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Honey Bunnies

Honey Bunnies

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Feb 15, 2019
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I brought my bunny home from college earlier today and she was shaking really bad during the ride. The ride is an hour long and she’s made the trip before, but this time instead of staying on all fours she laid down on her side which she’s never done before. She also seemed to be shaking worse than usual. Now that she’s home she seems more relaxed, but she doesn’t seem interested in her veggies. Should I be worried? We’ve been home for hours and she’s barely eaten a bite.
 
I would maybe try to syringe her some plain childrens pedialyte electrolytes , carefully and slowly making sure she is chewing and swallowing so you don't risk her aspirating the liquid. It will help rehydrate her and may be enough to jump start her into eating again. I would keep a really close eye on her. If she starts to have watery diarrhea, becomes flaccid, is doing loud tooth grinding, starts shaking again, or starts to decline in any way you would need to get her to an emergency vet that treats rabbits, tonight. If she seems ok tonight but just won't eat, I might wait til tomorrow to have her seen by an experienced rabbit vet first thing if she still isn't eating or back to normal in the morning, or get her seen tonight if you feel you need to get her in asap.

But the shaking sounds concerning to me. It may have just been the stress of the journey, maybe made her feel nauseous, but there's always the possibility it was more than stress and could have been caused by some underlying health problem. So if you have any concerns that it's more than a simple upset stomach from the stress of the journey, I would get her seen tonight if you have an emergency vet with rabbit experience available to go to.
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
http://myhouserabbit.com/rabbit-health/gi-stasis-in-rabbits-a-deadly-condition/
 
JBun said:
I would maybe try to syringe her some plain childrens pedialyte electrolytes , carefully and slowly making sure she is chewing and swallowing so you don't risk her aspirating the liquid. It will help rehydrate her and may be enough to jump start her into eating again. I would keep a really close eye on her. If she starts to have watery diarrhea, becomes flaccid, is doing loud tooth grinding, starts shaking again, or starts to decline in any way you would need to get her to an emergency vet that treats rabbits, tonight. If she seems ok tonight but just won't eat, I might wait til tomorrow to have her seen by an experienced rabbit vet first thing if she still isn't eating or back to normal in the morning, or get her seen tonight if you feel you need to get her in asap.

But the shaking sounds concerning to me. It may have just been the stress of the journey, maybe made her feel nauseous, but there's always the possibility it was more than stress and could have been caused by some underlying health problem. So if you have any concerns that it's more than a simple upset stomach from the stress of the journey, I would get her seen tonight if you have an emergency vet with rabbit experience available to go to.
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
http://myhouserabbit.com/rabbit-health/gi-stasis-in-rabbits-a-deadly-condition/
Click to expand...
I’m thinking she had really bad gas because last night after I posted my above question her stomach started rumbling loudly and when I looked it up that combined with her other symptoms often means gas. Thank you though!
 
Just so you know, gas can actually be a fatal illness in rabbits because they have no vomit/burping reflex, so the gas can build up and put pressure on vital organs if it is very severe. Loud gurgling is actually not a good sign. It can mean the digestive microflora is changing and that harmful bacteria is starting to alter the delicate balance in there, which results in gas and gurgling, and can further progress to bloat or diarrhea in some cases.

So if she isn't eating(or not eating very well) and acting normally today, and still has loud gurgling, I would get her into the vet. If her behavior and eating is mostly back to normal but she still seems to have some stomach discomfort and minor gurgling, baby gas drops might be helpful. The info and dosage on it's use in rabbits is in the ileus link in my previous post. I would also make sure she eats lots of grass hay(free fed), and not feed any sugary/starchy treats(encourages harmful bacterial growth). I might also temporarily reduce pellet amounts to encourage more hay eating. A good quality grass hay is one of the best foods for rabbits that have digestive upset. It helps to restore the normal microflora in the rabbits digestive tract.
 
She’s eating and hopping around normally again. I called our vet to give them a heads up just in case she starts again, but she seems much better.
 
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