Semi-Urgent: Monty, Teeth and Critical Care

[Hannah]

So, Monty stayed overnight at the vet’s last night because he had stopped eating and was getting all floppy and lethargic; as it turns out, he has molar spurs and needed to, and will probably continue to need to for the rest of his life, have them filed down.

The vet gave us some pain medication and critical care for the next few days, but Monty is a monster and refuses to take either. (He is nibbling some food; he’ll eat little bits of veggies and hay as well as bunny-cookies and oats, so he’s not starving.) However, he really isn’t eating a lot, and nothing my mom or I do (I’m home for the weekend to try and help take care of him) is getting him to take either, particularly the CC. We’ve tried mixing it with pineapple juice rather than water, we’ve tried banana, we’ve tried sprinkling oats over it to disguise it, we’ve tried rubbing it on craisins or cookies, and we’ve tried pinning him down and shoving the feeding syringe in his mouth and squirting, but he clamps his little teeth shut and flails his head back and forth so I can’t safely get it inside his mouth at all.

So, any suggestions? I know he likes Odwalla juices, and thought maybe I could mix the pain medicine with that and have him drink some, but that’s a lot of sugar, and still doesn’t fix the whole not-eating-the-critical-care thing.

Oh, and we also had to take all of the Carefresh out of his cage because he’s eating *that* instead of food.

Please help with the monstrous little bunny?

 

 

 

[Scarlet_Rose]

Have you tried the bunny burrito? Also when you are syringe feeding him, are you placing the syringe in the side of his mouth or are you trying to go straight in?  Also you can try giving the monster a few drops of Rescue Remedy before-hand to calm him down.

[Hannah]

We did try the burrito, but he was still able to move his head enough to pull away and he doesn’t trance when put upsidown. I am going for the side of the mouth, but he’s a very little bunny and it’s a very big syringe, and he’s very good at squeezing him mouth shut.

[Scarlet_Rose]

How about a smaller syringe? FYI I am in the chat room if you want to talk rather than post back & forth.

[Hannah]

He’s supposed to be getting a lot of it at a time, but I’m really not certain a littler syringe would work either. The problem is more that he jerks his neck back and forth than anything else– we can’t hold his head down for fear of breaking his little neck. He gets *really* forceful, but also only like 3.5lbs, so he’s pretty delicate. There doesn’t seem to be a happy medium between keeping him still and keeping him from breaking.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Yes you definately do not want to pin his delicate neck, nor would I suggest such a thing. Perhaps the best thing is to get him to eat it on his own. Leave it on a plate and leave the room for a bit to see if he nibbles. Have you tried pumpkin or any applsauce laced with pain meds?  I’m thinking he won’t eat because his teeth hurt and the little stinker won’t take the pain meds so he can eat without pain.  Did you ask the vet to flavor the pain meds?  Most will do that.

[Hannah]

Well, firstly, since my first post he does seem to be eating more. He ate a whole rabbit-cookie and a handful of rolled oats; he’s also eaten a sprig or two of parsley and has been rooting around in his food dish, which makes me think that he probably ate a couple of pellets. He’s very bad with anaesthesia (when he got neutered he didn’t pee for an entire day afterward, and eating took even longer than that), so I’m hoping his lack of appetite is more due to that than the pain, because the pain reliever the vet gave us is Metcam, which I have heard is a bit of an appetite suppressant for some bunnies. (I.E., I’m trying to figure out if I should just see how things progress without the pain killers rather than possibly make his appetite worse by giving it to him)

Also, the applesauce might be a good idea, but he refuses to eat pumpkin. (If I remember correctly he likes applesauce, but I fed him a lot more stuff like that than my mom does, so even though he’s living with her she might now know the answer to that) Is there any other sort of mushy food that’s alright for bunnies? (Like, any specific flavor of baby food?) I’m also trying to watch his water intake; he’s been a bit slow to drink. What flavors of pedialyte, if it comes to that, tend to be good for bunnies?

[Scarlet_Rose]

That’s good Monty sounds like he is feeling better.  The Metacam can suppress the sppetite so you just might want to wait and see if he really needs it since eating or lack thereof is already an issue.  As for baby food, you can try squash, carrots, apples and the usual Fruits and veggies on the approved bunny-safe list: https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=144 I would try apple, grape or fruit flavored Pedialyte, or even better to avoid the artificial dye, plain Pedilyte flavored wtih a bit of 100% natural juice. Oh and defiantely not the Bubblegum flavored one.

Here are some more tips on medicating your rabbit from the HRS: http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/medicating.html

Please keep us updated on Monty, sending plenty of healthy healing *vibes* his way.

[Author]

Messages