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Hand feeding Orphaned Kits 


Alternatives to hand feeding

4 week old Kits drinking milk replacer from a bowl. Delys, thank you for the photo!

You can try to foster the kits to another doe.
Kits have no scent to their bodies until they are approx. 10 days old, therefore the foster doe should accept them. 
I wouldn't recommend kits older than 10 days. By that time the kits' eyes are open and they are running around outside of the nest box. The  foster doe may attack them.

Barbi Brown's bunnies has articles and photos of mother cats fostering kittens, you may want to try this before opting for several sleepless nights of feeding kits.
http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/

Delys Gani of Hat-Trick rabbitry had a doe die and leave a litter of three to four week old kits.
Using an eye dropper Delys fed them Esbilac Puppy milk replacer for the first couple days until they got used to it. After that they all drank the warm milker replacer from a crock/bowl.
That would be much easier than hand feeding a litter and less stress on the kits.

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What to feed


Baby rabbits, raccoons and squirrels use PUP
Esbilac milk replacer (not the KMR Kitten milk replacer.) 
I
've bought the canned liquid puppy milk replace, I found the vitamins in the formula made it really strong smelling. I couldn't imagine feeding it. I ended up using the powdered PUP Esbilac milk replacer and mixing it with water. It's the same stuff but doesn't smell like the per-mixed canned stuff that has sat on the self for months.
When I volunteered at an Wildlife rehab they used Powered Puppy Esbilac milker replacer or goats milk when it was available. 
You can buy goats milk at the grocery store. 

Avoid using KMR Kitten milk replacer.
Bordens who is the manufacturer of both Esbilac and KMR recommend Esbilac for rabbits. Bordens just started putting a rabbit photo on the label to prevent confusion. 

There is a new Esbilac Emergency pack for $1.50. that you can keep in your first aid kit for emergencies.

There is a brand new Esbilac milk replacer made from goats milk.
Here is a helpful website of the different kinds of milk replacer. 
www.squirrelsandmore.com/category/1411/milk-replacers.htm

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Milk Composition Table

When feeding Orphans have you ever wondered what's the difference for one milk to another ? 
Below is a Milk Composition table, notice how different Cows milk is to Rabbit's milk.


From Gretchen Fathauer, or call (740) 674-4492
P. O. Box 307, Duncan Falls, OH 43734, USA,
gretchenfathauer@prodigy.net

Notes on raising orphan baby animals--cow's milk is too thin, and relatively low in fat and protein, yet high in carbohydrates, for many species.  Another concern is its lactose content.  Therefore, formula made from it usually needs to be enriched to varying degrees with raw egg yolk.  If I had fed the rabbits cow's milk unaltered, they would have starved to death.  I fed the rabbits goat's milk and raw egg yolk, which they thrived on. 

Milk composition table, in percentages, from Borden, Inc. research:

Species Solids Fat Protein Carbohydrates
Cow 11.9 3.5 3.0 4.6
Dog 24.0 10.5 7.9      3.8
Rabbit 30.5 10.4 15.5 1.9
Mouse 25.8 12.1 9.0     3.2
Cat 20.0 6.5 9.0 6.8
Pig 20.0 7.3 6.6 5.0
Sheep 20.5 8.6 5.7       5.4
Goat 12.8        4.1 3.7 4.2
Opossum 14.0 4.7 4.0 4.5
Gray Squirrel 26.6 12.6 9.2   3.4
Beaver 33.0 19.8 9.0 2.2
Coyote 24.5 10.7 9.9 2.3
Fox 18.1 6.3 6.2 4.6
Racoon 13.4 3.9 4.0 4.7
Otter 35.9 23.9 11.0 .1
Deer 23.1 8.0 10.6 2.8
Antelope 25.2 13.0 6.9 .4.0

"Wild Orphan Babies: Mammals and Birds: Caring for Them and Setting Them Free" by William J. Weber, DVM, Holt, Rinehard & Winston, NY, 1975, 1978, 1980, is unfortunately out of print, but old copies can still be found at amazon.com--Click HERE   

Cow's milk is NOT rich enough for most animals, and diarrhea from feeding it is common due to its lactose content.  To see the tragic results of feeding squirrels a straight cow's milk diet, http://www.squirrel-rehab.org/pictures/improperdiet.html

 

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Colostrum

Most newborn babies won't live if they don't receive colostrum. 
If your orphaned newborn baby never had the opportunity to nurse from it's mother at all, then you may want to consider getting some colostrum. 
The kit only needs a couple feedings of a few drops worth of Colostrums.
Colostrums is the first milk a mother produces for the first couple days of the baby's life.
Colostrums  sets up the digestive tract and gives the baby antibodies. After a couple feedings the mother will start to produce milk.
Recently it's been discovered that cow colostrum (not to be confused with cow's milk) is a universal colostrum for most species of animals. 
You can ask your local dairy farm for 1/2 cup. It freezes and keeps along time. 
It can be divided up in an ice cube tray and the extra frozen. 
Put frozen cubes in a plastic freezer storage bag and store it for 3-6 months in the freezer. 
It can also be bought bottled at health food stores.
http://www.tldp.com/

Note: From Gretchen Fathauer a wildlife rehabber in Ohio;
You can order the powdered colostrum version online from TSC (Tractor Supply) it's made by Manna Pro.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/

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Here is a helpful website with other photos and video of feeding babies.

Squirrels-For-You.com
http://squirrels-for-you.com/

The Squirrel Store

Where you can buy supplies like hard to find 1/2 cc and 1cc Syringes, milk replacer and articles on hand feeding baby squirrels.
www.squirrelstore.com/
The squirrel store also offers cannulas. They fit on the end of the syringe to make feeding small babies easier. I find the syringe can slide too easily at times and offer too much milk.
I'm considering trying these.



Good luck. 
Carol
www.fuzzylop.com

 

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