HELP!!!!! What could this be?

[Strongheart]

How do you tell if a rabbit is pregnant? I can only seem to tell if they are about to pop. We've had 3 rabbits have babies this year at the shelter, though one had them only 1 day after coming in. The other one I suspected and brought her here and I was right, she popped two weeks later, I guess I could have gotten her spayed sooner but our spay vet is booked up with other spays for us for the next month. I thought she felt awful plump and firm. The other looked thin and didn't look pregnant at all! These would be for stray rabbits or rabbits coming in from BYBs.

Now I have one here who came in Sat. with fly strike (OMG so disgusting). The tech and I pulled 1 out and part of another so I took her to the emergency room and they got the other ones out and gave her an ivermectin shot. She is a mini-lop but weighed in at 8.5lbs. I asked if the vet thought she was PG but he said he couldn't tell (he's inexperienced anyway) without doing an xray.

I was just downstairs to feed her and she was lying on her side and I saw this ripple going vertically (like ribs are vertical, this would be parallel to the ribs) along her belly. It made me nauseous because I was thinking it was some big bug inside her but it would have to be like a HUGE bug (it was my imagination). And then I thought 'oh maybe she's pregnant?'

She has not shown any nesting behavior at all. Then I went to get the camera to take a little movie of the ripples and she got up and on the other side, where the warbles had been, her skin was twitching oddly several times and then saw the ripple on that side too. This was NOT her breathing, that was a separate movement.

When she was sitting there, I could still see the ripples, like waves going from her belly by her knees and up toward her rib cage, these waves under her skin, like something was under skin and moving!!! I was freaked out!!! If it was something under there, it would be about 4 or 5 inches long and about the width of your pinky.

What in the world could this be? She is eating and pooping normally but she seems abnormally calm. We barely had to restrain her to take out the warbles and the vet didn't have to sedate her either. She also gives me this look like she's telling me something is wrong with her, trying to warn me but I'm too freaked out to get the message!

HELP! :shock:

 

[Pipp]

The rippling motion is normal, it's just the way the GI tract moves material. (I forget the name for it). Not a pregnancy indication.

What does concern me, though, was pulling a partial larvae out -- when they break inside the rabbit, they release toxins, and that can be very dangerous.

I think sheshould be on sub q fluids and antibiotics(or whatever combats the toxins, not sure at this point). Watch for signs of shock --which could come on suddenly.

EDIT: Hereis theentry in the Library for Fly Strike, definitely worth reading up on the treatment. The Ivermectin was the way to go, but you do have to watch for shock and she may need antibiotics, pain meds and maybe even steroids.

Fly strike


sas :?

 

[tonyshuman]

I don't have a clue, but I bet the word Pipp's searching for is peristalsis (sp?).

 

[Maureen Las]

I agree with Pipp if she had both fly strike and bots...antibiotics , fluids and possibly steroids.

 

[Strongheart]

Thanks all. When we took the maggots out, the one that broke in half was outside of the body so she shouldn't have had any toxins released under her skin. The vet didn't even want to give me antibiotics but I insisted. So she's on Baytril and frankly, she seems fine, eating well, drinking well.

The ripple thing is something I have never seen before and I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of rabbits. Maybe it's because she's bigger than the ones I usually work with.

I wanted to take her to the vet at the start but the tech didn't think it would get approved and said she'd taken plenty of them out and the rabbit was fine without antibiotics.

I'll keep an eye on her. I'll have to get a line set for my bag of fluids, which I don't have right now. I'll take her temp and make sure she's in the normal range.

She's a nice bunny! Poor thing. She's been kept all alone since being a baby. She has a crush on one of my single guys she spied across the room. It's so cute! They would make a great couple.

Well I'll keep you posted. But that ripple thing, that was totally weird. I wonder why I've never seen it before ever? Maybe she's on the thin side so it's more pronounced?

 

[Pipp]

Yup,peristalsis.

