Today while I was feeding each of the rabbits, I noticed that one of Sky's babies, almost 5 weeks old, was huddled up near the hutch door looking really...off. I opened the door and picked her up, concerned, and found that she is approximately HALF the weight of her siblings, just skin and bones under all that fur. She was totally lethargic and slightly chilled. I was alarmed that I might lose her, so I took her and Sky out, put Sky on her back to try and let the kit nurse, but Sky didn't have anything to give and strongly objected to being treated in such an embarrassing fashion. I put Sky back and tried another doe, but the kit was too weak to move her head and search for a nipple, so I brought her inside and consulted the Dwarf Hotot facebook group. The consensus - electrolytes, plain pumpkin, plain yogurt, and/or Critical Care (a recovery food for herbivores). I checked Pinterest, found a good electrolyte drink recipe, and got the kit to take a few sips out of a thin straw. She was very weak, and kept taking micro-naps, but between being cuddled up to me for warmth and finally getting some nutrients in, she gained a little more life.
I offered her plain canned pumpkin, which she ate a tiny amount of, and then I gave her some plain Greek yogurt - BINGO. She loved it, got downright unladylike in consuming it ;) A little at a time, a tiny feeding at a tie, she gained strength and vitality. Before we went to bed last night, she was much more alert, holding her body temp well, and eating on her own from a dish of mixed Greek yogurt and pumpkin, and drinking from a travel size ball tip bottle filled with the electrolyte drink that I put in her ICU cage.
She did well overnight, continued eating and drinking - and was running laps around her cage this morning! I used our small kitchen scale to weigh her: 6.4 oz. She is noticeably heavier than she was yesterday, and her energy is almost normal. I put in some hay for her, a small pile of food pellets, and some fresh pumpkin and yogurt; she has her own buffet until she's back up to normal weight.
I'm so relieved that she is well on the road to recovery, and I thank everyone on the Dwarf Hotot facebook group for helping to give her the best possible chance to come back strong from her near death experience.