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A friend of mine called me very stressed today, because she became an owner of two rabbits that were given as a present for her children. The grandparents bought them from another farmer in this village and she could not deny it. As you could see: she is totally new in having rabbits...

They are 5 weeks old, both male and the farmer told "to buy some cat milk for them".

After our talk she is now more sad than before, because she now knows that they are way too young to be separated from their mother.

Because I know feeding (and changes in feeding) are a large risk for rabbits, my question:

What to feed 5 week old rabbits?

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    I know Guinea pigs can eat grass the day they are born . It seems likely the rabbits could eat grass and other greens.
    – blacksmith37
    Commented Sep 18, 2020 at 15:32
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    Also share the pets.stackexchange.com/questions/11064/… Given the already low quality of info from the farmer, there is almost no chance both rabbits are male.
    – James Jenkins
    Commented Sep 18, 2020 at 16:33
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    @JamesJenkins Yes ... this I think too. I proposed her to see a vet in a week, when the little ones are more relaxed to the circumstances. She send me a video, they both look awake and clean, so I hope they will be strong little fighter.
    – Allerleirauh
    Commented Sep 18, 2020 at 16:49
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    @lila, thank you for the junior tag! I have searched for "baby", "child" and "young" but junior was not in my mind
    – Allerleirauh
    Commented Sep 18, 2020 at 16:50
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    @blacksmith37 they get water, hay and dandelion so far, more hay, because she do not know if they have got fresh greens before.
    – Allerleirauh
    Commented Sep 18, 2020 at 16:52

1 Answer 1

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You should feed them the same as you would feed to adult rabbits:

Source 1 Source 2

If you were to feed formula, according to rabbit.org, cat formula is actually recommended. There's also rabbit formula available, according to source 1. You can order it online or buy from a veterinarian or a larger pet shop.

Make sure to always offer them a variety of stuff, so they can choose whatever they like to eat.

According to The rabbit house, it's important to stay consistent. So ask the farmer what they and their mother got, before they've been given to you. If their mother already got vegetables and/or fruits, they can get those as well. If not, introduce new foods slowly to them.

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    for poisonous plants I suggest you to look on the kaninchenwiese.de sites. They hold more detail and how I experiented it, the rabbits do not eat poisonous plant if they get enough other stuff to eat. Even uf it is not enough, they will eat bare grass before they start to eat poisonous plants. (There are aproxx.15-20 high toxic plants which are really a risk, because the test-bite would kill)
    – Allerleirauh
    Commented Sep 24, 2020 at 19:10

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