Help! My rabbit is not eating

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vivibee

vivibee

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
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Location
Guangzhou, , China
Male white mini Rex, 4lb, age 6, neutered.

Starting this morning, my rabbit Feichai has not been eating properly.
I woke up finding his pellet bowl still have half portion left, and he didn't touch his hay at all. He has been sitting in his basket the whole day. Usually he is very active and likes to constantly examine every corner of the house. He roams free, only goes to his cage for litter and grass. He has a big basket and I put comfortable blanket in it for him to take naps.
By late afternoon, he finally finished the left over pellets from last night. I washed his favorite cilantro for him, he eagerly came over, sniffed, but turned around and went back to his basket. I washed a grape for him, he immediately finished it. Later I gave him a treat (timothy hay coated with blueberry flavor treat), he ran as fast as possible to get it. But why isn't he eating any vegetable or hay?

And he is not drinking.

I noticed that he kept changing posture trying to lie comfortably in the basket. Does he have a stomach problem?

I'm very worried :(. I'm in Guangzhou, China, there's no reliable vet in my area. Every time there's a problem with Feichai, I can only turn to rabbit forum and all of you for help.....

Thank you thank you very much!:cry2
 
Your rabbit may be going in to GI stasis! Time is of the essence in these cases, check the Rabbit Health Section of this forum in GI Stasis and follow those instructions until someone else gives you some better advice. Now would be a good time to force feed little Feichai some water!
 
He probably has gas ; if a rabbit has gas they often shift position, stop eating and generally look uncomfortable. Feel his tummy to see if it feel tight and hard This is easy to treat. You need to go the drugstore and look in the antacid section ; look for baby liquid gas medication like mylicon or gas x; check the back of the package; you only want simethicone as the active ingredient although if it states there are preservatives that is OK. Just simethicone.
Also pick up either a 6 pack of pedialyte ot quart bottle of any other baby liquid electrolyte drink. Ask the druggist if you can have a few 20cc syringes for feeding your rabbits or else buy the kind for babies (they also have them forpets at pet stores. )

if you go by a petstore pick up some benebac which is a powder or gel that provides live beneficialmicroorganism much like yogurt but wihout the lactose. This will help place back the beneficial bacteria in his GI tract of a small mammal . if you can't get the small mammal type then you can get the dog /cat kind.

when you go home feel your rabbit's tummy if it feels still feels hard instead of soft and he looks the same he most likely has gas ; give 1 cc of simethicone you can also attempt to syringe him pedialyte

usually the simethicone will work but it may take a few doses
After you have waited about an hour you can give about 1cc more of simethicone ; this will not hurt your rabbit.
Somewhere in there you can give the benebac but focus first on hydration and simethicone.

let us know what happens as you can give a 3rd dose of simethicone within a few more hours.

If he has gas you will see a significant difference.
If his ears are cold or he seems cold you can put some rice in a sock and placein the microwave for a minute or so. feel the sock to check for hot spots ; if the heat seems uniform you can place the sock by him for warmth.

Sometime exercise will also stimulate the Gi tract and dislodge the gas bubbles. you can let him run around as much as he will and also gently massage (gently) his abdominal area

let us know how he is doing.
the recovery test is when he wants his fav food again....
 
I smashed some apple with water for him, he sniffed but was not interested. He looks ok, he runs fine.
He ate a small piece of apple, but didn't drink the water.
 
Thank you all of you. I will go check his tummy right now.
It's 2:23am here, all the pharmacy are closed...very sad there's no 24 hours pharmacy here......
 
I would still give simethicone

if you didn't think he had a problem you wouldn't have posted.
if you take care of it early it will prevent doing more later

Icall it '"nipping the problem in the bud"
 
I thought you wee in Houston; I didn't read the "China" until now

Why don't you syringe him some water , feel his tummy.. is it hard???
if so give gentle tummy rubs
 
You might be able to get simethicone in China ; if you can read Chinese :expressionless

We've had other members in other countries
sometimes makes it harder but still doable

if you can get simethicone, a probiotic and pedialyte or an electrolyte drink for babies you probably will not need a vet...

maybe even giving him water and tummy massages might help ...
 
I checked his tummy, it doesn't feel hard to me, it feels about the same as my tummy. I really don't know what a hard rabbit tummy feels like. He is now laying flat on the sofa with his legs stretched long.
uh, he just stood up and looked a little confused, ah, he sat down again, with his ears pointing up, tucked his front paws underneath his chest.
 
Yes, I will definitely run to the pharmacy tomorrow at 8am!!! He has been shedding a lot recently, because the weather is getting warm. Maybe he has hairball problem?
When I give him tummy massage, do I just gently rub? or give a little pressure?
 
He sounds uncomfortable. I would do a gentle tummy massage, in a counterclockwise manner. Don't put much pressure on at all. Also, hold off on any sugary stuff, as that can make gas worse. Other non-drug treatments to try are some gentle vibration (some people like to put gassy bunnies on the washing machine while it goes through a spin cycle) or gentle heat. I recommend filling an old sock with dry rice and heating it a bit in the microwave. This can help.
 
Also, if you can, try syringing water into his mouth or use an eyedropper. The more hydrated he is, the better. Simethicone is going to help the best, and a probiotic will also be useful. I know it can be hard to get good vet care in China--we have had at least one member I can remember from there before. Babelfish says this is simethicone in chinese: 简体中文版

If you need, I can ask a chinese friend to translate it for you.
 
If it is hard to you don't want to push hard because it will cause pressure inside him .. just massage him pushing in a little where his tummy is soft.

he could have a lot of hair in him if he is molting

fluids are important for that even just water
Can you get a fresh pineapple in China ?

if you can add that to your list

when you get home cut the pineapple and squeeze the fresh juice out into a glass
you can give gim about 5cc of that a few times a day

some says that this helps ; some say it doesn't...but I have done all of this routine on my own rabbits and the pineapple juice helps my rabbits.
Sometimes when they are molting and they don't drink enough water the hair gets dried up in the rabbit and slows down the gut.

fluids helps....
 
tonyshuman wrote:
Also, if you can, try syringing water into his mouth or use an eyedropper. The more hydrated he is, the better. Simethicone is going to help the best, and a probiotic will also be useful. I know it can be hard to get good vet care in China--we have had at least one member I can remember from there before. Babelfish says this is simethicone in chinese: 简体中文版

If you need, I can ask a chinese friend to translate it for you.
Click to expand...
Wow Claire perfect
this is just what we need :)
 
I gave him a gentle massage for about 3 minutes. Now he's laying flat again, I put the sock of warm rice next to his left belly. He seems to like it.
I will try to make him drink or eat again later.
Thank you thank you. I can't wait till the morning when the stores are opened!!!!
 
Thank you thank you!
Yes, I was googling for translation.
I think my computer didn't display the Chinese characters in your message correctly.
I found this on a Chinese website: Simethicone 西卡宁
There is a Hong Kong pharmacy nearby, they have English speaking staffs who would help me. Actually, I'm Chinese. Shame on me, I can't read any complicated characters, especially professional medical terms.

Ah, my rabbit just pushed away the sock of warm rice. Maybe it's too warm.
 
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