Can I feed my 3 day old baby rabbit cows milk?

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CanucksStar#17

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One of my rabbits had 10 babies and 2 of them are really hungry I don't know when I can contact a lady that I know who has goats milk. But I have cows so would skimmed cows milk work? I have tried cows milk before and the babies always died but it wasn't skimmed and I wonder if I made this recipe 1/2 Cup canned evaporated goat's milk, undiluted 1/2 Tablespoon corn syrup 1 Egg yolk but used skimmed cows milk instead of goats milk do you think it would work?
 
Rather than feeding them goat or cow milk, why dont you pull the 5 largest kits and only let them feed once a day.

I did this with a recent litter of 11. Each morning I would pull out the 5 fattest kits, and put them in their own warm and fur lined container and each night I would put them back. The 6 smaller kits all got fed during the day and the next morning I would pull the ones with the biggest belly's and repeat the process.
 
Dood":2dygvliu said:
Rather than feeding them goat or cow milk, why dont you pull the 5 largest kits and only let them feed once a day.

I did this with a recent litter of 11. Each morning I would pull out the 5 fattest kits, and put them in their own warm and fur lined container and each night I would put them back. The 6 smaller kits all got fed during the day and the next morning I would pull the ones with the biggest belly's and repeat the process.

I'd have to agree, if possible. Bottle feeding kits is tough. I had a doe who's milk never came in, lost the whole litter even with the formula recipe. If they can feed from the doe, so much the better.
 
Dood":2kwfgrqy said:
Rather than feeding them goat or cow milk, why dont you pull the 5 largest kits and only let them feed once a day.

I did this with a recent litter of 11. Each morning I would pull out the 5 fattest kits, and put them in their own warm and fur lined container and each night I would put them back. The 6 smaller kits all got fed during the day and the next morning I would pull the ones with the biggest belly's and repeat the process.

What time did you pull the 5 fattest kits out? And what time do I put them back in? It sounds like a really good idea!
 
CanucksStar#17":344stkqk said:
Dood":344stkqk said:
Rather than feeding them goat or cow milk, why dont you pull the 5 largest kits and only let them feed once a day.

I did this with a recent litter of 11. Each morning I would pull out the 5 fattest kits, and put them in their own warm and fur lined container and each night I would put them back. The 6 smaller kits all got fed during the day and the next morning I would pull the ones with the biggest belly's and repeat the process.

What time did you pull the 5 fattest kits out? And what time do I put them back in? It sounds like a really good idea!
The easiest way is to keep the nesting box in the house (away from cats/dogs). You take the nest out twice a day, morning and evening, to feed. Once with the whole litter (which you can still start out with only the two in the box), once with just the two. Or you can do both feedings starting with the hungry kits, and adding the satisfied ones a couple of minutes in.

Cow's milk is not well-digested by rabbits, and will normally give them diarrhea.
 
goats milk is much easier to digest, you can often find it at grocery stores, sometimes canned. I wouldn't do skimmed because they need the fat. I have used straight goats milk on orphan kits and it worked well but getting the doe to feed them is much simpler then hand feeding.
 
What time did you pull the 5 fattest kits out? And what time do I put them back in? It sounds like a really good idea!
I go out to the rabbit barn at 6:30 am and pulled the 5 fattest, you shouldn't take just 1 or 2 as they need each other to keep warm. I go back out at around 7pm and put them back for the night.

The next morning I take out the ones with the fullest belly and not necessarily the largest kits because they'll last longer until dinner time.
 
I don't know what to do! I tried separating the five fattest kits and I checked the 2 small ones and they don't look any fatter. I took the fattest ones out at 9 this morning and put them back in at 9:30 this evening was that long enough? How much longer should I try it before I should start giving them goats milk? What times does she feed them? Like is she even feeding them when the 5 are out?
 
Canucks, if you don't know if the smallest are getting fed, don't hesitate to keep all but the 4 smallest away for 24 hours! The larger kits can survive very well not eating for 24 hours, and you can leave the 4 smallest in with the doe the whole 24 hour period, which should tell you if they are getting fed.
 
CanucksStar#17":17ziz2zz said:
I don't know what to do! I tried separating the five fattest kits and I checked the 2 small ones and they don't look any fatter. I took the fattest ones out at 9 this morning and put them back in at 9:30 this evening was that long enough? How much longer should I try it before I should start giving them goats milk? What times does she feed them? Like is she even feeding them when the 5 are out?
She might only be feeding them once a day. I had 1 of my does do this to her last litter where as my other doe that had kits the week later feeds hers 2x a day.
 
