Happy Birthday Blossom's Babies!

On November 19th, 2008- exactly one year ago- we got a frantic call from a shelter who had taken in what they thought was a HUGE male Flemish Giant. The poor rabbit had been running the streets of the town for several days. The day after they caught her and brought her into the shelter, she gave birth to 10 babies, one of whom was stillborn! Unequipped to care for even one rabbit, we were faced with the daunting task of rescuing this scared, dehydrated, and malnourished mom and her remaining 9 tiny babies. We named this rabbit Blossom.

Here's a photo of Blossom, after living outdoors and being chased for days, one day after giving birth to 10 tiny Flemish Giant babies.

After committing to the long-term care of Blossom and her babies, it became apparent that we had a serious problem. Blossom was in such horrible health that we weren't sure if she would make it. This also caused a huge issue for her 9 living babies. Without being healthy on her own, Blossom was not able to make milk or nurse her babies. We were afraid for Blossom's health and knew she would have to be separated if we wanted to save her. We knew we had to take matters into our own hands and that we would need to hand-raise her babies if they were to survive.

This is a picture of Blossom's 9 tiny babies (minus the one who passed at birth), just one day after being born.

Luckily, we were connected with a woman who devoted hours of her time every day to bottle-feeding each baby and documenting their feeding and growth. She made it her personal mission to try her best to keep the babies alive and healthy. Unfortunately, baby rabbits do not have a great survival rate without their mother, so we knew there was a big chance we would lose them all. However, their foster mom continued to bottle feed them, stimulate them to go to the bathroom, and kept them warm, just as Blossom would have if she had been able to. Sadly, 4 more babies didn't make it. However, due to all of their foster mom's hard work, 5 of Blossom's babies continued to do well! Eventually their eyes opened and we knew they were in the clear.

Blossom's 5 surviving babies, just weeks old.

Despite having all odds against them, Blossom's babies continued to grow and thrive. In a separate location, Blossom got stronger and stronger and became healthier each day. While they all had a long road ahead of them, at this point we were confident that Blossom and her 5 babies would be survivors! At this point, they began eating solid food and were more active. They loved running around and being together. Finally, at 8 weeks old the babies were ready to find their "forever homes."

Here is the last picture of the 5 babies together, at 8 weeks old- Nicholas, Gingerbread Boy, Maurice, Angelina, & Holly. This was Nicholas' adoption day and the last time all of Blossom's babies were together as a group.

It is a true triumph that Blossom and her 5 babies beat the odds and were able to survive after all they had been through. We feel so lucky to have been part of their journey. Even though all of the babies had gone on to join their new homes, Angelina was recently returned to our rescue and is still looking for her permanent, loving home. These babies are now a adult Flemish Giants! Even after all this time, November 19th, 2009 marks a special day for all of them. They were able to survive with the odds stacked against them and grow into wonderful adult Flemish Giants. While we still have Blossom in our rescue too, we know she will find an amazing, loving home. Happy 1st birthday to all of Blossom's babies...we can't believe it's been a year already!