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FORUM HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Help: Bunny sick on holiday weekend

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    • ruskabuns
      Participant
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        So the worst has happened – on the new years holiday period my bunny has gotten sick. Here are the symptoms. It looks like an ear infection.

        Lack of appetite, but still eating occasionally when encouraged. Not a lot of poop today or water sips.

        Itching her ear and flicking her head.

        Drifting very slightly but repetitively to one side and twitching back. Seems confused/dizzy. (tilting/rolling)

        Have given a small dose of painkiller and some gas drops, but I dont think this is stasis as i’ve dealt with it before. She still moves around a lot and lies down comfortably with her legs out.
        Vets arent open til tuesday, and we have no idea what to do about this. 

        Please, any advice appreciated on how to treat this from home til then… We have some metacam (meloxidyl), gas drops and some other medication from the vet that we have left over in pill form (Famosan and Degan).

        Thanks so much from us and Pumpkin


      • Bam
        Moderator
        17035 posts Send Private Message

          It sounds like an ear infection. She will need antibiotics for that, so until you can get to a vet, supportive care is what you can do. Metacam is fine, gas drops won’t harm. Keep her warm and if she doesn’t eat enough on her own, you’ll need to syringe feed her pellet mash or CC.


        • ruskabuns
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          35 posts Send Private Message

            Thanks bam, we will do that. I think I found a vet that is open tomorrow after all, we will try them first thing in the morning. 


          • Bam
            Moderator
            17035 posts Send Private Message

              I missed the part about Famosan and Degan. Degan is fine, it’s metoclopramide, a very good gut motility drug. Famosan is also fine, it’s a PPI meaning it helps against too much stomach acid. It can be given with Metacam to protect the tummy, because Metacam can be hard on the stomach lining, My Bam was prescribed a similar drug (ranitidine, Zantac) to take together with Metacam.
              ETA: Pumpkin is beautiful!


            • ruskabuns
              Participant
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                Update: Vet says it is likely to be EC – she had an x ray with nothing showing in the ears, but we now wait for bloodwork results. She is tilted badly and rolls quite often. We hand feed her most of the time, and have to syringe water to her. Do you have advice for the following questions?

                What do you do when a bunny is rolling? She falls onto her side, panics and can’t get herself up, it is very scary and we don’t want to hurt her.

                She has poop stuck to her bottom because she is sitting in it and cant seem to get down to clean herself like usual. How should we go about cleaning this? Picking her up makes her really panicked, so i’m wondering if there is a good way to do this.

                Thanks so much


              • Dee
                Participant
                704 posts Send Private Message

                  Many vets will give Panacur, which is a med for EC, AND an antibiotic like Baytril, in case it’s an ear infection, to try to treat the head tilt BEFORE any bloodwork/test results are back. You would also want to give Benebac, a probiotic, to protect against bad bacteria in the gut from the antibtiocs, and Metacam to reduce inflammation. It concerns me that the vet hasn’t given you any meds while you wait for test results, especially since Pumpkin has progressed to rolling. To protect her, keep her confined to a small place, and put rolled up towels on either side of her. If she can’t eat, you can syringe feed her Critical Care, a powder recovery food that you mix with water and make into a slurry.

                  I would definitely push for meds instead of waiting for bloodwork. Every day with no treatment matters- with treatment, your Pumpkin can make a great recovery. Please keep us posted! I hope Pumpkin gets on meds and starts getting better very soon!

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              FORUM HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Help: Bunny sick on holiday weekend