Poorly bunny – any ideas welcome

[vic32]

Hi I’m new here and just looking to see if anyone has had something similar -today our 4 year old male rabbit was not his usual self – he hadn’t eaten over night and was just wanting to sit so we took him to the vets who gave him three injections or Emeprid, loxicom and ranitidine – with a bottle of emeprid to bring home. These are mostly to get his stomach moving again, I have syringe fed him and he was willingly taking dandelions and a bit of grass earlier but he seems to be getting slightly worse than he was earlier.

The only difference this week was on Thursday I noticed a bit of black dust amongst his fur, I gave him a bath (no shampoo just water) and bought some flea stuff on Friday as I presumed it to be flea poo. Luckily I have not given him the flea stuff yet as I was waiting until this morning just in case he had a reaction to it as he has never had it before – does anyone know if a flea or mite problem could cause his lethargy even though I have not seen any actual fleas on him?

Also he constantly humps my slippers (he was taken for neuteuring when we first got him but the vets could not find any testicles) so my husband came up last night with the idea of spraying deodorant on my slippers to put him off my scent – it made no difference but he did lick my slippers a few times and now my husband is worried sick that he has poisoned him. Does anyone know if it would have this reaction?

Unfortunately our vet who is a rabbit specialist is off until Monday afternoon so we explained everything to the other vet in the practice and although he is very good we just know the other vet knows everything there is to know about rabbits, so any advice to get us over the weekend and any other ideas to what it could be would be really helpful.

Sorry for such a long thread I just wanted to get all the details in.

Thank you

[Bam]

I’m sorry your bun is poorly. It’s very good that you’re giving us a detailed description.

It’s very difficult to say what is the root cause of this. A bath can be traumatic to a bun, and stress can affect the workings of the GI system. Fleas would have made him itchy, but not produce lethargy unless the infestation was really bad and had been going on for quite some time.

I don’t think deodorant is extremely toxic to rabbits. Some people use perfume or soap on stuff they don’t want their buns to chew, and Ive never heard of buns being poisoned that way.

Stasis is a symptom of something, but exactly what can be figured out by your rabbit savvy vet. What’s important now is to get him through the weekend. The meds you were given are the standard meds that is given if you are certain the bun doesn’t have an intestinal blockage. I think the vet ought to have given you loxicom to distribute at home, and they could have given sub q fluids to perk him up. If you can contact the vet, maybe you could ask. Pain relief is very important for rabbits, they are very sensitive to pain.

Don’t give him any flea/more treatment until you’ve spoken to your real vet. Keep him warm. Syringe feed him so he has food in his tummy. Many small servings are better than few big meals. Try to entice him to eat by offering fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro, full, mint, Basil). If he likes fruit he can have fruit because anything he wants to eat (within reason) is good now. I and many other rabbit owners give baby gas drops (simethicone) when our buns have a stomach ache. There’s no scientific evidence of its effectiveness in rabbits, but Medirabbit says you can give it on suspicion of gas. ((Gas is very often a consequence of gut stasis).

This is my favorite article about gut stasis in buns, it has many helpful tips. It’s written by Dana Krempels, a very trustworthy rabbit expert:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

You can massage his tummy like in this video: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JnuxGLa2reg

[vic32]

Hi Bam Thank you so much for your detailed reply – unfortunately he passed away last night. I had him on my knees all evening his breathing rate was going up and down, when I came to syringe feed him it was obvious on his first syringe full that he was just holding it in his mouth (he had been really wanting it in the afternoon). He then had a few spasms before letting go. We thought at 4 he was only a young boy yet .
Back in late August he had a nasty ear infection which gave him facial paralysis but he was fully over it now – our specialist vet said something about mites could cause it and it could go to the brain but as he was ok at that time he saw no reason to treat for the mites now we are wishing we had treated in case it was that. I guess we will never know we just feel pretty empty but hope he’s playing with our other lost bunnies.

[Bam]

I’m so very sorry you lost him. It seems you did all that can be done. Rabbits often convulse when they pass, it’s shocking to witness but hopefully the rabbit is no longer aware at that stage.

The parasite you mention is not a mite, it’s an intracellular microsporidian parasite and it’s often passed to the rabbit from its mother while the bun is still in the womb. It’s very commonly found in rabbits, but the majority of rabbits don’t get sick from it. It causes various neurological issues such as head tilt and partial paralysis.It can also affect kidney function and it’s suspected to cause severe intestinal problems as well, although there’s still a lot more to be discovered about it. Treatment with an antiparasitic (commonly Panacur) is not always effective and it wont eradicate the parasite completely.

It’s very tough to lose a rabbit and very often we don’t get to know the cause of death.

[vic32]

thanks bam I think that’s the hardest part not knowing what the cause is you always feel guilty for things you have and haven’t done and I guess in reality it’s the thing you’d never think about that caused it. Thanks for your help and knowledge.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m so very sorry for your loss. Feel free to make a tribute post to him in the Rainbow Bridge Forum.

(((((Binky Free)))))

[Author]

Messages