how to care for 3 week old baby rabbit

Question
3 bunnies were first spotted coming out of their burrow on the 5th of April 07. 2 days later the mother rabbit died of an extreme case of diorrohea. 2 baby rabbits have died since. The 3rd rabbit eats next to nothing... a sprig of green leafy matter, a sliver of pear, a bit of rice and a tiny stick of carrot. Is this sufficient? The male rabbit is always grazing on grass which the little one will not do. I dont have access to rabbit pellets. The baby rabbit is breathing very rapidly about 120 breaths per 1 minute. breathing

Answer
Hi,

get to a pet store and get puppy milk replacement and a feeding syringe (ask if you can't find it).  You can make up the milk replacement thicker than they say because rabbits are used to richer milk.  use 1 1/2 to 2 times the amount of milk replacement to the same amount of water.

You need to feed this little guy every few hours.  Just be careful when you syringe feed him not to give him too much too quickly - just press a little to get some out, and when he starts licking, stop pressing, and let him finish licking, then start pressing a little again.

Right now he only needs milk.  In a week or two, you need to start giving him timothy hay/orchard grass hay/alfalfa hay - any/all of these are fine.  This will be in addition to the milk replacement, but as you see him nibbling the hay, you can gradually start to feed him less milk.  By week 10-12 he can be off the milk entirely.

I would also pick up some probiotics (acidophilus) for him as well - ask the store folks - BeneBac is a good product to look for (short for Beneficial Bacteria).

I would also spend time at the House Rabbit Society web site (www.rabbit.org) - at the top of the page they have a site search engine - search on "babies", "diet", "newborn", "orphan".  You will find useful articles you should print out and keep for reference.

Lee