Does New Bunny Have a Problem? (Want to know before I bring her to the vet)

[caramel17]

So just recently I obtained eight more rabbits besides my original three, which included two new Mini Lops, a mother and daughter, and I am worried that there may be something wrong with the daughter one. So she is very light and skinny compared to my other two Mini's and she will not eat more than half of what she is supposed to. I have also found that she has diarrhea. Besides that she was happy and she was always getting out of her cage and being mischievous and seemed to be fine, but now for the past couple days she has been less active and just kinda sits in one spot in her cage and won't let me hold her or anything. Does anybody have any idea what may be wrong? If you do please help me solve this problem as I don't want her to go to bunny heaven yet since she is only a year! And knowing the vet I go to they'll just say they have to put her down. :bunny19 Please help!!!

 

[JBun]

Has she stopped eating? Is she still pooping and what does it look like(is it mushy, watery diarrhea, mucous or gel like substance in the poop, or has it stopped completely)? It sounds to me like she may have GI stasis. It is treatable but not all rabbits survive it. It's a blockage in the digestive system. There are various causes, but it sounds like your rabbits may have to do with an imbalance in it's gut flora, which is usually caused by too many pellets or treats, or a sensitivity to the sugars and grains in pellets. She may also have a bacteria or parasite problem that could be the cause, and those would need to be treated with the appropriate meds. If she has stopped eating and pooping, or is grinding her teeth in pain, or is having bloating, or watery diarrhea, I would suggest getting her to a vet experienced with rabbits. Bloat and true watery diarrhea, needs immediate attention in order to have a chance of saving the rabbit. Here are a couple rabbit vet lists.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f28/finding-vet-13366/
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

If your rabbit has stopped eating and pooping, there are some things you can do until you are able to get her into the vet. It's most likely she is experiencing pain from a gas build up. You can give her some simethicone(infant gas relief suspension) at the dosage of 1cc every hour for 3 hours, then 1cc every 3-8 hrs as needed. If you happen to have metacam on hand for your rabbits, that will help with the pain too. If she hasn't been eating for more than 12 hours, and you can't get into a vet right away, you will also need to start hand feeding her food and water. If you have oxbow critical care food mix, then start syringe feeding her that. You can also feed plain canned pumpkin(not pie filling). You may need to syringe feed her some plain pedialyte as well, to get some electrolytes into her. Here is some info on stasis and bloat.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f22/bloat-gas-10385/

If she is still eating I would suggest feeding grass hay only to her for now. Don't feed pellets or treats until her poops are back to normal. Then you can gradually start pellets back into her diet, making sure her poop stays normal. You may need to cut back on the amount of pellets as that may be what has been causing the mushy poops. You may even need to cut pellets out of her diet completely. I have one rabbit that I can't feed any pellets to because he can't tolerate them and will get sick.

 

[caramel17]

Ok, thanks, and yes she is eating (but very little) and pooping, it's just that she has like a mushy diarrhia, which is hard to monitor because of the cages that we have, its a group of eight cages all put together on a stand and all the waste goes underneath the cages into bins which I have to dump out every week, but I realized this when I took her out of her cage and notice blotching on the cage wires from diarrhea, if you understand what I mean by that, so I will try feeding her only hay and grass, but is carrots, lettuce, and dried bread okay to feed her to? I'm just wondering because our rabbits get a lot of those to save on the cost of pellets and hay. And thanks again.

 

[JBun]

If she is still having mushy poop, then you don't want her having those other foods as they are most likely the cause of the soft poops. I have a bunny that was having a few soft poops, and it only went away when I decreased the amount of pellets that she was getting. But with your rabbit sitting hunched up and not moving around, it sounds like her digestive trouble is more advanced. Carrots, lettuce, and bread are all going to cause her digestive problems to be worse, so you aren't going to want to feed them to her. And you don't want to feed fresh grass as it will also contribute to the mushy poop. Dry grass hay(not oat hay) is going to be the best thing to get her feeling better again, and clear up the soft poops. If she has parasites that are causing the soft poops, then feeding her only hay won't fix the problem, and she may actually get worse.

If she is still having the mushy poops, giving her a probiotic may also help. Benebac or Probios gel are the most common ones used for rabbits. Feed stores will sometimes carry probiotic gel. Also you can usually get a bale of grass hay there too, for under $15 for a 50 lb bale.

 

[caramel17]

Okay, and thank you! You really helped, I have to go to the feed mill soon and also to our local tractor supply store sometime soon anyways as I am almost out of food, I haven't noticed any parasite signs yet so I'm crossing my fingers on that one, and I don't have any grass around as of right now since the ground is frozen right now, I'll keep a look out for hay at our supply places to! Thanks agian!

 

[BunnyWabbit]

What kind of lettuce have you been feeding? Iceburg lettuce has been know to cause soft stool in rabbits. I'm also not sure about feeding bunnies large quantities of bread. As I've read the starch isn't the best for them and cause stomach upset.

 

[LakeCondo]

Can you move her so you can tell which poop is hers? Bread isn't a good idea for any rabbit & carrots are too sugary. Whatever is saved on food is usually spent [and more] on vet bills instead. Pellets and hay should be the main things that rabbits eat, plus green veggies other than iceberg lettuce[which has no nutritional value].

 

[tolstoibunny]

Not eating normally, diarrhea and not moving around as much as usually - I'd take her to the vet.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat:

 

[tonyshuman]

Diarrhea and lethargy are emergency symptoms, especially in a young bunny. I would definitely take him in to the vet.