote. This way if baby gets hot, he can crawl to the other side without the heating pad.
I then covered the heading pad with an old sail, making sure the sheet coverd ALL of the plastic that the heating pad is wrapped in, to avert suffocation. Then I turned the heating pad onto Low
Of import : Make certain pad is never turned hotter than Depression, to avoid overheating
Cecotrope Formula
After finding my cottontail kit, I spent hours reading upward on how to successfully raise them. I learned they can be extremely hard to keep alive and many experts who've been successful at raising them, swear that including cecotropes in the kit'southward daily nutrition jumps their survival rate from a low 30% up to a much higher 70%. Bunnies normally eat their mothers cecotropes effectually x days old, so I would start adding them to baby's milk around day ten and after.
Update: Although I fed my bunny cecotropes, you may or may not have access to them. If you don't, all is non lost, as one of my readers did take luck raising up his half dozen newborn cottontails successfully without feeding cecotropes. Also, another i of my readers that didn't accept access to cecotropes, successfully raised her newborn cottontail using a prebiotic called Bene-Bac.
"What's a cecotrope", you ask? Basically they are:
"partially digested foods that are passed from the bunny and then re-ingested. They contain a wild brew of bacteria and fungi that are normal and benign for the rabbit. In fact, the rabbit can't live without them, since they incorporate essential nutrients (fatty acids and vitamins) that the rabbit cannot produce on their ain." (You can read more than Hither)
Yes, you heard right…they eat their poop.
Now I'k not gonna lie, the thought of feeding poop to my lilliputian guy fabricated me desire to gag just thinking nearly it! But after some idea I figured if it keeps him live and healthy, I SUPPOSE I could requite it a effort…
Then I jumped onto craigslist and started emailing bunny breeders, asking if they could spare some bunny poop. Yes I got a few laughs, merely the beauty of emailing is that you don't take to hear them laugh at you lot in person! One breeder was but x minutes from me and then I buzzed on downwardly to her house.
Later on sifting through the plentiful poop option under her rabbit cages, I finally found those elusive cecotropes! Unlike regular 'cocoa puff-looking' rabbit droppings, cecotrotes resemble small, mucous-covered bunches of grapes. I dropped a few of these treasures into my null lock baggie and headed home.
I poured a little bunny formula into a dish, dropped in a cecotrote, and basically smooshed and stirred information technology all up till the liquid resembled chocolate milk.
Poop-a-liscious, right???
I fed i/4 to one/ii dropper full of this concoction to my footling bun bun 2 or iii times a week. The remaining liquid and actress cecotrotes where stored in the refrigerator in a tight plastic pocketbook wayyyyyyyyy in the back (far from my sight) LOL. Later almost 5 days I would throw out the old batch of 'chocolate milk' and make a new i.
Feeding Diary
February 28
The twenty-four hours I constitute him (1-3 days erstwhile)
He can smell just his optics and ears are closed so he can't hear or see. When I touch him and he's Really hungry, he lets me know by letting out a loud cry (kind of sounds similar a loud puppy yelp). Merely honestly later the get-go day, he never cried again because I gave him small, frequent feedings (approx. every 4 hours)
March 1
(2 days afterward)
He loves to snuggle and burrow into my hand or his bedding, especially after he is finished being fed
March 2
His ears take opened and he tin can hear today! I sneezed and he was startled by it
March 3
Started him on the cecotrope formula . I was not looking forrad to this function (as information technology notwithstanding seemed a petty 'yucky' to me) merely afterwards he ate information technology I was glad I did information technology. He ate information technology slowly and I only fed him about 1/4 to 1/two of a dropper full, then washed information technology down with his regular formula.
March iv
This is the first day he grabbed the tip of the dropper with his oral fissure and ate without me having to coax him! He sucked the milk out of the dropper and I only had to help him out a little by lightly squeezing the eyedropper, merely I notwithstanding had to be conscientious that I didn't squeeze the milk out too fast (only virtually 1-2 drops at a fourth dimension
March 5
Eyes are open up!!!
March six
He can hold his ears erect!
March 7
Cutting his feedings downward to 3x daily
March viii
Has been doing well with the 3x daily feeding schedule. Because his feedings are less frequent, he evidently eats more during each feeding. The piddling guy ate 5 droppers-full tonight which is the well-nigh and then far! He has also started licking my paw when I concord him
March 9
Today he is very listless…I'm worried. He hasn't had much of an appetite for the by 2 feedings so I've had to somewhat 'force feed' him drip past drip, giving him about a dropper-full or two, each feeding, to brand sure he doesn't go dehydrated. I've also gone back to feeding more often (every 4-half dozen hours). I've also noticed for a while now that his bowel movements have been very hard so I've given him about ii drops of mineral oil per feeding in hopes that constipation is what is making him not feel well.
March 10
Considering of what I've read about them going downhill fast out of nowhere, I woke upward expecting him not be with united states anymore…to my relief he was alive but still very listless. His normally wiggling nose inappreciably moves and he just slowly crawls around like he has no free energy. I slowly fed him breakfast, and then his drib or two of mineral oil after feeding him. I've continued the drop of mineral oil after each feeding all day. On his concluding feeding this evening, he seems to be feeling a picayune improve, looking a little more alert and showed semi-involvement in eating. We will run across how he is in the morn…
March 11
Little guy is poking his head out of his niggling hole when he hears me come in and then he seems to be doing a piddling better. His little nose is back to it'southward normal wiggle but he all the same just kind of crawls slowly around when he moves…Merely, he has been moving around his box more than he was since he started non feeling well. He semi-eagerly eats a dropper-full of milk and I slowly coaxed him to consume some other 1/two dropper-full, then topped it off with a drop of mineral oil, and and then a few drops of milk to wash it down.
March 12
Footling bun bun is feeling better, and he constantly licks my hand after eating! Subsequently his feeding this evening, I went out, picked some fresh grass, and offered it to him. He eagerly smelled information technology and started nibbling on a few pieces!
March xiii
Have continued giving him grass later each feeding, he loves it!
March 15
Giving the 3x daily feeding schedule a endeavor again
March 20
Accept been back on the 3x daily feeding schedule for the past 5 days. He eats 6 or vii droppers full per feeding. I still end the feedings off with 2 drops of food class mineral oil (establish in the pharmacy section of a grocery/drug store) to go along him regular, still help him to potty past rubbing him, and so offer grass to nibble on. I likewise noticed that he's starting to clean himself when washed eating…Bun Bun is getting big!
Dissimilar domesticated bunnies who would normally go more tame with hand feeding, this this piddling guy became very skittish and warning every bit he got older. It became harder and harder for me to catch and feed him and at the iv-5 calendar week weaning age, I knew it was time to prepare this growing baby to be prepare costless.
Weaning him was like shooting fish in a barrel…I simply moved his footling nursery box with the heating pad outside and cut a pigsty in ane end of the box, so that he could come up and go equally he pleased. I made sure at that place was plenty of water and grass for him to crumb on near the nursery box and after a few days, he was off and running effectually with all of the other little cottontails 🙂
How to Introduce a Baby Bunny to an Older Bunny
Source: https://www.teediddlydee.com/how-to-care-for-orphaned-bunnies-and-cottontails/