Coughing? (Resolved)

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You're doing really well Beth
but believe me I know how hard it is to do this kind of feeding.
try to think of anything else that he maylike to eat and has had in the past.

When I was giving zithromax I gave my girl a little alfalfa hay also because she ate it better
Also it might be worth it to invest in a cheap scale. i think Claire said that you could get one at Walmart. That way you could keep track of any wt loss.
 
angieluv wrote:
You're doing really well Beth
but believe me I know how hard it is to do this kind of feeding.
try to think of anything else that he maylike to eat and has had in the past.

When I was giving zithromax I gave my girl a little alfalfa hay also because she ate it better
Also it might be worth it to invest in a cheap scale. i think Claire said that you could get one at Walmart. That way you could keep track of any wt loss.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine gave me some alfalfa hay cubes over the weekend. She said she got a huge bag of them for her horse, and gave me a few as a bunny treat. Since these are made for horses, they should be safe for the rabbits, right? I don't know what brand they are, haven't seen the bag.

He seemed to take the pellet-pumpkin slurry pretty easy last night. Today, I will do the same as yesterday, put pellets out, then if he doesn't eat on his own, I will mix up some slurry to give him with his meds. Then I will vex him with veggies later, see if he falls for that again. (If he won't take the veg, I may do a secondslurry feeding.) When he had stasis, he would eat fresh mint. My plant is still really small, but I might swing by the store tonight and see if I can find a packet of that.Should helpcalm his tummy, as well.

I already have a digital kitchen scale that weighs up to 11 pounds, I think. I will watch his weight. Great idea.

Last night, I left the living room for awhile, and when I came back in,Nick was sitting at the water bowl with his face down. When he saw me, he stared at me for awhile, then ran off to hide, so I'm not sure how much, if any, he drank before I came in. But it seems like he had a desire to drink.This was shortly before I went to bed. His skin would not "tent" this morning, so I am hoping he is taking in more fluids than just what I am giving him.
 
You're doing great..
I would try to get more pedialyte into him; I actually use the flavored because they drink it out of a syringe and/ or flavor the water with apple juice; they usually suck it up..
I think the hay cubes are fine as long as they are fresh..
a few of my rabbit will eat a little wamed pumpkin out of a bowl.
 
Good job with the feedings. It sounds like he's being a real stinker. The hay cubes should be great--my guys go nuts for alfalfa cubes that they get as a treat. Hoping his appetite improves...
 
I think I have a "baby" 100% apple juice in my first aid box, I will try that, as well. He wouldn't take it when he had stasis. At that time, I just went with the unflavored, since he fought everything equally. (He also refused pumpkin and pineapple puree then. Everything I tried, he either tipped the dish over, or if I syringed it, he spit out as much as he could.) I also have the baby food carrots that I might try. (He doesn't like the squash.)

Will try to give him an alfalfa cube when I get home. They smell fresh.

Amelia can't finish a whole salad on her own, and she won't eat wilted stuff, so I should be able to tell if he eats any of the salad. (I don't think he did yesterday, there was some left over.)

Nick certainly is one stubborn little bunny.
 
Last night, Nick seemed more "down" than he had been, and that really upset me. Could barely sleep.
I found some mint at the store, and he did take 3 or 4 pieces. He was very angry when I was putting the veg in his house with him, so much so that he lightly nipped my hand. He never nips. He just barely put his teeth on my hand, but didn't bite down, and then he sort of jumped back like he was startled. Did this twice.
Pooped once in the box, and there are some little poops in his house. Saw him eat one piece of hay.

This morning he wouldn't take his banana, he ran over and sniffed it, barely tasted it, then ran away. He was full of energy, though. He came right out when I opened the pen, started tearing up (and eating a bit) cardboard. Ran around the edges of every room, checking things out. Took me almost 10 minutes to catch him, he was running like crazy.

Bene-Bac, Pedialyte, and Nutrical again this morning. Also got about 2cc's of baby food carrots in him, but he didn't like it and now his chest is stained orange from all the stuff he spit out.

He's now resting in his usual position, legs straight out behind him.

I am tempted to give him a day off from the meds. My vet said to give it to him every day for 5 days, then every other day for 10 days. Nick's had 3 days in a row. I don't want to give up on the treatment, sneezing almost stopped, but I really want him to be eating and drinking again.

Exhausted today from not enough sleep.
 
I am so sorry Beth that you are so exhausted; you are taking wonderful care of him..

I would encourage you not to skip a day of medsyet.; if he is showing more energy that is really good

just feed him when you get home as much as you can and then go to bed; he will be OK if you sleep through if you feed him and hydrate him first.

You are such an excellent mom/ nurse that you are burning yourself out.

you don't have to check him every few hours tonight.

'hugs"
Maureen
 
Yeah, it sounds good that he had some energy this morning. Don't worry if you feel you're making him mad at you--once he's feeling better, you can regain his trust. I agree that you don't need to check him every few hours, as long as he's getting something into him, and something is coming out. I too would keep up with the meds for a couple more days. It sounds like he's improving a lot, and if you stop now, it might not have completely killed the infection yet.

C'mon little dude, eat something!
 
Thank you for the voices of reason.

I doubt I'll be sleeping very well until he's better, just because I'm a worrier, and anything like this keeps me from sleeping very well, even when I'm tired. (Plus, we close on our house next week, so I'm anxious about that on top of everything.)

