drooly, runny nose, teary eyed bunny stopped eating and drinking

[Marfran]

Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Breed: Lionhead, Tan colored
Age: 2 years old
Sex: female, spayed
Our lionhead named Binyum, was tearing quite a bit so made a vet appt. to get her checked yesterday. The night before her appt. she started grinding her teeth, after examining her at the vet's, the Dr. concluded she may have some overgrown molars, surgery is booked for Nov. 23rd. The vet prescribed metacam for her pain. However last night she started drooling quite a bit and needed some extra tlc to comfort her, today she isn't interested in eating very much or drinking. also how can you tell if her breathing is normal? At times her nostrils seem to flare more than normal. Called vet emergency line, just waiting for a return call. Very worried about her.
Poops and pees seem normal, she normally eats timothy hay and pellets, she chewed a small amount of hay and a little water. She appears to be chewing and swallowing oddly with no food intake. Nose has slight caking on upper lips. She hasn,t been outside, she regularly plays in a carpeted bunny proofed bedroom.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Aww, poor dear! From the subject line alone I was guessing tooth issues. It sounds like she's feeling very stressed and is in a lot of pain. Tooth pain in bunnies can cause drooling and runny noses, plus bunnies can just get runny noses from being really stressed. She may have an abscess in her mouth from the overgrown teeth, bunnies get those easily.

Is there any way the vet can see her again before the 23rd? I think your best bet is to wait for the vet to call back, assuming that will be today. I can't really think of a lot that you can do for her if her teeth are hurting her so badly. Does she have a water bottle or a bowl? Maybe she would drink more from a bowl since she wouldn't have to use her teeth at all. Do you have any Critical Care and syringes on hand to feed her if necessary?

Please let us know what the vet says when they call back! And hopefully someone that has more experience with this kind of thing will post soon.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

I would call your regular vet and see if there is any way they can schedule the dental procedure sooner. Also, when you call, ask if you can get some Oxbow Critical Care to syringe feed in the mean time. With buns it is very important to keep food steadily moving through them. Also, you can syringe her water or give her a bowl as well as maybe some soft veggies if you think they wouldn't cause diarhea (Idon't know if she's used to veggies, but they'd be soft and easy to eat as well as tempting).
In the mean time if you don't have Critical Care, you can try grinding pellets, mixing into a slurry with water and syringe it.

 

[Marfran]

Thank you for your response, the vet called back and Binyum will be going in tomorrow. Still worried about the surgery but it's our only hope for her right now.ray:
In the meantime the vet suggested baby food by syringe so she at least gets some fluids and nutrition for today. hope all goes well, I'll keep you posted on progress. Glad I found this site.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[Imbrium]

so sorry for your bunny's troubles. baby food is ok, but it doesn't have the fiber they need and is awfully sweet, so you can't feed too much - it's better than nothing but no substitute for feeding critical care.

since you don't have critical care, you can make a pellet slurry - take some pellets and add water or pedialyte; microwave. let sit for 5-10 mins so the pellets can "fluff", then mix together (breaking up the pellets as much as possible); add more liquid if needed to get it to a good pudding-like consistency for syringe feeding. critical care will work with a syringe as-is but with the DIY slurry, you may find it necessary to cut the tip of the syringe off to make the opening larger. if you have a mortar and pestle and can grind up the pellets before you add the liquid, that would really help.

 

[Marfran]

Binyum had her teeth filed today at the vet clinic. It went very well! She is now at home testing her teeth on her timothy hay hut. Her upper molars were fine but her lower molars had sharp cusps on them which was probably cutting her tongue, so I am relieved she got them filed. She will be on metacam for the next few days and soft food. She has also been given eye drops to heal any irritation there. Thanks again for all your posts, they were a wonderful support when I was so worried for her.