How to syringe feed rabbit by myself?

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MandyK

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One of my rabbits stopped eating, so I took him to the vet and he was prescribed Critical Care for Herbivores, which is a powder to be mixed with water and fed through a syringe. He is very fussy and I have no one to hold him while I feed him. Does anyone have suggestions? I tried to put some on his favourite treats and veggies but he is too smart for that.

Any help is appreciated!!



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I have two other, somewhat related questions, if anyone can help:

1. My vet said he is simply constipated and he needs to work his poop out. Yet she tried to push xrays ($500) on me. I've had this exact problem with rabbits before, and I have never been told to get xrays. Is this even necessary? She said there is absolutely nothing wrong with him other than his pooped being back up.
2. The vet also prescribed a medication, to be given once a day for two weeks. They didn't have any of the meds left at the vet's office, so they told me to go to a human pharmacy to get the prescription filled. Unfortunately, they only had it in pill form, and I have to wait 3 days for them to order the liquid form. Is this going to be a big problem? The pharmacy took the prescription paper, and the vet didn't write the name of the drug on my invoice so I don't even know how critical it is.


Thank you!! Sorry for the long post.
 
You can try mixing the critical care with cool chamomile tea and baby food rather than water to make it taste better so there's less of a struggle. If He still doesn't want to eat you can wrap in a towel so you don't get scratched. Be sure you aren't holding him on his back or he might be choking rather than being able to eat properly. Also if you squirt behind the front teeth but facing the other cheek it is better because you know it will be in the mouth, but you don't want to choke him. Squirt a bit, wait for him to swallow, squirt a little more.

You may also want to be syringing some pedialite and/or canned pumpkin. The pedialite helps with fluids. You want to make sure he doesn't get dehydrated or things will get worse. The canned pumpkin adds fiber and fluids at the same time. Be sure it is just pumpkin, not pie filling with spices.

Simithicone can help if he is gassy, which can be painful for buns and can cause them not to want to eat. This can be found in the baby section of a pharmacy. A tummy massage helps it work even better.

The xrays were probably to make sure there was not a full blockage. If there is a full blockage then force feeding will make things worse.

It's hard to tell about the medicine if you don't know what it was.

Best of luck :pray:
 
If you have trouble getting the critical care in, I found mine hated it until I switched to a smaller syringe. It was worth the extra work of refilling a 1mL syringe 10X vs. 1 10mL syringe worth since they were happy to take it then.

Keep lots of fluids is. Sub-q fluids also helped my bunny *alot* when she was having this issue.

Yep, as MiniLopHop (above) said, Simithicone can help alot! I've used it and its worked wonders.
 

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