What do I feed a baby rabbit ??


Due to all the mowing in the neighborhood, and a few hawks and crows
I've somehow adopted a baby rabbit.

Seems to me about 5 - 6 weeks old... has a full coat, but still
can't figure out how to use the hind legs. I'm assuming he/she/it
was either being weaned by mother, or mother is no longer available.

Nope, it wasn't a nest, no siblings either.

So, I've tried banana, dandelion's, grass, softened rabbit
pellets..... (I live with another rabbit... mature male, no hope
there). Baby rabbits usually feed only at night, so I'm not sure
if it's eaten anything since yesterday evening...

Would any rabbit owners / breeders out there have a suggestion ??

I think it's almost ready for solid food, but don't want to take a
chance on losing it due to starvation...

How about bread moistened with cow's milk?? Would baby
formula kill it ???

Cage is a pen with grass, plants, available water from a shallow
pan, no bottle at this time. (although a bottle is available).

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions !!!

Call 703.440.0800, that's the Wildlife Rescue League Hotline

http://www.wildliferescueleague.org

Geberally speaking, don't try to feed an orphaned animal.. they will likely
drown or choke if you do.

Dave

Peter wrote in message ...
What do I feed a baby rabbit ??


Due to all the mowing in the neighborhood, and a few hawks and crows
I've somehow adopted a baby rabbit.

Seems to me about 5 - 6 weeks old... has a full coat, but still
can't figure out how to use the hind legs. I'm assuming he/she/it
was either being weaned by mother, or mother is no longer available.

Nope, it wasn't a nest, no siblings either.

So, I've tried banana, dandelion's, grass, softened rabbit
pellets..... (I live with another rabbit... mature male, no hope
there). Baby rabbits usually feed only at night, so I'm not sure
if it's eaten anything since yesterday evening...

Would any rabbit owners / breeders out there have a suggestion ??

I think it's almost ready for solid food, but don't want to take a
chance on losing it due to starvation...

How about bread moistened with cow's milk?? Would baby
formula kill it ???

Cage is a pen with grass, plants, available water from a shallow
pan, no bottle at this time. (although a bottle is available).

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions !!!

In article , Peter wrote:

What do I feed a baby rabbit ??


Due to all the mowing in the neighborhood, and a few hawks and crows
I've somehow adopted a baby rabbit.

Seems to me about 5 - 6 weeks old... has a full coat, but still
can't figure out how to use the hind legs. I'm assuming he/she/it
was either being weaned by mother, or mother is no longer available.

Nope, it wasn't a nest, no siblings either.

So, I've tried banana, dandelion's, grass, softened rabbit
pellets..... (I live with another rabbit... mature male, no hope
there). Baby rabbits usually feed only at night, so I'm not sure
if it's eaten anything since yesterday evening...

Would any rabbit owners / breeders out there have a suggestion ??

I think it's almost ready for solid food, but don't want to take a
chance on losing it due to starvation...

How about bread moistened with cow's milk?? Would baby
formula kill it ???

Cage is a pen with grass, plants, available water from a shallow
pan, no bottle at this time. (although a bottle is available).

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions !!!

Baby wild rabbits have a white dot on their foreheads. If this dot is
absent, they are already old enough to be on their own. As an orphaned
baby matures, when that dot disappears, it can be released (if it is
healthy & if it has been rehabed with other orphans. A bunny raised alone,
unfortunately, will likely not adjust to the wild, as it will never learn
from you how to socialize with rabbits, & unsocialized rabbits are quickly
killed by the established rabbit population). If you can find a squirrel &
rabbit rehabilitator near you (& such rehabilitators exist everywhere)
they will be able to raise the orphan with other bunnies & keep it from
becoming human-focused, so it can be released & survive in the wild.

To start looking for a rehabilitator, this may help:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/%7edevo0028/
or call local vets who should have a rolodex of rehabilitators. Most are
in no way "professionals" though they do know exactly what they're doing;
they'll usually ask for or at least hope for a donation, but you can
always dump off an animal without donating anything & it'll get the same
care.

If you decide to do it yourself, likely the loner will be doomed for lack
of socialization at this important point in its life. And if you try to
keep it as a pet, it won't be like a nice domestic bunny that's had a
thousand generations in captivity. If it's a male it'll become stinky &
mean at maturity; if it's a female it'll become skittish especially around
strangers even if it continues to like you personally for having raised
it, & increasingly aggressive until you'll have to have it put down (or
release it to die miserably). And it'll be so fantastically destructive
you'll never be able to let it out for exercise, it only takes about three
seconds to cause amazing ruin by urinating in the most absurd places or
gnawing whatever it is you most cherish (domestics are hard enough to
control but it can be done; even hand-raised wild bunnies, though, will in
the best of conditions retain wild traits). It could also be illegal to
keep it without special Fish & Wildlife permits that are usually only
given to rehabilitators.

