Baby Bunnies: A Lesson on Health

Lately I haven't had much time to write a blog.

Why?

Because I have 5 baby bunnies that I am taking care of! Their mother died while giving birth to them, and since then we have been bottle feeding them two times per day (which takes almost 2 hours each time).

I wanted to write to all of my readers out there because I have realized how important a couple of supplements are.

First, the babies were not able to nurse off their mother at all. This can be a major problem, since a mother's first milk is so rich in nutrients, antibodies, fat and other vital nourishment. This first milk is called Colostrum, and is vital for a baby's immune system. When I used to feed calves on the farm, I had to make sure they were fed at least two days of Colostrum, or they would likely get sick and die. So, this was a dilemma with these baby rabbits.... no colostrum to feed them. After searching for a long time, we found a kitten milk replacement that has colostrum. We were amazed, however, when reading the other ingredients we were not so amazed. Did you know they put Corn Syrup in kitten formula? Yikes... to say the least. Someone should invent a healthy formula for animals. It's so difficult to find anything for them to eat, let alone something healthy. 

Another very important thing for baby rabbits is promotion of healthy gut flora (just like humans). If they don't build a good healthy gut flora, then they are likely to die. We are now putting Acidophilus in their formula.

So far, so good. They are doing really well and are growing so fast!

On a side note - do you know if you received Colostrum from your mother, or were you put directly on formula? This always seems to amaze me with new mothers who give birth in a hospital - nurses and doctors rarely promote giving a baby the mother's first milk. On the farm, however, you MUST give the calves their mothers first milk, or they will likely die or be very sick. In this way, we are not much different from animals. We, too, need our mother's first milk to build our immune system and promote a long life of health.