Need Help Sick Bunny

[lamoka]

Looking for ideas my daughters 6 month old rabbit is not doing well and I cant get him in to vet intill tomorrow afternoon. We noticed yesterday that he was not acting normal he was moving slowly and was not interested in eating very much. We got him to take some water and clover but he would not touch his pelletts. Today he has gotten worse I got him to take a small amount of water soaked lettuce "not iceburg" and a little water. His poop is runny with clear mucus in it but that was yesterday I dont think he has gone at all today. He also has "teary" eyes and can barely standup when he tries he is very shaky. I checked his outside play run and there is nothing out of the ordinary my other daughters rabbitt is allowed to exercise in the same run and she seems fine. We feed them the same food so I dont think it is that. They are housed inside in seperate marachio Luna cages. "Rusty" did have the bottom of his hutch drop out from underneath him 4 days ago but he seamed fine but I am wondering if he possibly got hurt internaly. Unfortunately only one vet in the area treats small animals and It has taken two days to get him in. Honestly his symptoms seam like he is sick not injured to me his fur is dull and his eyes have that feverish look dogs get when the are sick. I am trying to get him to get some liquids down and a little food but I am not sure if there is anything else I can do any ideas would be appreciated I have raised several rabbits over the years and never had to deal with a sick one. I was thinking about trying to get him to take some gatoraid to help with minerals and electrolytes but Iam not sure if this would be good for him or not. I know this is a chicken forum but I am sure some of you have had more rabbit experience then I have I guess I have been lucky with never having issues before but it breaks my heart to see him suffering and the affect it is having on my 6 year old, so any advice would be appreciated thanks!!

Nate

 

[justbugged]

Do you have any antibiotics on hand? I would start the bunny on a tetracycline if you have some. From your description the bunny is a lot sicker than you probably think. Rabbits are prey, and rarely will show that they are sick until it is very late in the process. I wish there was more that I could tell you. I will hope that everything goes well tonight.

 

[lamoka]

Unfortunately I dont have any Antibiotics I agree about how sick he is honestly I will be surprised if he makes it through the nite but the vet would not see him intill tomorow we called back today to let them know he was worse but they could not see him today. We are checking other vets farther away but it is hard to find any that will even look at a rabbit. Plus it is getting late so I doubt we will find one to see him.

 

[kbhear80]

Check the nearest TSC by you that have allot of medication on stock (not sure if they will have that but its worth a shot) but i think most are injectables. But they are right about the symptoms you rabbits showing. If you have any other rabbits I would move them. i quarantine any animals that shows any symptoms at all. Good luck with the poor thing and let us know what the vet says. We will keep you and your little guy in our thoughts.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

the only thing i know causes mucus in rabbits is mucoid enteritis. if they have diareaha i use albon(should be able to get at feed store or vets for $15 for liquid form in a bottle) it is for coccis in dogs and cats but u use 0.3 ml once a day, i usually use it 7-10 days unless they have loose movements still then up to 14 days. u can use baby gas drops also to relieve belly pains and bloating($4 at a dollar store usually). i use 0.3 ml once a day unless they need it more often. diareaha can kill a rabbit fast so make sure u keep it hydrated. if u look up on the net mucoid enteritis u can easily find more info to help ya. here is one site that has some good info- http://www.threelittleladiesrabbitry.com/mucoidenteritis.php
hope this helps.
silkie

 

[lamoka]

Thanks to everyone for there thoughts and recomendations, unfortunately our fears where correct Rusty did not make it through the nite. I am going to try and research and try and figure out what happened so I can be better prepared if our other rabbit starts to show symptons. When I cleaned his cage out he did not have nearly as much poo as he would have normally I cleaned the pens 4 days ago and they where due to be cleaned again but his trays had very little poo just a few regular stools and a couple of the pasty ones with mucus. When I was younger I always had a couple rabbits and I never had any issues except old age, and I lost a couple to the neighbors dog. I thought we where taken much better care of these bunnies then the ones I had as child. I suspect he may have become bound up but I am not sure why his diet consisted of Pellets, Hay and fresh greens. He did eat more of the rabbit pellets then "Star" does but he did eat some of the other stuff to. I keep going back to him falling out of his cage it is about 24" drop and I know they are very fragile, but the not pooping a normal amount doesent realy go along with internal injuries. As a side note I would not recomend the marchiora cages we bought two of the Luna models thinking they were going to be very good as they are pricey and looked well designed. I had to put support braces on the main bottom rails to keep them from turning and releasing the bottom of the main cage to even make them usable. This seamed to fix them intill Rusty fell out of his enclosed hutch part because the latch did not hold on that as of right now I have Stars reinforced with duct tape not sure how to permanately fix it as it is just plastic no way of putting metal support braces to it. If these cages where 75 to 100 dollars I could understand the issues but they are marketed as high quality and the get about 225 each for them just though I would warn anybody looking for cages to be carefull buying these units in retrospect I could have definately built more secure cages for half the price. Any more ideas would be appreciated as I am pretty worried about Star she seams fine now but Rusty went downhill fast, I hope whatever it was was not contagious but I honestly dont have any definitive ideas on what happened just guesses at this pointe.

