wcv basic skills - the wildlife center of virginia• ott light is full spectrum light housing and...

11/15/2011

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Basic Skills for Wild Rabbit

Rehabilitation

16th Annual Call of the WildWildlife Rehabilitation Conference

The Wildlife Center of Virginia

Presented by:

Diana Leggett

Lindsay Hooker

WildRescue, Inc./Rabbit Rescue

Where We Were

• Knowledge base lacking

• Few published articles

• Handful of nation-wide rehabbers

• Internet just coming into play

• Little networking ability

• Mortality a factor

• Additives to formulas either not available or created.

Where We Are Now

• Growth of cottontail rehabilitators

• Regionality now a recognized factor

• WildBuns

• State wildlife rehabilitator organizations

• IWRC - NWRA

• Networking and trainings

• Experienced speakers

• Refinement of formulas, additives, weaning and release protocols, housing

• Consistency and dissemination of public information

What’s it All About?

• Passion to:

– rehabilitate

– learn

– grow

– achieve

– contribute

– make a difference

The Puzzle North American Species

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North American Species

• 58 species in 11 genera

• Lagomorpha leporidae

• Ranges from desert/plains/mountains/coastal


Genus SylvilagusGenus Sylvilagus

– Swamp rabbit (S. aquaticus)

– Desert or Audubon’s cottontail (S. audubonii)

– Brush rabbit (S. bachmani)

– Forest rabbit (S. brasiliensis)

– Mexican cottontail (S. cunicularius) - Threatened

– Dice’s cottontail (S. dicei) – Endangered

– Eastern cottontail (S. floridanus)

– Pgymy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) - Endangered


Genus SylvilagusGenus Sylvilagus

– Tres MaMaŕŕias cottontail ias cottontail (S. graysoni) - Endangered

– Omilteme cottontail (S. insonus) - Critical

– Brush rabbit or San Jose brush rabbit (S. mansuetus) -

Threatened

– Mountain cottontail (S. nuttallii)

– Appalachian cottontail (S. obscurus)

– Marsh rabbit (S. palustris)

– New England cottontail (S. transitionalis) - Vulnerable

Where Do They Live?

• Desert

• Forest

• Tropical Rain Forest

• Arctic tundra

• Swamp

• Coastal

• Tall grasslands

• Agricultural landscapes

Natural Behavior/History

• Crepuscular (diurnal) mammal

– Active from dusk to dawn

• Breeding season is regional

– Longer in the southern regions

– Shorter in northern regions

• Nest = “form”

– Wild rabbits do not burrow like their cousins the

domestic rabbit


• Foraging/grazing

mammal

• Hind gut fermentor

• 99% of diet is

grass/leaves (big

blue stem)

• Nurses up to age 5

weeks in wild

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Natural Behavior/History• Gestation period is 28-35 days

• Doe pulls loosened fur from her chest/abdomen area lines a

scraped out “form” with her fur and dried grasses usually 1-3

days prior to delivery

• The doe looks only at the environment for the safety of her

nest. She does not “see” the danger of urban or rural

obstacles.

• Young are born over the course of 1-3 hours

• Young are called “kittens”, or “kits”

• Mom has “GPS” – she does not move the kits nor can she find

the nest if it is topigraphically different


• Eastern cottontail

– 2-8 in a litter

– Kits are born altricial –

still embryonic in form, eyes

not fully formed, ears closed

against the head, devoid of

fur, not capable of taking care of themselves making them

totally vulnerable to predators

– Fur starts to appear during the first three days of life



– By 5 days of age, fur has

developed slick to the bodyform

and the ears start to form

away from the body

– By 7 days of age, fur is

well developed and the

ear canals start to open

– Doe stay away from the nest during the daylight hours

returning once or twice during the night to nurse kits


• Eastern Cottontail

– Kits eyes open at 10days of age, but willopen earlier due todehydration or stress/trauma

– Once the kits eyes areopen, they cannot “see”well for several days

– At 2 weeks of age the kits can walk, hop slightly, start exploring the periphery of their nest and nibbling the grasses surrounding the nest



– 2 ½ to 3 weeks of age kits explore

beyond their nest staying together

starting to eating solid natural foods

– 3-4 weeks of age kits can now take

care of themselves, are weaned or

almost weaned and are eating

vegetation comprised mainly of

grasses – native and planted

– 5+ weeks the doe may leave kits and is either already

pregnant (she can conceive immediately after delivery) or

current conditions may preclude conception


• Neonate

– 10 days or less (eyes closed)

• Juvenile

– 10 days – 5 weeks

• Sub-adult

– 5 weeks to 4 months

• Adult

– 4 months + (able to reproduce at this age)

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Why do they Come into Rehab?

