I've decided to try to save the fader, which has been named Miracle because that's what it'll need to survive, against all common sense. Even if it ends up being only a meat animal, at least it will have had a bit more chance to live and perhaps less to suffer.
Most breeders, myself included, agree for the most part that faders are terminal and there's little to nothing that can be done about it. So why did I suddenly find myself researching ways to save faders online? Somehow, the idea that nothing could be done never really did sit right with me, but this kit was the final straw, I suppose.
The first few sites I came across told me what I already knew: there's no way to save a fader. Asking on Facebook yielded the same results. I was told to kill it to prevent future suffering, that it would die anyway.
Then I came across a site in which the owner claimed to have positive results with faders. Finally, some hope! I mixed honey and water along with some probiotics (L. Acidopholis, in this case, a culture found in yogurt although this was a non-dairy formula) and isolated the kit to feed it and give it back to its mother afterword. Normally, I don't advocate feeding animal byproducts to rabbits, but this is an unusual situation with an unusual solution.
To my surprise, the tiny kit sucked and chewed my hand when it had tried the solution! It was trying to nurse! It was hungry, but was just having trouble suckling. I assume the sugar gave it some energy and the water rehydrated it, but I can't be too positive. It even walked more steadily (I had to catch it to keep it from falling off the table when it was first brought inside. It walked across the table later, although it was still rather crouched into itself, poor thing) and opened its eyes on its own for the first time since birth. I will still have to keep feeding it along with its mother three times daily for two more weeks until it is fully able to be weaned, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Unless it starts to show signs of suffering, of course. Then I'll have no choice. It will need to be put down as soon as possible, unfortunately.
My hypothesis is that some kits lose their ability to suckle early, not because they're inferior, but for the same reasons some other animals lose that ability. Perhaps nature is trying to keep only the fittest alive or perhaps it's an evolutionary throwback of a sort, early weaning so the offspring could run from danger as well, but if that's the case, it's not too successful as the kit is weaned before it can cope with eating solid foods.
In any case, there are no guarantees the kit will still be alive in the morning, but now it has a fighting chance. I really believe it wants to live, and I intend to do everything in my power to help it to do so.
