How do you hand rear an orphaned rabbit?

Question

Our rabbit gave birth to a litter of two rabbits but died giving birth. We have one baby remaining and are desperate to make it survive. Can anyone give any advice/

Answer 1

right having recently reared 3 that are now 4 months old and doing well. hear is my formula its a bit long but hopefully if the little one is fighting strong you have a chance with it.

please read all first:

human baby powdered milk for hungrer babies I find is best, arrowroot powder (from good chemists) and also Quest acidophilus Plus capsules (good health food stores) ( they need to be the capsule you can break apart and get half the powder out. i would mix up 3 spoons of the milk powder, one level t -spoon of arrowroot and one full capsule of the acidophilus into an air tight container and mix well.

take out 1/2 t-spoon of the mix and add a drop of cooled slightly boiled water (boiling will kill off the bacteria and vitamins, enough to make a paste at first or the arrowroot will clump up like jelly and be totally useless.

once got the paste, add more water until the resulting mixture looks like waterery cows milk and make sure it is mixed well.

depends on the breed of the rabbit, if the baby is a big breed or small one. for a very large 'flemish giant breed they will drink more than a polish dwarf or a netherland dwarf.
if you have a container of boiled water, just off the boil ready, as baby rabbits hate the milk temp to drop too low, but you need tobe careful of being too hot and burning it too. a the milk temp in the first pot cools down, you put this pot into the bigger container so it warms it back up. and cold milk can upset their tummies too.

the arrowroot and acidophilus will help lin the gut with good bacteria, something that if the babies mother died givng birth it will not have received her first milk, which is full of this stuff.

also you will need to keep the baby warm, as it is alone and not got another one to warm against. i have used in the past those wheat bags, and a container for the baby that will fit in the nest material, hay and bedding under that to make a comfortable nest, if you place the heated wheat bags around one side and below, heat rises too, you need to offer a side free from the heat, just incase it gets too warm, it has somewhere to head towards.

you will need to make sure that this is kept warm and not left to go cold, this wil mean gettnig up in the night, once it has a coat growing, it will be able to keep warm more itself too.

right how to feed it, making sure you have plenty of paper towels and a soft tissue or two to wipe its nose, as soon as you notice it has got it up the nose (see below for what to do about milk up the nose).

You have 3 main options to feed it onc you have it suckling really, but as it has to learn to suckle from something that isn't its mothers nip-le, as they are programmed to do this naturally, a spoon and bread, newborn kitten feeding bottle teat is odd tasting to them and milk dripped onto your arm or hand, wash your own arms and hands well just incase you need them to start it off! place a drop of the milk carefully on its lower lip, avoid the top lip and the channels to the nose holes!,

it might take time to get it to take, tiny drop by drop, but as it gets the milk in it will feel better and more likely to try harder to get more. some got mad and you have to watch the greedy type, they are the most at risk of getting it up the nose. if it really is refusing it, add a small amount more of milk powder to make it taste richer, but you can't do this everytime, you need to slowly wean it down to the watery milk, rather than looking like creamy milk, but to start with if it gets it to take the milk, allow it part of the meal thiswayand try to water it down, as too strong will dmage is kidneys

right the arm/hand method works well with me, for starting them off with the baby on a towel with a warm wheat bag under neath to kept it warm. with your other hand find soemwhere like your finger tip you can drop a single drop at a time of milk or the edge of the hand, which can to them feel like trying to find a nip-le on the mother. youcould if you have any of the hair the mother pulled out ot make the nest (hopefully you kept it) to give the added smell of its mother to your hand wipe the mothers hair over the hand you intend on offering tothe baby.

put a drop of the milk onto a suitable area of your hand using a sterlised cotton bud (with boiling water and with clean hands once cooled you can remove the water from it) load the cotton bud up with milk and then press a drop to form on your hand/finger tip and put it to the mouth of the baby, watching the nose isn't in theway if it takes it, wait until the drop has gone and add another, if you add too many at this young small stage, you will get milk down its nose and many handreared babies are lost from milk pnemonia or the runs 9mostly the runs) hence way we are usig stuff to prevent that, so you only to to be troubled about the milk up the nose.

