A few days ago I brought home 7 orphaned satin angora kits. I bought them off my breeder friend who’s rabbitry was recently attacked by a wild animal. She lost most of her rabbits, including the mother of these angoras. I’m now bottle feeding them, just like I did my own babies!
How it Started
I recently learned how to knit and was looking into getting angoras to raise for wool. I had originally planned to buy two angoras, but when my friend offered me this litter I just couldn’t help myself… They needed a momma!
I knew it would be risky, but they are already 2 weeks old so I had hope they’d all survive.
Unfortunately I lost one of the smallest ones this morning. It was sad… I could tell last night that it was struggling, and I knew it probably wouldn’t make it. So today I’ve been sad, but also relieved. It was hard to watch it struggle and not be able to help. It just couldn’t suck on the bottle the way the others do, and I had the hardest time getting milk into it.
The remaining six seem strong, and are all eating their goat milk formula well.
I still worry though… Their poor bellies are so sensitive!
Well, if I can save at least two, I will have gotten my money’s worth and learned a ton in the process. Part of the reason I took them on was so I could learn how to care for orphaned kits if we ever lost a mother doe. Now I know – it’s HARD, but possible.
I think once I’ve got a little more experience with this (aka, if these little guys survive my learning curve) I’ll write a post about what I learned and what worked + what didn’t. I’ve found a couple other posts like that others have shared and they’ve been extremely helpful!
