Hopefully overreacting, but please advise if you can!

[lyndym]

I got home this evening, about an hour ago, to find that Aurora had gotten all these poops and shavings strewn from her litter box all around the outside of her cage. I imagine it's from a big leap into or out of the box, maybe in distress at something that startled her. I can't imagine what would have frightened her in that way, perhaps Doc made a loud clumsy noise at some point in his cage next to her, but I know that my roommate has not been in since I left. Anyway, I took her out for play time first (not bonded with Doc yet) and she has not been running or jumping or playing at all. I offered pellets by hand, which we have been doing for several days to get her to bond with me, and I've never been refused before now. Freeze dried banana was also a no-go, as was a bit of romaine lettuce. I noticed that she isn't putting both ears up as she normally does, the left is more down, and her head is ever so slightly leaning to her left. She is not unbalanced in any way - she has run across the living room a couple of times, not at full speed, but with complete control of herself. She is just way more subdued than normal, not responding to my voice or my pets as usual, and isn't taking any food that's offered. Also hard to explain, but her eyes don't have their usual sparkle. Otherwise, the amount of poop in her box and the amount of hay that has been eaten looks normal for her.

Anyway, I'm not sure what I'm really asking for, except for some kind of reassurance. I'm hoping this isn't the beginnings of a head tilt issue. I'm pretty worried, she's only been home for a little over two weeks, and I got her as a new girl bun for my boy - we lost our Dora a couple of months ago. I can't help but remember what it felt like when I was so worried about Dora. :expressionless

 

[JBun]

I posted in your other thread about the possibility of it being an ear infection or EC, if the head tilt persists. If it is one of those, there's not much you can do tonight besides ensuring she drinks and stays hydrated, and if you have any metacam it may help to give her some of that as well. If she is in pain, then she will not want to eat, so giving the metacam may get her eating again. Keep encouraging her to eat too, but the metacam will be your best chance of getting her eating on her own.

 

[lyndym]

Thanks Jenny, for both posts. I don't have any metacam, but I'm going over to her every 20 mins or so to offer lettuce. She's not a huge drinker in general, which is weird because Doc is a bottomless pit for anything, but I'll put her water dish in the play area while she's out. Well as I'm typing this, she moved for the first time in at least ten or fifteen minutes.. She checked each cardboard house out before pausing to hide briefly in one, now she's given one burst of speed back to the same corner.

 

[lyndym]

If we have to make a trip to the vet tomorrow morning, should I bring Doc along? I have no one to help me on the drive there, they have been in the carrier and car once together on Rory's way home from the shelter two weeks ago. Their last date was about a week and a half ago and it ended with fur flying, so they're taking a dating break.

 

[JBun]

You do have to get metcam from the vet, but sometimes people have it on hand from previous bunny troubles. You could maybe give a baby aspirin if you feel like she is in pain and you think it would help her. I've never given aspirin myself though, cause I have metacam on hand. Here's the medication info for dosages and meds for rabbits if you need it. I know that you have to give food when you give ibuprofen, but I'm not sure about aspirin. I'm sure it's probably better for them if they do have food with it.

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

Since they aren't bonded yet, you shouldn't need to bring Doc along, and it sounds like it would probably be easier for you if you didn't have to bring him.

 

[lyndym]

She doesn't seem like she's in pain. The good news is she's nibbled a bit off the leaf of romaine I gave her earlier, given two small nibbles at hay, and left a good pile of poop behind in the litter box before moving to hide in her wooden house. I'm going to wake up early (hopefully not after being up all night!) and call our vet to see if we can get in tomorrow. I also found another vet in the area in case my regular one isn't in. Thanks again for all the advice, Jenny!

 

[Azerane]

On the off chance it is something, I would be inclined not to bring Doc along in case she transferred it to him as well. Best of luck with your girl, she may just have had a very bad fright or perhaps had a bad jump or similar and perhaps sprained something.

 

[missyscove]

Sorry, just seeing this now.

I always bring my bonded pair to the vet together to prevent breaking their bond, but if they arent bonded yet then I would leave the healthy rabbit at home.
Let us know what the vet said.

 

[lyndym]

Thanks guys. We're going tomorrow morning. I woke up early to check on her and to see if I'd need to try and get into see the vet today, but the leaf of lettuce I left around 1 or 2AM was gone and she was in her box eating hay. (Last night she only picked at some bits of hay on the floor of her cage.) I made an appointment for tomorrow telling them things were looking better than last night, but I'd let them know and cancel if they returned to 100%. I let her out later, and she was acting a lot more upbeat with no tilting of her head or ear flopped over. I gave her some pellets and cilantro by hand, and while chewing she would sometimes cock her head to the same side again. I cleaned both rabbit cages and boxes, and before I left I saw she left a very small amount of extremely tiny poops. This may have been because she didn't eat much at all last night, but it was then I decided to keep tomorrow's appointment. She picked at her salad and it was still mostly there when I left, but it was all gone when I got home. There's a bigger pile of poops now, larger but not her normal size, and most of her hay and water is still there. Though, she's not a huge eater during the day, and she normally doesn't drink a ton of water. (Guess I'm used to seeing how much Doc puts away, but he's 8lbs and Rory is a lot smaller.) It's almost her turn to come out, so hopefully she's a little playful. I will let you know how our vet visit goes!