Another family member....

My wife was on her way to Food City the other day,(grocery store) so I deceided to take a nap. Well, just as I'm dosing off, she comes running in and holding something in her hands. Apparently, as she pulled in the parking lot, she saw a cat playing around the parked vehicles, of course she went to inspect. The cat was "pouncing and torturing" a little, little, baby rabbit. :cry
So with guardian angel style, she ran the cat off, swooped the rabbit and jumped in the truck to head home.

So now we have a tiny, tiny, chirping rabbit. It looks to be around 2-4 weeks old. Weve had it now for 3 days, and we went out and got some kitten formula and a tiny bottle to feed it. I am keeping it in a empty box with rags for a while, and eventually once it gets bigger turn it loose. We are trying to keep from handling it, but it's almost impossible while feeding it. Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know, and see if anyone else has stories about baby rabbits. :cool

I'll post some pics in a lil' bit.

 

Good luck, the only experience I have had was a abandoned kitten and had the help of my dog caring for it. Sadly after about a month turns out the mother cat must have known something we did not, we lost it.

 

awww baby rabbit
(a word of warning): i remember when ours was small. We got it from a friend at christmas time, and with the weather being cold etc we decided to keep it as a house rabbit til the weather was warmer and it was a bit older. it never went outside like a normal rabbit after that except for a few stints in the run when it would just sit there looking bewildered by the wind and the size of the garden. it even got to the point where it had learnt not to leave the carpet/rugs because it skidded around on the laminate :-D

good luck with not handling it. Have you tried visiting the local pet store to see if they can give you any advice?

 

have a look at rikky's signature :cry
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/member.php?u=29788

 

Hate to be a bearer of bad tidings, but I think it might be better if you start trying to find it a permanent human home. If it is an infant, then it will have a very hard time functioning when older as a "wild" rabbit with all the human contact, and no input from its own kind. Instinct can only carry it so far. I daresay it will retain a fear of cats, if nothing else useful, in the wild.

I speak from experience . . . some friends of mine tried the same thing you are. They saved the baby rabbit, but it had no inclination to leave them once they tried to "set it free." It didn't understand "free" . . . it understood them. They did find someone to take it as a pet, so it had a happy ending.

The cat wasn't "torturing" the rabbit in the human sense . . . it was just being what it is - a predator. Without cats and other predatory animals we would be overrun with rabbits and other small critters

 

:coolThe little rabbit, (thumper) didn't survive the changing of food. I assume, the KGR formula that I started feeding it was just to much. He died this morn. He was perfectly fine yesterday morn, but within 6 hours or so he was not acting right. He starting not moving as much, and being less responsive. Oh well, I tried to tell her she should have just let it alone. but we're a fool for helpless animals. (stray dogs, stray cats, turtles, rabbits, birds, snakes, anything that needs help)

 

Aw, sorry.
That's when I lost the kitten, added a gruel, it got limp, went to the vet, put it back on formula, it perked up but adding solid food again it was gone in a matter of hours.
It's hard not to try.

 

I can relate. This is why we currently have four cats, a dog, and a hairy looking rodent I am told is a hamster, but looks like a tribble . . . :-D

There have been countless others that we have found homes for that either my kids or wife (and yes, or me) have dragged home - one or two have just shown up. Yeah, we are suckers for hardluck critter cases also

 

Yep, that's how I ended up with my present cat, and in the past, Pigeons, Galahs, Cockatiels Parakeets, cats, frogs, etc, etc. When I worked at laboratories, I even used to take the Lab rats home, because I didn't want them put to sleep when finished with. Needles to say, the line had to be drawn sooner or later, but I tried.:-o