Rabbit acting EXTREMELY oddly followed by no movement

[l0xd]

So today I was sitting with my rabbit and petting him, and then he decides to suddenly walk away to his litter box. That was kind of odd and behavior i has never witnessed him do before. Suddenly after sitting in his litter box, de dashes across the room faster than I’ve ever seen him and before and starts awkwardly jumping at weird angles and he does this for around 10 seconds. Then all of a sudden he lies down in a position where his back legs are under him, which was very odd considering my rabbit who always puts his back legs off to the side. Then he started to breath heavily which his jaw open, showing his teeth, refusing to eat or drink, but still using the bathroom, except he had some blood in his urine. I don’t have any access to a vet where I live that could help me with rabbits. I can’t really nail down what’s happened to him and I just feel bad because I feel like he’s suffering. I’d really appreciate any advice. I’m thinking about putting him out of his misery if this keeps going.

[Rain]

This doesn’t sound good, especially the blood in the urine part.I think you should seek a vet immediately. I’ll post a rabbit vet finder website below. How old is your rabbit? Also is he neutered?
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
Are you sure it wasn’t plant pigment and not blood in the bun’s urine? Did it look like very deep red or like reddish orange?

[jerseygirl]

Was the urine orange/brown/red? It’s not unsual for rabbit pee to be these colours. Blood in urine can be hard to detect sometimes.

He does sound as if he is cradling his abdomen and has some discomfort. I recommend going to whichever vet you have available, even if not terribly experienced with rabbits. They can ask advice from other professionals online if need and they’d have access to medications to help your rabbit become more comfortable.

[Bam]

Orange/red urine is, as Jersey says, perfectly normal in rabbits. You can check if it is blood or just plant pigments from food by dripping hydrogen peroxide on to the urine. If it foams a lot, it’s blood. No foaming -it’s urine.

It does sound like your rabbit need a vet. Meanwhile you can try and give him baby gas drops (simethicone). Buns can get gas pain and that makes them very uncomfortable, they often try to change position or press their belly against the floor to try and relieve the pain. Gas drops are often very effective and swift-working. They can be bought at f ex Walmart or pharmacies/ drugstores. Give 0.5 – 1 ml per hour for three hours.

[l0xd]

Drove 3 hours to get to get to the closest vet. Their exotically animal Doctor wasn’t there. Anyway, they think he suffered trauma and they gave him a penicillin shot and a bunch of different meds. Right now all he eats is oxbow critical care. He’s getting about 150 ml a day. The vet also confirmed that there was blood in his urine. He’s getting a bit more active but won’t eat anything not syringe fed. Breathing is still a bit heavy and I notified one of his testicles seems to be a bit larger than the other and I only notified this after I left the vet because I didn’t see him for the 3 hours I spent at the vet, and the vet never mentioned it. As far as the meds, they gave me something to help with digestion and something else for pain. I just hopes he gets better. He’s also starting to walk a bit more normally but still stays in his flop position all the time.

[Bam]

I’m glad you managed to find a vet! It sounds like he’s doing a bit better. Keep an eye on the testicle, if you can, take pictures so you can keep track of changes. Intact male rabbits can get testicular cancer, but often not until they’re old. Testicle cancer is slow to spread and can often be operated on successfully.

Critical Care has all the nutrients he needs, but I hope he’ll soon start eating on his own.

[l0xd]

Update – I just checked on him and he stopped using his litter box because he has no appetite for hay, and was defecating everywhere. I was looking at his poop and I noticed 1. His poop was very wet. It looked kinda dark. Could this be because all he has to eat is critical care? and 2. I saw a sort of mucus alongside his poop. Its a dark ambery color. From what I read, it could be from an infection or GI Stasis. The rabbit is already on critical care and medicine to help his digestion.(Metoclopramide) Do I need to take any action or because of the diet this is normal/will take care of itself? He’s also on an anti-inflammatory (Metacam) because the vet believes he suffered trauma and he’s obviously in pain.

[Bunny House]

Hi. He needs to go to the vet now

[l0xd]

It seems more problems are arising. The rabbit is doing ok and is eating the critical care and is starting to nibble at some hard food. The 1 thing I found odd is that the rabbits right testicle is much larger than his left, is slightly sagging, and has a red point on the end where it appears to be more swollen. The first thing I thought of was cancer, but he’s only 8 months old. Could a rabbit that young even get testicular cancer? And completely off topic from that, does anyone know what temperature water should be when mixing it with critical care? The bag just says “warm” but I’m not exactly sure what temperature the water should be.

