Folks,

Myself and my wife are stumped. Last night, one of the neighborhood kids stopped by our house asking if we knew of any dogs that had puppies. We stated no, and I asked if I could help out. When I got to their yard I found what looked like day-old puppies (at that time I thought). But upon further examination, we concluded that it is some type of rodent due to the teeth. (Picture 6 in the album. I've been living in the city too long, can't remember my country roots <img src="images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />)

There were four of them (one had died at least the day before) and three others were still alive. Being the kind souls we are, we decided to at least give these things a chance to live, although they slowly died off last night even through our attempts to keep them warm and trying to feed them some milk replacers. The kid stated that they had been outside laying on the ground for at least 24 or more hours, so I knew that this may be a fruitless effort.

So my question to the group, what did we try to save? We thought they were squirrels but the tail is too short. Then possibly skunks since it had a whitish stripe on it's head, then again the tail was too short. Praire dog, no not in suburban Kansas City. Woodchuck? Internet searches didn't look like it. Rabbit? But the ears were round-shaped, but could be. We are at a total loss. Can anyone confuse us more, or know what these are?

I set up this Yahoo photo album, due to my ISP's ftp server is down (plus it'll save a little bandwidth here on ETS).

Yahoo Photos - Critter

--Chris

From the pictures I´d say rabbits.

Based on picture number three I have to agree. I got a surprise litter after buying a rabbit a few years ago and that's what they looked like after a few days. Domestic rabbits are almost all pink when born. I don't know if this applies to all breeds though.

If these guys were not in a nest they may have been a second litter. A female rabbit can become pregnant again within a few days of giving birth. If she already has an established litter at the time, the second will be abandoned.


Chris

Wild rabbits and some dark domestic breeds often have dark skin.
As a matter of fact rabbits can become pregnant again while still pregnant (superfoetation). Thus the proverbial reproduction rate.

Elmer Fudd Mode On:

Wooks like a crop of Wascally Wabbits...huh huh huh huh huh

Elmer Fudd Mode Off

:-)

David

OK, I guess I'll have to call these rabbits. I've seen baby rabbits in the past, and these just didn't quite look right when I found them. But looking over the pictures again, it starts looking more and more like a rabbit.

I need to get out of the city, and back to the country. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

--Chris

A good idea is to find a Wildlife Rehabilitation Specialist in your area and keep that number on hand for similar future occasions. They will usually take the animal under their care for free and release them back into the wild after treatment. You may be able to find one in your area on this site: Wildlife Rehab Locator or contact your local Fish & Game Division and see if they know of one in your area.