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Alternatives to hand
feeding
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| 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.
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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.
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From Gretchen
Fathauer, or call (740) 674-4492
P. O. Box 307, Duncan Falls, OH 43734, USA,
gretchenfathauer@prodigy.net
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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
FIJI's Story>
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