handfeeding a baby bun

[dayna]

I decided to try my hand at handfeeding again. Not done this for about a year?

There is one baby in the bunch that's not getting fed. Not for lack of trying though! This little thing is a scrapper. Only 1/4 size of the others though... So I brought it inside, gently heated up some goats milk.

Used a q-tip and the little bugger went to town kneading and sucking, sucking and kneading.

Who knows if I fed it in time, looked REALLY shriveled like it hadn't been fed in at least a couple feedings.

It will be interesting to see if the goats milk makes any difference in the life or death of this little one.<br /><br />__________ Thu Dec 26, 2013 9:18 am __________<br /><br />Here is the little bun, the others eyes are starting to open already. This one looks like a newborn with fur.

 

[Zass]

Don't know if it will make it or not, but good luck!

Somehow, one of my mutt litters has a runt this just isn't growing. It's 6 weeks old now, and so tiny.

 

[dayna]

Here is the second smallest one in the group with the one I pulled. I decided that this little one needed a sibling inside with it while I'm feeding it.

 

[akane]

The squirrel store sells some little tiny syringe caps that work great for feeding kits. You can put little drops on their lips or let them go at it sucking the milk down. Greatly improved our handfeeding from eye droppers and kitten nipples.

 

[dayna]

So far I've fed it a couple times. I wanted to do some more frequent feedings to get the hydration up.

Normally I'd just cull it, but I figure what the heck. Give it a shot and if it lives see what sort of rabbit I get out of it. Good one, weak one, sickly one, healthy one, etc etc.

 

[lilrabbitry715]

Awe they are too cute!

 

[Cinnabuns]

Well, I have had a new experience the last 3 weeks... I had a first time mom birth 7 babies. Within 24 hours she came down with almost like an instant pneumonia and died. She was such a sweetheart... Her name was Sweetie. I was devastated plus I had 7 newborn orphans. So I decided what I was gonna do. I had a doe who had a litter of 3 who were about 4 week old. They were doing fine eating real food and she was starting to wean them, but still producing milk. I decided to wean her kits.

I have never had to foster before and wasn't sure how she would react to 7 brand new babies that did not smell like her. I didn't trust her enough to leave them with her unsupervised, so I just started to bring her inside and flip her over and let the kits nurse off of her for a while 1-2 times a day based on what their little bellies looked like and how hungry they would act and how full she was (trying to keep her from becoming engorged) . They are now about 3 weeks old and all 7 alive and kicking. I now just place her and the babies in a storage tote without a lid and let them nurse more naturally and take her out when she acts done. She is now my SUPERMOM! I love her! And actually, this doe that is raising them is their grandma. What a good Grandma!

 

[dangerbunny]

syringe with goat's milk, I had to raise an orphan angora litter this way. I put some aquarium tubing over a small syringe (3cc) and could slowly dribble it into the kit.