Baby bunny advice?

[hermillion]

herjosie's Big Orange Kitty just brought in a baby bunny. I doesn't seem to be injured, just a little scared. I hesitate to stick it back outside for fear the BOK will go find it again. Baby bunny is currently wrapped in a tea towel and snuggled up next to me. herjosie is absolutely fascinated.

Baby bunny is about 5" long, but that's about all I know. Any suggestions?

[AnnieCamaro]

I suspect, that if given a chance, Josie will mother it. Does the bunny seem old enough to be weaned?

[ulysses5019]

herjosie's Big Orange Kitty just brought in a baby bunny. I doesn't seem to be injured, just a little scared. I hesitate to stick it back outside for fear the BOK will go find it again. Baby bunny is currently wrapped in a tea towel and snuggled up next to me. herjosie is absolutely fascinated.

Baby bunny is about 5" long, but that's about all I know. Any suggestions?

Some might suggest hassenpfeffer......but I will demur.

[AnnieCamaro]

Some might suggest hassenpfeffer......but I will demur.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

/ \

[ontellen]

I'm not sure here - we had bunnies for 13 years but got them at 6 weeks.

I would take a chance on letting it go and perhaps keeping the cat inside for a couple of days OR taking it to the Humane Society.

We once had a cat do this but the bunny took off out the door.

Anyway, good luck.

[Estonut]

Baby bunny is about 5" long, but that's about all I know. Any suggestions?

Do you mean 5" nose to tail as it sits there balled up, or 5" when you stretch him out? The former might be big enough to get by on its own, but if you have to stretch him out to 5", that's still a wee little thing.

I hope one of the vet-types checks in soon. We had bunnies when I was a kid. The recommended food was the compressed alfalfa pellets, but they'd eat carrots (who knew?) and lettuce in lieu of that. Good luck!

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Rabbits like carrots, but giving them to rabbits is like giving candy to a baby, it should be done very sparingly. Lettuce gives rabbits the runs. We use high quality rabbit food with Foo. I usually buy it at Petco, but have seen it at Target, Walmart and even large grocery stores.

Do you have any hay? Our rabbits loved to eat hay and sit in hay. If you have an old plastic shoebox, you could fill with hay and I can almost guarantee that the bunny wll "nest" in it. Don't put cardboard or cloth in with the bunny because they will chew it up.

[hermillion]

Baby bunny and herjosie spent a little time curled up next to each other in my lap. I'm not sure if Josie was feeling maternal -- or jealous!

I decided to make a nest out of an open shoe box, put the bunny inside, and we all settled down. After about 15 minutes, Bunny started moving around inside the box. Suddenly he/she/it scaled the side of the box, scampered up the arm of the sofa, and took a flying leap, where he/she/it landed in the dog bed on the floor. I rounded the sofa in time to see it run across the dining room and into the kitchen, where it cornered itself. At this point I figured it had recovered sufficiently to head back "home". I scooped the little rascal up and carried him/her/it to a sheltered corner of my back yard. The BOK will be spending a couple of days inside (much to his disgust!), while Bunny has the chance to find a good shelter.

I had looked online for information about wild bunny rescues, and the sources said it was of a size to survive (5" with the little legs tucked underneath), and was probably just in need of some calming time . . . which it evidently got Chez million!

Oh, and thanks, Uly, but we decided to stick with pot roast tonight.

[Bob Juch]

herjosie's Big Orange Kitty just brought in a baby bunny. I doesn't seem to be injured, just a little scared. I hesitate to stick it back outside for fear the BOK will go find it again. Baby bunny is currently wrapped in a tea towel and snuggled up next to me. herjosie is absolutely fascinated.

Baby bunny is about 5" long, but that's about all I know. Any suggestions?

I found that the ones my cats brought home when I lived in Boca Raton died unless I used whatever that antibiotic is that's a pink liquid administered via eye dropper. Probably from an infected bite at the nape of the neck. The ones I treated lived very well until I released them into the nearby wildlife preserve.

[ulysses5019]

Baby bunny and herjosie spent a little time curled up next to each other in my lap. I'm not sure if Josie was feeling maternal -- or jealous!

