Help! Poisoned Rabbit!

[Morwen]

 Hi friends,

 

I’m in need of some urgent advice. My 1 year old bunny managed to get himself into some mischief this evening… somehow, he climbed into what I had thought was an unreachable planter pot and ate some mushrooms that I had just treated with fungicide this morning. Unfortunately, I only caught him after the fact. I watched him for about an hour to see if there were side effects and took him to the emergency vet when he stopped eating, felt cold to the touch and started shivering, crouched down in the corner all puffed up, and ground his teeth in pain (not the normal tooth-purr).

 

We got to the vet’s at 11pm and waited until 12:30 to be seen. The vet had no idea what to do but since I have a medical background we ended up pulling his textbooks from the backroom and found that 50ccs of saline fluid sub-q and 1g activated charcoal orally was likely the best route to go. These were administered (along with a $200 fee!) and I’m home at last writing this at 2am.

 

My question for you folks is: did we do the right thing? has anyone else gone through this kind of crisis? and are there any side effects / behaviours that I should keep an eye out for?

 

I know that if the mushrooms do end up being poisonous, the toxins will likely target his liver and kidneys… is there any way to assess these things in a bunny? My emerg vet said that he didn’t have specs for LFTs or BUN/creatinine for bunnies and my regular vet won’t be open again until Mon, so I’m rather stuck if I want to do follow up blood work …

 

At present, I heaped the litterbox full with fresh hay and have left bunny nibbling on it. There’s also fresh water in his bowl and aside from being somewhat traumatized over his late night vet adventure, he seems ok now.

 

Thanks for your time and consideration. Any thoughts or advice would be most welcome.

[jerseygirl]

How scary! I’m pleased to hear he’s doing ok so far, let’s hope it continues. I have read both activated charcoal and Vitimin E can both be given when rabbit is poisined. Here is the info I have read – so you judge for yourself. I do not know if rabbit vets would consider this safe or not.
 

VITAMIN E – I keep 1,000 mg Vitamin E on hand at all times. It is the quickest and safest way to get toxins out of your rabbit’s system. I have actually saved rabbits that had been poisoned by redwood and Diffenbachia with Vitamin E. Just snip the tip off a gel cap and squirt into your bunny’s mouth. They love the taste and it works. Any time you suspect your bunny has gotten into something and don’t know what, try Vitamin E.

ACTIVATED CHARCOAL – Another wonderful lifesaver for poisoning. Just mix with water and get your bunny to drink it. Vitamin E is easier to administer but the combination is unbeatable.

Source: http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/meds.htm  

From your description, it  sounds like he has be affected by the worst of it already.  Hopefully that has passed.  I would think GI stasis is what you have to watch for now.  So getting fluids into him and fibre may be best. I really don’t know what to do in event of poisoning – something I should know for 1st aid measure! Please keep us posted.

[RabbitPam]

That’s so scary, but you clearly did the right thing right away. Undoubted you and the vet saved his life.

Some of the other Forum Leaders have medical expertise and I will ask them to reply as well.

I haven’t found a resource for further instruction about what to do after you have your bunny home, once seen by a vet. I would suggest calling your own vet and see if she has a number or pager on her machine for emergencies. Then call your vet, explain what happened and what you’re doing now, and just ask what she would recommend you do over the next day or more until you can bring your bunny in to see her. It sounds like you’re doing well, but I instinctively want to get as much water flowing through bunny as possible.

For basic emergency care and info, I am attaching links to two sites that are helpful to everyone if faced with a similar situation, or other emergency:

Here’s a page from the House Rabbit Society that has some good advice on preparations for emergencies.

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-4/emergency-preparedness.html

Basic first aide at home recommendations from Petco are listed here as well:

http://www.petco.com/Content/Article.aspx

Get some rest now.

[jerseygirl]

Thanks for those links RabbitPam.

Morwen, how is he doing?

[Morwen]

Hi,

Thanks so much for the advice and support Jerseygirl and RabbitPam. Sorry for the delay in update – bunny has certainly picked up in the last 24 hrs. He’s eating alright (not as voraciously as usual but still definitely interested in food) and has even done one or two sprints around the house this evening. The litterbox has poop in it and some of it is very dark (I’m assuming that would be the charcoal) but it’s tough to tell how much of that poop is his and how much of that is the other rabbit’s. He still has the bubble butt from the sub-q fluids but it is slowly going down. All in all, I think it’s going to be alright (whew!) but definitely a big scare.

Those links were very helpful, RabbitPam. I will definitely keep them on hand for future crises, although I sure hope that my little bunny learned his lesson.

[jerseygirl]

This sounds very good! Thanks for the update. This incident has certainly made me become more prepared for such an event.

[RabbitPam]

That’s very good news. He definitely sounds like he’s out of the woods.

The links were ones I found and had saved to favorites quite a while ago for such situations. I have a folder in my Bookmarks/Favorites list called Rabbit, and separated out good advice sites from Products (places to buy toys, etc.) sites. It comes in handy.

{{{{{{{{{{full recovery}}}}}}}}}}

BTW, was this Hoyle or Jazz?

[Morwen]

It was Hoyle… he’s proven his climbing skills quite well in the past but the planter that he got into required a pure leap of extraordinary height – at least 5 ft. Every time I think that I’ve outsmarted him with my bunny proofing, he proves me wrong.

[MooBunnay]

How scary! I’m so glad that you have a medical background, I would have never known what to do if the vet didn’t know. Do you have a regular rabbit vet that you see? It would probably be good for you to have both a regular rabbit vet and an emergency vet just in case, since your bun sounds like a bit of a trouble maker ! I’m so glad he is feeling better.

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