I found an abandoned pet rabbit-HELP

[Tiffann4k]

What is interesting about this is about a year after we got Thumper, a knew someone else who was raising an orphaned baby bunny, not a wild one though. She was feeding it twice a day and not only did the baby not thrive, it didn't make it. The vet said it was because it was dehydrated. I am glad I raised Thumper the way I did. He was so cute when he was little...I was the only one he would take his syrienge feedings from. I guess he thought I was his "mom". When I introduced solids, he was the same way. Thumper was never chubby...he stayed on the small side actually. She left this one behind....he has a "head tilt" and in the wild, they don't make it. I guess that is why his mom left him there. We have a lot of hawks in our area, so there was no way I was going to leave him there. I believe that if you do a search, you can still find Thumper's photo.

Hmm that is odd then, I wonder why all other rabbits only feed them twice a day but the other baby was classified as dehydrated...maybe she wasnt feeding the right thing Someone needs to do a study on that..lol

I never said there was anything wrong with the way you raised your rabbit, nothing wrong with spoiling a pet......but you would be suprised what some people do and give their rabbits then they wonder why they are sick or die

Wild rabbits will not get chubby, its in their genetics...you will never see an overweight wild rabbit.

Does he still have a head tilt ? Either it was an injury from birth or he could possibly have wry neck but I doubt that since he has made it 3 years, must of been a birth injury.

I will have to do a search for the photo then

 

[Tiffann4k]

Wouldn't you like to make a trip to New Jersey to raise another? J/K! He isn't all that small, though but it looks like one that I saw on the "net". I've learned a lot about rabbits in the last 24 hours.

LOL I have traveled out of state before for rabbits but never that far.

Look up new zealand whites, that might also be what it is and another possibility would be a flemish giant.

Could you possibly post a picture ?

 

[Tiffann4k]

Awww found a pic of him..he looks soo tiny compared to some of my rabbits....very cute!

Tiffany ~ Who hopes she doesnt have to do another search for rabbit threads as she found a few very disturbing

 

[Tiffann4k]

Do these look familiar ?

Here is 2 cottontails that I raised and released as soon as they were eating pellets. They were successfuly raised being fed 2 times a day with a homemade formula, I let them go once they started eating pellets as wild rabbits tend to go stir crazy( which is why most people fail at raising them in captivity)
My kids named them Thumper & Bambi ..lol
They were fun and I hated seeing them go but they were wild and if given the choice I wouldnt do it again unless I had to. You are a very special person to be able to tame a wild rabbit

 

[jx3smom]

I will try to get DS to post the pic when we all get home from work.

 

[Tiffann4k]

I will try to get DS to post the pic when we all get home from work.

Wonderful! Do you have any idea about how much it weighs right now ? That might help as well.

 

[jx3smom]

I FOUND A HOME!!!!!!My DH works with someone who will take it. She has one and her other passed away. She lives in the country and is in her 40's and will give this sweetie a great HOME.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Good news!

 

[Thumper's Tara]

I FOUND A HOME!!!!!!My DH works with someone who will take it. She has one and her other passed away. She lives in the country and is in her 40's and will give this sweetie a great HOME.

Great news! WOOOOHOOO!

 

[Tiffann4k]

Yah that is great!!

 

[Thumper's Tara]

Thumper is considered "wild" and no local vet can see him. Something about them needing a special license....knock on wood, he's been good about not being allowed to date. He has so much companionship (dog, cat, kids.....) that he is not lonely.

Hm. That is interesting. I never knew that.

Does Thumper still have head tilt?

Harvey, my youngest bunny, developed head tilt while I was living abroad (he was here with a now ex-boyfriend). While he has gotten much better, he still has head tilt (at 45 degrees vs 90 degrees)! Although, don't you dare tell Harvey that he is "special". His favorite passtime is picking on animals that are bigger than him - he bit a 120 pound German Sheppard on the butt and chases my cat whenever he can!

Also, someone mentioned head tilt as a birthdefect. I had never heard of that...I thought it was disease related - a disease messes up their inner ear or something.

ttfn,
Tara

 

[always quiet]

Oh my goodness!!! Those babies are so sweet!!! Thumper was smaller than that when we got him....he barely had any teeth (I checked). Oddly enough, even when we first picked him up, he never tried to bite. Maybe he could "sense" that I wasn't going to hurt him. I have some wonderfully sweet memories of him. A favorite of mine was one evening, after I gave him his formula (I continued with this for quite some time, even after he was on solids....he enjoyed it and I figured it wasn't going to hurt him), he was sitting up on my chest, taking his bath. He stretched up to my face and was sniffing my face. I remember thinking to myself that I had better not sneeze or I'd give him heart failure. This is when he started to lick my face...not just one or 2 passes....it must of been over 5 minutes of him just licking my cheeks and my nose. It really tickled and I was really holding in my laughter...which caused tears to roll down my cheeks...which he really enjoyed licking away. He is so sweet. He has "family" time every night when he comes out of his home. He gets cheerios, lettuce or carrots during this time and after sometime, the kids or my husband will take him and I will clean his house out. He gets "housekeeping" every day. When he goes back in, he has a clean house, fresh water, fresh food, lettuce or carrots (depending on what he had when he was out) and some cheerios (loves them!!) He is one of my "kids".........

