HELP urgent, baby rabbit sick :( (RIP)

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CiaraPatricia

CiaraPatricia

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Messages
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Location
Cork, , Ireland
So I made an earlier post about my cat clawing at one of the baby rabbits (3.5 weeks) but I didn't know which rabbit. Well I don't know if this is related, but one of the babies is sick. I can't find any scratches on him at all though. If he had an infection how could I tell without taking his temperature?

I don't know what's wrong, but these are the symptoms. He is just sitting hunched up and the others are fine running around. He won't eat but he took some water from a syringe happily. He also had some poo stuck to his bum which I cleaned. It didn't look runny or anything, just normal poo but stuck like he or his mother never cleaned him. I have him inside now and I tried to get him to suckle from his mother but he wouldn't. I tried to check if she had milk by massaging around the nipple and squeezing it but none came out . . . does this mean she has no milk left or that just not right now, or that she has milk? I wish I had some kitten milk around or the pet shops were open :(

I'm so worried about him, he doesn't seem well at all. But I don't even know how to contact the vets til tomorrow, I have a number for the surgery but nobody will be there . . . what should I do? There is another vet in my town whose clinic is in his house, so I might be able to find his number in the phone book, should I try that or would it be rude? I doubt he knows anything about rabbits but he could give anti biotics or something maybe?

:(
 
First of all, keep him warm. If he's taking water, make sure its warm water. And don't try and force feed him anything at this point, but do you have Critical Care? You want him eating only fiber and drinking water.

Try looking again for a claw or tooth mark. He probably does need antibiotics.

I'll check back in a few minutes.


sas :clover:
 
No I don't have critical care. I'm just feeding him warm water, very slowly (I've syringed fed baby animals before so know how to do that at least). I cleaned his bum with cotton wool and some more poo came out. I'm just keeping him warm now cos I don't know what to do . . .

I think I'll try to get the number for the vet :(
 
The vet doesn't have his number in the phone book, but there's a small animal vet 20 minutes away with a 24hr emergency number so I'll ask my dad about it and try calling them. (would need my dad to drive me so have to get him to agree)
 
It's like he's having a seizure now, bent his back right back a few times, and is breathing funny. I don't think he will make it :(
 
Has the baby pooped any more? Any vet can probably give him the antibiotics, but it would be good to know if he's caught something from the cat or his gut is off from the stress.

He could use a probiotic like bene-bac or acidophilus or something. The vet may suggest yogurt, but best to figure out if he has a bacterial imbalance first because even plain yogurt has natural sugars in it.

Did you feel for tiny scabs? What antibiotics do vets usually give rabbits over there?


sas :clover:
 
Phone: 01 272 3857
Bairbre O'Malley -
Veterinary Hospital,
Kilmantain Place,
Bray,
Co. Wicklow,
Ireland.
I know they are too far away but they might be able to tell you exactly what to do if you explain you are in cork
 
Thank you pipp and mekki, but the baby died :(

He was having a seizure and just died. :(

If anyone has any idea of what might have killed him, then it might give me some comfort to know. If it was from the cat scratch then I will feel very guilty so not ringing a vet yesterday, but at least then I know it wasn't anything contagious. I'm so sorry that I never called a vet yesterday. These things always happen on sundays and bank holidays :(

For now I have the cat inside and I'm putting thinner mesh around the run to stop her scratching them. The other babies are all running around full of life but I'll be watching them closely.

I'm so sad about it. I guess that these things happen in almost every litter. I'm used to that from having cats having kittens, but I always still get upset because of it. :(
 
And I checked every inch of his body for scabs or cuts or fur missing, I tried to check under the fur as much as I could and couldn't find any scratches. But he was big and strong and healthy until last night/this morning . . . I guess you never can know what is wrong though, especially with rabbits.

Sleep well little bunny :(
 
Also their house is clean, but I think I'll move their run and clean out their house really well, just in case.

Since they've been in the run for a few days they sometimes get very slightly damp when it starts to rain and they run into their house, but could being cold have made him sick? He had no runny nose, eye discharge, funny breathing sounds or anything. And I keep the house full of lots of clean dry hay and woodshavings underneath. He was also really fluffy, so I guess that probably wasn't it. Unless it's still too cold at night for baby rabbits outdoors?

But he was a little dirty a few days ago, I had to brush him, and he was again today, so maybe he wasn't feeling well enough to groom but wasn't really showing symptoms (that I could notice, since some of the rabbits are less active than the others anyway, more shy) . . . that was before the cat scratched one of them anyway.

I know I'll torture myself with what it could be for ages . . . but I guess these things just happen :(
 
Or maybe it's something that I fed them that's wrong? They are out on the grass so would also be eating dandelions though not many) . . . I know they are not meant to have veg but thought dandelions would be ok. He didn't have diarrheoa though.

Ok, I am going to go play with the other rabbits and put the wire round their run.
 
Aw you poor thing its always hard to loose a baby.
Was yesterday the first time you put them out on grass?
Did you change anything else suddenly?
 
I put them out there a few days ago, I guess a week ago. They had eaten grass since they were old enough to start eating though, I'd pick some and give it to the mother and they ate with her. Once they were hopping around and eating I put them on the grass since I thought the hutch was too small for them hopping around. I thought grass was probably fine and hay and pellets.

I hadn't changed anything else suddenly.

I guess there is the possibility there were very small buttercup leaves or other weeds they might have eaten on the grass. I tried to avoid it as much as I could. I know buttercup has to be in huge amounts to harm a rabbit . . . and I always have the rabbits and guinea pigs on the grass. There's nothing else I gave them . . .
 
I had a cat before who was very sick with a virus (like an extreme version of cat flu and pneumonia that didn't respond to anti-biotics) and he had a seizure like that and died, so maybe it was an infection which caused a seizure. I just hope the others will be ok now.
 
The stress/adrenaline of the cat playing with him could have lowered his immune system and allowed an infection to take hold. It also could have affected his kidneys and/or caused problems in his gut. They may act normal, but very often internally they're not.

Even if you saw a puncture and there was the bacteria, the chances of saving him were pretty slim. :( I had a rabbit rushed to the vet right away with a cat bite and given antibiotics, he seemed fine and I still lost him two days later. It seemed to come on suddenly.

It could have been unrelated to the cat, but I think a more common enteritis issue from a bug or something he ate would have seen more evidence of an upset like diarrhea.

I'd watch the rest of the litter, but don't get too worried.

Sorry you lost the baby. They're so fragile at that age. :(


sas :sad:
 
CiaraPatricia wrote:
But he was a little dirty a few days ago, I had to brush him, and he was again today, so maybe he wasn't feeling well enough to groom but wasn't really showing symptoms (that I could notice, since some of the rabbits are less active than the others anyway, more shy) . . . that was before the cat scratched one of them anyway.
Click to expand...
This could have been the start of a problem, yes. It sounds like he was a bit depressed and couldn't fight off an infection. He may not have been the cat victim, or maybe he was snagged by the cat in the first place because he was slow and not as alert as he should have been.

But there really wasn't much you could do. At that age, all you can do is keep them well fed, dry, clean and stress free as best you can and hope for the best. Its mostly up to his mom and mother nature.


sas :(
 
Based on the age and symptoms, I would guess that it was either an internal wool block or weanling enteritis. In this case, the fatality risk of younger babies is a lot higher. There's not a lot you can usually do once the symptoms are so clear.
 
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