It is possible you took the fat ones out shortly after she fed, and put them back shortly before she fed again. :( Unfortunately, they don't follow schedules very tightly. Most does feed in the morning, and at night, but it isn't a sure thing. And some of them do feed only once a day. AnneClaire's got some good advice there.

You can start goat's milk any time. It is unlikely you will ruin their appetites. At that age, they will usually get tired and decide it's naptime before they're actually full. You can give them some in the afternoon if you're going to do it once a day, or, if you want to feed them twice, do it in late morning and late afternoon. This will help ensure they are there when the doe wants to feed them.

All this depends on your schedule, of course... adjust as necessary. There is no wrong time to feed them, but you want to try not to feed too close to the doe's feeding times.
 
I took a look at the babies this morning and 11 of the babies are fat but 1 is still skinny:( I think he is the runt, I really don't think he would live even if I did feed him goats milk! Do you think I should still try?

I also noticed that some of them were growing their hair in weird! There are patches of hair all over their bodies and the rest of their bodies are naked. Has anyone ever had this problem before?
 
Canucks, the dilemma with the runt is one we all face. I have found that runts come in two categories. The first is one that will get in there and fight for its fair share even though it is 1/4 the size of the others. The other is one that probably has other, internal or genetic issues and it will not survive no matter how well you supplement/feed with alternative milk replacers. These are the saddest of them all, and if one isn't coming in with a full belly on a regular basis, I will terminally cull ... I can't stand knowing it is suffering :(
 
Absolutely, AnneClaire is right. Some of them just have problems that will not allow the kit to survive, no matter what you do.

You are the one who is there and can see the actual condition of the kit, how it is acting, etc.

I have to confess, I have not been able to bring myself to cull a kit yet, though I've had very few opportunities to consider it. Only one, actually, now that I think about it. I tend to supplement runts and kits that aren't getting enough, just because I can't stand not to. :roll: All have grown up except one. That one never grew, and started getting weaker. At day 13, I withheld one meal, and it died! This confirmed my suspicions rather quickly that it had some other abnormality at work.

Supplementing vs. culling... neither is wrong. You know the kit, and you know whether supplementing might help... and you already don't think it would at this point. The next step is up to you, and you've got plenty of support here, whichever option you choose. :)

I'm not sure about the fur... I did have patchy, scruffy fur in a kit that wasn't fed well once. It had another issue, though: It had managed to get out of the cage and onto the chute, or onto the dirt, several times. It ended up with some fungal skin thing that I treated with athlete's foot cream and hydrocortisone. With supplementation, he eventually got all his fur, though it stayed scruffy until he was about 8 weeks old.
 
I haven't been able to cull a kit either, that's why I tried with my last litter.

Pull the biggest kits and keep them in the house, only take them out to feed once a day. Leave the runts and other in the nest to feed regularly.

Getting the kits to accept something other than a doe was near impossible, only one accepted it, but didn't make it the next morning. A q-tip for them to suckle on and use a syringe to add milk to the q-tip. Only thing that is keeping this last kit alive is luck and a doe who has just enough milk to feed it.
 
Canucks, feed him a bit like you did, increasing by 1/2 each feeding (and you need to feed more often with the goats milk) until he has a "milk belly" like the other kits. Since you are bringing this kit back from near starvation, you don't want to overload its little tummy with "not mom's milk" ... but also, keep it in the nestbox so it can also nurse off of mom. As for frequency, try every 4 hours during the day, and you can leave off overnight. As soon as you notice a full milk belly from nursing on mom, stop the supplements and see if it isn't strong enough to fight for it's place at the milk bar. Good Luck!!!
 
AnnClaire":7xngy54d said:
Canucks, the dilemma with the runt is one we all face. I have found that runts come in two categories. The first is one that will get in there and fight for its fair share even though it is 1/4 the size of the others. The other is one that probably has other, internal or genetic issues and it will not survive no matter how well you supplement/feed with alternative milk replacers. These are the saddest of them all, and if one isn't coming in with a full belly on a regular basis, I will terminally cull ... I can't stand knowing it is suffering :(

I had one like that in my last litter. :(

Some great ideas on this thread... :)
 
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