I've never seen it in my rabbits, either, and I've stared and stared. rivateeyes

But I don't have any skinny ones. Although Marvin, my new rescue, came here on the thin side, I'll have to stare at him for awhile.

This isn't a great example but it's the only one I see on YouTube. There are better videos out there though.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8yvXoqnVpc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8yvXoqnVpc[/ame]



sas :bunnydance:

 

[Strongheart]

That's exactly it! That is so odd that I've never seen that before. It is CREEPY!!!

It looks like they have an alien crawling around under their skin.

Oh man I was so freaked out over this too.

Thanks for the link to that video. That's exactly what I saw. I guess since she's a pretty big rabbit, it also is more noticeable and when I saw it, my eyes were bugging out and I just stood feeling like I was gonna hurl and watched it happen over and over again.

 

[maisy126]

Thanks for posting the video Pipp, thats what Batty had going on with him (no larvae or anything though thankfully). I thought of the twilight zone theme lol.

 

[ilovetoeatchocolate]

Strongheart wrote:

That's exactly it! That is so odd that I've never seen that before. It is CREEPY!!!

It looks like they have an alien crawling around under their skin.

Oh man I was so freaked out over this too.

Thanks for the link to that video. That's exactly what I saw. I guess since she's a pretty big rabbit, it also is more noticeable and when I saw it, my eyes were bugging out and I just stood feeling like I was gonna hurl and watched it happen over and over again.

LOL! I am cracking up over your reaction! :roflmao:

 

[Strongheart]

I think it's a conspiracy to make some of us humans lose our lunch! I mean I'd never seen it before, and we'd just taken maggots out of her a few days ago which was just lovely and then I see this alien lifeform rolling around under her skin and she's giving me this funny look like 'help me' (a la Jeff Goldblum) and I'm just ready to spew!

But I'm ok now and so is she.

 

[Strongheart]

I watched that video again to show my husband but didn't tell him what it was first. It made him feel creepy too and I actually got nauseous again.

Anyway, I'm concerned because this girl seems fine but she has lost two pounds. She was 8.14lbs when she came in and is now 6.2lbs. She's been eating and pooping but I'm concerned about her low appetite level.

She is VERY SWEET. Do you think the ivermectin may have contributed to this? I am going to give her some oats or something to help her put some weight back on, maybe some alfalfa. She's only 1 year old.

 

[gentle giants]

Actually, if she really is a Mini Lop, her "ideal" weight is six pounds. If she was on junk feed before you got her, she may be overweight. The weight loss may be a result of better nutrition and more exercise, and actually be a good thing.

 

[Haley]

Wow- that is creepy! Ive never even heard of that before!

If you think shes getting too thin, try giving her some nutrical to boost her weight. If she does happen to be pregnant it will help as well by giving her extra nutrients. An experienced rabbit vet should be able to palpate to tell if a bun is pregnant. Many breeders know how to properly palpate a rabbit to see if she is pregnant. Otherwise its just a wait and see game

 

[Strongheart]

I wish I knew how to tell if they're pregnant! That would help so much at the shelter! I've read though that it could hurt the babies?

She did seem really hefty so I'm glad she has slimmed down but it happened too fast for my liking. She hasn't been getting any exercise at all because I had her in a 'hospital cage' - which means a cage that's not too big because I don't like them to move around too much while they're recovering from something, like a spay.

I just moved her into a bigger setup so she stretch and feel better. After I talk to the vet about it, I will let her get some exercise, if I get a green light on it.

Gosh, she is such a sweetheart. She seems to have a bigger body than other mini lops we've had. She seems like large boned. We have a number of other mini lops right now, and she seems to be longer and bigger skeleton. But then we've had a few who were on the larger side but they were males.

She is so SWEEEET! I hope there's nothing terribly wrong with her. I'll keep an eye on her weight. I am going to wait on her spay though I think. Have to see what the vet says.