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Over the years I've rescued and hand raised Calves, squirrels, rabbits, kittens,
raccoons etc.
This spring I volunteered at a wildlife rehab center.
Click
here to view photos of some
of the rehab critters I fed this spring.
Hand Feeding
Orphaned kits
Raising Orphan
kits can be time consuming and the first 2-3 weeks are the hardest. When
hand-feeding orphaned bunnies be prepared for Aspiration pneumonia,
hypothermia, diarrhea, bloat and faders. There really isn't much you can
do if the above mentioned happens and it does happen frequently. If you
lose a kit, just know that you did all you could, with the best
intentions and some things are out of your hands. All you can
do is provide the chance for survival the rest is up the the kit.
Hand
feeding Orphaned Kits >
I find when hand feeding
Orphans that each animal is an individual.
The advice above is a guideline
but as you will see in Fiji's story I had to adapt to the bunnies needs.
FIJI's Story
>
What to expect when showing at Convention.
I wrote this article a few days
after I returned from convention in the hopes of helping first time
convention attendees.
Convention
Tips >
Fuzzy Lop Head Type
After my first newsletter on body type I had
a few people ask me to do an article on the Fuzzy lop head. There is a
lot of confusion regarding things like ear length.
Fuzzy
Lop Head and Ears >
Fuzzy
lops vs. Holland lops >
New Hope for
Faders
Every
rabbitry has to deal with faders. The kits that don't thrive, fade away
to poor condition and die.
There was a lot of promising work using sulfamethazine
(brand name Sulmet). Some vets and breeders felt that a lot of faders
where caused by coccidia parasites or illness and sulmet being the
treatment. I found this was helpful advice a couple years back with a
litter that I was having trouble with. The kits where much older approx
5 to 6 weeks old.
Last year I had trouble with very young kits 2-3 weeks old. I was afraid
to treat kits that young with sulmet. So I tried this new approach and it
worked wonders. I think in the future I'll try it first and then Sulmet
second.
New research into faders >
Probiotics
There
are many different types of Probiotics products on the market. I found one researcher that said Lactobacillus is not a helpful rabbit
bacteria because it's more a milk bacteria and questioned if any live
bacteria survive the stomach acid. However I found that article left
more questions unanswered than answered. It didn't go into how they
tested, when, how many products they tested, or what bacteria they did
find in a rabbit's digestive tract.
Most Probiotics today claim to lower the PH levels and have methods to
allow enough live bacteria to live passed the stomach acid.
Some studies show that even though Lactobacillus is not present in adult
rabbits, this bacteria maybe extremely useful in soothing an inflamed intestine.
The altered PH level may help retard the growth of toxic (bad) bacteria
strains such as e-coli.
Feeding
Rabbits Probiotics >
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Great Websites
The Rabbit Geek
Free building plans for a portable grooming table.
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/
Netherland Dwarf National Website
Wooden cages
Joe T. Powers
www.andrc.com/
Mother Earth News
Free Outdoor rabbit hutch plans
Motherearth
RabbitWeb
How to build a really great outdoor hutch system.
http://www.rabbitweb.net/
Purina
Build a hutch
http://rabbit.purinamills.com/
BuildEasy
Free, complete building plans for an 8'x 8' Gable Shed Plans.
www.buildeazy.com/newserve/8x8_
Brey Family
Very cute how build an indoor bunny condo
http://breyfamily.net/bunnycage.html
Blue Prints For Commercial Rabbit Barn
http://www.icecubetopper.com
Really cool SPCA in India
It houses 800 animals.
Check out the Photo Gallery section.
http://www.visakhaspca.org/
LUS AgCenter
Commercial Rabbit Housing
Cage Shelter Plans.
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/
New Website:
I have an educational website about the rabbit. It contains a look at
the natural history of the rabbit, with an emphasis on the wild European rabbit. In addition, the site also has many pictures which
can be used as desktop wallpaper, and a fun quiz to test your
knowledge of rabbits.
My url is:
http://fohn.net/
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Fall
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