[Bunny House]

Hi, I highly suggest you take him to the vet as soon as you can, even the Er vet if you have one as you said more problems are arising, I don’t want you to wait until it’s too late to help him, but if you can’t take him now, make sure you keep force feeding him and making sure he poops. As soon as he starts to eat half of the amount of food he used to and pooping, you can stop the force feeds as it can cause a lot of stress and make him go backwards( my bun last night was eating good and I force fed her and she went back to square one). Cancer can develop at any age as some bad cells can arise and start forming a tumor.
For the critical care, I mix it with hot water and by the time I’m done mixing the amount that is said on the bag, it is warm and they enjoy it. My lop likes her to where it is not wet but chunky so she chews it.

[l0xd]

The testicle thing went away over the last few hours. Everything is in place again and they have both returned to their regular size. I’m having a lot of toub

[l0xd]

The testicle thing went away over the last few hours. Everything is in place again and they have both returned to their regular size. I’m having a lot of trouble giving him the critical care. He just doesn’t like the fact that it’s critical care, but is okay with syringes. I tried burrito wrapping him and that didn’t work. I also tried different syringes but he won’t budge. His poop is also starting to look kind of cecotropey. Could this be because of him eating only critical care? This is the first time my bunny has gotten really sick so I have all these questions. ?

[Bunny House]

As I said before, it seems he needs to go to an er vet right away. If you can’t get food in him then his gi tract can shut down and is hard to get it moving again, if it looks like cecetropes, you need to put them in the critical care and force feed him it since he needs those nutrients and bacteria in his gut. He is obviously not feeling well enough to eat them and if they vet didn’t give you fluids to give him he can become dehydrated which causes his gi tract to shut down. Just go to the vet today and get him the help he needs, they can force feed him, give him fluids and medication as he might have an infection that is spreading too. Go to the vet

[Bam]

The change of texture and color of his poop is likely due to the critical Care. I think you should call the vet you saw and tell them about the mucus in his poop and the testicle, even if the testicle is normal again. I suppose a bunny could bruise a testicle and get a hematoma, but it’s weird it should go away without leaving any trace like blue/green/yellow bruising. If he hurt his reproductive organs on something the blood in the urine could come from a local injury and not the kidneys or bladder. I’m assuming now the suspected trauma is sth like an accident, for example a fall? At first I thought you meant a psychological trauma i.e. that something had scared him really badly. Do you have any clue as to what kind of trauma he could have suffered? If he hit his head he could have a slight concussion together with the (possible) injury to his privates.

Anyway, the mucus could mean he needs more antibiotics or perhaps ranitidine to protect the stomach lining from the Metacam (painkiller). If you’ve seen a vet so recently it’s reasonable for you to call them and ask -maybe they will want you to come in, or they might write you a prescription for some additional med they think could help him.. It really would be best if he was seen by the exotics vet, of course.

I’d not really recommend syringing him his own cecotropes. The method is sometimes used, but with cecotropes or round poop from a healthy rabbit., to restore a disrupted GI microbiota. I think he’d hate his Critical Care even more if you mix in cecals. I’d rather try to get hold of a probiotic (Benebac is a much-used brand) and then mix the critical Care with something yummy. Baby berry- or fruit purée is often appreciated, or plain unsweetened canned pumpkin (not pie filling). Plain pumpkin has good fiber and it’s low in sugars so it’s very healthy for a bun.

[l0xd]

So he went to the vet. The vet told me he was not just suffering from stasis, and there was something else wrong with him that they couldn’t pinpoint. He’d lost all his energy at that point and still hadn’t been eating any hard food, and the vet said he probably wouldn’t make it through the night. That night, he didn’t even have the strength to eat his critical care or even bring his head up. He had been doing better that same morning. Anyway, the vet was right. He didn’t make it through the night. And the part that makes me the most sad is that his eyes stay open and it almost makes you feel like hes still alive.

[Bam]

I’m so sorry you lost him. It must’ve been more than stasis, I’m sorry the vet couldn’t find out what was really going on.

[Bunny House]

I’m sorry for your loss. You can always post in rainbow bridge if it helps you tell his life.

Binky free little guy

[Bam]

Yes, as Bunny House says, you are very welcome to post in tge the Rainbow Bridge section if you like. Some find it helps a little bit with the grieving process to post a picture of their bun and a few (or many) words about their life together.

Again, I’m sorry for your loss.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Oh no, that’s horrible! I’m so sorry for your loss
Sadly rabbits are great at hiding illness and discomfort, and once you see something it’s often in a critical stage already. It’s very good that you took it so seriously and went to the vet with him, but sometimes rabbits are beyond saving even then.

Binky free, sweet Sam!

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m so very sorry for your loss.

((((Binky Free)))))

[Author]

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