help re foster rabbit found as stray

Question
Hello,
I am currently fostering two female rabbits for my local RSPCA branch. Both were picked up as strays this week, one on Wednesday, and Posie was picked up by a dog yesterday, and the dog took her to his owner. When the Animal Collection Officer (ACO) brought her to me yesterday I was horrified by her size - she is a bag of bones. I took her to the vet who said that looking at her frame size she should weigh at least 3kg, but she only weighs 1.3kg at the moment. She is eating well and looks bright but today she has gone into the hutch bedroom and started to pull her hair out and I am really worried that she might be pregnant. I think she would be too malnourished herself to be able to care for babies and I'm worried that giving birth would drain her of any strength she has. I would be very grateful for any advice that you can give me. Thank you.

Answer
If she is pregnant and already making a nest it is too late to abort the babies.  Certainly if she does have some you could remove them and try to raise them yourself in order to allow her to recover her strength.

It is good that she is eating, be sure to include lots of alfalfa or timothy hay if you can, in addition to whatever pellets she will eat.  Veggies are good for her but unfortunately not high in calories.

If she does have babies, there is information here on how to handraise them, at http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#baby

Popping them out generally isn't the problem, producing milk and raising them to weaning age is.

Good luck, it's a good thing that dog brought her in.

Kim