• Nest-nabbed

• Hit by car

• Lawnmower

• Weedeater

• Fire ants

• Dog caught

• Cat caught

• Raptor

• Playground nest

• Mom killed

• Natural disasters

• Dangerous

environment

• Undesired “nuisance”

Common Rehab Species

Eastern Cottontail

S. floridanus

Brush Bunnies

Photo courtesy of Pat Katz

S. mansuetus

Brush Bunnies


S. mansuetus

Swamp Rabbits

Photo courtesy of Kelli Sampson

S. aquaticus

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Swamp Rabbits

S. aquaticus

Desert Cottontail

S. audubonii

Marsh Rabbit

S. palustris

Marsh Rabbit

Pygmy Rabbit

B. idahoensis

New England Cottontail

S. transitionalis

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New England Cottontail

S. transitionalis

Black-Tailed Jackrabbits

• Are not rabbits – they are hares. Born

precocial, they are born to run!

Lepus LepusS. floridanusLepus Lepus

Black Tailed Jackrabbits


Lepus Lepus

Tools of the Trade

Tools of the Trade

• Heat source

– Heating pad (not auto-shutoff)

– SnuggleSafe©

– Hood lamp (clamp-on)

– Reptile heating pad

– Incubator (water based or avian)

• Rehydrating solutions (oral)

– Pedialyte (unflavored, plain)

– LRS (Lactated Ringer’s Solution©) or Normosol©

– Electramine©

– Gatorade© (slightly hypertonic)

– 5% dextrose solution

Tools of the Trade• Subcutaneous or IV hydrating solution

– LRS (Lactated Ringer’s Solution© or Normosol©

– Track for bag

• Syringes (Basik© o-ring)

– .05 cc

– 1 cc

– 3 cc

– 5 cc

– 10 cc

– Curved tip syringe for

lavaging wounds

• Catac nipples

• Bulb tip nipples

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Tools of the Trade

• Needles (sterile – for rehydrating subcutaneously)

– 18 gauge for adult cottontails

– 20 – 22 gauge to insulin for smaller mammals

– Butterfly catheter for neonates

• Scale (grams/lbs)

• Work light (so you can see what

you are doing)

• Scalpel blade (to cut nipple)

• Q-tips (to help stimulate neonates)

• Washcloths (to keep the buns where

you want them)

Tools of the Trade

• Gavage tubes (clear or french)

– 3.5

– 5

– 6

• Chlorhexidine (Nolvasan) for disinfecting

feeding utensils and lavaging out wounds

– Mix 1:9 (one part Nolvasan to 9 parts water or

“Smurf blue”

Tools of the Trade• Formula basics

– Fox Valley 32/40

– Fox Valley 42/50

– Zoologic 42/25

– KMR (PetAg)

– Meyenberg Goat Milk(powered)

• Small dishes/lids forlappers and to hold water

• Timothy/orchard/oat/botanical hays

• Containers– Shoeboxes

– Tall sided containers (Sterilite)

– Carriers (clamshell, small cat)

Triage/Stabilization

•Warmth

•Dark

•Fluids

•Drugs

Triage/StabilizationPrioritize and assess quicklyPrioritize and assess quickly

•• WarmthWarmth

•• QuietQuiet

•• DarknessDarkness

•• FluidsFluids

•• Establish a feeling of “safety”Establish a feeling of “safety”

•• Prioritize injuries/hydration/emaciation/other physical statePrioritize injuries/hydration/emaciation/other physical state

•• Assess again after stabilizingAssess again after stabilizing

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Stabilization/Intake

•• Stimulate neonate to 2 week old Stimulate neonate to 2 week old

cottontail noting color and cottontail noting color and

amount of urine.amount of urine.

•• Dark brown urine, sometimes in Dark brown urine, sometimes in

copious amounts, indicates copious amounts, indicates

concentrated urine.concentrated urine.

•• After stimulation, reAfter stimulation, re--examine examine

the holistic picture of the the holistic picture of the

baby/injured cottontail for other baby/injured cottontail for other

signs of trauma and continue signs of trauma and continue

your protocol.your protocol.

Warmth

• Ambient is best

• Essential to maintaining

body core temperature

• Rabbit’s temperature is

101° - 103°Darkness

• Darkness greatly reduces stress

• Place towel or sheet over the container

• Sight barrier

Fluids

• Deliver fluids warm

subcutaneously or

orally

• If delivered cool, it only

serves to reduce the

adrenal’s function to

ramp up core heat

• Hydrates at cellular

level

What Drugs to Use?

