Wild cottontails

[gash]

First off I'll start this post off by saying yes I totally understand that it's an uphill battle trying to save wild baby bunnies because they're so stinkin' high strung and are prone to bloat and all sorts of other issues that domesticated animals are not subject to. With that said, I could use some advice, if anyone has any to give

Background: 2 weeks ago I saved 4 cottontail kits from my barn cats. I tried to find their nest but didn't have any luck. These kits were about 5-6 days old, as they were fully furred but their eyes were not open yet. 1 died from injuries sustained, but 3 were doing fine until yesterday. I bought KMR and goat milk, I've been feeding them a 50/50 mix of goat milk and KMR for the past 2 weeks. I feed them 1-2ml 2-3x/day. They're pretty good about pulling off when done, if they are over-jealous I stop them at 2ml. I've also fed them probiotics every few days to help maintain healthy flora. Yesterday I went to feed my kits and one kit was on it's side gasping. It had no signs of bloat so I don't know what the heck. That kit died in my hands within a few minutes. I cleaned out their box, put new bedding it it, add some fresh clover and grass. Fed the remaining 2 kits, today I went to go feed them and another one is acting sick and sluggish. So I mixed up some fennel tea, let it cool down, gave it an extra dose of probiotics and am just waiting. Nothing has changed with what I'm feeding them, where they're living or anything. They've had their eyes open for about a week and a half now. Ever since their eyes opened, I've been putting just a small bit of clover and grass in their pen as that was suggested from numerous other folks who have successfully rehabbed these bunnies. I'm at a loss as to what might be the problem and what I can do to help, if anything. Maybe it's just stress and now that they're getting older it's just too much for them. Oh re: their box...it's a decent sized maybe medium-ish box. I have had straw and an old towel in it, they have a place to burrow down and hide, i keep their box in the barn, covered as I know they don't like being seen. Nothing has changed in their environment. I did change their straw out after 1 week and as I stated just did it again after the kit died yesterday. Any idea what might be the issue and ideas of how I can help, if at all?

 

[That Bunny Girl]

I've had a Cottontail kit do that gasping thing before, at first I thought it had broke it's neck(at the time, that's what it looked like to me), but now I think it was because of stress.

Cottontails are very, very hard to raise, it doesn't seem like you're doing/did anything wrong. I'm glad you saved them from your cat! But, if the healthy kit is over three weeks old, then you can probably release it without a problem. That's around the age that his/her mother would start to wean them.

As for the sick baby, I'd find a Wildlife Rehab to take it to, they'd probably know what to do for it.

Good luck!

 

[gash]

Thanks! The gasping one ended up dying this evening. The other one I decided to set outside in woody area in an enclosed covered rabbit pen I have. It didn't move for a few hours, but when I checked on it earlier this evening it was back to it's normal self. I let it go and wished it luck I did all I could for it and I wanted to give it a chance to not meet the same fate as it's siblings.

I now feel confident should I need to ever 'bottle feed' any of my newborn kits moving forward hehe.