Apple is Sick

[Skybunny11]

My Rabbit Apple is very sick. He is so sweet and I am so scared :tears2:At the moment I don't have the money to get him to a vet. But he just got sick at the wrong time. He is a French Angora. He just got over Ear Mites and those made his dad, Todd, really sick to but never this sick. He is just laying there. He will get up and move but only to eat, get water, or walk over to me.

He is VERY skinny but he is eating probably twice as much as my other healthy rabbits. He is also drinking a lot too. He just doesn't have the life to do much and I am terrified. I suspected worms so I dewormed him a couple days ago. What else can I do? Should I do? How long does Deworming usually take? I am really scared :tears2:

 

[Pipp]

How old is he?

Can you put your location in your profile?

Did he get sick after the mite treatment? How did you treat them?

Sometimes (often) mites will cause an ear infection and it's not that easy to spot.

What dewormer did you use? Have you seen worms in his poop? If he had a tapeworm, it should be expelled. If it was pinworms, you should have been able to see little specs in the poop before hand, but not always. There's a lot of info on parasites/worms in our Library.

Also, loss of weight with increased water intake *might* signal a renal (kidney related) issue.


sas :clover:

 

[Skybunny11]

He is a year and a half

I live in the Cochella Valley

He was a little down before his treatment but realyl got sick afterward. I used Bio Groom mite treatment, I have used it on other rabbits before. I have not seen worms in his poo at all.

 

[Pipp]

I've revamped this post...

What did you use for the de-worming?

I know you said he's eating a lot, but is he eating as much, more or less than usual?

When did you use the Bio Groom? Unfortunately that stuff is bad for rabbits even though they say it's formulated for use on rabbits.

According to one of our better sources, Rami at Medirabbit, its not the main ingredient, Pyrethrins, that's bad, it's an additive, Piperonyl butoxide. I gather some bunnies react badly to it. However, if they survive the initial treatment, they should slowly recover, he says in about 48 hours.

I've also seen references to it causing weight loss.

But your Apple may have something else going on, I think if he was feeling down before the treatment, he may have an ear infection.

Quite often Vets will just prescribe an antibiotic (injectable penicillin is cheap and probably available at a feed store)without actually seeing anything wrong. But I'd hesitate if he's that run down.

Same with pain meds. You can tell if he's in pain by seeing if a little Baby Motrin helps, but it restricts the blood flow to the kidneys so if he has any damage there, it might cause more harm. It needs to be given with food to a well hydrated rabbit.

Not everybody here agrees, but I'd recommend NutriCal, a nutritional supplement for cats and dogs that has worked extremely well for me (and others) when it comes to perking up a sick rabbit.

But without knowing what's causing his problem, it's all guesswork.


sas :?

 

[tonyshuman]

Uhoh. I am hoping this is a reaction to the Bio Groom. In the future, it's better to use Panacur or ivermectin to deworm your bunnies. They can be found cheaply at farm supply stores, but make sure you get the goat formulation. The larger tubes don't have the medicine evenly distributed throughout the tube, so one blob could have 10x more active ingredient than one farther down in the tube. Also massage the tube fully before you squirt any out.

I wouldn't try this again until after 48hrs so that you know he's recovered from the pyrethrins in Bio Groom.

To help him recover, make sure he eats lots of hay and gets lots of water. If he's not eating at all, you'll need to force feed him a slurry of pellets and water.