Hi! I am in need of some help and advice from anyone who has successfully hand raised orphan kits. We had an accidental litter (mom and dad were separated but apparently did the deed through the divider?!). When the kits were only 5 days old, our Waffles (the mom) tragically passed away suddenly from a uterus infection. Since then, I have been syringe feeding the kits Fox Valley 32/40 and they have been doing well, but I’m very worried about the weaning process and gut bacteria bc I’ve read it’s a very delicate time and we could potentially lose kits. They are almost 3 weeks old now and I started them on the Fox Valley LA-200 probiotics about a week ago. I saw that bene-bac has more variety of bacteria than fox valley, so I recently bought that also and started them on it a couple days ago. I’ve read that it’s very important for kits to eat the cecotropes from their mother to establish healthy gut flora. I have 2 male rabbits I could use as donors, but I have not been able to get any cecotropes from them. Ive never even seen their cecotropes, so they must gobble them up right away. Any advice on how to successfully collect cecotropes from them? Would using their regular poop droppings help the kits’ guts at all if I can’t get cecotropes? Will the babies be able to survive weaning without them? Will the probiotics be enough? How much longer should I wait to start giving them hay and pellets in order for the gut bacteria from the probiotics to establish? I plan to continue feeding them the milk formula and probiotics until they are fully weened at about 8 weeks. If anyone has successfully hand raised kits without a mom and cecotropes, I’d love to hear it as well as any helpful advice. We have gotten very attached to the babies and are trying our best to help them survive and thrive.
by WafflesBrownies
