Sick Bunny

[Billie's bunnies]

Hi, just wondering if any one can help me with my bunny Russell who is an eight month old Flemish giant mix. He lives with his brother and sister outdoors. He has been losing weight and even when i feed him lots, separately (which I have been doing for about a month) he doesn’t gain weight and i can feel all his bones. The other problem is that he is the only one that gets a very wet bum and legs like he is peeing on himself, we give him baths when it is warm but I know That isn’t a long term solution, all around his bum looks like urine scolding and is missing fur. We have taken him to our local vet who took a urine test and had a look but they found nothing and were very confused about the symptoms. Anyone know what it is and how to help it (: *he is neutered

[tobyluv]

Did the vet do any other tests, like fecal tests or blood tests? Is this a rabbit savvy vet? If not, you should look for a vet that knows more about rabbits. You may have to travel outside of your area to find a good vet.

It can be very dangerous to have a rabbit outside who has a wet or poopy bottom. Flies will be attracted to that rabbit. Fly strike is very serious and often fatal. It would be better to have him inside until you can get a diagnosis and treatment for his problem.

[Mikey]

He needs a vet. It sounds like he has a parasite.

[Billie's bunnies]

No the vet did no other tests, At the moment I am trying to get into contact with the rescue we got them from to see if they know more about rabbits. I know about fly strike so I have been giving him alot of baths but it is a bit of an issue to keep him inside because he wont have a friend.

[jerseygirl]

I agree, I think further tests are needed. With rapid weight loss and urinary issues, Id strongly suspect he has something affecting his kidneys. Testing for E.cunicili would be a good idea. It can cause a range of symptoms. Here is a bit more about it.

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/ECwebpage.pdf

The article is written for British rabbit owners but EC affects rabbits around the world. It also refers to it as a protozoan parasite (like coccidia is) but it is now known as a microsporidian parasite, a type of fungi. I just wanted to highlight that if you happen to do further reading on EC, you will see both terms crop up.
A lot of rabbits test positive to EC but it’s also possible to get false-negatives. So vets will sometimes just treat based on symptoms rather then do the tests.
Because the spores are shed in the urine, cage mates are often treated also.

It might be that Russell has some other type of kidney problem going on (or something else entirely) but EC is something to definitely consider.

[Billie's bunnies]

Wow thanks for the advice and stuff I will find a vet who knows more about rabbits and will start doing a lot of reading about all that.

[Author]

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