• Analgesics

– Metacam (meloxicam)

• 1 drop in 9 drops of water

• NSAID (non-steriodal

anti-inflammatory)

• Head trauma/general

trauma

– Mannitol

• Head trauma

– Banamine

• Pain management

• Antibiotics

– Bactrim

• Dog/cat caught

• Upper respiratory

• Renal infection

• Upon intake when fed

inappropriate formula

– Baytril

• Dog/cat caught

• Bone/eye/mouth

– Injectable penicillin G with

Benzathine

• Dog/cat caught

• Abscesses

• Get as much information aspossible!

• Dog/cat caught?

• lawnmower/weedeater?

• Poisoned?

• How long have they had thebabies?

• What have they been fed?

– How often? Last feeding? Howmuch?

• Were they kept warm?

• What are they housing them in currently?

• Did they try to re-nest?

• Do they know where the nest is?

• Visible wounds? (dogs crush, cats puncture)

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!

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THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!

• Upon intake, are the babies…

– Warm, cool or cold?

• Do not attempt to feed cool or cold babies – you have to, over time, bring their body core temperature back up.

– Assume 3-5% dehydration and rehydrate accordingly

– Eyes open or closed?

– Active? Lethargic?

– Full bellies? Emaciated? Bloated?

– Open wounds/lacerations/degloving injuries?

Creating a Stress-Free

Environment

Hiding places are essential to stress reduction and development of natural instincts

Minimizing Stress

• Minimize stress by:

– Placing indoor caging apart from any predator species

– Having indoor housing in an area free from loud noise or

sounds

– Provide enough space at the appropriate time in the

rabbits’ life to accommodate territorial instincts including

food stress

– Handle with care – while neonates of both species

appreciate human contact, contact should be relegated to

one specific caretaker – YOU!

New England cottontail baby

Handle with Care Minimizing Stress

• Wild rabbits do not transfer well – minimum movement of

their habitat is essential

• Covering the cage/housing with a sheet or towel to create a

“sight barrier is helpful

• Sunlight is essential on

many levels. It facilitates

the correct assimilation of

D3 and calcium and also

aids in digestion

• Keep consistent with your

feeding schedule

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Minimizing Stress

• Provide natural foods immediately including a little soil from

your garden or yard

• THINK like a rabbit – even the sound of an airplane or vacuum

cleaner could trigger a “fight or flight” response in a wild

rabbit

• Keep movement within your

wild rabbit room to a

minimum – do not let the

entire neighborhood in to

see or handle the babies!

Camouflaging is essential to the

development of wild instincts

Keep some of the original nesting material for de-stressing cottontails and helping

them adjust to their new environment

Substitute female domestic rabbit fur if nest fur is contaminated

Housing and Enrichment

• Chose a container that fits the size of the rabbit.

Neonates adjust better in a smaller space (think of their

nest size)

• Think “ambient warmth” – the nest temperature is at

least 101 degrees

• Do not overcrowd – Nature hates a crowd and cottontails

will die from overcrowding

• Try to keep litters together

• Try to not combine litters unless necessary


• Provide natural elements

• Mimic nest

• Dirt substrates

– Conducts heat

– Provides microbes

– “green” environment – no laundry!

• Use some of the nesting materials if possible

• MUST use heat!

• Get them outside under dappled sunlight if possible

• Ott light is full spectrum light


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Outdoor Environment Roughing it

Formulas and Diets Formulas and Diets

• Rabbits are born with sterile gut

• Ph is high at 12 reducing to 0 by 10-12 days old

• Gut is florinated by ingestion of doe’s

cecotropes and soil/grasses in and around nest

• Digestion occurs over a 12 hours time period

• Heat is needed to properly digest

Formulas and Diets

What is Milk Oil?

• Antimicrobial fatty acid present in the nursing

rabbit

• Produced by an enzymatic reaction in the

doe’s milk that takes place in the baby’s

stomach (Brooks 1997).

• Controls the GI tract and protects them from

enteric infections.

Formulas and Diets

• Weigh each cottontail daily up until 3+ weeks of age

• Note if the cottontail was fed another formula, how much and

how often.

– Flush system by either tubing an oral electrolyte solution or

by nipple for at least a few hours until urine is clear and baby

is hydrated

– Start with a 4:1 for 1-2 feedings and increase until at full

strength by the second day.

– Cottontails need calories!!

