Signs of Shock in Rabbits

[Primrose]

No time to read a story? Scroll to the bottom of the page to see listed symptoms of shock.

It’s late at night. You’ve just finished watching your favorite show, and Floppy’s all tucked away in his cage. You roll your electric recliner forward, about to go to bed – and you hear a shrill, heart-wrenching scream that makes your blood run cold. Immediately you go to recline back again, and it seems like ages before the chair finally goes up enough. Not really caring whether you break the chair or not, you scramble out of it to locate the source of the noise – it’s Floppy, the Houdini rabbit! You snatch a glance over at the cage, hoping you’re wrong – but the door is hanging wide open. Immediately, you grab your rabbit, not really minding that he’s screaming and kicking and thrashing. You calm down your rabbit with a couple of “Look at me”‘s, but he’s absolutely petrified. You cuddle him for a while, check him over for injuries, and put him back in his cage. You go and get a drink of water after the ordeal – but Floppy’s sprawled out on his side, his breathing more rapid than it has ever been. His eyes are half-lidded and glazed over… You rush over, screaming your rabbit’s name in a horrible panic. You think that he’s dead, but logic reinforces itself and you remember he is breathing. 

You reach out for him to find that he’s cold and stiff. Your heart lurches – but he’s still breathing. His ears are cold. His pulse is weak in his veins. You immediately squeal with terror and reach for the phone, looking up the nearest emergency vet – a good 2 hours away. Oh, no! Curse you, countryside! You grab him and rush him to the vet – but shortly after his arrival, he dies.

Now let’s put the situation in reverse, a little after the second paragraph of the story. Your one mistake? Driving to the vet, 2 hours away. If the vet is more than 45 minutes away, the drive is probably not worth it.

So what’s wrong with Floppy?

He’s in shock. His untimely death was caused by added stress of the drive and then of the vet. 

Signs of shock in rabbits: (Note: DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A LIST FOR ANY OTHER ANIMALS!!! IT IS ONLY FOR RABBITS, NO MATTER HOW SIMILAR SITUATIONS MAY SEEM.)

* Extremely rapid breath

* Extremely rapid heart beat

* Weak pulse (see that purple/red vein near the middle of your rabbit’s ear? Gently take this between your thumb and forefinger and check for a pulse! Thumb on outer-ear, forefinger on inner-ear, or vice versa!)

* Pale/whitish gums

* Still body

* Cold extremities (feel the ears; they should not be cold)

* Glazed eyes

(Note: For some people, they will be afraid they don’t know what the glazed eyes or pale gums will look like. I can almost guarantee that you WILL know if it happens!)

What to do if Your Rabbit is In Shock

If there is an emergency vet nearby, wrap your rabbit in a blanket and immediately take them to the vet.

IF NOT

Do NOT attempt to drive your rabbit 5 hours away to see an emergency vet. This will almost certainly kill your rabbit. Car ride should be a maximum of 45 minutes, MAYBE an hour.

Wrap your rabbit in a blanket and massage the ears. Do not worry if their eyes remain closed or glazed; just keep rubbing. Try to keep calm and definitely keep away from pets and other distractions/loud noises in a dimly lit area. If you are a friend/sibling/acquaintance of the rabbit’s keeper, have the keeper do this if they are calm enough (if they’re around, of course). The rabbit will probably feel more comfortable. Try to administer water or Gatorade (preferred due to hydrating electrolytes) to the rabbit via syringe.

At this point, there is not much else you can do except keep your rabbit cuddled up. After a while, you can try to see if rabbit will eat or drink on their own. If so, your rabbit is improving, but NOT completely out of the woods. The rabbit needs to be seen by a vet ASAP, so wait until normal office hours of the closest vet if you have to, but get them there as soon as you can. Remember: no long trips while rabbit is in a state of shock! 

NOTHING I have written here is definite. Absolutely nothing. There IS a chance your rabbit WILL DIE, even when following the steps provided. There is also a chance your rabbit WILL NOT die. Nothing is absolute.

The steps provided are from my own experience and research. Shock is a dangerous thing. Never leave a rabbit in shock unattended.

Best of luck,

Primrose

(Pasted for those who need symptoms listed immediately)

Signs of shock in rabbits: (Note: DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A LIST FOR ANY OTHER ANIMALS!!! IT IS ONLY FOR RABBITS, NO MATTER HOW SIMILAR SITUATIONS MAY SEEM.)

* Extremely rapid breath

* Extremely rapid heart beat

* Weak pulse (see that purple/red vein near the middle of your rabbit’s ear? Gently take this between your thumb and forefinger and check for a pulse! Thumb on outer-ear, forefinger on inner-ear, or vice versa!)

* Pale/whitish gums

* Still body

* Cold extremities (feel the ears; they should not be cold)

* Glazed eyes

(Note: For some people, they will be afraid they don’t know what the glazed eyes or pale gums will look like. I can almost guarantee that you WILL know if it happens!)

