macgilli
Member
Hello All,
I'm a long time lurker of rabbits online and have done a lot of reading and studying on rabbits, to an almost unnatural extent, however that happens sometimes right?
Anyways, short form of the story.
Yesterday, my partner and I picked up a pair of rabbits, 12 week old mini rex. She's had a rabbit before, and I had wanted one for a while. So I did a lot more reading, and worrying (I want to raise a rabbit well and not make mistakes), anyways after much searching for a rabbit. I wanted a mini rex kit, I found someone who had them for sale......
Needless to say, no pictures on the ad, and well rather vague, first problem.
Second problem, we go up to the rabbitry, it is a rather small operation, and having done my research he didn't seem too knowledgeable, actually fit the description of a backyard breeder. I knew I should have said no and walked, however having drove an hour and a half, and spent two months looking for what I wanted, I couldn't say no, neither could my partner as she decided to pick up a rabbit as well as hers had died about two months ago.......She also knew that having a pair would keep them company.
Anyways, there, the person showed us the rabbits, admitted he didn't handle them. I was okay with that, I know scientific studies have been done on handling at early ages, however I figured a lot of handling, loving, and all of that will go a long way. So, he hands me a rabbit, the first one in the cage that fit the description I was looking for.
He talks about his rabbits and shows us a bunch more, while I hold and pet and get to know my rabbit, who coughs a bit in my arms. I'm a little concerned, however it was probably her first time out of the cage. My instinct is to keep an eye on it, however I knew if it was something airborne, it would be in all of them, plus the other ones were much more subdued (Yeah, I was trying to behavior type them in the cage, see who would come up, or stay back.)
Anyways, my partner also takes a rabbit, the sister of this one. (Both are females.) So we take them home, a lot of grinding, purring on the trip back, they seem really active and alert. However, they also are coughing. I'm concerned, first the grinding because I worry about malocclusion in them, as they didn't come with pedigrees, nor did he give us any food to allow us to transition them. (We have tonnes of hay and pellets, as well as everything setup, so I'm not worried, just about upsetting their GI System.)
Anyways, take them home, disassemble the travel carrier and put them into the cage to settle for a little while while we make dinner and clean up. So, after dinner, we want to take them out. So we do, and put them in an area to lay with them, and snuggle with them, and let them explore and run around, which they do. They hop, and search, and chin, and my rabbit even gives me a nose rub and a bit of a lick. I think Nimue's a real loving and exploring rabbit, as she'll let me pet her no problems, is okay with holding, not the best, however I want to get her as used to it and she's passing waste, drinking water, etc. She's so cute, however no real pictures yet as I didn't want to bug them with the flash.
Ava's another story. She explores, then goes and hides in the corner. Doesn't really interact as much, doesn't really move as much. Now, that's normal in rabbits, however she does begin to exhibit a lot of coughing and sneezing noises, both of them do however Ava's a lot worse and a lot more frequent. I'm concerned at this point, however once she passes some mucus coated stool (it wasn't cecals as it looked like regular stool) some quick Google searching showed I should take her to the vet after hours....
I take her, as well as the stool sample up to the vet, and wait. The vet looks at the stool and says its normally liquid and not to be too concerned, however there was raspy breath, as well as the coughing / sneezing, shows it to be an upper respiratory tract infection. So, I'm sent home at 3am with Antibiotics for them, as well as critical care. The price wasn't pretty for after hours, however I love animals and well, I don't want to have to go through what happened the last time again. (Holding it for an hour, trying to get it to move, react, etc isn't fun.). Although when the vet found out the rabbit I had was the 'quieter' one she was surprised.
So the medications;
Batril twice a day for 10 days (It already is cut up so I just have to crush them up). They also recommended 3 parts water, 1 part critical care for them. I have all that, including syringes. The question is as last night most of it ended up on my sweater. So, does anyone have any tips? They did drink some of it. However I'm just wondering how you all are able to do this? I was thinking a bowl or small dish with the mixture, and putting it near them. The vet did recommend a fruit drink? Will that work at all?
Some other non administering medication based questions;
Both tend to grind their teeth a bit, I am worried about something else happening to them. I'm thinking that it is to do with the fact they both have pneumonia or bronchitis? They are a lot, a lot noisier than other rabbits I've seen and tend to express themselves with clicks, honks, purrs and grinding a lot.
Next point is, the breeder fed them pellets only, with a bit of regular hay, with water from dishes. Is there a lot of danger of switching them completely over? Also, I put water in dishes in with them, they drank about a half a bowl of water over the evening, however the water bottle in the cage is barely touched. Any suggestions for this?
I am wondering if I should call the breeder as there was 150 rabbits in there, about 60 going as pets, with the rest. There was no sales contract or anything, however I have the records from the animal hospital......I mean I don't want to cause any issues with them, I just feel like we were wronged. I made a mistake by not going to someone else, I could have done more checking, however they are adorable. I do love them both, just I'm worried you know?
They seem rather poorly on some levels, which looks to be diagnosed, however on other levels they are eating the pellets, not as much hay as I would think, and drinking some water, as well as passing urine and stool so I know that its not as bad as it could be.
Anyways, some advice on this would be great.
