Feeding Baby Rabbits

At the point they no longer need the mother for food, they are said to be weaned. This point arrives sometime near 6 weeks of age, possibly later, occasionally sooner.

See our Raising Baby Rabbits page for more detail on how the doe cares for, and weans, her kits.

Every once in a while tragedy strikes. The doe could develop young doe syndrome. You’d find her suddenly dead in her cage, with her kits being just a week or 10 days old. Or, the doe could develop mastitis, refuse to nurse the kits because of the pain, or herself die from bacterial toxins.

Now what??

What you do will likely depend on how old the kits are. Obviously, the older, the better the survival rate.

Can you foster the baby rabbits to another doe?
Between the age of 0 to about a week, fostering is fairly easy, especially if the kits are within a couple days of the age of the foster-mother’s kits. Just slip the babies into the new doe’s nest. Do it in the morning, and rub their little bodies gently with the new doe’s fur in order to transfer her smell to them.

As you replace the nestbox, give the new doe a generous helping of calf manna or favorite treat, in order to distract her. She’ll think everything is fine, and by evening, all the kits should smell like they belong in the nest. If you’re still nervous about the doe, just leave the nestbox out of the nest all day, and put it back in with the doe about suppertime.

The foster doe will do a much better job at feeding baby rabbits than you could, but don’t overwhelm the new doe with a bazillion bunnies. Give her 2-3 of the most desirable-appearing kits, and then you can try your hand at bottle feeding the rest.

(These very healthy 2 1/2 week old baby rex rabbits still rely nearly entirely on the doe's milk.)

No does to foster the kits to?
You can try to bottlefeed. Here’s some tips and techniques, depending on the age of the orphaned kits.

But first, a sober head’s up:

Survival rate for bottle-fed infant bunnies is as low as 0 - 10%, especially if the babies are orphaned before their eyes open. That means 9 out of 10 (or worse) usually don’t survive. There’s a number of reasons bunnies fail to survive without their mamas. Here are the most common reasons:

• Incorrect formula
  
  (Check out this complete emergency kit for feeding baby rabbits, including the BeneBac - how cool is that?).....

• Milk gets into the lungs and causes pneumonia
  
  
• They don’t get enough antibodies from their mother and die from infection
  
  
• The kits get a fatal diarrhea. Their intestinal bacteria population is quite sensitive. Until they start eating solids, their guts are actually sterile. But the formula is not sterile, nor should it be. So if you start introducing unnatural bacteria to the guts too soon, before the normal bacteria have started populating the gut, the kit gets severe enterotoxemia and dies. This is probably the most frequent cause of death in rabbits orphaned in their first week of life.
  
  
• The bunnies don’t get enough nutrition, or too much at once.
  
  
• The bunny fails to pee or poo with each feeding, and the bladder over-fills and bursts. The doe licks her kits’ bottoms as they nurse, so the rabbit-raiser needs to not overlook this little detail of rabbit-motherhood. You can use a wet finger, or a soft moistened tissue. Make motions as the doe would, like you’re cleaning the bunny’s privates. It might take a few minutes, at least at first, until you get the desired response. I’ll tell you this - that little stream of urine can shoot out a good 4 feet!

We’re happy to share some proven guidelines on feeding baby rabbits

You can learn more about her and her wild-cottontail-feeding protocols at www.SquirrelWorld.com.

If you're visiting Raising-Rabbits.com because you are trying to bottlefeed baby rabbits, go straight to SquirrelWorld by clicking on this link , and follow her protocols closely.

With her permission, we've summarized Ms. Kenyon's instructions on our Feeding Wild Rabbits page, because her instructions for feeding baby rabbits work for both cottontails and orphan domestic rabbit bunnies. While our summary is easy to read and easy to follow, it is no substitute for the complete instructions you'll find at Ms. Kenyon's own website.

Feeding baby rabbits orphaned at
3 or 3+ weeks old

• Besides providing pellets and alfalfa hay, some very dry (non-moldy) bread soaked with raw, unpasteurized cow’s or goat's milk might be a good milk substitute for feeding baby rabbits. (Raw milk available from some dairy farms and very possibly at a nearby health food store, depending on the state you live in). Or, soak the dry bread in Kitten Milk Replacer (KMR). Offer this to the kits.
  
  
• If you can get them to take it, great. Otherwise, supplement with bottle feedings once a day for a week or so.
  
  
• Some young bunnies can learn to drink formula from a bowl. Don't leave a bowl of bunny-milk in the cage for more than 1/2 hour, lest they walk in it and get it all contaminated.
  
  
• By the time they’re 4 1/2 to 5 weeks old, they will be fine on high-protein pellets (17-18% protein) and alfalfa hay. Alfalfa hay is good for these youngsters - it is very high in protein and suitable for their rapid-growth needs.
  
  
• Always keep an eye on their rumps, to ensure they aren’t developing bunny-diarrhea. Without mama’s milk, the chance for disrupted gut bacteria is great. At the first sign, feed the bunny a slurry of formula mixed with 1-2 healthy cecotrope ‘packets’ (a single entire grape-like cluster of cecotrope). At the same time, replace any alfalfa hay with with grass hay, till their rumps clear up. Then reintroduce the alfalfa.

Four additional rabbit milk formulas

Raising-Rabbits.com cannot vouch for the effectiveness of the following formulas for safely feeding baby rabbits. While they come from elite rabbit scientists and 'rabbit experts,' they are a bit contradictory. And neither source mentions feeding baby rabbits the cecotropes of healthy adult rabbits. Please use at your own risk.

Whatever formula you choose, for various reasons, your best bet is to use it in conjunction with Ms. Kenyon's instructions (linked above), and add cecotropes or Bene-Bac before starting any kit on solids.

From Rabbit Production, Cheeke et al. (1987):

1) Raw cow or goat milk

2) Evaporated milk diluted 50:50 with water. To every cup, add:1 egg yolk, and 1Tbsp karo syrup

3) Puppy formula

From the House Rabbit Society:

4) KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer) for domestic rabbits, and Meyenberg Goat Milk, regular not low fat (or KMR) for wild cottontail bunnies. They suggest avoiding puppy formulas or cow's milk...

They also recommend a pinch of acidophilus (AKA Probiotic capsules) to all formula to promote healthy gut flora.

(Supporting healthy gut flora is crucial to orphan-bunny survival. Feeding an orphaned bunny cecotropes from a healthy rabbit BEFORE starting solids is ideal. However, BeneBac® is also an effective supplement, and can possibly prevent fatal bunny-diarrhea.)

Here are some other links you may enjoy:

• Pet Rabbits

• Rabbit Bedding

• Rabbit Diarrhea

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