My dog brought home an extremely injured Hare. I need suggestions.?

Question

Today while doing my daily feeding out in the barn I noticed my dog had something. As I got closer I relized it was a Baby Hare. I then got it away from her immediatly setting it aside for me to find some gloves. After I had gloves I checked her over for any damage. I found some severe wounds:

Ear(Least of my Worrys): http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u47/Mustang34_album/BabyBunnyInjuries001.jpg

Back Right Leg: http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u47/Mustang34_album/BabyBunnyInjuries004.jpg

Right side(Near Chest): http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u47/Mustang34_album/BabyBunnyInjuries002.jpg

Left side(Near Hip): http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u47/Mustang34_album/BabyBunnyInjuries003.jpg

None of the injuries are all the way through all skin layers. However I am still questioning if I should try to nurse it a long or if I should just have it put out of it's misery. What would be best for it? I truely feel bad for it and want to do whatever I can to help it. Any Ideas?

Answer 1

it may sound very weird, but a dressing with honey works great on anything that's getting infected.. If you see no signs of infection, then I would bather the area with saline solution to speed up the healing..

remember that this baby may die of shock in any event.. it's devastating, even with a small animal to have hours of nursing fail, but judging by the wounds, and the mental stress that the hare will have gone through, I'd say at best you have a 20% chance of successfully making it through the next week.

I'm certain you know animals well, but as a reminder, this one is not a pet... when you are not actually nursing the hare, it needs to be kept as quiet, and unstressed as possible...

As with the answer above, if you give the hare too much attention/affection, it will loose it's fear of humans, but that's not to say that (like a 2 month old foal for instance) it will forever rely on you to teach it about the world.. Rabbits, mice and indeed most smaller prey animals are 99% instinct, and mom doesn't actually have the task of showing the baby what an eagle looks like... I'll bet everything, that if you nurse it back to health, and release it in the area where there are other hares, it's likely to "buddy up" with a family, who will help protect it...

I would dearly love to have the phone number of your local vet, and make him explain why he doesn't wish to treat wild animals, presumably it's because they usually don't carry a check book! Fortunately, there are still a few folks out there who bother to care for those less fortunate than themselves,

and I'm pleased to hear that you are one of them...

Good luck!!

Answer 2

well, don't keep it unless you want a pet hare, because it won't be afraid of humans

even if you do nurse it back to health

you better not set it back in the wild either

it needed its mother to show it how to look for food, avoid predators, ect. and since it doesn't have that knowledge it wont last long

i suggest you just turn it over to animal services.

Answer 3

It would probably be best to just put it out of its misery.

Its injuries are probably treatable, but trying to domesticate a wild animal is almost never a good idea, even if only to set it free later.

Answer 4

Honestly put neosporin on the wounds and they will probably all heal. Just give it your best shot at nursing it. As long as you have the capabilities of keeping it save til it is healed and the food to feed a baby then it will probably make it. I have seen some animals come back from the brink of death many times.

Answer 5

take it to a vet, seriously!