105 Fever

Hi! I've never been to this part of rabbitsonline boards. Cause Pup has never been sick before!!

Wednesday night Pup didn't want to eat. I knew something was wrong because 1: he LOVES carrots and didn't want them, and 2: he NEVER turns down food.
The next morning he still wouldn't eat. I called the vet and she told me to come in.
It turns out he had a 105 degree fever. They took an X Ray and told me that Pup had a lot of fluid floating around in his stomach which was causing him pain.
So since Thursday I have been giving Pup 4 different meds (stool softner, one for motility, one for pain, antibiotics) and feeding him Critical Care.
Since I was pretty upset at the vet (he kept screaming, and it broke my heart) I forgot to ask her important questions and unfortunately the vet is closed today.

Can anyone help me out? She never told me what was causing the fluid build up. She never told me how to prevent it from happening again. And she never told me how long to to keep administering the medicine. He seems A LOT better. He eats and is acting his normal self but I am still giving him the meds.

Any thoughts/comments/questions on this?

Those may be questions only your vet can answer. I would ring them up Mon. Glad your bun is doing better!

I'm so glad he's doing better! I agree, the best thing to do is call up the vet on monday - they should be happy to answer all your questions over the phone.

by the way, did she give you a probiotic of some sort? it's recommended to give one with antibiotics. (you can often buy them at pet stores if she didn't)

no she didnt! whats a good brand??

With what we pay on vet bills, I always call them with any and all questions.

Benebac is a common brand of probiotic you can find in pet stores.

Give the antibiotic until you run out of it. You always want to do your full course of antibiotics. With something like motility drugs I usually give them until they appear to be eating and pooping normally. I'll do pain meds on the same schedule but usually finish off with a half dose on the last day and then would bump that up again if they stop eating.

PupTheRabbit wrote:

Hi! I've never been to this part of rabbitsonline boards. Cause Pup has never been sick before!!

Wednesday night Pup didn't want to eat. I knew something was wrong because 1: he LOVES carrots and didn't want them, and 2: he NEVER turns down food.
The next morning he still wouldn't eat. I called the vet and she told me to come in.
It turns out he had a 105 degree fever. They took an X Ray and told me that Pup had a lot of fluid floating around in his stomach which was causing him pain.
So since Thursday I have been giving Pup 4 different meds (stool softner, one for motility, one for pain, antibiotics) and feeding him Critical Care.
Since I was pretty upset at the vet (he kept screaming, and it broke my heart) I forgot to ask her important questions and unfortunately the vet is closed today.

Can anyone help me out? She never told me what was causing the fluid build up. She never told me how to prevent it from happening again. And she never told me how long to to keep administering the medicine. He seems A LOT better. He eats and is acting his normal self but I am still giving him the meds.

Any thoughts/comments/questions on this?

Click to expand...

--rabbits are stress animals so please act calm around the bunz--your concern is well taken,,-as for the meds,-what was/is the diagnosis??--critical care has probotics in it,metacam for pain,--reglyn for gut mobility.??-and one other med a stool softener----well,here goes -what do pups poops look like??-what do the cecotropes(night poops)-look like.??--it is expected you will be hand syringing crt.care,and meds,--can you also weigh pups three x daily--this will be very useful info per eatng habits,dehydration--weight loss is critical---any probotics shall be powder not benebac(paste)-powder can be mixed with the crt.care,also simethicone would be very good,calm the tummy down---watch pup 24/7 ,keep him close---i have a cat named peeweee--(pup)ernickle dew--what a name,-yes--keep rol posted on any changes--i will add you to my e-mail---sincerely james waller--:innocent:big winks monitor that fever-very regular,,- anal probe thermometer

Hey everyone. I talked to the vet yesterday and I told her I forgot to ask her a few questions when I was there. She told me to keep giving him antibiotics until I ran out (which I did yesterday)and when I asked her how to prevent it, she said she can't promise it won't happen again...Great.

Also, when I said that she never gave me an actual diagnosis, she said the same F'n thing that she told me when I was there last week: "he is like a horse with colic." WTF does that even mean?! Ugh.

