Please Help! (Injured Bunny)

[AinaWGSD]

Thank you for being kind enough to do the right thing for this bunny. Please don't feel as though you have let her down in any way. Even with an appropriate antibiotic (you never did say which one you used, some are perfectly safe to use in rabbits and the exotics vets I work for that see rabbits (and have brought some back from dire straights) use antibiotics all the time but they have to be ones that are appropriate) from the way you describe her condition it seems that she would have had little hope for recovery even with stressful and painful treatment necessary. Even if you had all the money in the world, treating her would still have been a long and painful process that may well have ended in death for her no matter what. Ending her suffering quickly is the kindest thing you could have possibly done for her.

 

[animallover505]

I'm so glad you rescued to poor baby! Get her to a vet!

 

[Bunnylady]

I'm so glad you rescued to poor baby! Get her to a vet!

animallover, was it late when you posted this? This thread is a week and a half old, and the OP posted an update that said she'd killed the rabbit to end its suffering a few days ago.



Paulandashia, you did what you felt you had to do, and it really was the kindest thing. A bone that is broken begins the healing process almost immediately, so it needs to be be "set" fairly quickly so that it can knit together properly. A bone that was broken a month ago and not set, probably couldn't reattach without surgery. If this doe's body condition was as you have described, I doubt she would have had the reserves to endure much more, even with the best of care. You wanted to help this girl, which is more than can be said for her owner.

 

[Bunnylady]

Bless you for tryingto help her...and for being strong enough to end her pain when you thought there was no other way to help her.

For what it's worth, I took in 3 rabbits temporarily after a house fire. They were in small cages, very thin, and still had their winter coats although it was summer. I knew that shetland ponies when malnourished didn't shed their winter coats as their bodies just didn't have the resources to spare for growing a new summer coat. I bought a bag of feed for pregnant does thinking the extra nutrients, vitamins and minerals would give them a boost. Within a month, they had fine new summer coats growing in and they were filling in. If I had it to do again, I would have mixed up some homemade pedialyte to give them as well. Should you ever care for another neglected critter, I would definitely recommend getting feed intended for a pregnant female of the species.

Just FYI, horses shed in the spring, rabbits molt in the summer - or whenever their breeder wants to take them to a show.

But unless the rabbits had diarrhea, the pedialyte would not have been helpful. The feed has the proper balance of nutrients; clean, pure water would be what the rabbit would need to be able to process the feed to their maximum benefit. Rabbits don't sweat, so adding electrolytes to the water of an otherwise unstressed animal would just give their kidneys extra work to remove the extra minerals. Under those circumstances, the plain water you gave them was the better thing to do.

 

[CountryKitty]

It was very late summer when I took in the rabbits; This was in Central Texas and the temperatures were already in the upper 90's to low 100's. It was way past time for them to shed.

Thanks for the info about sweating and that the electrolytes would be overkill. I appreciate the input.

 

[animallover505]

I's sorry, I didn't read that far, I just saw hurt bunny.