What should you feed orphaned rabbits?

Answer 1

one user writes: you can feed it lettuce or carrots

disagreement: carrots and lettuce are not good for baby rabbits. If you have an orphaned baby rabbit, it needs something to replace its mother's milk. You can use KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer - you can buy it at the pet store). If it's a wild North American rabbit, goat's milk is better. You can not use cow's milk or baby formula!

If a rabbit is orphaned it is very difficult to hand-rear them. If you found a small wild rabbit with fur, it probably isn't an orphan, it is probably already weaned. If it is absolutely necessary, you can use slightly warmed kitten milk replacer in eye droppers. Flip the kit over on its back and put the end of the eye dropper in its mouth; only feed a drop at a time so it doesn't choke. They must be fed every night and every morning for 10- 15 minutes. If they are plump, warm, and squirming, its working, if not, they will be sluggish, grayish, and cold to the touch and will soon die if their feeding habits aren't changed.

We use whole dairy milk that has been warmed up. This gives them a lot of nutrients, is relatively inexpensive, and is easy to come by. You can use a syringe or a cleaned ear/eye dropper. Depending on how big the rabbit is will affect how much and how often you feed. Younger rabbit will take less milk but more frequently (every 2 hours or so), where as a larger bunny will take more milk but at larger periods of time (every 4-6 hours).

It's very difficult to hand-raise baby rabbits, especially if you don't have experience. For the sake of the bunny, consider contacting a local authority to help you. For example, a rabbit rescue group, wildlife rehabber, vet, animal shelter, or government agency.

If the rabbit is already weaned, then you can feed it the same things you would another pet rabbit.

See the links below for more help.