– Formula is heated to 100-103 degrees

• Do not microwave already constituted formula

• Hot water bath or place in mini crock pot to warm

gradually

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Formulas and Diets

• How to mix the formula

– Heat fluid base to 100° or “hot chocolate warm”

in a hot water bath (preferably on the stove)

– Add ingredients

– Whisk or shake well until mixed

– Let set until bubbles/lumps resolve

– Keep warm in a potpourri warmer or small crock

pot set on medium heat

– Try not to reuse – mix fresh each feeding if

possible

Kelli’s Formula

3:1 ratio - feed 2-3 times per day 10% body weight

• 1 tbls. KMR or PetAg 42/25

• 3 tbls. boiled, spring or filtered water

• Chlorophyll - 2-4 drops

• Bovine colostrum (25% IgG) - 1 capsule

• Vibra Gest (vegetarian supplement/digestive aid)

– 1 capsule

• Flax Oil (omega 3’s & fats) 1-3 drops

– cold pressed – keep refrigerated

• L-glutamine (amino acid) - sprinkle

• Primal Defense Probiotics (banana flavor) - 1/8 tsp.

Rhonda’s Formula

• Eyes closed:

– 1 tsp Fox Valley 42/50

– 1/8 ish tsp Probios

– 1 Bioplasma Tablet

– 1 drop Propolis Extract

– 10-15 cc filtered Water or

ElectroStat

– (If on antibiotics, add a dash

of Biosponge)

• Eyes Open:

– 1 tsp Fox Valley 42/50

– 1/3 tsp Ultraboost

– 1 tablet Bioplasma

– 1 drop Propolis Extract

– 1/4inch NutriStat

– 1/8 tsp Critical Care (fine

grind)

– 1/8 tsp Probios

– 15 cc filtered Water or

ElectroStat

– (If on antibiotics, add a dash

of Biosponge)

Rhonda’s Formula

• Weaning/Lapping:– 1 tsp Fox Valley 42/50

– 1/3 tsp Ultraboost

– 1 tablet Bioplasma (optional)

– 1 drop Propolis Extract (optional)

– 1/2 inch NutriStat

– 1/8 tsp Critical Care (regular grind)

– 1/8 tsp Probios

– 1/8 tsp Exotic Performance

– 20-25 cc filtered Water or ElectroStat

• A fresh dish/bowl of water and a fresh dish/bowl of ElectroStat are available at all times after eyes open and are stable.

Diana’s Formula

• Fox Valley 32/40 or 42/50

• Ozarka spring water

• Sprinkle of Caprylic acid (comes in capsule

form)

• Glutamine (sprinkle)

• 1/8 tsp. Probios

• 1-3 drops cholorphyll

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What I Add

• Caprylic Acid

• Glutamine

• Prozyme

• Caprylic Acid

• Chlorophyll

• Probiotics (any one orcombination of these)

– Probios

– FV A/L 200 (mammal) - microencapsulated

– Primal Defense

What I Add

• Caprylic Acid (through weaning)

– “sprinkle” per serving added

when formula is mixed and

ready to use

• Caprylic acid is the common name

for the eight-carbon straight chain

fatty acid known by the

systematic name octanoic acid

• Found naturally in coconuts and

breast milk.

• Also used in the treatment of some bacterial infections.

• Due to its relatively short chain length it has no difficulty in penetrating fatty cell wall membranes, hence its effectiveness in combating certain lipid-coated bacteria, such as:

– Staphylococcus aureus

– Variousspecies ofStreptococcus.

What I Add

• Glutamine can be converted to glutamic acid, which is both a

precursor to the important inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA

(gamma amino butyric acid) and an excitatory

neurotransmitter in its own right.

• Glutamine transports ammonia, the toxic metabolic by-

product of protein breakdown, to the liver, where it is

converted into less toxic urea and then excreted by the

kidneys.

• Can convert into alanine, an amino acid that the liver

converts into glucose.

What I Add

• ProZyme© is uniquely

bio-engineered to

survive the stomach’s

acids and works to

release nutrients where

metabolic absorption

take place — in the

small intestine.

Why We Do That

• Mom feeds babies 30% of their body weight

• When? 1-2 times per day dusk/dawn

• We feed a formula foreign to their GI tracts -

therefore we should:

– Feed small amounts often

– 5-10% per feeding 3x’s per day = 30%

Research

• Colibacillosis represents a major cause of diarrhea in young rabbits

• Rabbit milk treated with lipase significantly decreased the number of viable cells in cultures of Escherichia coli

• Raw milk without lipase decreased the number of E. coli only marginally

• Seven days after inoculation, caprylic acid at 5 g/kg feed and triacylglycerols of caprylic and capric acid at 10 g/kg feed decreased faecal output of E. coli.

• It can be concluded that (i) lipids rather than proteins seem to be responsible for the antimicrobial activity of rabbit milk; and (ii) this activity was lipase-dependent. Caprylic acid or oils with a high concentration of it may be used as feed supplements for weanlings.