Obtain infant formula from the veterinarian quickly. The home recipes
might be sufficient for a rabbit with its eyes open, though premix rabbit
formula is always WAY better. Here's one of the many recipes that have
been used with varying degrees of success, & not too unsafe after the eyes
are opened:
1) Half a cup of goats milk.
2) 2 tablespoons cream
3) 2 tablespoons sweet corn syrup.
4) 1 egg yolk
This will last in the refrigerator for a day or two, but each feeding must
be warmed up just as for a human kid, to about 80 degrees. But really you
should get a commercial premixed rabbit formula & mix fresh for each
feeding. Changing formulas in rapid succession can be enough to kill the
little critter.

At all times keep the baby warm in the 85 to 90 degrees F.range. That may
seem hot but it's absolutely essential, & even 98.6 would be too warm for
them. It won't be able to digest anything at cooler temperatures & would
ordinarily be as warm as its mother's underbelly. If you do get it to eat
something while it is chilled, there's a every likelihood it will die.

Keep the baby in the dark; it would not experience light before it is
personally ambulatory.

Handle as little as possible. They are more delicate to handling than are
baby squirrels or rats or kittens just about any other mammal one is
likely to find orphaned. They can literally die of toxins their own body
releases when they're frightened or stressed.

If it is really 5 to 6 weeks old it is old enough to eat adult food &
should be fully ambulatory -- if it isn't, it is already injured; if
warming it to 85 degrees doesn't cause it to recover within an hour, it
may never recover. Howver, it could be younger than you think; the eyes
can be open & they can be fully furred at 2 weeks, & already able to eat
tender greens, wetted rabbit pellets, but may still need some infant
formula.

If you have a mail scale, weigh the bunny. It needs to eat about
one-quarter of its weight per day. When the eyes are fully open, feeding
twice a day is sufficient, a third feeding only if they don't eat the full
daily amount in two sittings. (When eyes are closed its much harder --
formula six times a day). Don't force to eat more in one sitting than its
willing to eat, or they'll vaccuate undigested food, & become dehydrated,
which kills them quickly. After feeding you have to "play" with its tummy
& genital area, nice soft strokes & pettings for a furred baby (infant
will need to be washed on belly & genitals with a semi-moist warm cloth,
but furred, you can just use your fingers). If you don't don't do this, it
won't pee properly, & will become toxified & die.

After each feeding & belly-tubbing ceremony, return them to their warm
dark nest. It may seem sad to think of them alone in there, and really it
would be better if there was a litter instead of one, but the stress of
handling is much worse for them. Wild mothers do not spend much time in
the nest except to nurse & lick up the poo, then leave again, so you
abandoning the orphan after it is fed is natural to it, though being
without littermates is unnatural & you'll need a heating pad to make up
for it not having the considerable heat generated by a pile of bunnies.

Change nesting material daily, as they will **** it up quickly.

Failure is likely. If the bunny gets diarrhea, it'll dehydrate with a
couple of hours to the point that its kidney & liver function stops dead,
& the bunny is dead. This page will help you avoid that:
http://www.squirrelworld.com/RabRehab.html

I'd say it would be easy to succeed with a fully furred wide-eyed
youngster, except you note it is not able to walk properly, so I'm not as
hopeful.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Peter wrote:

What do I feed a baby rabbit ??

Having worked at a golf course that is overloaded with rabbits this
summer and having seen lots of tiny babies etc, I've noted that they
seem to munch on the grass at the course mostly. I've brought them
carrots just for grins but suspect the adults have grubbed these.
You might call a pet shop and ask them, provided you intend to make
it a family pet.

Peter wrote:

What do I feed a baby rabbit ??



Sounds like a good reason to overseed your lawn with clover.

A local pet shop sells bunny formula along with kitten, puppy etc. formulas.
Calling around to pet stores should yield good results).

--
-- pelirojaroja
-----------------------------------------------
"There is a garden in every childhood,
an enchanted place where colors are brighter,
the air softer, and the morning more fragrant
than ever again."

-- Elizabeth Lawrence
"John DeBoo" wrote in message
...
Peter wrote:

What do I feed a baby rabbit ??

Having worked at a golf course that is overloaded with rabbits this
summer and having seen lots of tiny babies etc, I've noted that they
seem to munch on the grass at the course mostly. I've brought them
carrots just for grins but suspect the adults have grubbed these.
You might call a pet shop and ask them, provided you intend to make
it a family pet.

