HELP, My rabbit isnt acting right!

Josh45640

Songster
9 Years
Apr 1, 2011
198
1
132
SE Ohio
My Flemish Giant bunny is acting very odd. It is about 3 months old. It is normally kept in a pen with a NZW (same age from same farm) and a lionhead doe (year old). Usually it meets you at the dor of the pen when it sees yu coming wanting attention. When I went out to feed a little bit ago, it was sitting at the back f the cage shaking back and forth. Almost like it cant keep its head up. When it tries to move it only makes it a couple steps and falls down on its side, then gets back up and sits there and shakes. The breathing looks to have slowed some as well. Looks like the normal breathing pace for a human, not a rabbit. I should als mention that it eats a lot f fresh clover,grass, daisy, etc.... from my yard. It has never acted funny, yesterday it was fine.
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I'd def take it out of the cage and isolate it from your other two buns. Bring it inside and put it in a warm, quiet place so you can more closely evaluate it.
Its possible that it ate something toxic, are you also feeding pellets/hay? I have Kelp powder on hand for any sort of toxin poisening, but I *think* a Vit E liquid capsule may be a substitute, you'd have
to google it though.

How do the other two bunnies look? How long have you had the bunny, and did you quarintine your new rabbits before you put them in with the other bunny? I'd def take that LH doe out before the other bunnies breed her,
unless of course you have all does, and even then they may start to fight and kill the smaller bunny once their hormones start in.

Take it out and look over it, listen to its breathing (does it sound congested?) Check its poop (Is it runny? Is it pooping?) Check its belly, does it look bloated?
Run your hand down its back, does it feel spiney? Check its teeth for malclusion and its legs for breaks at the hock (or sore hocks)
Is it *rolling* like they would with Wry Neck? (Check its eyes for rapid back and forth movement)


If you have Pedialyte on hand or some other electrolyte that would not be a bad thing to give it, might help perk it up.

Rabbits being prey animals they often hide that something is wrong until its bad, unfortunetly. A lot of the signs of a problem are really subtle.
 
I wonder of the older rabbit didn't bite it on the neck or something causing a bit of nerve damage, I would seperate all of the bunnies from each other in case this is what happened you wouldn't want the other young one to get hurt also. The only other thing I could offer is to check for spider bites/insect stings, perhaps this is a reaction to the venom that one or the other may have injected. I have had rabbits die from complications from spider bites (the swelling prevented them from drinking enough) so a well placed bite or sting may be a cause. Good luck I would also put the rabbit in a warm, dark place, so it can relax with plenty of water..... I also agree give it some electrolytes!
 

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