Excerpt from Inhibitory Activity of Rabbit Milk and Medium-Chain Fatty Acids

Against Enteropathogenic Escherichia Coli 0128 – 9th World Rabbit Congress

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What Soy Does

• Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually

increase the body's requirement for B12.

• Soy foods increase the body's requirement for vitamin D.

• Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature

processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable

protein.

• Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and

may cause pancreatic disorders.

• In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused

stunted growth.

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html

Feeding Chart

Weanling Diet Weanling Diet

• Natural foods

– Grass (some with roots/dirt still attached) – 99%

of their diet

– Dandelions

– Henbit

– Chickweed

– Other weeds

– Johnson grass or other broad leaf grasses not as

tasty

Weanling Diet

• Can sprinkle Critical Care onto grass/greens/formula

• Good quality non-grain rabbit pellets

– Oxbow

– Mazuri

– Peter’s

– Manna Pro

• Leaves from trees/bushes (no glossy leaf)

• Spring mix (refrigerator greens)

• Jar lid or shallow dish of formula

Tube Feeding

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Tube Feeding

• Not for the faint-hearted

• Necessary for debilitated/dehydrated orphans

• 30 second ordeal vs. 15 minute fight

• Delivers:

– nutrition

– liquids

– electrolytes quickly

Catheters

• 2.8 clear pediatric neonate

• 3.5 clear or french (use for eyes closed)

• 5.0 clear or french (use for eyes open)

• NeoChild – 3.5 and 5.0 silicone

• Mila – 3.5 and 5.0 silicone (bottom hole)

www.neochild.com www.squirrelsandmore.com

Look ma! I got MILK!

Release

Selecting an

Appropriate Release Site

• Edge dwellers – live on the “verve”

• Brambles/briars/hedgerows

• Open grasslands nearby

– Rabbits eat when

the dewpoint is at

it’s highest – dusk

and dawn

Pre-release Protocol

• Always consider the weather

and time of year

• Release where others of the

same species exist

• Consider predation – urban or

rural. Release where they

have a fighting chance!

• Everything is a predator to a

cottontail – except perhaps a

butterfly.

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When to Release

• Release when they are the most active – dusk or dawn.

“Did you say today?”“Did you say today?”

Letting Go

It is one of the rehabilitator’s greatest responsibilities to

know when to let “go” or euthanize an animal

whether it is upon intake or further into the

rehabilitation process. One of the hardest of decisions

to make, we must at all times remember that it is

indeed one of our greatest gifts to set them free from

pain and suffering.

Knowing When to be a Hero

• Try to have a mentor with you if you are unsure of your decisions – sometimes even our veterinarians just do not know enough about wildlife to recognize symptoms that equate to either further suffering or a nonreleasable animal.

• The decision is NEVER easy, and yet sometimes obvious. Let your head and heart meld and be guided by that intuition when a decision of life or death needs to be made.

JOIN WILDBUNS!

Email us at [email protected]

www.rescuedrabbits.org

www.facebook.com/wildrescueinc

BIBLIOGRAPHY1. The Encyclopedia of Mammals; An Andromeda Book, planned and produced by

Andromeda Oxford Limited, 11-13 The Vineyard, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 3PX

United Kingdom. www.amdromeda.co.uk, ISBN 0-7607-1969-1.

2. Brown, Harcourt, Frances, Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Reed Educational and

Professional Publishing Ltd 2002, Butterworth-Heinemann, Linacre House, Jordan Hill,

Oxford OX2 8DP, 225 Wildwood Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801-2041, ISBN 0-7506-4002-2,www.bh.com/veterinary.

3. Marcum, Debbie, Rehabilitation of North American Wild Mammals Feeding and

Nutrition; Copyright © 1997 by Debbie Marcum pages 40, 41, 42 and 43.

4. Miller, E.A., editor. 2000. Minimum Standards for Wildlife Rehabilitation, 3rd edition.

National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, St. Cloud, MN. 77 pages.

5. Fox Valley Animal Nutrition, Inc., Truitt, Jane, and Vlamis, Nick; P.O. Box 146 Lake

Zurich, IL 60047, (800) 679-4666 Day One

6. The Mammals of Texas – Online Edition; Black-tailed Jackrabbit

7. Nature & The Environment; Texas Parks & Wildlife; Black-tailed Jackrabbit.

8. Ballenger, Liz; The University of Michigan – Museum of Zoology; Black-tailed Jackrabbit,

The Animal Diversity Web.

9. Orr, Diana, Rehabilitation and Release of the Eastern Cottontail, Copyright 2000.

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