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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 2sd replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 8 months ago by Bam.

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- 11/22/2015 at 4:06 AM
  BoogsOwnsRay
  Participant
  1 posts
  Hello all! I’ve been sneaking around the BinkyBunny website many a times to help with my rabbit, Boogum. You’re all very knowledgeable and helps to ease my worries when I don’t have access to my vet.
  
  Boogum is having another bought of having his gut not feeling so hot. We have been through a barrage of tests with his vet and we suspected it was him not drinking enough water so, we stated putting a low amount of fruit juice in his water and he drinks it just fine.
  
  For this particular time, we think we gave him too much carrot in addition to his juice, and he is going through an incredibly heavy molting right now. We noticed he stopped eating at about 9pm and was doing the uncomfortable bunny sit. I’ve given him some pain meds that the vet prescribed (buprex) at around 9:30pm and then a syringe feeding of critical care at 11pm of 7 mls. He passed a few pellets and ate a little bit of hay and seemed like he was doing better(after the stompings and the looking at me from over his shoulders. He can hate me all he wants, I was so happy he was doing better)
  
  Well, I woke back up at 4:30am to find that his appetite had since gone away and he wasn’t eating again. Now, he is a 9 lb rabbit(he used to be 11 lbs but, he gets only fresh veggies and hay now) and according to the critical care website, he can be given around 20-22 ml for his weight(he’s 4.1kg).
  
  http://oxbowaustralia.com/critical-care%E2%84%A2-information-for-pet-owners/
  
  We gave him 20 mls, slowly, slowly, and then another 2 mls of water(most of it dripped out). He did pass a few more pellets while we were syringe feeding him. The worry I have is, was this too much? If he has gas in his stomach, is his stomach going to be too full and then he a.) aspirates or b.) becomes more in pain??? I’m a basket case because I don’t want to hurt the little guy…
  
  My vet is currently closed and I don’t have a rabbit savy vet hospital near me at this moment.
  
  Dear Lord, I am so worried!
- 11/22/2015 at 5:43 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17044 posts
  The CC dose you gave might have been a bit more than he should’ve had, a bunny of his size should get about 24 cc per day, divided up into 4 or 5 meals. But you can’t make a bunny vomit (and you should never try), so there’s nothing really you can do about it at home. How does his tummy feel? Is it distended? Is it tender to the touch? Can you massage it ever so lightly? If the belly is distended and tender (he cries out when you touch it or acts like he’s in severe pain), he definitely needs a vet immediately.
  
  Here is a youtube video on bunny tummy massage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnuxGLa2reg Massaging helps gas escape, if there is gas.
  
  Could you get some ranitidin? (that’s the name of the substance, I don’t know any Australian brand names, here
  it’s called Rani-Q or Zantac). It’s OTC and meant for human consumption, but it’s bunny safe and in bunnies it helps increase gut motility. I give my bun 1/10 of a human pill, crushed between 2 blades of spoons and mixed with water. My bun is 3 kg.
  
  On the other hand if he has a blockage, food and ranitidine would be bad. But it’s really very difficult to say without an X-ray of the gut, and you’ve given him food already and slowing of the gut is more common than blockage.
  
  See to it that he keeps warm, sick bunnies tend to go hypothermic and that’s dangerous and slows the gut further. Pain killers also lowers body temp.
- 11/23/2015 at 5:37 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17044 posts
  Oh dear, I just realized I miscalculated the dosage yesterday. 20 ml is NOT to much. He should have 120 mls per day, divided into 4 or 5 meals. I stupidly counted a table-spoon as one ml, but it isn’t, it’s 5 mls. That means 20 mls is a perfect portion size.
  
  I’m so sorry. I hope you’ve kept feeding him. I hope he’s better now. Please report back.
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