Just in time for Easter! My cat’s are trying to kill them!!! I assume because the closest thing they have to a holiday in Holloween and then they just get thrown on bonfires. No wonder they have that attituide. Anyway someone managed to get out of the house and drag home two baby bunnies last night. And yes I know I should breakdown and get get photobucket, but if you saw them you’d just die from the cuteness. Could be dangerous.
They don’t seem hurt (my cats are, well pussies). They seem to be doing pretty well. I called the Wildlife Association which takes animals in but they have weird hours. Just a message telling me to leave out a little water, keep them warm, don’t feed them, which I was doing already. But I don’t know when I can get them over there. I hate to think I’m starving them. Is there anything else I can do for them in the meantime?
How big are they? Our local wildlife rehab center says that if they are the size of a baseball or bigger, they can survive on their own - let them loose.
Nope. Not even close. About mouse sized. Almost gerbil. But fully furred. And seem to be doing very well for themselves. At least at the moment. But I can’t see letting them out. They don’t even seem seem that fond of walking.
Oh, that sounds adorable… but you don’t want to feed them, or try to eye-dropper water in, believe me. It is way too easy to get a small droplet in the wrong pipe and end up with repiratory problems. A day or so of hunger is safer than that. The rehab place doesn’t have a drop-off center? They have to have SOMEBODY staffing it…
I got in touch and they said 8 am tomorrow. And do what I’ve been doing. But I want to keep them!!! At least till they’re baseball sized. sniffAh well. As long as they stay out of the gaping maws of my sweet little adorable vicious killer kitty cats.
Well no. I had a specific question in mind. A GQ question. What can I do for them? But it’s moot now. They didn’t make it. And I don’t even know what kitty to strangle. So I’ll go off to MPSIMS and mourn.
Baby wild rabbits are highly problematic, as you’ve seen. They are prey animals, and they know it, so all of that “cuteness” and their seeming calm is actually stark immobilizing horror. Handling them (ANY handling, including peeking and nudging to see “if they’re OK”) can result in little bunny heart attacks. Stress kills rabbits faster than anything.
Also, it is unlikely that they escaped injury from your kitties. Tiny puncture wounds are very difficult to see, but are almost always inflicted by sharp teeth and claws. And cats, even ‘clean’ indoor cats, have a plethora of pathogenic bacteria on their pointy parts. Systemic infection sets in swiftly and, without antibiotic treatment, the rabbits typically succumb within 24 hours.
Most wild rabbits are quite small when they wean and leave the nest. The “baseball” rule of thumb is good, but everyone’s visualization of size is different. We tell people (am I allowed to say, just to establish credentials, that I am the director of a wildlife center?) that a weaned rabbit will be a bit larger than a mouse, and will sit upright with ears erect. At that stage, they should be swiftly returned to their site of origin unless they have encountered a cat. All cat attack bunnies are presumed to require antibiotic treatment.
You did the absolute correct thing in contacting a “permitted wildlife rehabilitator”. Keeping them warm and quiet, offering water but not forcing it, and transporting them to the rehab as soon as possible is all that anyone can do. Do not let it discourage you for next time! And do be careful to keep the kitties indoors.
I repeat this many times each spring. Invariably, people have high expectations. Invariably, the majority of the bunnies die. And easter or not, they do stay dead. :eek:
Weighing in as a former Wild Bunny rehabber, at a wildlife shelter, yep they are tricky to raise. Canny Dan is right with all the initial issues of cat attack.
I would like to add that it’s not a hopeless case to raise young cottontails, though, as an emphasis* trained rehabber. I had good success when getting them isolated from stress, (from the business of the wildlife shelter), and being very cautious and attentive with feeding schedule, and, delicate in initial tube feedings. Yep, they are a prey species, but I love every little life, so, took the time to do that. Know that Canny Dan knows that’s what it takes with wildlife rehab.
If you have baby bunnies, take them to a wildlife shelter. Their cuteness lends people to thinking they can raise em easy, but, they have special needs, that a trained Rehabber can do.
No I did take pics of them in their better days. As I said I don’t even have photobucket. I barely have a computer. But they looked like mice…except with floppy ears. Really they lookied like teeny tiny ittsy bittsty labrador retrivers.
They’re now buried next to the last evil predator (read: cat) we had in this house. Perhaps they will find peace with each other in the grave that they couldn’t find in the world. Or perhaps I’m off my meds.
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