I decided to make a nest out of an open shoe box, put the bunny inside, and we all settled down. After about 15 minutes, Bunny started moving around inside the box. Suddenly he/she/it scaled the side of the box, scampered up the arm of the sofa, and took a flying leap, where he/she/it landed in the dog bed on the floor. I rounded the sofa in time to see it run across the dining room and into the kitchen, where it cornered itself. At this point I figured it had recovered sufficiently to head back "home". I scooped the little rascal up and carried him/her/it to a sheltered corner of my back yard. The BOK will be spending a couple of days inside (much to his disgust!), while Bunny has the chance to find a good shelter.

I had looked online for information about wild bunny rescues, and the sources said it was of a size to survive (5" with the little legs tucked underneath), and was probably just in need of some calming time . . . which it evidently got Chez million!

Oh, and thanks, Uly, but we decided to stick with pot roast tonight.

Did herjosie wander in with a steer?

[Paddy O'Furniture]

Baby bunny and herjosie spent a little time curled up next to each other in my lap. I'm not sure if Josie was feeling maternal -- or jealous!

I decided to make a nest out of an open shoe box, put the bunny inside, and we all settled down. After about 15 minutes, Bunny started moving around inside the box. Suddenly he/she/it scaled the side of the box, scampered up the arm of the sofa, and took a flying leap, where he/she/it landed in the dog bed on the floor. I rounded the sofa in time to see it run across the dining room and into the kitchen, where it cornered itself. At this point I figured it had recovered sufficiently to head back "home". I scooped the little rascal up and carried him/her/it to a sheltered corner of my back yard. The BOK will be spending a couple of days inside (much to his disgust!), while Bunny has the chance to find a good shelter.

I had looked online for information about wild bunny rescues, and the sources said it was of a size to survive (5" with the little legs tucked underneath), and was probably just in need of some calming time . . . which it evidently got Chez million!

Oh, and thanks, Uly, but we decided to stick with pot roast tonight.

Did herjosie wander in with a steer?

If she did, could she come visit me for a few weeks? And bring a few Oklahoma cattle with her? Mini-me really wants a dog, but no way. We travel and our yard isn't fenced. He has to content himself with dog-sitting.

We did yet another hamster replacement this weekend. Stewie kicked the bucket, so now we have Tibbles. Which is the name he picked out for the dog he isn't going to get...

[hermillion]

Baby bunny and herjosie spent a little time curled up next to each other in my lap. I'm not sure if Josie was feeling maternal -- or jealous!

I decided to make a nest out of an open shoe box, put the bunny inside, and we all settled down. After about 15 minutes, Bunny started moving around inside the box. Suddenly he/she/it scaled the side of the box, scampered up the arm of the sofa, and took a flying leap, where he/she/it landed in the dog bed on the floor. I rounded the sofa in time to see it run across the dining room and into the kitchen, where it cornered itself. At this point I figured it had recovered sufficiently to head back "home". I scooped the little rascal up and carried him/her/it to a sheltered corner of my back yard. The BOK will be spending a couple of days inside (much to his disgust!), while Bunny has the chance to find a good shelter.

I had looked online for information about wild bunny rescues, and the sources said it was of a size to survive (5" with the little legs tucked underneath), and was probably just in need of some calming time . . . which it evidently got Chez million!

Oh, and thanks, Uly, but we decided to stick with pot roast tonight.

Did herjosie wander in with a steer?

Did I not tell you about herjosie's two great buddies -- Oolie and Alley, the Border Collies? She's been getting pointers on her herding techniques.

[SportsFan68]

. . .

We did yet another hamster replacement this weekend. Stewie kicked the bucket, so now we have Tibbles. Which is the name he picked out for the dog he isn't going to get...

One of my friends has a gerbil on the loose. It was surviving for a while by jumping into the dog food bag in the pantry, until my friend locked up the dog food in a plastic lock-tight garbage can Then it started rummaging through the cabinets for crackers, cereal, and similar foodstuffs in the dead of night.

Last time it was sighted, it was painfully thin. How can we get this critter back into its little home before the poor thing dies of starvation? It shies away from humane traps, and my friend absolutely refuses to set a snap moustrap that would put the poor thing out of its misery.

[christie1111]

. . .

We did yet another hamster replacement this weekend. Stewie kicked the bucket, so now we have Tibbles. Which is the name he picked out for the dog he isn't going to get...

One of my friends has a gerbil on the loose. It was surviving for a while by jumping into the dog food bag in the pantry, until my friend locked up the dog food in a plastic lock-tight garbage can Then it started rummaging through the cabinets for crackers, cereal, and similar foodstuffs in the dead of night.

