Desert Cottontail 14 Days Old [Rehabilitation] 

This little one appeared on my doorstep injured at approximately 5 days old. Eyes were closed, fur was fairly dark and a sibling nearby was dead. Normally it is best to leave babies alone, or re-nest. I could not locate a nest and we live at 6,600 feet elevation and a storm was blowing in, so under the guidance of two professional rehabilitators, I nursed this little cottontail. It is extremely difficult and the survival rate with a surrogate human is very low. These are very delicate creatures that require special formulation and typically do not survive without the mother's milk that changes during nursing to develop the digestive culture within the young. This video is made 8 days after finding him/her and I estimate the age to be 13 days old. It had just lightly snowed outside, so I let him/her exercise inside. I hope that it thrives and survives the next 2 weeks until I transition it back to its natural habitat. This bunny was on a special hand fed diet under the guidance of a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. The hay was just there for him/her to smell, not to eat. The bunny was fed 10% of its body weight in cc's the following mixture: 50% Zoologic® Milk Matrix 33/40 and 50% Zoologic Milk Matrix 30/52 and it was weighed 2 x per day. Milk Matrix 33/40 www.petag.com/... Milk Matrix 30/52 www.zoovat.com/... weight chart: onedrive.live....