if its a strong baby and of bigger species, or large mouthed, you can use the tiny spoon and bread mehtod they suck on the bread thats soaked in milk, however for the first week, this might be a problem for them to not take too much at once and choke, so once they are taking more milk than just a tiny drop in 5 seconds you can, also with the baby bottle, for tiny orphan animals, you oten need to make the hole yourself, so only a tiny one you do not want ti to flood out, test it by squeezing it from middle teat to end and if milk comes out in drops fine, if not make it a little bigger, you often get 2 teats with these, so if you make the first too big, use the other to make the next smaller and put the end in the rabbits mouth and see how it goes, some will spit it out and refuse it, often the taste of the new teat is rubbery and off putting, you could even try, with a dry nipple rubbling the mothers nesting fur over it to help hide the smell.

but first few days it will be more of feeds every hour in the day and every 2 at night, depends on how much you get in at a feed, depnds on how quick it will need feeding, normally the first few days are just keeping them fed just enough to keep them ticking over, whilst they learn how to take more milk at a sitting too. although some people say 2 feeds a day, i have never found babies bienghandreared take a really fat belly full so young and anyway I often caught my doe (that was handreared herself0 allowingher babies to suckle in the daytime more than once in the first week. if you can get a baby to suckle at the 20 past 10 or betterif its comforable with it at the 25 past 11 angle (head being where the little hand is,, tail end where the longer hand is you will help keep the nose out the milk

right the milk up the nose removal method, hand rabbit nose down tail up at the 6 oclock short hand equals head again, with the soft tissue over the nose hold for a second wipe it away and then although they are not impressed I saved one by doing this so always now once wiped the bit aroud the nose way, starting from just up from the nose holes press lightly on the nose and pull downwards as if squeezing a drop of milk out the end of a straw, but be really delicate, but if you hear a cough noise, drop the spoon/bottle and making sure the tissue is right beside them get it wiped right away, if you try to wipe it wth them at the 12.30 possition the milk will just flow down the nose, throat and likely the lungs as they breathe though the nose so the channels to the lungs are more geared towards the air coming from the nose passages.

right assuming that you will get your little baby to about 2-3 weeks old and thriving as long as eyes are open, you can start to introduce more solid foods types. I suggest buying packets of baby fod, those best liked by mine have been 1: apple and oat/rice breakfast cereal for 4month old human babies (do not go for the 7 month old, or meat or savory veg or pasta ones, no good. other favoriteshave been sunrise banana breakfast, strawberry yoghurt (for 4 weeks to weaning age) apple and blueberry, sunfruit orange, but they disliked the organic peach one and a carrot one.

for this you start with making up your milk mix as above, only small amounts at a time, cause they will not eat much and you will waste so much, hence why i mix up the baisc dry in a air tight container, enough for a half days feeding, later on you can mix up more, to the same amounts of each if they drink it all you can always make up some new for them and if you put it in an airtight container and put it in the fridge it will last for several more feeds, but of course you must warm it up via the pot of milk mix in a bigger pot of hot water and allow it to warm up. right having mixed the usual amount up of milk for its feed, add to start with 1/4 t- spoon of the baby food, so it can get used to the new flavour, one of mine Aslan guzzled it, his sister who I didn't name cause I was going to sell her if she lived, at first refused to try it, but soon decided actualy it did taste nice, if it doesn't want it at all, try again in a few days time, might be a little early.

once the eyes are open. you can place a small bit of the food mix you use for them so the get to the smell of that and might even have a nibble, offer a water bottle too, although most of them they will not take it, also try to offer water between feeds a few drops will help the kidneys to flush the baby food mixed in with the milk mix needs to be as runny as the milk alone was!