[Hopper]

Thank you! This is very interesting and resourceful. Do you mind if I make a video on this for my YouTube? Credit goes to you and I will say it in my video. This was a great topic.

[Primrose]

I dont mind a bit! This info is very important and i wrote it because i havent seen a thorough post or web page solely dedicated to this topic.

[BinkyBunny]

Thank you Primrose for offering ER/shock advice.  That is very thoughtful! There are some additional points that should probably be mentioned.  

One thing is that some rabbits can hide this aspect. So sometimes it’s not 100% obvious.  My bunny Bailey hid it so well, that when I got her to the vet, neither the vet or I realized how low her temperature was, and that she was going into shock.  (And I have one of the top rabbit savvy vets around)  So it is important too to learn how to take your rabbits temperature now so when the time comes you know how to check it.  Normal Rabbit Temperature is 101 – 103. (Lower than 100 can indicate shock or going into shock). If you are not sure how far in a thermometer should go (as that can make a difference in the reading), my vet mentioned just taking a bunny’s temperature when the bunny is healthy a few times and record the reading so that even if you don’t have it in far enough and it comes out a bit low while healthy – you will at least have a reference.     

Keeping your bunny warm can be key as well– especially during a car ride to a vet can make a difference as well.  Can use a covered water bottle that is warm to the touch, NOT hot or use a heating disc, like “Snuggle Safe” can be helpful as it stays warm for up to 8 hours. 

Here are some further links about Bunny Emergencies! Shock included. 

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-4/e…dness.html

http://www.hrss.net/aar/health/health_emrec.html

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html  (Dana Krempels gives advice on how to take temperature as well as how to warm up a hypothermic bunny — due to shock) 

While I understand that the ride to the vet can be stressful if a vet is 5 hours away, I am hesitant to agree with not recommending if it’s over an hour.   This would definitely be by  a case by case base and not an overall blanket recommendation.  I advise everyone  to also check out the above links which have helpful tips on keeping your bun stabilized even during the car ride.  I have had situations where the car ride could have definitely made it worse and other times it saved my bunny’s life, even thought it took awhile due to traffic jams. 

Great topic as emergency care is usually not even thought about until it’s too late — best to know what to do beforehand, so we are prepared. 

[Hopper]

Ok, it is important to let people know what to do. I have actually never seen any posts or videos on this topic. I am also lucky enough to never experiencing it.

[GraceWillowHunterHiltiImmi]

Thank you for posting this important information. We are going through this at the moment. It happened yesterday morning, our two sweetest rabs were in the yard, Grace was sitting on the ledge she loves, and Hilti was mowing down some fresh grass. I turned away and when I turned back, a cat had jumped the fence and was in our yard!! I chased it away from the rabbits but it got stuck and couldn’t jump the fence opposite where it came from, so it turned and ran back past me. As soon as it was gone I went to pick up Grace, who had been the closest to where it came in and left. Before I reached her I knew she was in shock, as you said, I could see it in her eyes, they were open, but glazed. When I picked her up I was reassuring her ‘it’s ok sweetie, it’s gone’. I expected her to ‘snap out of it’ and try to push me away (she never likes having to come back inside), but instead she was completely limp. She didn’t respond at all. I took her inside and we wrapped her in a towel. We warmed her up and spent time reassuring her. She didn’t respond to anything she normally does. We put her in her favourite place, I went out and got her best friend and brought him in and put him with her (he had somehow not been so frozen scared by the cat, and had hidden himself safely away until I called him out). I left them both with their favourite foods. A while later I came back to find Grace had moved herself to her more favourite spot (the prohibited place) under our bed. She spent all of yesterday under our bed. She ate little morsels of her favourite foods from time to time as we checked on her and passed them to her. This morning she was still under our bed. I wanted to see if she had improved, so I carefully lifted her out. She was still quite limp, but definitely had more strength in her body than yesterday. I put her in the laundry with her best friend again today. She is still with us tonight and I am feeling much more hopeful that she may survive, as she is much more responsive and like herself tonight.
Has anyone else had any experience with how long it takes to be sure they have recovered from shock? I don’t know whether we should be doing anything more for her now. I would appreciate any additional advice.

[Bam]

I’m so glad you were there and could pick her up and warm her and everything! The go-limp thing could be part of a “play-possum” response, many predators only go after moving prey. It’s the way their eyesight works, they detect motion more than anything else. I think Sarita here once said that the “dead bunny flop” could be a reminiscence of a play-possum response.

Her hiding under your bed was wise of her, patients that have suffered some kind of mental overload should be kept in a quiet and dark room, with as little stimuli as possible, but not be left completely alone. I’m so glad she ate =)

I hope others here can provide more input!

(This thread is somewhat old, but not extremely old.)

[Author]

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