handfeeding bunnies

We are still trying to find someone to foster them and I have a few formulas to try with goat milk but I have one question. The doe died before feeding them so they got no colostrum. Can I use the stuff packaged for handfeeding foals? How much do I add to the formula?

I wish I could help you, Akane... it's a tough situation. I'm hoping someone who knows about these things will chime in with good advice.

i am not sure about bunnies but with calves you CANNOT feed them forumal untill they have ahd some type of colostum. but again i am not sure about bunnies.

I think large livestock lose the ability to absorb colostrum so need it as one of their first meals. For horses it's within 4-8hours and after that they would need blood plasma instead. Rabbits though aren't fed for up to 48hours after birth so I'm guessing we can get away with waiting some.<br /><br />__________ Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:54 pm __________<br /><br />Well here I am 2 states and 10 hours drive from home hand feeding bunnies in a hotel room. :lol: After getting a better count we have 7 and so far all alive. I found a dropper works far better than even a 1cc syringe. Some are learning to lick or suck it out on their own.

Good luck with the little 'uns! :clover: It's a challenge, but some people do manage to raise them by hand.

We got back to find our creme doe did not kindle. She'd be on day 34 now so I'll wait one more day and then call the person we got her from to see if we want to rebreed her or she said she'd refund $10 from what we paid for the doe. No doe to foster kits to though. I still have 7, they are growing and eating more every day, and remaining active so maybe they'll make it. They do manage to inhale a lot of milk though no matter how careful I try to be. Some of them seem to be suicidal. They attacked the syringe or dropper trying to slide it all the way down their throats (even with the syringe which barely fits in their jaws) and inhaling milk in the process without stopping until they can't breathe anymore. I have to hold their body and head completely in place and as they get bigger it's getting more difficult.

One is showing some signs of diarhea. Any idea when and how much bene bac I should add?<br /><br />__________ Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:46 am __________<br /><br />Suddenly a few days ago they stopped swallowing or sucking. We lost the first one today. Only 2 or 3 will actually drink willingly and they only take in probably about 1/4th what they need. A day or 2 earlier they were trying to over eat and we were calling one beach ball bunny from his very large stomach after meals. I'm not sure what went wrong between then and now but we are going to lose them all in the next few days if this keeps up. I've even tried soaking pellets in milk and shoving the goo in their mouths but they just wiggle their jaw around and eventually spit it all out. Yesterday they were trying to suck milk off the papertowel and biting my fingers if I got milk on me but they wouldn't take it from the syringe or dropper. I have no idea what happened or to try.

How old are they? Could they nibble a bit of kitchen oatmeal?

They are 9 days in probably a few hours. I tried giving them soaked pellets and they just spit it out. I gave them some honey dissolved in warm milk before getting dinner for myself and stopping by the feed store then tried feeding them. They took in about 2-3cc each which is an improvement. Unfortunately I lost one who was too weak to eat in the morning. I don't have class tomorrow so I'm thinking of giving them a few snacks of 1cc honey and milk to keep their energy up in the hope they'll be willing to drink a big meal in the evening before I go to bed. They only get through 1 or 2cc before they just lay there working their mouths and I have to pull their lips back to place the milk in their mouths one drop at a time. Needless to say this is time consuming with 7, now 6, to feed.<br /><br />__________ Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:11 pm __________<br /><br />Most ate well today but 1 would not. I had it in an electric blanket next to me when it started squeaking and then seemed to have seizures. Poor bunny. Now we are down to 5

akane":3so6j1ry said:

Most ate well today but 1 would not. I had it in an electric blanket next to me when it started squeaking and then seemed to have seizures. Poor bunny. Now we are down to 5

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I'm sorry! Glad the others seem to be doing better, though.

We lost a mother doe last year and had to hand feed.

We fed raw goats milk --warmed. All of them survived.

To save money get a plastic medicine dropper instead of the bottles they sell at the farm stores -- the nipples do not last and the eye dropper worked great. The bunnies would hook onto it and we would gently squeeze the bulb.

Don't to over feed. I think it was 5 or 10 ml but need to check. Ween them by stepping down gradually over a week.

All 9 of ours survived. 4 of them are now breeding rabbits.

Good luck.<br /><br />__________ Thu Nov 18, 2010 7:01 pm __________<br /><br />We lost a mother doe last year and had to hand feed.

We fed raw goats milk --warmed. All of them survived.

To save money get a plastic medicine dropper instead of the bottles they sell at the farm stores -- the nipples do not last and the eye dropper worked great. The bunnies would hook onto it and we would gently squeeze the bulb.

Don't to over feed. I think it was 5 or 10 ml but need to check. Ween them by stepping down gradually over a week.

All 9 of ours survived. 4 of them are now breeding rabbits.

Good luck.

I use goat kid formula instead of the milk itself. I mix it double concentration. It has worked on cottontails before. These guys just don't suck anywhere near as well. The smallest nipple on a bottle they won't grab. I was using a 1cc syringe but that was still too big. I switched to a dropper that has thinner material so the hole is the same but the end is still smaller. They will just sit there with their mouths open wiggling it around and not suck. I have to squeeze at just the right pace to keep them drinking without them breathing it in or running it all down their front despite wrapping them in a paper towel to help hold them still and absorb extra milk. I've only managed to get a whole 5cc in one rabbit one time. Otherwise they usually will only drink 2-3 cc at a time.<br /><br />__________ Fri Nov 19, 2010 7:08 pm __________<br /><br />And then there were 4. This one died with a full belly. They all ate well this morning and have refused food this evening with one dead in the back. I'm wondering if they didn't get too cold. Most of the hair in their nestbox is gone. I put them in a pillow case and then down in the straw and set an electric blanket on low underneath them. I left a little escape route to the other end of the box if they get too warm.

It seems to me that they're too young to not have fur in their nest. Can you put in some fluffed up dryer lint or cotton balls (real cotton), and pack some more hay into the box? I think the pillow case might be a problem.

All my litters so far have had nearly all the hair gone from the nest by the end of the first week. I'm not sure if it just gets knocked and blown around, compressed to the bottom of the box, or the rabbits are eating it but it has happened with every litter. The box already has as much straw as can be compacted in there by hand.

If they are fully furred, don't worry. However don't compact the straw too much as the air needs to circulate through the straw to insulate!