Chunky or bloated?

[arjones]

Hi,
I have four 11 day old Rex kits, the doe kindled on the wire and then refused them, they were never fed by her and were very close to dead when I got them. I have been bottle feeding them ever since and have been doing well (one opened his eyes today!). But i’ve noticed some HUGE stomachs after feeding, especially in the evening feed. I’m terrified of it being bloat, because i know just how deadly that is. The babies are super active and take down their food as quick as I can give it to them, no lethargy or loss of appetite at all. Everyone also urinates easily, but only once a day or every other day for the runt. This is my first time with rabbits of any kind, I only ended up with them because my friend just did not have the time to feed them and I wanted to give them a fighting chance. Any advice at all is welcome, i’m freaking out a little here trying not to wait too long in case it’s an emergency.

TLDR; 11 day old kits have HUGE stomachs after their evening feed. How do I tell if it is bloat or just feeding tummies?

 

[Athena2344]

How much are you feeding them? Possibly try rubbing their bums to stimulate them as they should be pooping as well. You can also rub their bellies to help pass things along and get them to digest a little easier. What are you feeding them as well?

 

[arjones]

How much are you feeding them? Possibly try rubbing their bums to stimulate them as they should be pooping as well. You can also rub their bellies to help pass things along and get them to digest a little easier. What are you feeding them as well?

They’re fed on an oral syringe 3 times a day (except for the runt who gets 4-6 if he isn’t feeding well). I give them their milk until they pull away and don’t greedily suckle for it, the biggest in the litter probably takes between 15-22CCs a day, but everyone else is between 10 and 15 on average. I feed them kitten milk replacer, but I had just switched them from canned liquid to powder (though the powder had great reviews which is why i switched). I stimulate everyone after feeding which is often when they pee, and there seems to be plenty of fecal matter at the bottom of their nest.

 

[Athena2344]

They are probably just chunky then especially if you allow them to drink as much as they want, if they had been with mom, she would determine how long they would have to nurse at a time, and with having a bunch of squirmy things fighting underneath myself, I personally wouldn't stay for very long lol I'd just keep doing what your doing, awesome job so far and cutos for taking the effort to do it

 

[arjones]

They are probably just chunky then especially if you allow them to drink as much as they want, if they had been with mom, she would determine how long they would have to nurse at a time, and with having a bunch of squirmy things fighting underneath myself, I personally wouldn't stay for very long lol I'd just keep doing what your doing, awesome job so far and cutos for taking the effort to do it

Thank you! Sorry for the late reply, they keep me plenty busy, everyone is still doing well, all 4 have their eyes open! I have everyone but the runt on twice daily feedings as of today, because their stomachs just looked unnaturally big to me and weren’t really going down by morning. Fingers crossed they keep doing well!

 

[Athena2344]

Sounds good