Thanks
Nate

 

[chick4chicks]

I am so sorry Rusty passed on. I hope everything goes good for the other rabbit. I send lots of hugs to the kids, it is so hard to lose a beloved pet. Tell the kids about the Rainbow Bridge how Rusty is now well and happy where he is.

 

[kbhear80]

Sorry about you loss. I would scrubs down his cage with bleach water just in case. If you lived closer I would give you one of our bunnies. We have a mini rex who isnt up to my show standard but is the sweetest thing. We just keep him around cause we love him, he is a character. For a good deal on cages if you find some local ARBA shows nearr you there are always cage suppliers and they actually have pretty good prices on cages..better than at TSC and other places. Plus they will have just about anything you would need for a rabbit and books about them. You can locate shows though arba.net. Good luck and again I so sorry for your loss i wish we could of helped.

 

[justbugged]

I am so sorry for the loss of your child's pet. It is difficult to know how much to tell a child about the concept of death.

I would keep on hand some of the remedies that were recommend by others. I think that the biggest factor in loosing the bunny was not being able to get a timely appointment with the vet. I guess I would spend time now looking for a good vet that will get you in right away when you go I don't think this can wait. I try never to abuse that privilege, but sometimes your gut just knows that something can't wait. And I clearly understood that you had a very accurate sense what was going to happen even before you posted.

I am not very sure about the thought that the fall is an explanation for symptoms like mucus. I had a rabbit that jumped out of my arms while I was standing on a second story deck, and she had no troubles except for being winded. That was a good thing, as it made her much easier to catch.

The cage that you mentioned is nicer than a lot of cages that rabbits are normally kept in. I am a little curious about your cleaning schedule. Did as a kid and teenager clean the rabbits cages as often as you have as a parent? I can't say we ever cleaned the cage more than once a week and it was more like once a month. We live in the city at the time, and the bunny lived on a back deck. Still I know of people that nearly never clean the cage as long as the droppings are going through the mesh. Sometimes animals will get sick and there just isn't anything you did or can do for it. I have noticed that this is so true of small animals that are normally in nature considered prey animals. aka Chickens and bunnies.

 

[lamoka]

I agree I dont think the fall would have caused the symptoms he had. We have kept the rabbits seperated for several months as we did not want any babies showing up. My biggest fear is that they where both put out in the same exercise pen a few times each week so they did share the same space. As of this morning Star is still a active happy little rabbit but I am going to try and find some of the recomended meds to have on hand in case she starts to show symptoms, the scary part is how quickly it progressed from the frist symptons to death. I have continued to try and find a more available Vet but the few in the area either will not see rabbits or they hold parttime office hours it drives me crazy. I have had to drive 2 hrs to get ER care for dogs in Cornell there is a ER facility in Rochester which is about 1 1/2 hrs. Not sure if either treat Rabbits but I am pretty sure Cornell does they are a Veternary college with a good facility but they are very expensive and it is togh to get the time off to get there. I was telling my wife that it was Ironic when I had Rabbits when I was still at home they where sheltered in outside Hutches made out of wood and mesh granted they where kept clean but nothing like we have been doing with these rabbits with our girls. I am leaning towards gastric stasis or possibly a cocci infection picked up in the outside exercise pen still not sure but I wont be caught without some form of treatment again I feel horrible I was not able to do anything for Rusty I should have been better prepared I have been burnt before with trying to get Vet help before around here unfortunately I thought we were doing everything right and like I said before rabbits had always been very "easy" keepers compared to some of the other pets I have had I figured it out last night I raised 12 rabbits growing up and all but the 2 the neighbor dog got lived to be 8 to 10 yrs. Just goes to show no matter how old I get I still have a lot to learn unfortunately my 6 and 5 year olds are having to learn to deal with loosing a pet. They are doing pretty well all things considered. Thanks to every one for there ideas and comments I realy appreciate each and everyone taking the time to help.

Thanks
Nate