Concerned about my rabbit Pepper.

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Pepper

Pepper

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Joined
Mar 27, 2004
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Location
, , USA
I have a question my Pepper is off his routinethis morning,when we got up about 9:00 A.M. this morning he didn't begus to let him out.Every morning when we get up in the morning he 'swilling and waiting to be let out of his cage and run.He chews on hiscage and looks at us at the same time,that's his way of telling us hewants out,but this morning he just was laying down and that'sit.Also,every morning when we eat our breakfast,he then begs for hisbreakfast,because he'll sit by his food dish and look at us forfood.This morning he didn't do that eitherhe was still layingdown and not going to his food dish,when we did give him his food.Hestill hasn't been to his food dish yet this morning and it'salmost 12:00 noon time.This is really unusual for him,becausehe has this routine everyday and for him to lay around all morning andnot beg to be let out or beg for his breakfast is odd. He was hisnormal self yesterday,but today I don't know what's going on with him.Idid call the vet and did ask questions about it and they told me tokeep an eye on him to check to see if he's going to eat,drink,&go to the bathroom. Also,the vet told me if he doesn'teat,drink,& go to the bathroom have him checked out.I wastrying to get some other advice on this and hope this isn'tserious.He's our baby and hope he's ok.
 
mambo101 wrote:
Sounds to me like the vet gave you the best advicepossible.
Click to expand...
I guess I'm really concerned about him.He's our baby.
 
Hello Friend, :)

Do you have any NutriCal, Pepper? I'd give some tohim. I wonder if he's starting a round with GIStasis. Check out the link to the GI Stasis thread in theCheat Sheet thread. Make sure he stays hydrated, and keep aclose eye on his food intake and poops.

Check out his teeth also - just in case he may have an issue there that's causing him not to eat.

Please keep us posted.

-Carolyn
 
I'm glad you called your vet right away, instead of waiting.

It's very important that he eat soon. From what I understand, if theygo longer than 24 hours without eating something, their systems beginto shut down. Try to get him to eat anything, his favorite treats(bananas, raisins, apple, greens), just anything to keep his systemmoving. Nutri Cal would be a good idea too.

If he's still not eating by late afternoon, you could force feed him.What I did when we had to force feed Abby after her spay, was mash downsome pellets with water to make a slur. We used a syringe to force itinto her mouth, a little at a time. Dave had to swaddle her in a towel,but she didn't give us much problems. I also force fed her water (veryslowly) to keep her hydrated. I also mashed in some canned pumpkin andunprocessed oats in this slur mix, to give extra fiber.I havea mortal and pestle, which did make it easier but you could useanything really.

Please keep us up to date. You'll be on mymind.
 
Great advice, Stephanie. Also wouldadd that should you do the pet slurry, as Stephanie mentioned, feed itslowly because you don't want him to choke on it. Give Pepperanything you think he'd eat.

I know how he's your little Baby. I'll be saying prayers.

-Carolyn
 
Canned pumpkin is supposedly one of the bestthings to clean them out in case of a blockage. That andfresh pineapple juice.

-Carolyn
 
Hiya!!

Some of my bunnies do this every once in a while. It always scares the heck out of me, too.

The last time it happened I was able to figure that it may have beenthe greens I gave them the night before. They may have already startedto go sour and may have upset the bun's tummies.

As Carolyn mentioned, Nutri-Cal is great stuff. And the buns love thetaste of it (just kidding..inside joke...my buns hate the taste).

Parsley has always stimulated my buns appitite, too.

Keep us updated!!

~Jim
 
Carolyn wrote:
Hello Friend, :)

Do you have any NutriCal, Pepper? I'd give some tohim. I wonder if he's starting a round with GIStasis. Check out the link to the GI Stasis thread in theCheat Sheet thread. Make sure he stays hydrated, and keep aclose eye on his food intake and poops.

Check out his teeth also - just in case he may have an issue there that's causing him not to eat.

Please keep us posted.

-Carolyn
Click to expand...
I don't have any NutriCal,what is this. We been keeping an eyeon him and he still hasn't eaten or taken a drink yettoday.He's just been laying around and that's it.He's not himselftoday. We did pet him in his cage and he just was laying down.
 
NutriCal is a dietary supplement made for catsand dogs. You can pick some up at a pet store for about$10. It's well worth the money, Pepper. It willhelp to stimulate his appetite, boost his immune system, has laxatonein it in case he needs to poop but can't, and will give him thenutrients that he'll need until he gets his appetite back. Iwouldn't waste any time. As mentioned above, you have to getto this fast. I'd also strongly recommend the canned pumpkinand fresh pineapple juice. The Pineapple juice has to besqueezed from a pineapple because the enzymes that will help break downthe hair, if that's what it is, only works if it's from a freshpineapple. The opposite is true of the pumpkin.It's got to be canned. Give him as much as he'lltake. You can give him this, if he doesn't eat it, with asyringe. You might also pick up some Pedialyte (for babies)and give him an eye-dropper full of that so that his electrolytes don'tget run down and he stays hydrated. He must drink, if nothingelse at this point. Dehydration can quickly become fatal.

You have my number, Pepper. Don't hesitate to useit. I'm at work now, but will be home tonight. Thatsaid though, there's little I can do other than offer emotionalsupport. It's absolute key to get him eating, drinking andpooping again.

-Carolyn
 
I agree with Carolyn. With situations like this,it's best to nip it in the bud. You know something isn't right andyou're taking action for it, which is great.