Thanks for all the suggestions !!!

Unfortunately the rabbit got progressively
weaker and then died.... in less than 14 hours
since being found.


Thanks again for the help !!!

Peter wrote in :

What do I feed a baby rabbit ??


Due to all the mowing in the neighborhood, and a few hawks and crows
I've somehow adopted a baby rabbit.

Seems to me about 5 - 6 weeks old... has a full coat, but still
can't figure out how to use the hind legs. I'm assuming he/she/it
was either being weaned by mother, or mother is no longer available.

A little late for this, or maybe early for next time. Are you quite sure
the mother was pushing up daisies (and not eating them)? I know that the
parents of some herbivous animals often leave their children unattended
for extended periods of time to feed themselves.

An example is in the great panda expeditions of the 60s "scientists"
would find panda cubs alone in hollowed out trees and assume they were
abandoned. They would then hussle the cub off to civilization, where it
would summarily expire. It is now known that it is quite normal for
pandas to behave this way and the only significant danger the cub faced
under the circumstances was from well meaning humans. [yes I know pandas
are really omnivorous]

If you do a web search I'm sure you'll find pages that say that rabbits
only need to nurse their children for a short period of time each day, so
it shouldn't be odd for the mother to be MIA for an extended period.

Obviously, you are more familar with your situation and the mother may
have been in fact moved to the Great Warren in the Sky, but for others
reading who may not know better, don't assume the worst.

- Salty

In article , Salty Thumb
wrote:

Peter wrote in :

What do I feed a baby rabbit ??


Due to all the mowing in the neighborhood, and a few hawks and crows
I've somehow adopted a baby rabbit.

Seems to me about 5 - 6 weeks old... has a full coat, but still
can't figure out how to use the hind legs. I'm assuming he/she/it
was either being weaned by mother, or mother is no longer available.

A little late for this, or maybe early for next time. Are you quite sure
the mother was pushing up daisies (and not eating them)? I know that the
parents of some herbivous animals often leave their children unattended
for extended periods of time to feed themselves.

An example is in the great panda expeditions of the 60s "scientists"
would find panda cubs alone in hollowed out trees and assume they were
abandoned. They would then hussle the cub off to civilization, where it
would summarily expire. It is now known that it is quite normal for
pandas to behave this way and the only significant danger the cub faced
under the circumstances was from well meaning humans. [yes I know pandas
are really omnivorous]

If you do a web search I'm sure you'll find pages that say that rabbits
only need to nurse their children for a short period of time each day, so
it shouldn't be odd for the mother to be MIA for an extended period.

Obviously, you are more familar with your situation and the mother may
have been in fact moved to the Great Warren in the Sky, but for others
reading who may not know better, don't assume the worst.

- Salty

You're definitely onto something here. Mother rabbits leave their young
alone for most of each day, for a higher percentage of time than most
small mammals, though some larger (carniverous) mammals will leave their
young alone for two or three days at a stretch. Probably in the majority
of cases when someone finds a nest or den they believe contains orphaned
young, the mother is either nearby, or will return before a full day
passes. If the mother cannot be spotted dead on the highway, or definitely
known to have been killed by a hunter, it should always be assumed she'll
be back. But in the present case, the malfunctioning hind legs indicates
something bad happened to the bunny -- it was either already dehydrated &
its internal organs were shutting down (the hind legs go first), or it was
physically injured by a fall or by a dog or cat or merlin (an injury
wouldn't necessary show). Neither scenario suggests mommy was going to
come back.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Clover!

BT



Peter wrote in message ...
What do I feed a baby rabbit ??


Due to all the mowing in the neighborhood, and a few hawks and crows
I've somehow adopted a baby rabbit.

Seems to me about 5 - 6 weeks old... has a full coat, but still
can't figure out how to use the hind legs. I'm assuming he/she/it
was either being weaned by mother, or mother is no longer available.

Nope, it wasn't a nest, no siblings either.

So, I've tried banana, dandelion's, grass, softened rabbit
pellets..... (I live with another rabbit... mature male, no hope
there). Baby rabbits usually feed only at night, so I'm not sure
if it's eaten anything since yesterday evening...

Would any rabbit owners / breeders out there have a suggestion ??

I think it's almost ready for solid food, but don't want to take a
chance on losing it due to starvation...

How about bread moistened with cow's milk?? Would baby
formula kill it ???

Cage is a pen with grass, plants, available water from a shallow
pan, no bottle at this time. (although a bottle is available).

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions !!!