Assistance with a sick Netherland

[Freedomrabbits]

While at a show a month or so ago, my daughter picked out a beautiful little Netherland doe to purchase. I checked her over, she looked just fine. Healthy clear eyes, clean nose, eating well and chubby. I kept her in quarentine just as I always do. Within a day or so of being home she got a wet nose. Which then proceeded to a white discharge nose. It has not gone away or gotten better at all. She is eating, though it seems to come and go. She does sound and look raspy. I have tried Duramyicin in her water. Then I contacted the vet and he gave me the dosage over the phone for Durapen (which was recommended by the breeder) .4 cc once a day.
Is this snuffles, or could it be something else? She is on a wire floored cage, in an unheated insulated building. Her paws are a little dirty occasionally, but nothing like the pics I have seen of snuffles. She just always appears to have a cold. You know the feeling.

 

[sickbunny]

I do know the feeling. Mine ate and played and acted like it was just a cold, but rabbits are good at hiding sickness. It turned out to be much worse.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=64444&forum_id=16

I would want the vet to do a health check and run a culture sensitivity test, and maybe even a rabbit profile and some bloodwork. You will feel better even if you just have a vet actually eyeballing her and listening to her lungs, not just prescribing over the phone.

good for you for being cautious and putting her in quarantine to protect your other rabbits!

 

[Wabbitdad12]

I have had good success with Pen-G with Procaine. You can get it at TSC stores. You will have to get some 22 gauge needles because it is thick stuff. For my smaller buns I use .5cc mixed with .5cc of bottle water. Withdraw the pen-g first then draw up the water. Get rid of any bubbles and give the shot between the shoulder blades. Your vet can show you how to do it.

 

[Sweetie]

I would get that bunny to a warm room, that will help her get better quicker.

 

[tonyshuman]

Make sure you are giving the Durapen via sub-q injection. It is toxic if given orally. It is also helpful to dilute it 1:1 with a sterile diluent (sterile water for injection, sterile saline, in some cases distilled water is ok) because it is thick. It's a good, cheap way to treat many infections that bunnies get if you are comfortable doing injections and have access to the supplies. Oftentimes we give breeders different health advice versus pet owners because the cost of doing a culture and sensitivity test, as sickbunny advised, really isn't reasonable for a person who has lots of bunnies.

 

[Maureen Las]

I hope that you are giving sub q also ..

0.4 cc sounds like a huge dose for a netherland dwarf

here is the medirabbit dosage for bicillin ( Dura-pen)1 kg=2.2lbs

The units per ml will be on the backof the bottle if you want to use units

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm

 

[Freedomrabbits]

Sickbunny - quarantine is something I learned the hard way when I was young. My grandfather rasied cattle, we now raise sheep, goats, rabbits, and horses. So I have always used strict quarantine habits. Keep them seperate, feed them last.

Wabbitdad12- Thanks for the suggestion of Pen-G. I will get with our vet and see what he thinks about trying that. I don't have any problems with shots, since I was a vet. assistant for several years.

Sweetie - A warm room was my next step. To begin with I didn't want to change to much on her. I was afraid the sharp change in temps would do her more harm than good. Since she came from a breeder that kept her outside.

Tonyshuman - we raise many farm animals as well as our 40 rabbits (for showing)so we have always given our own injections. We did give the Durapen sub-q yes. We have always worked very closely with our vets, so often times they just take our word for what we know is going on and will give us a hand with dosage info over the phone rather than try to get fit into a very busy appointment schedule.

angieluv - thanks for the link I will check it out and compare to what our vet told us.

I think our next step is to move her inside and get her in for a face to face with our vet.

 

[Sweetie]

Sounds really good.

When Sweetie's breathing started sounding like she was getting sick, I moved her into my bedroom where it was warmer than the living room and her breathing got better. Glad that you are going to move her into a warm room.

Hope she gets better soon.