Giving resistant bun medication

[GandF]

We just adopted to bunnies from someone that could no longer care for them. They were previously pet a lot but rarely let out of their small cage. first, brought them to the vet because George wouldn’t open one of his eyes and the vet found mites. Frannie went crazy while the vet tried to check her. She wouldn’t calm in the burrito hold- she kept fighting it. When she finally calmed down, the vet set her on the table and she jumped off. He told me I would need to come back for help giving her the second dose of meds because i am not comfortable restraining her at this point. Then she developed a respiratory infection so I brought her back and he prescribed meds for two weeks. Obviously I can’t bring her in for every dose of that. I can’t catch her to hold her down for the meds. I can’t get her into a burrito hold. I tried working slowly for a half hour like Mary cotter from the rabbit society suggests. She is frantic. I’m worried I’m going to break her back. We keep them on our 5x15ft tiled lanai. I just chase her from corner to corner and eventually get a small amount in. She is also not eating much if at all so offering it with fruit does no good (it’s already the flavored kind) Does anyone have any suggestions for catching her and keeping her calm. All the YouTube videos I’ve watched demonstrate on relatively calm rabbits.

[Joeythenethie]

I had a very similar experience with my bun when he had a respiratory infection. Figure out what she likes, and use that as a reward for the medicine. My bun goes crazy for pellets and other fruits/vegetables. I dropped the dose onto a lettuce leaf, then rolled it and gave him that. It worked perfectly. If you’re able to get someone else to hold her in the burrito towel and keep her head down, then you could go in there with a syringe. Alternatively, you could dry dripping it onto her breakfast/ routine meals.

[tobyluv]

It would also be helpful if you could keep her in a smaller space while she is on medication, so that you wouldn’t have to chase her around so much. It can be frightening to rabbits to be chased, plus it’s frustrating for you. Could you keep them in an x-pen for the next couple of weeks? I assume that George and Frannie and neutered and spayed, since it sounds like they live together.

[vanessa]

Yikes. Sounds like my Morgana. I have had her for going on 4 years now – and I still can’t pick her up. I have to corner her and trap her in a cat carrier. Then I take off the top of the carrier and bundle her up in a towel. But I have to make sure to keep her feet contained or she will fight and scratch like you describe. Still – I need to hold her on her back. As long as she is upright – she is a devil bunny. Once she is on her back, she calms down slightly – but then she tucks her head in the burrito, like a tortoise. So I just have to be super quick about getting her head in position for a syringe, and getting it done quickly. She isn’t a treat fan. Lancelot loves fruit – so I dont’ use a syringe with him. I put his meds in s smal dish and mash a tablespoon of banana into the mix. Guin prefers strawberries, so I mash half of a strawberry in with her meds. Avalon and Morgana aren’t big on fruit or sugary treats, which si great for their diet! They do like apples – so if I had to give them meds again, I would do the same with a pulverized piece of apple. Perhaps try to find which fruit/veggie your rabbit likes best, then try mashign it and see if they still like it, then try adding meds. Sometimes I mix Lancelot’s meds in with a small amount of apple juice. It sounds difficult with a rabbit that is not yet used to you, and not used to being handled.

[GandF]

Frannie is not spayed but George is neutered. We just adopted them less than two weeks ago. I planned to get frannie spayed but I can’t while she’s sick. I live on the big island and have called around looking for rabbit savvy vets. So far I haven’t found one that I would really trust. Most won’t even see rabbits. The vet I’ve been going to offered to give me an additional antibiotic tomorrow if this one doesn’t seem to be working. I told him that I haven’t seen her eat and he didn’t seem concerned so I’m pretty sure he knows very little about rabbits. I’ve only seen her try to eat one piece of hay and one pellet and then stop and snort. Neither of the bunnies seem to interested in fruit (tried papaya and banana) and ive already tried offering her all kinds of greens that she loved when she was eating but she refuses them. Her respiratory condition hasn’t improved but it hasn’t gotten worse. She flares her nostrils to get air, breathes slowly and loudly. I can see the breath travel through her side. At this point I am concerned that she’s entered GI stasis and will die a painful death. I’m going to call the few vets that see rabbits in the morning to see if I can find one that is familiar with GI problems in rabbits. Thanks for all your advice. Vanessa it’s comforting to know I don’t have the only frantic rabbit. I’ll try your trick. If that works hopefully I can feed her some slurry as well. Tobyluv- I don’t have an xpen because we were hoping the lanai would be the smallest area we would confine them too. We planned to let them have the run of the main area of the house while home but I’ll see if I can find something to block her to one area.

