baby bunny close to death

Question
My bunny had four babies i week ago and I just lost one 2 days ago and I think one more is not going to make it the day. He is a lot smaller then the other two, he seems to be very hungry as he is squeking and opening his mouth, but is not moving very much.  is there anything I can do to save him?  I cant lose another one.
Thanks

Answer
Dear Tina,

When a baby shows symptoms like this:  open-mouthed breathing and extreme lethargy, there is very little one can do.  Death is probably imminent.  If the mother is feeding the babies normally, then it's possible that the deaths are due to congenital problems, or to infection simply because the baby is not particularly hardy, for one reason or another (genetic or environmental).

However, in order to at least *try* to save the baby, the first thing to try is to warm up the baby gently in a towel warm from the dryer.  Once the body temperature is normalized, other treatments will be more effective.

Dehydration is a problem if the baby has not been eating normally, so once the baby is warm, the next thing to try is to feed pasteurized goat milk (you can get it at many supermarkets--Meyenberg is a good brand) with a dropper, being careful not to let the baby aspirate.  He will probably fight it, but if you even wet the lips, forcing him to lick it off, you can--with patience--get enough down him to raise his blood sugar levels and get him more active.  This, in turn, will stimulate him to eat a little bit later.  Don't try to feed too much at once.  A couple of cc's is probably enough, and then try again in an hour or so, when he's had a chance to adjust to a little bit of food in his tummy.

Complete information on how to care for "abandoned" bunnies can be found here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html

And please read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/breeding.html

I hope this helps.

Dana