My mom's cat brought in a baby bunny tonight, its little eyes are open and his ears are up, he has a full coat of fur. he is really very small though.

He has no visible wounds and he is active and alert, he doesnt seem to be in shock as far as I can tell.

Does anyone here know if we need to call a wildlife rehab or if he can just be let go in the morning?

It is supposed to rain all night and be cold so it seems it would be best to wait until morning no matter what.
Right now he is in a box with a towel and some greens and seems ok.

Sounds like about the age where the mother has left the young ones to go out on their own.

Handle it as little as possible. Handling stresses them alot. Let it go in the morning. With any luck, it will survive.

However, life is pretty rough when you fill in the bottom of the food chain.

I found a nest in the back yard a few years ago. It had four young ones in it. They scattered immediately to the compass points. Unfortunately Chance & Dallas were out in the yard with me. Chance nailed one, Dallas picked one up and started to carry it. One headed north to the gap under neighbor's fence where Kerri, the neighbor's Akita, got an unexpected snack. I think the one that headed west made it for that day.

I took one away from Dallas but it quickly died from shock. Chance gave me that look and growl, so he got to keep his. Pretty much swallowed it whole. Kerri finished her's off pretty quickly too.

Guess that's why they breed like rabbits.

If it doesn't have a white spot on it's head or a tiny fleck of one, then it's ready to be out and about. Ones in the nest have white spots on their heads.

You'd be surprised how little they are when they first venture out.

Since it was brought home, it'd be hard to tell where it came from so you could release it and it's far from it's mother. Probably best to see what the rehabber thinks.

White spots? You're mistaking rabbits for deer. At 2 weeks old just like dogs and kittens the little varmints eyes open. Usually by 3-4 weeks they're nibbling solids and by 6-8 weeks the little buggars are on their own.

http://www.2ndchance.info/bunnies.htm

Call the place in the morning. Rabbits only feed their babies a couple times a day at most.

I made a mistake of raising a baby squirrel that fell from the nest, got the baby formula and all, once he got big enough I turned him loose in the back yard. He keep sneaking back into the house. We let him roam at large and put some food out for him and hoped he would figure it out. Unfortunately while I was talking to him while he was on a branch a hawk swooped down and got him. I don't think there was anyway I could of taught him not to linger on branches for too long or to keep an eye out for predators

 Quote: melissa thom

White spots? You're mistaking rabbits for deer.

I think Heather might be talking about white spots like THIS:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33795483@N00/3970301121/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33795483@N00/3970301169/in/photostream

Oscar discovered a nest on a hillside this summer - he literally stepped on it and the ground squeaked . A few paw strokes and four little ones tumbled out - luckily (to me anyway) I was able to pull him off before he realized what he had and put him in a sit stay a few feet away while I investigated. They were SOOO tiny... eyes not open yet, very fragile little things. I snapped those few lousy pictures with my iphone while Oscar whined and trembled out of frustration behind me.

I do remember being surprised by those white spots - each baby had one on the top of it's head... I tucked them all back in and checked on them every day after that (all you had to do was hold your hand over the grass covered dug out and you could feel their warm little bun bun bodies in there) until, a few weeks later, they had left the nest.

This one sounds like he might very well be on his own... I'd probably try to release him as far away from known predators (house pets) as possible. As Charlie wisely noted - there is a reason they "breed like rabbits"...

~Natalya

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/living/living_with_cottontails.htm

It's amazing what the internet has on it. No wonder I'm lost...

The cottontails here have no white spots on their head... just the normal chestnut color with a white belly.

Just an FYI it is much more mature looking than the babies in those pictures. He looks like a normal bunny just a little bitty one.

Which makes me think he is probably out on his own, or very close to it and will be ok if she releases him,
As long as a dog or a fox or a cat doesn't catch him again!

Do you have any pics Jen?

I did take some, Ill put some links up later.

He did fine overnight, she talked to some people and is going to go let him go in a big walled in cemetary this afternoon.

He has eaten three or four times and was happily munching away on some lettuce when I took Tyler by to see it this afternoon.