Get something into him now though. Don't "wait and see" like the vetsaid. Act now or regret later. It doesn't take long for them to godown....and we don't want to see that happen.
 
Stephanie wrote:
I'm glad you called your vet right away, instead of waiting.

It's very important that he eat soon. From what I understand, if theygo longer than 24 hours without eating something, their systems beginto shut down. Try to get him to eat anything, his favorite treats(bananas, raisins, apple, greens), just anything to keep his systemmoving. Nutri Cal would be a good idea too.

If he's still not eating by late afternoon, you could force feed him.What I did when we had to force feed Abby after her spay, was mash downsome pellets with water to make a slur. We used a syringe to force itinto her mouth, a little at a time. Dave had to swaddle her in a towel,but she didn't give us much problems. I also force fed her water (veryslowly) to keep her hydrated. I also mashed in some canned pumpkin andunprocessed oats in this slur mix, to give extra fiber.I havea mortal and pestle, which did make it easier but you could useanything really.

Please keep us up to date. You'll be on mymind.
Click to expand...
We tried to give him things to eat that he likes,but refuses toeat it.Also, we tried to give him juice and he won't drink thateither.He won't drink or eat anything yet as of today.Plus,when we pickhim up he has that scared or nervous look.I'm getting really concered.My husband is trying right now to give him water to drink.If thisdoesn't work should we take him to the vet right away or should we waitthe 24 hours to take him to the vet?
 
Carolyn wrote:
NutriCal is a dietary supplement made for cats anddogs. You can pick some up at a pet store for about$10. It's well worth the money, Pepper. It willhelp to stimulate his appetite, boost his immune system, has laxatonein it in case he needs to poop but can't, and will give him thenutrients that he'll need until he gets his appetite back. Iwouldn't waste any time. As mentioned above, you have to getto this fast. I'd also strongly recommend the canned pumpkinand fresh pineapple juice. The Pineapple juice has to besqueezed from a pineapple because the enzymes that will help break downthe hair, if that's what it is, only works if it's from a freshpineapple. The opposite is true of the pumpkin.It's got to be canned. Give him as much as he'lltake. You can give him this, if he doesn't eat it, with asyringe. You might also pick up some Pedialyte (for babies)and give him an eye-dropper full of that so that his electrolytes don'tget run down and he stays hydrated. He must drink, if nothingelse at this point. Dehydration can quickly become fatal.

You have my number, Pepper. Don't hesitate to useit. I'm at work now, but will be home tonight. Thatsaid though, there's little I can do other than offer emotionalsupport. It's absolute key to get him eating, drinking andpooping again.

-Carolyn
Click to expand...
My Pepper still doesn't want to eat or drink we been trying togive him things to eat & drink,but he won't take them. Also,hejust lays around and doesn't really act himself today.When we pick himup he has that scared or nervous look. Very odd for him. He's normallya happy,playful rabbit.Today he's just not a happy camper.Should wetake him right away to the vet?
 
Hi Pepper,

Unless your comfortable with making him take a syringe full of water atleast and some NutriCal, then I wouldn't wait 24 hours. It'snot hard tosyringe feed them. You just flip him onhis back, and put the syringe behind his front teeth and slowlyallowthe water out. I'd get him off thevet's now if you don't want to do that. Better safe thansorry. If he becomes dehydrated, you'll lose him.Keep me posted.

-Carolyn


 
Carolyn wrote:
Hi Pepper,

Unless your comfortable with making him take a syringe full of water atleast and some NutriCal, then I wouldn't wait 24 hours. It'snot hard tosyringe feed them. You just flip him onhis back, and put the syringe behind his front teeth and slowlyallowthe water out. I'd get him off thevet's now if you don't want to do that. Better safe thansorry. If he becomes dehydrated, you'll lose him.Keep me posted.

-Carolyn
Click to expand...
I'll try your suggestion first,if that doesn't work we're off to the vets.
 
He's slowly coming around.He's eating a littlebit.I think that's a good sign. He's not laying around as much,he'ssitting in his cage looking at us.We're still keeping an eye on himstill.
 
Carolyn wrote:
NutriCal is a dietary supplement made for cats anddogs. You can pick some up at a pet store for about$10. It's well worth the money, Pepper. It willhelp to stimulate his appetite, boost his immune system, has laxatonein it in case he needs to poop but can't, and will give him thenutrients that he'll need until he gets his appetite back. Iwouldn't waste any time. As mentioned above, you have to getto this fast. I'd also strongly recommend the canned pumpkinand fresh pineapple juice. The Pineapple juice has to besqueezed from a pineapple because the enzymes that will help break downthe hair, if that's what it is, only works if it's from a freshpineapple. The opposite is true of the pumpkin.It's got to be canned. Give him as much as he'lltake. You can give him this, if he doesn't eat it, with asyringe. You might also pick up some Pedialyte (for babies)and give him an eye-dropper full of that so that his electrolytes don'tget run down and he stays hydrated. He must drink, if nothingelse at this point. Dehydration can quickly become fatal.

You have my number, Pepper. Don't hesitate to useit. I'm at work now, but will be home tonight. Thatsaid though, there's little I can do other than offer emotionalsupport. It's absolute key to get him eating, drinking andpooping again.

-Carolyn
Click to expand...
I did get him his vitamins at the pet store.I think he's on his way back to his old self.
 
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