We Have A New Baby! New Born and Feeding Struggles

It's a bouncing...

September 17, 2022. It was a scorching hot, humid afternoon in the desert when I decided to step out and hang the laundry. At the corner of my eye, I saw a pink ball moving. All fours in the air, as if really trying to catch my attention.

It got my attention, all right! And it almost gave me a heart attack too! I mean, just look at what I found:

It's a bouncing baby... rabbit!

I honestly thought it was a rat! LOL. It's so tiny and it looked so fragile, only, it could really wriggle hard and strong. Good thing it was hubs who picked it up, otherwise I would have definitely dropped it.

Okay... not that I could actually touch it. Nope, I did not have enough courage to.

We never knew we were having a baby.

It was late March this year when we got our pet rabbits, Cookie and Bun-Bun. We have always wondered why they never got babies all this time. There was one time when we actually thought that Cookie was pregnant but she never gave birth. She might actually had been preggo, but miscarried, we are not too sure.

So it was really quite a surprise for us when she had this kit -- we thought she was just "fat" from eating all those dog food with Casper. LOL.

Anyway, during the time that Casper was here, he used to always chase Cookie and grab some of her hair. Many times, I got mad at Casper, especially when I see a bunch of fur under the shelves.

But looking back, it might not have been Casper's fault all along...

A few hours after seeing the baby rabbit, I saw Cookie pulling her fur like mad.

Cookie pulling out her fur.

Only after having the kit did we start looking for information on how to care for it. It's really like having a new born baby... We learned that mother rabbits pull their fur as a sign of nesting. Cookie's instinct may have come a bit late though. XD

Feeding Issues

Cookie! Feed your baby!

When I saw the kit, Cookie was nowehere near it. It's as if she didn't give birth. We got worried that she may not be interested on feeding her young, but it seemed to be normal as per the videos that we watched. Being prey animals, they usually tend to not stay in their nest to avoid unnecessary attention to the kits.

Afraid that the baby is not getting enough nourishment, we tried to feed the kit from the bottle. We later found out that we shouldn't feed it fresh cow's milk but goat's milk or kitten milk replacer. Yaiiikks! Sorry, baby!

Getting Cookie to feed her baby.

On the first days, we would usually put Cookie inside the cage so that the baby would have the chance to feed from her mother. We give Cookie something to eat so that she would stay inside.

We cannot leave her alone with her baby because she could easily squish her baby with her weight. Or she really does not care while moving around and she literally kicks on her poor baby!

Poor kit trying hard to feed.

Eventually, Cookie would settle and lie down in a position where the baby could feed comfortably.

On the fifth day, we do not let Cookie inside the cage anymore, but we let the baby out instead whenever Cookie is in a comfortable position.

Good girl, Cookie! Good girl!

Cookie feeding her baby.

The kit is growing too fast!

From a pink, hairless ball, this kit is growing quickly. Below is its photo on its fifth day. I am not too scared to handle it anymore.

Day 5

It is pure white, like its father, Bun-Bun. He is one week old in the photo below and you can see that its eyes are slightly opened already. We assist it in feeding from his mother twice a day - one in the morning and another at night.

So far, it is growing well and looks like it has a high survival chance at this point. We are already thinking of a name to give it -- definitely NOT Bun-Bun Junior! Lol. Any suggestions?

Our one week old baby.

A cat recently discovered that we are keeping this cutie. Good thing the cage was closed (we used to keep it open so Cookie could come inside) but boy, oh boy, did my heart leap when I heard it cry! Yes, this little kit cried so loudly that we all heard it from inside the house!

We are always on the lookout for that meanie. It has not come back again, but we can never bee too complacent. Meanwhile, we are enjoying the experience of raising this little kitty. He is now ten days old, and his eyes are already open but still always sleeps! He can doze off so fast as soon as I hold him in palms.