HELP! Rabbit Won’t Eat or Drink!

[quailheart]

Please help! I am a first time rabbit owner and my rabbit won’t eat or drink. It is 7am in the morning and this started last night, however last night he still ate fresh veggies and fruit that I offered, just no water or hay. This morning he refuses to eat or drink anything and has been sitting or laying down the whole time. The vet cannot take him until tomorrow morning. What should I do until then?

EDIT: My rabbit let me syringe feed him a little bit of water

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

Sounds like GI stasis. I recommend watching One More Venture Homestead 's video on this. It was extremely helpful to me. Keep offering fresh food, and getting liquids in him is GREAT. You can even sweeten the water with a tiny bit of sugar, I used the extra water from canned peach and pears, but not store bought, store bought has a CRAZY amount of sugar.

How's the little guy doing?

 

[Everose]

Keep your bunny warm. I syringe feed yogurt (plain), karo syrup, water, and some soaked feed into my sick bunnies, this has worked for me with rabbits who had maybe two hours left to live. Just drip it into the side of the mouth, you don't want to push it down his throat and possibly make him inhale it. This should give him the probiotics his gut needs to get moving again, the karo syrup will give his brain some glucose and keep his organs functioning, and the wet feed and water will give him something to digest.
After your bunny perks up give him some celery, then offer pellets and water, but celery first.

Edit: in case you google it, yes yogurt isn't "safe" for bunnies, but they're mammals and have ingested milk before so they should technically have the enzymes needed to properly digest the yogurt. Don't feed it regularly, just this once.

 

[quailheart]

I added a little bit of Karo syrup to water and syringe fed him some of that. I would give him some yogurt but I do not currently have any around, is there anything else I can use?

 

[Everose]

I added a little bit of Karo syrup to water and syringe fed him some of that. I would give him some yogurt but I do not currently have any around, is there anything else I can use?

Do you have any lactobacillus on hand?

 

[quailheart]

Do you have any lactobacillus on hand?

No, I don’t. I am going to get some low dose aspirin and infant gas drops as well as oxbow critical care as soon as possible though.

 

[Everose]

No, I don’t. I am going to get some low dose aspirin and infant gas drops as well as oxbow critical care as soon as possible though.

How soon? Those would be my first suggestions but most people can't get them or don't have them. Do you have any probiotics on hand?

 

[quailheart]

I got the meds a few minutes ago and just gave him one mL of the gas drops and 81mg of aspirin dissolved in 1mL water. I’m going to give him another two doses of the gas drops every hour and we’ll see how he does after that. If he does start getting better should I still take him to the vet anyways or is that unnecessary?

 

[Everose]

I got the meds a few minutes ago and just gave him one mL of the gas drops and 81mg of aspirin dissolved in 1mL water. I’m going to give him another two doses of the gas drops every hour and we’ll see how he does after that. If he does start getting better should I still take him to the vet anyways or is that unnecessary?

Unnecessary in my experience. Unless he's got a snotty nose, loose stools, or you think his stasis might have been caused by a blockage there's really nothing a vet can do.

 

[quailheart]

I just gave the second dose of infant gas drops and syringe fed him some water too. He is still uninterested in eating, when should I syringe feed him food?