Yes, he does still have the tilt and if I don't massage it and keep it moving, it tends to stiffen up. I also offer food from the 'bad' side so he has to stretch his neck. He'll never be "perfect" but he is in my eyes. You don't know "sweet" until you hold a little bunny and have it feel secure enough in your arms that he'll give himself a bath......

 

[bigmerle1966]

I FOUND A HOME!!!!!!My DH works with someone who will take it. She has one and her other passed away. She lives in the country and is in her 40's and will give this sweetie a great HOME.

Good, I was going to tell you to hold on till Monday and my boss got back. She is a part of the PAWS group and I was going to try and find out if she knew of a way to get the bunny "rescued". I know that they will actually move animals from state to state by arranging halfway meetings. I know one time they had a dog that was moved from somewhere further north, I want to say Upstate New York to Virginia or West Virginia. She had to stop doing the actual rescues herself, she kept bringing the animals home and keeping them.

 

[Tiffann4k]

Also, someone mentioned head tilt as a birthdefect. I had never heard of that...I thought it was disease related - a disease messes up their inner ear or something.

ttfn,
Tara

No not birth defect, birth injury. It can be a ( not really disease) but a condition called wry neck ( its basically an ear infection) so no wry neck or head tilt ( whatever people call it) is not a disease or a birth defect.

 

[Tiffann4k]

This is when he started to lick my face...not just one or 2 passes....it must of been over 5 minutes of him just licking my cheeks and my nose. It really tickled and I was really holding in my laughter...which caused tears to roll down my cheeks...which he really enjoyed licking away.

You don't know "sweet" until you hold a little bunny and have it feel secure enough in your arms that he'll give himself a bath......

When he licks you he is showing that he cares for you. Generally the mamas and babies will lick each other to groom or just as kisses....we call them bunnie kisses.

I agree with your last sentance. A rabbit is definatly a great pet to have. Its sweet when a dog or cat does it but its very special when a rabbit feels secure enough to do it

 

[eclectics]

Good news!

 

[Thumper's Tara]

No not birth defect, birth injury. It can be a ( not really disease) but a condition called wry neck ( its basically an ear infection) so no wry neck or head tilt ( whatever people call it) is not a disease or a birth defect.

That is what I thought...but I wasn't sure!

 

[Tiffann4k]

Always Quiet,
You can let your bunny have a date, its impossible for a cottontail to breed with any other rabbit except other cottontails ( well they could do the but it would never result in a pregnancy )

 

[always quiet]

Always Quiet,
You can let your bunny have a date, its impossible for a cottontail to breed with any other rabbit except other cottontails ( well they could do the but it would never result in a pregnancy )

Gee...right......show Thumper what he's not getting...then take it away from him.......can't you just see the attitude he'd give me later?? Besides, that is something I really don't want to see!!!! Can't you just imagine Thumper after the deed is done........... NO NO NO NO NO!!!

 

[minkydog]

Oh my goodness!!! Those babies are so sweet!!! Thumper was smaller than that when we got him....he barely had any teeth (I checked). Oddly enough, even when we first picked him up, he never tried to bite. Maybe he could "sense" that I wasn't going to hurt him. I have some wonderfully sweet memories of him. A favorite of mine was one evening, after I gave him his formula (I continued with this for quite some time, even after he was on solids....he enjoyed it and I figured it wasn't going to hurt him), he was sitting up on my chest, taking his bath. He stretched up to my face and was sniffing my face. I remember thinking to myself that I had better not sneeze or I'd give him heart failure. This is when he started to lick my face...not just one or 2 passes....it must of been over 5 minutes of him just licking my cheeks and my nose. It really tickled and I was really holding in my laughter...which caused tears to roll down my cheeks...which he really enjoyed licking away. He is so sweet. He has "family" time every night when he comes out of his home. He gets cheerios, lettuce or carrots during this time and after sometime, the kids or my husband will take him and I will clean his house out. He gets "housekeeping" every day. When he goes back in, he has a clean house, fresh water, fresh food, lettuce or carrots (depending on what he had when he was out) and some cheerios (loves them!!) He is one of my "kids".........

Aww thanks for this description. It makes me think of my lovely bunny. His real name was Pierre Robert,but we all called him Bun-Bun. He was a big cottontail that came up in our yard one day and just sat there. It must have weighed about 15lb--he was huge. Bun-Bun settled right in to our household, fighting off the cat(sent him sailing about 10ft!) and bit the St. Bernard on the nose(took care of that!) He lived under the kitchen table and often slept with my sister in her bottom bunk. You had to really watch Bun-Bun because he was so tall he could get things out of the kitchen cabinet. One night he ate a whole loaf of bread

Since then we have had other smaller bunnies--one dwarf Himalayan that weighed about 2lbs and another wild rabbit. We never did have much success with the other wild rabbit. Our Himilayan, Phoenix, used to sit in DHs lap and try to sneak some nachos. He was litter box trained and had the run of the house until someone stepped on his front leg and shattered it. He lost the paw,but it didn't slow him down much.