[Luna]

Luna also escapes the burrito towel. When I had to give her meds, she would scramble and kick if I tried to restrain her. So one day I gave up and just let her sit, then I wrapped some leafy greens on the end of the syringe so that she would put her mouth close to it, and when she would try to eat the greens I would slowly push out the meds at the same time and it worked! Now she doesn’t need leafy greens on the end of the syringe – I just put it close to her mouth while she is sitting and she takes it.

[Nibbles]

Burritos don’t work with Nibbles either! I’ve mixed medicines in a little bit of apple sauce before and that worked well. Is there a pharmacy that compounds medicine the vet can send the prescription to? My bun is on a med daily and I’ve been able to have it mixed with a flavoring (banana). This way I just have to squirt the dose on a small plate and she licks it up. If there isn’t on Big Island, maybe it can be mailed from another island?

[GandF]

I was able to give frannie sulfa/tmz flavored for 3 or so days in a row. Then she wouldn’t take it at all. Then she stopped eating and pooping mucus. After a couple days, she started eating again and her poop is looking closer to normal but her stuffed nose sounds exactly the same. We gave up on sulfa and I just gave her her first dose of orbax. If the antibiotic is working, when should I start seeing improvement? Is it possible she will always be stuffed up and just have to live like this?

[GandF]

I was able to give frannie sulfa/tmz flavored for 3 or so days in a row. Then she wouldn’t take it at all. Then she stopped eating and pooping mucus. After a couple days, she started eating again and her poop is looking closer to normal but her stuffed nose sounds exactly the same. We gave up on sulfa and I just gave her her first dose of orbax. If the antibiotic is working, when should I start seeing improvement? Is it possible she will always be stuffed up and just have to live like this?

[GandF]

I was able to give frannie sulfa/tmz flavored for 3 or so days in a row. Then she wouldn’t take it at all. Then she stopped eating and pooping mucus. After a couple days, she started eating again and her poop is looking closer to normal but her stuffed nose sounds exactly the same. We gave up on sulfa and I just gave her her first dose of orbax. If the antibiotic is working, when should I start seeing improvement? Is it possible she will always be stuffed up and just have to live like this?

[vanessa]

Some antibiotics take a week or so to begin to show effects, especially SMZ. I would order some digestive support tablets from Sherwood Forest because they have vitamin B supplement, which encourages the appetite. In a frantic bunny like that, it would be really helpful to be able to rely on her appetite – to assist in giving her medicated treat/foods. And since she stopped eating for a few days… scary. I’d also add benebac or some other acceptable probiotic. I put benebac in a water bowl with 2 cups water and Lancelot drinks it all up overnight. If I want to make sure he gets more of it than Guin, I add a Tbsp apple juice, and he drinks it up before she gets a chance. SMZ is slow working, but not as harsh on a bunny’s system as other antibiotics. If it doesn’t clear it up, your vet might switch it to Baytril. I’d expect to see changes after about 3 weeks.
I remember trying to give 4 weeks of smz to Morgana after her flystrike… I kept her in a 4×4 nic panel area to make catching her easier. She is my little fighter kungfoo bunny..
On the other hand… SMZ didn’t fix Lancelot’s runny nose/eyes/sneezing. His sneezing cleared up on it’s own after a few months, and so did the runny nose. But the eyes never cleared up. As long as his pal assists in grooming his face, the fur stays dry enough to not fall out.

[GandF]

Thank you! I will look try to get digestive support and probiotics. I’ll try putting it in her water but that may be hard because George is the aggressive eater and she doesn’t seem very motivated by sweet food. I think George possibly has whatever she has but it is infecting his eye. They seem fine as long as she’s grooming him. They just got really bad while she was sick and would refuse. I will start giving her the SMZ again along with the orbax. Sounds like I gave up too soon. My husband was able to catch her last night but he needed both hands to keep her still while I gave her the medicine. I’ll see if he’s willing to do that twice a day :/

[vanessa]

Don’t stop the SMZ. Finishe the full course – it’s really important. If you stop too soon, the bacteria can develop resistance, and become harder to kill. The Vitamin B will help with her appetite. It made a big difference for my EC bunny.

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