My bunny isn't moving

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maxsmom

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I have a 6 month old Holland Lop. He's been with us for 4 months and is a super active rabbit. He's loose in my house all day and is always playing and running everywhere (he's litter trained). This morning we found him hiding against the wall, under a table. When I called to him, he didn't come. I took him and he didn't move.

This is completely unusual behavior for him, I'm so worried and my breeder doesn't return my call. I've heard that you can't take rabbit just anywhere because most vets dont treat rabbits.

I'm wondering if he's hurt his legs since he's always jumping on our furniture. Although my husband gave him carrots 2 days straight and he usually only eats his pellets.

Any suggestions? He's just stretched out now in his cage. Doesn't even lift his head.
 
Is he looking/acting uncomfortable? Lifting or shifting his tummy?

When did he last poop? Any signs of constipation or diarrhea?

Will he move back to where he was if you move him to another spot or take him out or his pen? (Gently!) You'll need to see how lethargic he actually is. (EDA: Have you seen him hop?)

If he suddenly got carrots, its possible he has gas. He'll need long tummy rubs, gas medicine with simethicone and some gentle exercise. If he's like that for more than eight hours or so, he's going to need ER treatment. :(

ETA: If you haven't seen him hop and you don't think he can, he has to be confined to a small space and taken in to a vet ASAP for an x-ray. If he has a spinal injury, he'll need to have it treated ASAP to increase the chances for healing.

sas :pray:
 

If you've introduced something foreign into your rabbits diet you may have upset his stomach. If he has gas than rubbing his stomach may help relieve him. Unfortunately I'm not an expert as I'm a relatively new bunny owner myself. I would say that if your rabbit is not eating/drinking/pooping normally you should contact a vet right away.
 
I placed him on the floor and he wasn't really hopping. Then he finally took a few steps but i noticed he has his rear right leg tucked under him.
 
maxsmom wrote:
I placed him on the floor and he wasn't really hopping. Then he finally took a few steps but i noticed he has his rear right leg tucked under him.

Ah, well its good to have a hint as to what's wrong. He needs to be kept immobilized in a small carrier, and he'll need pain medication.

The problem with injuries like this is you don't know if it's broken, and if it is broken, some breaks heal on their own while others will not, they'll get out of sync, infected and/or internal bleeding or other problems, and they require pins to properly fix it.

The pain meds will make him feel better and hopefully start eating, but in order to take an anti-inflammatory pain med, he'll need to have food and water, so its a bit of a vicious circle.

I'd recommend taking him into an ER clinic for an exam, fluids and pain meds, but I doubt they can do more than that. I don't know that I'd trust them to do surgery. The 'exotic' vet like the one someone else posted are more for birds and reptiles. Dog and cat vets are also not great with rabbits. You need a vet well versed in treating rabbits.

If you can't get him to a rabbit vet until tomorrow, he needs to stay quiet and you'll have to try to give him food and water.

Soak some parsley in water and wave it in front of his face, sometimes they'll grab it out of anger and decide its good enough to eat.

A little juice in water may entice him. If nothing else works maybe you can gently use a syringe, dropper or squeeze bottle to get something in his mouth without disturbing his leg.

You can't give him aspirin, that will promote bleeding, but some baby Motrin is a pain killer and anti-inflammatory and may work if he has food and water in his stomach. It can cause ulcers or kidney issues if he has a totally empty stomach of if he's too dehydrated.

Let us know how he is!


sas :clover:
 
I am moving this to the infirmary since you'll get more help there than in the rabbitry.
 

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