29/01/2025
Have I got a story to tell…
These amazing super special dutch rabbits have against all the odds survived and flourished into beautiful, loving 9 week old healthy bunnies.
They lost their mother when they were 6 days old, there were 4 kits in the litter. Their Mother died very suddenly in my arms we suspect of a heart attack as she was fit and full of life just moments before she died.
The challenge now was to hand rear these very special babies.
So followed 3 days & nights of 4 hourly feeds by bottle of a mixture of goats milk and powdered small animal milk. They were taking just 3mls at a time initially but were feeding well. Initially it took well over an hour for every feed as it was essential to feed them really slowly to avoid any chance of aspiration pneumonia (milk in the lungs). Over the next two weeks feeds were gradually reduced to 3 a day followed by morning and evening by 6 weeks, increasing the amounts of milk to about 20mls.
Very sadly we lost at 2 weeks our little black & white one, we think from bloat. 😔
However, the other 3 have thrived and gone from strength to strength, they have been weaned starting when they were 6 weeks old with no problems at all.
They are super friendly having been handled so much since 6 days old. They are such a joy to watch playing now, so full of life and knowing that it has been down to vigilent care that they came through after losing their mum.
Fortunately they had their vital milk immunity from their mother in those first 6 days which no doubt increased their chance of survival.
We have two boys – one yellow and one blue and one yellow girl. They are our miracle babies. 🐰🐰🐰