Amoxocillin to my bunny please help !!!

[meobunny]

Hello dear friends. I have taken my beautiful beloved bunny to the vet to check her and he found to have a runny nose. So he gave her an antibiotic and told me to give her orally twice a day in order to eliminate the runny nose. I gave her 3 dosage and after the 3rd the bunny has stopped eating and moving like she usually does. Her tummy was really hard and bloated. I tried to help by giving her a massage like i usually do when she has stomach pains and it seemed that this has helped her and a few moments after the massage she was fine and she started eating, playing and relaxing again. I called the vet and he told me to make a break for 1 day and start giving her again the antibiotic. But i felt that something might be wrong and i didnt continue the dosage. Right now I have just realized that the antibiotic she has taken was amoxicillin. I am in a complete panic attack since there is no vet in my country who knows well about rabbits. Everything i do to take care of my bunny the 5 years that i adopted her and have her(she was a baby when i found her and her past owners abandoned her to a nearby park and let her to die there. I found her hiding scared in the park and i immediately took her in my house. She is everything i have now.)is based on my own searches and of course based on this amazing forum that you have here. I now know that there is nowhere to take her and i am in a suffering mode.4 days have passed since the last 3rd dosage and she is absolutely reacting normal, eating, pooping and have a lot of energy. Please if there is anyone who can advise me on what to do and if my baby is still in danger. I am in shock !!

[LBJ10]

Hi meobunny! Welcome to BB!

As you know, orally administered amoxicillin is a no-no for rabbits. Since your bunny only had 3 doses, I’m hoping that it wasn’t enough to cause any serious problems. It is a good thing you stopped when you saw she was having stomach pains. Amoxicillin, itself, is not what is deadly to rabbits. The problem with amoxicillin is that it kills off all of the good gut bacteria, allowing bad bacteria to take over. This is why there is a delayed reaction, as it takes time for the overgrowth to occur. There are reports of rabbits given amoxicillin not showing symptoms until 10 days later. So I would think if she is OK after 10 days, then she is OK.

I wonder if a probiotic would help? Since Amoxicillin kills the good bacteria, a probiotic may help the remaining good bacteria grow. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[LBJ10]

This is from HRS:

Some antibiotics can adversely affect the intestinal flora, killing beneficial bacterial and allowing resident pathogenic bacteria, once held in check by competition from the normal intestinal inhabitants, to overgrow. If the pathogenic bacteria are of certain strains, they will produce toxins that can kill the rabbit. This two-step process can take as long as 10 days after treatment has ended to manifest its deadly conclusion, which can obscure the original cause of the problem to veterinarians not familiar with rabbits. Your bunny may act normal up to one to two days before a disaster strikes, at which point he or she will develop reduced activity, loss of appetite, watery diarrhea, rapid dehydration, and ultimately can die. Profuse, watery diarrhea (where there are NO normal or even slightly formed stools) in a rabbit is an extreme emergency (link to Medical FAQs on diarrhea) and death can occur in 24 to 48 hours after it first appears.

[Bun-bun mom]

I am so sorry to hear that! Years ago I took a bunny with an inner ear infection to my vet and he gave him antibiotics. The poor thing died a few days later. I then learned that most antibiotics are not well-tolerated by rabbits and that most vets have no clue when it comes to them.. My vet didn’t admit he didn’t know rabbits and I learned that the hard way. PLEASE look for a vet that knows rabbits (it may be an exotic, or specialty, vet, but worth every penny). If there aren’t any in your area, call the closest veterinary school for a reference.

Please do not subject your baby to more antibiotics until you consult with someone who is really an expert.
Good luck and G-d bless.

[meobunny]

Thank you both of you for the immediate reply. The overall dosage of the oral antibiotic was 4.5ml she took 3 dosages of 1.5ml per dosage. Do you believe that it could be enough to kill her? She had serious symptoms of stomach pain and her stomach was bloated 2 hours after the last dosage. I tried several hours to massage her softly, to feed her and help her eat and poop again. After a lot of attempts that day i finally achieved it and she was fine.Now its the 4rth day and she seems completely normal since the day of the pain episode. I am really willing to pay even thousands for my bunny for me she is my baby but unfortunately i know it is sad to admit that in my country the only known vet that has experience with exotic animals and especially rabbits is the one i am taking her and i find it extremely unexcused to give her amoxicillin. I really feel that i will not be able to pass the following days waiting for my bunny to be sick. I wish I never took her for a check up. I feel that i am in total despair!! Do you believe it can be fatal without any symptoms at first ? Is there anything i could do to help her ?? Until now she is completely fine and looks very very happy as usual. Thank you again for your replies from the bottom of my heart

[kurottabun]

If you don’t mind sharing which country and area you’re in, there may be people on here who could help search for or recommend a vet. Although most people here are from the States or the UK, there are people from other countries as well.