I feel a little better about Nick this evening.

I got Jason to swing by his mom's house to pick some fresh mint after work today. Nick like what I gave him yesterday, but the grocery store stuff was just mediocre in quality, and not much in the package. (Up to now, Jason's only contribution was that he'd occasionally look over at Nick and whine "awwwwww, poor guy!")
Anyway, Nick ate two small handfuls of mint leaves and some tender stems right away.

Also, I have seen him run out to the pellet bowl twice. He only ate one mouthful each time, but something is better than nothing.

I gave him his meds, along with a bit of pellet-pumpkin slurry. Because he has eaten some on his own this evening, I gave a bit less slurry today. Still hoping he'll eat some hay.

A few minutes ago, he begged to come out of the pen, and is now tearing up and chewing cardboard. (He did that a lot when he had stasis, too.) I'm going to let him do it for a few more minutes, then shoo him away from it.

I am not really concerned about him being angry with me in particular. (It is a little sad, since he was just starting to warm up to me.) Mostly I am just concerned with making him angry/upset in general. It will be ok, though, in the long run. Getting him healthy is the important thing right now.
 
Don't worry Beth. He might not like your doing your necessary mommy things, but he knows you're taking care of him. He will appreciate you so much more when he gets out of his funk. I'm sure of it!

Hang in there, and don't forget to take care of yourself, too!
 
Well, Nick did really well yesterday. Last night, he was really active, and ate quite a bit of food on his own.

This morning, he fought the fluids. He was like a wild beast. Bit my arm pretty hard. It was good (because he his energy was up) and bad (made it difficult on me, and when he's like that I'm always afraid he'll hurt himself).

I felt really good about him all day today.

Tonight, he seems down again. He stayed in his house all evening. He didn't fight when it was time for meds and syringed food. He was roaming around the apartment afterwards, but I had to put him back in the pen because he was very intent on eating carpet and linoleum. He ate a small handful of greens. No pellets or hay tonight.

Saw him get in the litterbox twice, but no poops.

Now, he's just sitting in the pen, looking dejected. :(

Today was his 5th day of Zithromax, so he'll get a day off tomorrow and we go to every other day.

Should I keep him on the Bene-bac, and if so, how much should I give, and how often?
 
I give a dime-sized amount of the gel as needed, so perhaps daily for him. I'm glad his energy is up--hopefully he'll be feeling better as the frequency of dosing gets less.
 
His energy is back down tonight. All he does tonight is just sit there. He ate well last night, but has hardly had anything tonight.

:cry2
 
Does his tummy feel hard? I really wouldn't worry too much about this Beth as long as yesterday was good.

Iwould give him some simethicone if there is any chance he has gas..........

Zithromax (despite its effectiveness) can decrease appetiite.
I would be concerned about getting enough fluids into him today and not worry about the food part

you're such a Trooper!!!!!!
 
Yeah today I read a thread where Randy said he had bunnies not eat for a week while they were on antibiotics and they were fine. I bet his appetite will improve tomorrow.
 
Nick's appetite has increased somewhat today. He's nowhere near normal, but doing better, I think.

Since yesterday was his last day of daily meds, I decided to give him a stress-free day today. Skipped the pedialyte and bene-bac, so I didn't have to catch and upset him this morning.

 
I am glad Nick's appetite has increased. You two have had a rough road with this. I hope his appetite continues to increase.
 
is nick still ill??-coughing,??.are you still administering meds/liquids??just found this thread and hope every thing is ok,..sincerely james waller
 
I have not heard Nick cough recently. There is still some sneezing, but it sounds lighter, more a nose-tickle sort of sneeze, rather than a deep chest sneeze.

It seems like he is still feeling "off." His activity levels are nowhere near normal. He has been eating at least some salad in the mornings on his own, though I still haven't seen him eat much hay, and the hay bin is staying full, which is not normal. Tonight, he ate two mouthfuls of pellets on his own.
He did, however, come out to threaten the vacuum when I was cleaning the pen today. He didn't bite at the end of it like normal, but he did follow it around.

I have had some success with giving him an extra greens in the evening. I have been able to get him to take about a handful, and I've been making sure the veg is nice and wet, to help give fluids into him. (In fact, it's about time to do that now.)

I haven't been able to give him regular run time, as he is still intent on eating carpet and linoleum while he's out. He does NOT normally do this, though he did it when he had stasis last year.

I saw Randy's comment in another thread about keeping a sick bunny de-stressed, so I've been trying to give Nick some stress-free days, now that meds are every other day. On the days off, I have not been catching Nick to administer food, etc., as he is eating some food on his own. Yesterday was an "on" day, and since he didn't eat anything at pellet time, I did syringe pumpkin-and-pellet slurry when I gave meds. I will also be giving some more Bene-Bac tomorrow or Thursday.

A friend from my rescue suggested that she usually gives her buns the lower cat dose of Zithromax, which will not cause their appetite to drop. She did say, however, that she will usually have to re-treat.
Nick is now on day 3 of 10, for every-other-day meds.


Thanks everyone for the encouragement and kind words. I don't think we're through it yet. I think Nick is the one doing the hard work, though. Being sick and stressed and syringed full of stuff can't be fun.
 
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