Vet says my rabbits need a new cage???

[Merlinthegreat]

 

[MoveDiagonally]

I don’t see anything?

[longhairmike]

its a white bunny in a snowstorm,, how can you not see that?

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Posted By longhairmike on 06/24/2013 11:14 AM
its a white bunny in a snowstorm,, how can you not see that?

 

lol

[kcomstoc]

Maybe the title is the message? lol funny LongHairMike

[Merlinthegreat]

Sorry you guys my phone never posted my message !! Well my rabbits are temporarily in a medium sized cage. I just ordered parts to build them a cage out of wire racks but now the vet is saying since they have coccidia (they are being treated with albon) they maybe reinfecting themselves by injesting their stool. The vet said by day five their stool should have gone back to normal but they are still doing mushy poo after the albon, regular poo in the afternoon and I wake up in the morning to a few mushy poos at the bottom of the cage. I clean the cage THREE TIMES A DAY and their litter also. I lay newspaper at the bottom of the cage and I use yesterday’s news unscented litter in ther litter box. They eat mana pro (their breeder used this on them since they started pellets) and they have unlimited hay. But the vet says we need a cage with a metal grate at the bottom. But they don’t seem to be getting better!!! They are running around eating and drinking water their poo is just weird and I also read that albon may cause diarrhea but the vet said it shouldn’t. He specializes in small animals.

[Sarita]

Well rabbits do eat their cecals – that’s what rabbits do and changing the cage is not going to stop them from doing that..makes no sense to me.

[MoveDiagonally]

I agree with Sarita. They’ll still eat their own poop via cecals. Changing to a wire bottom cage won’t really stop them from doing that.

[Beka27]

I’m questioning this vet’s level of expertise… rabbit savvy vets know that wire-bottomed cages are not recommended for rabbits.

[Merlinthegreat]

He said he knows its not what’s best for them because of their feet but to try to temporarily make something to elevate the bunnies from the bottom so that the poo falls through and they have less contact with it. I’m mostly concerned about the mushy poo. Has anyone had any bunnies cured from coccidia wih albon? Is it normal for them to have sticky or “mushy” poo? The vet tested for everything and only found coccidia present in their stool. I’m going tomorrow to pick up another small bottle of albon since they just ran out. They are on day 6 of 10.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I’d get a second opinion.

[Sarita]

Yes, and albon is what is typically used to treat coccidia. If you are talking about cecals then yes, they are sticky/mushy as long as they are formed normally then it shouldn’t be an issue.

But you can ask your vet as well about Ponazuril as well to treat this coccidia…that’s what I would do.

[Merlinthegreat]

It’s not Cecals. They poo like this after I give them their daily dose of albon. They do it from 9am-3pm then they suddenly start to poo normal until late at night. That’s hen the mushy poo starts again.

[Sarita]

Ask your vet about ponazuril…

[Merlinthegreat]

 We are taking them in to a different vet on Saturday 

[Beka27]

Ok, thank you for the clarification! Temporarily is one thing… Your original post made it sound like he wanted them to always be in a drop bottom cage.

Are they ALL having the mushy poo still? Or just one or two of them?

[Merlinthegreat]

It’s only two of them but I think the third one may have started today. I called another vet in the area for a second opinion they are called “south Miami avian and exotics” and they have a small animal vet. She told us to finish off the albon and give us an appointment for Saturday morning. Our current vet is amazing but I don’t think he’s 100% exotic so we are going to go ahead and take them to the new vet.

[Beka27]

It never hurts to get a second opinion and have two rabbit vets you can contact as necessary! Albon is the usual med for Coccidia but ask about the other one Sarita mentioned.

[Sarita]

If you are in Miami, you should contact Dana Krempels with the MIami House Rabbit Society – she is the one that suggests ponazuril and she can put you in touch with a rabbit experienced vet too.

[Sarita]

Here is her website and vet listing:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/vets.html

She is an EXCELLENT resource.

[Merlinthegreat]

hey guys well i called a few vets for extra opinions and all said the same. “Continue Albon until treatment is done. Once it’s done bring them in for a fecal test.” But this morning I woke up, picked up some albon from my vet to finish off the four days left of the treatment. An hour after giving them the Albon I walked in to see borderline diarrhea all over the bottom of the cage. I took the bunnies out and washed their feet in warm water then rang my vet. He said to take them off the Albon and see how they are from now until Saturday. I rang the second vet I had called who had also said to continue the Albon and they said to take them off and bring them in on Saturday which is when we scheduled an appointment. I have three bunnies. Two are Holland Lops (Severus and Sirius) and one is a Netherland Dwarf/ Lion head mix (Albus). I bought Severus and Albus together. We had them for three days and slowly started to introduce the new pellets. We mixed them in small portions so they wouldnt have an upset tummy. Two days after mixing pellets we decided to keep them on the old pellets so we slowly started to ween them back to the old ones (We had only done two days of introducing the new pellets by this time) Then we got Sirius on the fourth day and he never had his diet changed. He is from the same litter as Severus. The day after Severus started doing a few mushy poos. We rang our vet and had a fecal test done thats when the coccidia showed up. After we started the Albon, Albus started doing a few mushy poos also. And Sirius never did any at all. So I think that their diet change may have given them an upset tummy and the Albon may have made it worse. What can I do for them now? Im hoping Saturday they are fully clear from the Coccidia. But what can I give them for their upset tummies? The vet said nothing else showed up in the fecal test. Can their upset tummies be cured?

[Merlinthegreat]

Yesterday I took the bunnies to the new vet. She ran fecal test on all three and said she only saw broken eggs and no parasites or intact eggs. She prescribed some new medication for them and said the two bunnies that have the mushy poo are over producing cetrophes. So she gave us probiotics for them. They are on their second dose of the suspension and their first dose of their probiotics and we woke up to a clean cage for the first time in weeks!!! I have noticed two mushy poos but that’s all for now. We are giving them suspension every 12 hours and benebac every other day. We also had them sexed and two are girls one is a boy we will be getting them fixed as soon as they are ready .

[Beka27]

I’m glad they’re showing some improvement! Keep up with it. Does that vet want to see them again as a followup?

That’s also good they were sexed, but why the frowny face? What sexes did you think they were?

[tanlover14]

Glad you got it covered – just read up on this post and the thought of overproduction of cecals had occured to me as that’s what happened to one of my buns also not that long ago.

No frowny faces on the sexes! Two girls and a boy are wonderful!

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