Eastern cottontail rabbits are a high stress prey species. They are one of the hardest wild animals to rehabilitate. This episode I speak with Laura Davich-Jette a Minnesota based wildlife rehabilitator that specializes in cottontail rabbits. 

Since stress is a real experience for all young cottontail rabbits, everything rehabilitators can do to reduce stress needs to be considered. The episode explores intake exams and how to reduce the rabbit's stress. Laura shares some pro-tips about how to do a thorough exam in under two minutes. 

Gail and Laura go over how to assess hydration and how to alleviate dehydration.  They talk formulas and probiotics and the pros and cons of the different choices. 
The best is saved for last--a talk about urination and defecation! Laura has a technique for encouraging young rabbits to urinate and defecate that you have to hear to believe!

For the last episode in this series, Laura and Gail finish with a talk about raising cottontail rabbits, from weaning to housing to release.  

We end with some audio that offers a glimpse into future episodes!

Special thanks to Partners For Wildlife and The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Our executive producer and host is Gail Buhl. Our producer is Kirk Klocke.

To learn more about The Raptor Center, visit Homepage | The Raptor Center (umn.edu). For more on Partners for Wildlife, visit Partners for Wildlife Home | The Raptor Center (umn.edu).