one thing you will need to do and you can use a cotton bud that damp, your clean finger or a soft tissue, i find the soft tissue or finger works best, gentled rub in a circle motion arund its bottom, its mother would do this after and during a feed. I normally wipe them before their feed as they often pass a little urine and maybe the odd dropping, but it is a must after a feed. i would keep it with you in the main room in the day in its little container yu can put a lid on as long as it has air holes (I use a small pet carrier tank, that would just hold an adult g pig length wise and no room to turn properly, then when it gets its eyes open, and a fur coat, you can move it to a bigger box/tank, I use a carrier/small dwarf hamster started tank that is about 3- 4 times the size of the tiny tank, then once 4 weeks old (unless a giant breed and you would need to move it quicker to a bigger cage)

once it is taking the milk and baby food in a liquid form ok you can up the baby food potion to 1/2 t-spoon to full t-spoon but make it still runny milk like, you can also about 3-4 weeks old depends on the advancement of the baby, offer it a spoon full of baby food in the normal consistancy you give babies, but also add the acidophilus (1/2 capsule) to 2-3 heaped t spoons of baby food powder, mix well and mix with hot/warm water, not boiling (boiled but cooled to the you can tuch the water without it being too hot to touch.

by 4-6 weeks it should be nibbling on the dry food more, hopefully taking water from a water bottle, a dish of water it could drown in, is too risky until it is about 5-6 weeks old and then only a shallow dish.

if you have a soft toy that is suitable for newborns /under 3 year olds, if its small enough the lone baby will likely cudle up to that, if you have cleaned it up and then wiped it over with the nesting fur, this can help keep the nude baby warm.

if you wish to feed greens, offer tiny amounts from about 3-4 weeks old, cause they would nibble at the first the mother is taking at this age, so

i would suggest you print this off and read though.

i appologise greatly for the spelling and any gramma, my eye sight is very fuzzy and i can't focus at the moment, so can't even allow it to be checked and just having to hope that i have typed it ok enough and being slightly dyslexia too, might mean forms and froms are reveresed and stuff but i can't check, but hope this really helps

Answer 2

Hand Rearing Baby Rabbits

Answer 3

Keep the baby warm, wrapped up and in a nest. Feed it every 2 hours. Use powdered puppy milk replacer (PMR) from the pet store. Mix fresh each time. Use water warmed to 100 degrees to mix the "milk". Use a syringe or eyedropper to feed. Feed dropwise, very slowly, until the baby falls asleep in your hand. Do not force the milk- if it gets into the lungs it will cause an infection. Wipe the baby's mouth with a warm washcloth after feeding.

After the eyes open, cut feedings back to every 4 hours. When babies start moving around on their own, start mixing small amounts of cream of wheat with the milk, to start weaning process. As soon as teeth are apparent, start offering soft foods. Wean as early as possible.

Baby bunnioes are hard to keep alive; even professionals have a difficult time. Give it a try though- it is rewarding!

Answer 4

Hand rearing rabbits is notoriously difficult, and sadly even with the best information survival rates are low. Give the Rabbit Welfare Association (0870 046 5249) or the RSPCA advice line (0870 33 35 999) a call for advice.

Please also think about getting your future rabbits spayed, as not only does it prevent heartbreak like this, but it gets rid of any risk of uterine cancer. Plus there are 30,000+ rabbits in rescues in the UK already!

Answer 5

Use a bottle. Use baby formula. It sounds ridiculous but it works. Take the rabbit to see a vet as well, to get advice on how to feed the little thing but use baby formula in the meantime

Answer 6

Usually, that's too long for me. I believe it depends on the guy and his face though. Certain guys may pull off long hair and other people can't.

Answer 7

Paint your own toe-nails instead of sitting for a pedicure.

Answer 8

Please take it to the vet, fast. Keep it warm on a hotwaterbottle, not too hot, and wrap in in something soft and warm, like an old fleece jacket, until you reach the vet. They can advise on which food and how often, cleaning face and bot etc. Very sorry about your poor mum bunny and her other baby; hope you have lots of luck with this one.

Answer 9

i was in the same situation with a puppy, first you got to keep it warm and hand rear it, watered down ideal milk, you could use a finger of a rubber glove for a bottle, after feeding be sure to rub its tummy to help it have a poo, give it a toy to cuddleup to. best of luck

Answer 10

buy a syringe from a chemist and feed it kitten milk or simillar and feed the baby that way. you need to find out how many times a day I would say about 8 times a day about every 4 hours

Answer 11

years ago i came across the same problem i sucessfully reared babies by mixing up marvel powdered milk fed via a syringe every hour i hope this helps