Last time it was sighted, it was painfully thin. How can we get this critter back into its little home before the poor thing dies of starvation? It shies away from humane traps, and my friend absolutely refuses to set a snap moustrap that would put the poor thing out of its misery.

Did it escape from a cage in the house? I would put gerbil food in the cage and wait for it to return home to eat.

[sunflower]

. . .

We did yet another hamster replacement this weekend. Stewie kicked the bucket, so now we have Tibbles. Which is the name he picked out for the dog he isn't going to get...

One of my friends has a gerbil on the loose. It was surviving for a while by jumping into the dog food bag in the pantry, until my friend locked up the dog food in a plastic lock-tight garbage can Then it started rummaging through the cabinets for crackers, cereal, and similar foodstuffs in the dead of night.

Last time it was sighted, it was painfully thin. How can we get this critter back into its little home before the poor thing dies of starvation? It shies away from humane traps, and my friend absolutely refuses to set a snap moustrap that would put the poor thing out of its misery.

That happened to one of my facebook friends, every day we got a status update on the search efforts.

They tried putting food out and it kept sneaking the food at night and they could never catch it. Sooner or later they saw it run, managed to catch it under a shoe box and get it back in the cage. I think it took about a week and a half.

[ghostjmf]

hermillions says:

he/she/it

contrary to board opinion, I (& a few newspapers, too!) find "they" works really well here.

Or, in this case, you could just substitute "the bunny".

(Or, still in this case, you could look under said bunny, but I'm not quite sure what-all you would see at this tender age. I had trouble sexing [mind out of gutter, any whose is there!] a kitty-cat once. Best cat I ever had. Turned out to be a boy, but didn't look that way to either me or the vet at 4 weeks, when we all 1st met [I came back to adopt at 6 weeks, & I still couldn't tell for sure; vet was farm vet, so wasn't around at that time].)

[Estonut]

hermillions says:

he/she/it

contrary to board opinion, I (& a few newspapers, too!) find "they" works really well here.

Yet not a single newspaper does that when the sex is known.

[ghostjmf]

Estonut says:

Yet not a single newspaper does that when the sex is known.

A single newspaper has turned over hermillion's new bunny baby? How'd they get in to the house with all those animals guarding it?

[SportsFan68]

. . .

We did yet another hamster replacement this weekend. Stewie kicked the bucket, so now we have Tibbles. Which is the name he picked out for the dog he isn't going to get...

One of my friends has a gerbil on the loose. It was surviving for a while by jumping into the dog food bag in the pantry, until my friend locked up the dog food in a plastic lock-tight garbage can Then it started rummaging through the cabinets for crackers, cereal, and similar foodstuffs in the dead of night.

Last time it was sighted, it was painfully thin. How can we get this critter back into its little home before the poor thing dies of starvation? It shies away from humane traps, and my friend absolutely refuses to set a snap moustrap that would put the poor thing out of its misery.

Did it escape from a cage in the house? I would put gerbil food in the cage and wait for it to return home to eat.

Unfortunately, "home" is one of those big plastic bins with a 1/2" wire screen on top. The screen has to remain in place because otherwise the other gerbil would probably escape too. I should have mentioned that first.

[SportsFan68]

. . .

We did yet another hamster replacement this weekend. Stewie kicked the bucket, so now we have Tibbles. Which is the name he picked out for the dog he isn't going to get...

One of my friends has a gerbil on the loose. It was surviving for a while by jumping into the dog food bag in the pantry, until my friend locked up the dog food in a plastic lock-tight garbage can Then it started rummaging through the cabinets for crackers, cereal, and similar foodstuffs in the dead of night.

Last time it was sighted, it was painfully thin. How can we get this critter back into its little home before the poor thing dies of starvation? It shies away from humane traps, and my friend absolutely refuses to set a snap moustrap that would put the poor thing out of its misery.

That happened to one of my facebook friends, every day we got a status update on the search efforts.

They tried putting food out and it kept sneaking the food at night and they could never catch it. Sooner or later they saw it run, managed to catch it under a shoe box and get it back in the cage. I think it took about a week and a half.

I think there'll probably have to be a break like that. It's been about three weeks, and I think it really likes being out of the cage, except for the obvious discomforts.