New rescue

[Ofelia]

I have just been handed a skinny little rabbit, looks like possibly a minilop although could be a lop if she filled out a bit, she is so skinny that her spine is visible as lumps on her back as she has had some loss of fur.

Man, this poor lass is not even hungry.
I am not asking for advice because this is what we do, we rescue neglected rabbits, but of course am happy if you do have any.

My beautiful rabbit Rupert is in critical condition so this new girl will only be here for 2 days, then she will be in care at a foster home for a week before she comes back to me as I have to concentrate on Rupert.

She has had 15ml of sub fluids, 5ml of baby food and she helped herself to some water.

I will not over run her poor digestive system with too much food and all she will get for the night is a hot water bottle, hay, water and pellets on offer and baby food again in 4 hours. Tomorrow more sub fluids, around 15ml again and a chance to relax and put her feet up and eat, eat and eat as much as she wants.
There will be oats and pumpkin and I find lots of attention really perks up the starving ones.

She has almost no fur on her bottom and thighs and may recently have had babies as her teats are a little swollen and milky/watery brown. She has a vet appointment tomorrow as well and we will see what else she needs. As time goes on and she recovers, as inevitably starving rabbits do, she will be vaccinated and de-sexed. She will be quaratined from every other pet I have until then. Especially Rupert as I cannot risk his health anymore than it is. I have a seperate area for newcomers and to the best of my ability keep areas sterile and super clean.

I will name her Casey for now, a sweet wee critter with a gorgeous nature and huge trusting eyes, hopefully a picture coming soon!

 

[Pipp]

She may be skinny and have hairless patches from having just given birth and may now be fighting a case of Mastitis, which can cause a doe to lose her appetite and drink a lot of water.

Are the teats hot and swollen and a little blue? If so, must be caught early with antibiotics. I'm not sure that giving her food and infusions would be the way to go or not. She may have to stop producing milk and get the infection cleared up. Something to ask in the Rabbitry -- although not sure when 'tomorrow' is for you down there, I'm sure the vet visit will fix whatever ails her.

Poor bunny, I wonder what happened to the babies?


sas :tears2:

 

[Ofelia]

Hi Pipp :hug:

I did not go through my whole process of care for her, I definitely suspect mastitis though ( teats not very swollen and not blue, actually shrunken except for one), the fluid infusion was pretty much to save her, her condition was so bad that she did not move when put down, very poor muscle tone too.

This morning she is a lot perkier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!inkbouce:inkelepht::bunnydance::bunnydance:

Drinking on her own, I left 10 tiny pellets for her and she also ate up the tiny amount of baby food without a syringe.

I believe she was at the point of death by starvation and a combination of infection and exposure. Her appointment is in 1 hour. She will not doubt be on a course of antibiotics and I suspect a careful monitoring of her diet and as you said, the food intake will be restricted until her digestive system has a chance to catch up a bit.

Her poop this morning is surprisingly normal looking which is excellent news.

I removed two pieces of grass embedded in her gum line and cleaned her mouth and teeth, the gum looks sore. Removing the grass blades will do wonders for her.

Just received an email from her possible foster Mum and she cannot have her as she is overloaded with other cases, so Casey will be staying with me.

This is the 5th such case as this in 9 weeks!!!!!!!!

Very angry at what responsible ownership means to some people!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is possible she escaped but then I have scanned all the websites we have related to lost pets and her story is nowhere to be found.

She was found in the middle of the road!


Luckily rabbits have mostly very robust recoveries, especially those neglected like this.


Her hair loss is over her back and bottom, not her tummy where most expectant mums will pull fur so I think that with her being outside, her bottom rubbed raw with a skin irritation as the skin is patchy and grazed over her bottom.

No other signs of injuries,

If anyone is interested her case I will post pics and update her story as it unfolds, for now though I have a lot of work to do with Rupert and Casey gives me the impression that she will actually be just fine in time. Will update anyway after the vet visit.

 

[Maureen Las]

Oh the poor bun

I'm glad that you can help her...

Please keep us up-dated

 

[Ofelia]

Just got back from vets, extremely busy with Rupert and have to post for him too, so will make this brief;

The good: She will make a fine recovery
The bad but recoverable: Mastitis a few weeks into it, obvious signs of having given birth but possibly not too recently(Pipp was right)badly malnourished and undernourished, leaky eyes, irritated skin on her bottom and slightly infected gums, teeth okay though.

So all in all I am pleased with that and nothing too unexpected.

 

[tonyshuman]

Good to hear that she has a good prognosis. To soothe her skin, you can apply preparation H, baby cornstarch powder, or an udder cream. If she's having difficulty keeping the skin dry herself, the best would be the cornstarch.

 

[Pipp]

Glad both buns should be okay. (They sure wouldn't be without you taking care of them).

I wouldn't be too sure Wing was abused or starved. If she was found outside and there's no snow on the ground (being summer in your area), she has access to miles of food from grass to trees to plants. But with mastitis, the infection and loss of appetite would have taken its toll.

I'm sure she was on death's door, poor bunny, probably hours away from succumbing. I doubt her babies made it. :tears2:

If she was a domestic who escaped with little effort made to find her, or one who was 'set free', shame on her former guardians.


sas :hug:

 

[Ofelia]

Hi Wing is the old fella we got a few weeks ago and his story is different from Casey but don't worry for getting confused...lol...I do!!!!!

Unfortunately where she was found, there really was no grass for miles, she was found near an underground road that leads into a mall complex. Surrounded by busy roads, its a wonder she was noticed sooner ??

Wonderful news...Casey and Wing met by accident this mornign while I was cleaning out the hutches and wow!!!!!!!!!!!

They love each other!!! Casey was not meant to be in contact with any other bunny but after her check up, its got the go ahead from the vet.

Of course I was going to wait a few weeks until she recovered but the snuggles I can see are just too cute!!

Wing and Casey are married!!!!!!!

Going to get a couple of apples for the happy couple...

I know you probably all think I am nuts but really its so nice to see after a week of a lot of bunny stress.

Hopefully pics coming but I have a day of rebuilding a broken pen, Rupert;s care and loads of other work to do.

Back soon

 

[Maureen Las]

Wow !..
a love match ink iris:without effort is great !!!!