Temporary Foster Bunny

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Elizabeth

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I worked part time at a vet clinic. When I arrived at the clinic this morning for my shift I found a little black and white bunny sitting in one of the cat kennels. She was brought in yesterday, one of the TRACS volunteers found her in the parking lot of Shaw; she's one of the feral bunnies. We believe she's been hit by a car. She has head trauma and possible spinal injuries. Dr. Mike gave her a steroid shot for the spinal injury and gave her some pain relief. Her one eye has hemmorhaged and the pupil no longer reacts to light. We believe she may be permanently blind in that eye. She is peeing a bit of blood as well. Dr. Kate also believes she may be pregnant as she feels some little jelly beans in her belly. If she is pregnant, we're not sure that they will survive. She looks incredibly young to me so if she is pregnant it would probably be a first litter. She's a very tiny little bunny.

She's not eating on her own so they syringe fed her critical care on Friday at the clinic. This morning when I brought her out of the kennel, there were some poops so that's a good sign. I syringe fed her some more critical care today at the clinic and she ate a bunch of it with quite a bit enthusiasm. We have her for the weekend for observation so I decided to bring her home with me until Monday morning and then I'll drop her off at the clinic before I head to my other job.

We were out tonight having dinner with friends, when I came home I fed her some more critical care and she had a very good appetite. There were also some more poops in the cage. They were small but at least she's passing them. I picked a bunch of grass through the snow tonight, I'm hoping she'll eat the grass. She won't touch the hay or pellets or veggies I've offered her but I'm not surprised by that. The other feral bunnies I've fostered in the past always took a day or two before realizing that hay was food. Keep your fingers crossed that she at least eats the grass I gave her tonight. I'm going to pick up some alfalfa hay tomorrow, in the past I've had good luck getting the feral bunnies to eat alfalfa, they find it hard to resist.

For being a feral bunny, she's really quite friendly. She's skittish obviously but she already recognizes me as a food source and after she had eaten nearly 25cc's of critical care tonight she laid on the bed with me for an hour and a half while I petted her. Was very calm and really enjoyed the petting, did some teeth grinding and slept a bit while I petted her.

I took some pictures of her. This is her bad eye, it's not a great picture but you can see the hemmorhaging in it:

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Having a bite to eat:

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Just snuggling:

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She also has a terrible scab/sore on her back between her shoulder blades. Mike and Kate think it's probably from male bunnies grabbing onto her while mating... but aren't entirely sure.

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I took some of the scab off, the top part came off quite easily but the bottom half wasn't quite ready yet. I'm thinking of putting a bit of polysporin on it to help with the healing. Here it is after I took the top part off:

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The inside of her ears are quite yellow, we thought maybe she was jaundiced or has some liver damage but the white of her good eye is white not yellow and her gums are very pink and healthy looking. Plus her behaviour doesn't really indicate any internal bleeding etc. She's alert and eating and as active as I'll let her be. She stretched out on the bed and didn't seem to have any discomfort with it. Has anyone seen a healthy bunny with a yellowish colour in the inside of their ears before?
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw. What a beautiful bunny. Sort of like my Badger :D Good on you for taking her home and looking after her. Poor little girl has been through so much and needs some TLC.

It might be worth posting in the Infirmary about the yellow ears, you will probably get some good replies there and it won't be lost amongst these very beautiful pics :)
 
She's so gorgeous!
I think it's great your helping her like that! She'll be perfectly healthy again soon with you as her foster mummy!!

Keep us updated.

B.
 
Oh she's so cute. What a great thing you did bringing her home with you, at least now she has a fighting chance.

Susan:)
 
Oh my goodness, she is gorgeous! Kudos for taking her in. Could the yellow in her ears be a infection or mites? Sending her healing vibes. She is a fighter!
 
Good for YOU for helping her!! I hope she'll discover a better life ahead (than the one she was previously exposed to).

If it weren't for a percentage of caring and responsible individuals in the world, what a mess this planet would be in. Especially for rabbits who bring us love.

you've changed her world already. Cuddled in that rose pink towel, positioned by your bare feet, getting syringe fed ... getting her ear rubbed ... :D

Thanks for posting her story and sharing the photos.
 
Thanks everyone for your kind comments. The little girl is still doing well although she still won't eat on her own. She'll eat critical care from a syringe or from my fingers but she won't eat it from a dish. Nor will she eat any hay, grass, vegetables or pellets. We're wondering if she doesn't have some sort of brain damage or swelling that is preventing her from figuring out how to eat on her own. She's going back to the vet tomorrow for more tests and then she'll come back to our house. The foster home TRACS had lined up hasn't really dealt with special needs bunnies before so she'll stay with me for awhile.

LizBuns, we've got quite the zoo here already and have four bunnies of our own so we're only available for fostering. However, we may have a home lined up for her with someone who has dealt with special needs bunnies before. Keep your fingers crossed for her!
 
Elizabeth! Great to hear from you, and what a lucky bunny to be invited into your bunny pampering home. What great news about a potential home already.
Hope the rest of your crew are doing well.
 
Ouch! Poor little girl. She really does look young--not even 6mo. I hope she just has some hard poos to pass and that's what the vet felt. Best of luck with that little cutie, and major kudos for bringing her in. She may have been someone's pet, since she's so friendly. This is a time of year when a lot of bunnies get dumped to "fend for themselves" because the owner doesn't want to keep them in the hutch all winter. The lucky ones get picked up by someone like you, the unlucky ones I'd rather not mention.:(

Best of luck and good wishes to you both!:hug:
 

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