Rabbits are the hardest mammal to care for, well for me any ways. They are sensitive creatures to sound, light, smell and movement. If they get scared they have heart attacks from the fear. Cat saliva will kill them as well and so many of these little guys are discovered by cat owners who caught them with them, so it’s like they are doomed before I get them. Rabbits are herbivores.
Baby rabbits can survive on kitten milk. With all babies you need to make sure they are warm and hydrated before feeding them straight milk. Just like human babies need milk heated up to room temp, so do wildlife babies prior to feeding. All babies should be fed every 2-3 hours, depending on age and size. Do not over feed. I always keep a couple of fingers softly on the bellies of babies; you can feel it grow with the milk you are providing it, so monitor the amount with touch. I will include a recipe feeding page that rehabbers around the U.S.A. utilize and have success with. Many of these links will give you specific amounts to feed, but I personally judge each creature individually, but this might help you with your work and learning process.
Adult Rabbits
Adult rabbits are even more easily scared, so you need to gently and quickly review its whole body for any and all wounds. If it is seriously injured, you need to get to your vet ASAP. Rabbits can go into shock quickly. If the injuries are serious but somewhat minor, then you want to clean and put either a triple antibiotic ointment, gentian violent or some other great med, such as silvadeen , which if it’s ingested by licking it won’t harm most animals and it can still be beneficial to preventing a severe infection.
Rabbits need a dark, warm/cool quiet environment to heal. They live in burrows in the ground, which regulates the temperature to where it’s not to hot or cold- for us we’d say t-shirt weather temperature. You don’t want to disturb it very much, but you do want to provide it with fresh food and water at least twice a day and make sure its environment is clean. I keep hay for rabbits so I can easily dispose of and refresh their bedding.
Rabbits are herbivores and their natural foods are all around you outside. Fresh dandelions; stalks, stems, flowers & leaves are a favorite for rabbits. They get the majority of their water from the morning dew off of plants and grass, but you may need to create or purchase a bottle waterer. If you don’t want to go collecting wild food for the wild rabbit you can feed it romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, broccoli, cauliflower and etc. Be careful with providing to much natural sugars to any sick or injured wildlife.
Remember, once you got the wild rabbit healthy enough to release, do so in a safe zone- no hunting but has natural food and a water source.