So, like a horse with colic? Does that mean he had GI stasis? I read that it was the equivilant of stasis in rabbits. Is this what you think your rabbit had? Did your vet suggest any diet changes to prevent it from happening again?

she said no pellets and if i had to feed him pellets only give him a small amount, like 1/4 of a cup. also a lot of vegetables. i have only fed him a half a banana since. i dont think i will be giving him a lot of fruit anymore. she told me that pellets are usually given to fatten up the rabbit if they are going to be used for meat. since that's not my case, i think i'm going to stay away from the pellets.

she didn't mention GI statis. I'm still unsure WTF she meant about the colic comparison...very confused but i am giving him lots of hay and cleaning his cage almost every day.

GI stasis is basically a term for a collection of signs or symptoms we see in rabbits which could have a number of actual causes. Colic really just means "abdominal pain" but is very similar in that it's really a term for a collection of symptoms with a number of different causes.
As far as the symptoms go, GI stasis in rabbits and colic in horses are very similar.

pellets can be good/healthy in limited amounts, but aren't truly necessary if the bunny gets a good variety of dark, leafy greens. for some rabbits, the little bit of sugar that most pellets have can also cause stasis problems. (personally, I feed sherwood forest brand, which is all natural and has no sugars or molasses in it - https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/sherwood-forest-natural-rabbit-food/ )

staying away from fruits and sweet/starchy veggies like carrots can often help if a bunny is prone to bouts of GI stasis.

I have a rabbit that had reoccurring GI stasis bouts. It started from stress but after getting better, he kept getting it again. I read how too many carbs and sugars can cause stasis, so I changed his diet and now all he gets is timothy hay and green veggies, and since I did this he hasn't gotten stasis again. If you want to minimize the chances that this happens again, you may want to do that diet change. The problem foods are fruit, sugary treats, starchy veggies(like carrots), grains and carbs. Sometimes cruciferous veggies can cause problems as well. So, you would want to cut all of these out of his diet. With pellets, I had to eliminate them completely from my rabbits diet because they kept getting him sick. If you don't want to get rid of them completely, then just try reducing the amount he gets like was suggested to you by the vet, and you can see if your rabbit does well with that. The benefit of reducing pellets is that then your rabbit will eat more hay, and that can also help prevent GI stasis. Always make sure he has unlimited hay as it's the best thing for them.

I would definitely stress the value of hay over fresh vegetables. I know a lot of vets are very enthusiastic about fresh vegetable diets but the simple truth is that when I briefly switched my rabbits to that not only was it very expensive but they gained weight and were not as healthy. Part of the reason is that in the wild, where a rabbit eats a fresh diet, the rabbit is constantly digging for and consuming roots and with those roots consuming trace minerals from the soil . . . . .

Another thing with GI stasis is that typically an inappropriately large number of carbs has caused the wrong balance of gut flora to flourish so its's important to restore healthy gut flora. The very best source is actually cecotropes stolen from another healthy rabbit. Next best source can be various probiotic supplements.

In the event that drugs must be administered, there are basically two types -- cesapride, originally developed for humans but now disapproved for human use due to an occasional occurrence of irregular heartbeat. Cesapride is actually the better med of the two but is becoming increasingly difficult to find due to its lack of availability for humans now. It is preferable because it stimulates the lower part of the GI tract, where the problem typically is. This is a great drug to have on hand and a nice vet will give you a bit more than what you are likely to need. The second I notice a rabbit not eating, I start giving it cesapride and it is eating great again the next day.

The other drug begins with an "R" and I don't remember the name right now. It is less effective because it acts to cause the stomach to empty itself, a little higher up in the system than what is really needed.

Thank you all SO much,


I am now just giving Pup LOTS of Ox Bow Timothy hay as well as lettuce, cucumber slices, and celery (any other suggestions?).

I'm so grateful that the Cesperide and the other 3 medications have made him recover. He is my baby and I love him with all of my <3

I know, it's so hard when they're sick, and such a relief when they are feeling better

My buns love cilantro. Parsley's good but in limited amounts because it has alot of calcium. Here are some veggie lists. You want to limit the green veggies high in calcium and oxalic acid. You will probably want to avoid giving starchy veggies, because of the digestive problems, and introduce new veggies slowly and one at a time too, to make sure the new veggie doesn't cause problems with your bun.

http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html
http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm#greens