Is her nose still runny? I think for now you’ll just have to make sure she’s eating and drinking normally and wait till you pass the 10 day mark. If you can find them, I don’t think there’s harm in trying to administer some bunny probiotics like what LBJ said – that could help balance the gut flora again.

[Bunny House]

Benne bac and florentero are great probiotics to help your baby get her gut flora back in order. I hope your baby doesn’t get sick.

[Wick & Fable]

There is debate on whether probiotics like benebac actually have probiotic effects in rabbits. There’s no harm in giving it as a cautionary measure. At the minimum, they give the rabbit some extra calories to work with as its proteins rebuild.

Most importantly is getting your rabbit back on a healthy diet with lots of hay so the gut flora have a good environment to grow. Also as other users advised, stay away from antibiotics for now. If the runny nose gets worse, we can reopen that can of worms then. How is it doing now?

I’m sorry you went through such an experience. I recommend going to a different vet, and checking what they prescribe online. Safe oral antibiotics which may be used for upper respiratory infections are Bactrim and Baytril. Flocillin is another option, but it is a shot, so I would only recommend that thru an experienced rabbit vet.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Q8bunny]

I know most people would be horrified, but my bunny gets a teaspoon of plain fresh yogurt every morning. And while it may not be related, he has always had a phenomenal digestive system. I, for one, am convinced it helps him. Let us know how the vet search goes and how your little one is doing. In the meantime, for runny nose, see if you can find echinacea (fresh, or dried, or even the inside of echinacea tea packets mushed with some apple sauce or banana). It can really boost their immune systems.

[Sirius&Luna]

Another suggestion to get healthy gut bacteria is to feed them poops from a healthy rabbit. I think this would ideally be cecatropes, but could also be regular dry poops (you have to make a gross paste and syringe feed)! Do you know anyone else with rabbits?

A vet told me this in the past, and I’ve seen it recommended on here before. Has anyone else heard of it? Either way, I don’t think it would do any harm, and has the potential to do good.

[LBJ10]

Jerseygirl reminded me that MediRabbit has an article on this. It is in a different section. Here is the article, they list several things that can be done to help counteract the effects of the bad antibiotic:

http://www.medirabbit.com/Unsafe_medication/Unsafe_treatment.htm

[Bun-bun mom]

Great info! Thanks, LBJ10.

[meobunny]

Hello again and I am very sorry for delaying to reply to all of you. The night of the day that I have written the message my bunny started having bloated stomach and stopped eating, drinking and pooping. I was trying to help her by a little massage and she was feeling a bit better and she started eating and pooping again.Now she looks normal as usual she plays she looks happy and she is eating pooping drinking in her normal ways. I am in such a stress that words cannot describe I wish the 10 days will pass and be sure that everything is ok with my baby. Also a friend of mine that also has a bunny told me that there is a very good vets doctor who is on vacations right now but he is experience to rabbits and he saved her bunny several times. As soon as he will return I will start going there even if he is in a distant town from the one I live in(i live in Paphos, Cyprus and the good vet is in Nicosia). Unfortunately I know none with bunnies in my town and I have none to feed her the cecotropes. I have given her probiotics and I am trying to have her in the best available environment until the new vet will return from vacations in order to be able to take her there. I cannot imagine myself if she will die because of the stupid vet that poisoned her. I cannot believe that I didn’t searched her medicine first and not giving it to her, I had trusted him and I feel also like I am a very bad parent to my bunny. I really hope that she will be fine and healthy and be a part of my life for far more years. There are no words to describe to you how thankful I am for all of your help and your replies!! I will keep you updated and I will follow everything that you told me in as trial to save my baby.I hope everything turns out positive

[jerseygirl]

Im glad you’ve got the name of another vet.
You should not feel bad about not checking the med before giving to her. It’s the vets job to know these things, not the customer.

Just some small things that may help: Can you get hold of some baby gas meds that contain simethicone. Or even the liquid capsules for adults, like De-gas?
It could help ease some discomfort if her gut is producing excess gas.
Do you have access to things like raspberry or blackberry bushes? Or blackthorn (sloe plum / sloe berry). Many rabbits will enjoy the wood and leaves just as a treat, but it’s also excellent fibre and the tannins can help bind harmful toxins in the gut. I think willow could be useful too. It’s something that certainly wont hurt.
I think Questren was mentioned in the article LBJ linked above. It is a type of resin that you can give that binds toxin also. It may be hard to find but it is non-prescription. Activated charcoal is another that does this.

Sending {{{Vibes}}} for your girl.

[Q8bunny]

It’s great that you got the name of a savvy bunny vet. But I am sorry to hear that your little one is still struggling. You did the right thing, though, massaging the belly.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you guys.

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