Thanks,
I'm a long time lurker of rabbits online and have done a lot of reading and studying on rabbits, to an almost unnatural extent, however that happens sometimes right?
Anyways, short form of the story.
Yesterday, my partner and I picked up a pair of rabbits, 12 week old mini rex. She's had a rabbit before, and I had wanted one for a while. So I did a lot more reading, and worrying (I want to raise a rabbit well and not make mistakes), anyways after much searching for a rabbit. I wanted a mini rex kit, I found someone who had them for sale......
Needless to say, no pictures on the ad, and well rather vague, first problem.
Second problem, we go up to the rabbitry, it is a rather small operation, and having done my research he didn't seem too knowledgeable, actually fit the description of a backyard breeder. I knew I should have said no and walked, however having drove an hour and a half, and spent two months looking for what I wanted, I couldn't say no, neither could my partner as she decided to pick up a rabbit as well as hers had died about two months ago.......She also knew that having a pair would keep them company.
Anyways, there, the person showed us the rabbits, admitted he didn't handle them. I was okay with that, I know scientific studies have been done on handling at early ages, however I figured a lot of handling, loving, and all of that will go a long way. So, he hands me a rabbit, the first one in the cage that fit the description I was looking for.
He talks about his rabbits and shows us a bunch more, while I hold and pet and get to know my rabbit, who coughs a bit in my arms. I'm a little concerned, however it was probably her first time out of the cage. My instinct is to keep an eye on it, however I knew if it was something airborne, it would be in all of them, plus the other ones were much more subdued (Yeah, I was trying to behavior type them in the cage, see who would come up, or stay back.)
Anyways, my partner also takes a rabbit, the sister of this one. (Both are females.) So we take them home, a lot of grinding, purring on the trip back, they seem really active and alert. However, they also are coughing. I'm concerned, first the grinding because I worry about malocclusion in them, as they didn't come with pedigrees, nor did he give us any food to allow us to transition them. (We have tonnes of hay and pellets, as well as everything setup, so I'm not worried, just about upsetting their GI System.)
Anyways, take them home, disassemble the travel carrier and put them into the cage to settle for a little while while we make dinner and clean up. So, after dinner, we want to take them out. So we do, and put them in an area to lay with them, and snuggle with them, and let them explore and run around, which they do. They hop, and search, and chin, and my rabbit even gives me a nose rub and a bit of a lick. I think Nimue's a real loving and exploring rabbit, as she'll let me pet her no problems, is okay with holding, not the best, however I want to get her as used to it and she's passing waste, drinking water, etc. She's so cute, however no real pictures yet as I didn't want to bug them with the flash.
Ava's another story. She explores, then goes and hides in the corner. Doesn't really interact as much, doesn't really move as much. Now, that's normal in rabbits, however she does begin to exhibit a lot of coughing and sneezing noises, both of them do however Ava's a lot worse and a lot more frequent. I'm concerned at this point, however once she passes some mucus coated stool (it wasn't cecals as it looked like regular stool) some quick Google searching showed I should take her to the vet after hours....
I take her, as well as the stool sample up to the vet, and wait. The vet looks at the stool and says its normally liquid and not to be too concerned, however there was raspy breath, as well as the coughing / sneezing, shows it to be an upper respiratory tract infection. So, I'm sent home at 3am with Antibiotics for them, as well as critical care. The price wasn't pretty for after hours, however I love animals and well, I don't want to have to go through what happened the last time again. (Holding it for an hour, trying to get it to move, react, etc isn't fun.). Although when the vet found out the rabbit I had was the 'quieter' one she was surprised.
So the medications;
Batril twice a day for 10 days (It already is cut up so I just have to crush them up). They also recommended 3 parts water, 1 part critical care for them. I have all that, including syringes. The question is as last night most of it ended up on my sweater. So, does anyone have any tips? They did drink some of it. However I'm just wondering how you all are able to do this? I was thinking a bowl or small dish with the mixture, and putting it near them. The vet did recommend a fruit drink? Will that work at all?
Some other non administering medication based questions;
Both tend to grind their teeth a bit, I am worried about something else happening to them. I'm thinking that it is to do with the fact they both have pneumonia or bronchitis? They are a lot, a lot noisier than other rabbits I've seen and tend to express themselves with clicks, honks, purrs and grinding a lot.
Next point is, the breeder fed them pellets only, with a bit of regular hay, with water from dishes. Is there a lot of danger of switching them completely over? Also, I put water in dishes in with them, they drank about a half a bowl of water over the evening, however the water bottle in the cage is barely touched. Any suggestions for this?
I am wondering if I should call the breeder as there was 150 rabbits in there, about 60 going as pets, with the rest. There was no sales contract or anything, however I have the records from the animal hospital......I mean I don't want to cause any issues with them, I just feel like we were wronged. I made a mistake by not going to someone else, I could have done more checking, however they are adorable. I do love them both, just I'm worried you know?
They seem rather poorly on some levels, which looks to be diagnosed, however on other levels they are eating the pellets, not as much hay as I would think, and drinking some water, as well as passing urine and stool so I know that its not as bad as it could be.
Anyways, some advice on this would be great.
Thanks,