To determine whether a bunny of this age needs assistance, perform the dehydration and urine tests. Also look for bleeding, convulsing, fly larvae, broken limbs. Being wet does not require hospitalization, I learned! Call first as often they will come pick up the baby. If they don't have a wildlife center, they will refer you. If after hours, contact a local emergency rabbit vet or go to www. Emergency vet clinics often are very good about helping wildlife until the baby can be transferred to a rehab facility.
The best thing you can do for an injured baby bunny is to get in touch with a skilled rehabilitator. Great info on local rehabilitators can be found at: The Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directory. The harsh reality is that many of us who care about wild baby bunnies may be contributing to the suffering and death.
House cats who roam outside will kill about every other time they go out. And unlike feral cats who hunt because they are hungry, and kill immediately, house cats maul and torment their prey, sometimes skinning baby bunnies alive. Cat owners need to provide managed outdoor habitats for their cats - such as windowboxes or pens. Lawn chemicals can produce convulsing death in baby rabbits.
According to the Animal Poison Control Center, lawn applications that contain herbicides are not directly toxic to small animals; but they may make toxic plants more palatable to them and may make the animals sick for a few days. Products which contain insecticides, such as Dursban or Diazinion, which are added to many lawn products to control fleas or grubs in the lawn, are toxic.
The best thing you can do for a wild orphaned baby bunny is to get in touch with a skilled rehabilitator. In the meantime, call your local humane society or animal control and one of these vets for a wildlife referral: Rabbit Vets USA.
A great directory of local rehabilitators can be found at: The Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directory. In the rare situation that you have an orphaned bunny, such as when a domestic rabbit refuses to care for her young, you will need to feed the babies.
Overfeeding is a leading cause of death in these youngsters which results in fatal intestinal disease. Pet nurser nipples on the end of a luer lock syringe, teat cannula on the end of a syringe or SIMPLY an eye dropper or 3 cc syringe can be used to feed. Feed only upright, and point syringe down towards bottom or side of mouth, so if too much comes out, the baby does not aspirate.
For those who are slow to learn nursing, SC fluids may be necessary to prevent electrolyte imbalance or dehydration check with a vet on this. If their eyes are still closed, you need to stimulate their bottoms with a warm moist towel after feedings to help them to pee. Domestics are weaned about 6 weeks; wild bunnies are weaned about weeks for cottontails and weeks for jacks.
Bloat is commonly associated with too frequent feedings. KMR is made by Pet-Ag. Provide a soft nest area in a box with clean towels, and cover the babies so it is dark. Do not provide extra heat if the room temperature is at least 65 to 70o F because excessive heat can be fatal.
Still unsure if the rabbit you found needs assistance? The next step is to determine the age of the rabbit to see if intervention is needed. If so, you have found a juvenile rabbit.
Juvenile rabbits may look very small but they are independent from their mother and know how to do just fine on their own. Juvenile rabbits do not need to be rescued. Infant rabbits are very small, have a very thin layer of fur, and their eyes are closed or may have just opened. Their best chance for survival is to be reunited with their mom. It is best not to feed a wild animal any food or water as this can cause more harm than good.
Raising a wild animal in captivity without the proper training is never recommended. Young rabbits disperse from the nest at days old. By three weeks of age, they are on their own in the wild, though are still very small -- they're only about the size of a softball! Rabbits have the best chance of survival when they are cared for by their mothers. It's a good idea to check your yard before you mow; because rabbits are in shallow nests, it's easy to mow the "top" off of their nest, possibly injuring babies.
Do not attempt to mow within 10 feet of a rabbit's nest if there are babies present. You can protect a nest during mowing by placing a plastic lattice laundry basket upside down over the nest. It's best to remove the basket after mowing. Leave the nest area as undisturbed as possible while the young rabbits grow. Once the babies are gone, the basket can be removed and the nest destroyed if you are trying to prevent the nest from being reused.
At intervals, the mother goes off to feed and then sneaks back to the nest to nurse her babies. The young develop very quickly and go off on their own about two weeks after birth.
Females can breed and become pregnant again soon after delivering a litter. Rabbits are short-lived; probably none die of old age. Research conducted on eastern cottontails suggests that only about 25 percent of individuals survive for two years, with the average lifespan about 15 months.
Mortality rates and lifespans for New England cottontails are probably similar. Barred owls and other predators are less able to catch cottontails that live in dense young forest and shrubland habitats.
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