(RIP) Sudden illness

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MousQwene

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2008
Messages
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Location
Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
- Location
Lives in a cage with her sister in the living room.

- Description (Breed, color., weight)
Holland Lop/Polish mix

- Age
Born May 1st, '09

- spayed/neutered?
No

- Notes on Fecal and Urinary Output
- are the bunny's poops and pees normal?
All looks normal in the box, but she has poop and shavings caked under her butt.
- When did they last use their litterbox?
Unknown
- Any unusual behavior?
Not really moving, watery eyes, breathing slightly labored, though not wheezing, not responding to touch or sound or movement.

- Medical History -- has s/he been to the vet or been sick before?
No

- Diet - what does your bunny eat?
Pellets 18% protein (Small World Rabbit), Timothy hay
- when and what did s/he eat last?
Pellets, 2:00pm August 10th, with water.

- movement - any unusual movements? Is s/he hopping normally?
Not moving

- are there any plants, chocolate or other substances within reach?
No, the entire area around the rabbits has been cleared within a good two feet, so no wandering paws can pull anything into the cage.

- has the rabbit been outdoors?
Once, over a month ago, she went on a car ride but seemed fine before, during, and afterwards.

We lost her brother a week ago, but he did not have any of her symptoms. There was no visible issue or cause of death. There does not seem to be a connection. She was fine before my fiance and I left to visit a friend. We returned 7 hours later to find her as written above. Nothing has been changed in their diet or cage surroundings, no chemicals have been used around them, not even hair spray or perfume or anything like that. The other rabbits are acting normally. She lives in a cage with her sister. Their cage is next to the cage with the brothers. All out of cage time is strictly supervised and she hasn't gotten into anything contraband. She seems to be leaning to one side and is not responding to any touching or talking we do which is highly abnormal. Moving hands in front of her eyes elicits no response.
 
I think she needs a vet ASAP to be honest, especially with what happened to her brother.

Is she acting? will she eat? Or is she lethargic and that's why she is ignoring you?

On second thoughs, reading that back she sounds like she is lethargic. Is she able to get up? Is she lying or sitting?

What is the temperature where you are? Warm? Hot? Cool?

She definitely needs a vet, like now.
 
She's slumped on a towel on our bed. We have the AC on at about 75 degrees, but I have her snuggled up in the towel. She's not eating, not responding. We thought she was asleep when we walked in and she started when we walked up to the cage, but that's the last visibly voluntary movement we've seen from her.

EDIT: When my fiance sat on the bed, she shifted all of her paws underneath her and sat up a little bit.
 
It would be worth maybe giving her a heat source (which your body could work as), or a rice sock IF she is able to get away from it if she needs to.

Are you able to get her to a vet?
 
We unfortunately are not in a postion where we can take her to a vet at the moment. We're trying to figure out if there's anything we can do from home or if we should just make her comfortable and prepare for the worst.
 
Can you maybe describe her symptoms in as much detail as possible?

Can you give any more info than this?

'Not really moving, watery eyes, breathing slightly labored, though not wheezing, not responding to touch or sound or movement.'

Can I ask why you can't get to a vet? Sometimes some situations can be resolved with a little bit of thought (like finances, lack of transport, etc) whereas others are not sortable (like not having a decent vet near, etc).
 
Does anyone know whether treating for gas could potentially lose anything here? Or if it might be worth just trying anyway?
 
Thank you for your ideas, but it's too late. Though I will stockpile the thoughts away in case (gods forbid) the others fall ill, we are off to bury our second baby in as many weeks. Binky free sweet Luna.
 
Try giving her Pedialyte or even Gatorade in a pinch. I suspect there's diarrhea there somewhere. Hydration and warmth are your best bets. Some pain meds - baby Motrin or Ibuprofen may be helpful as well.

Are you hearing a lot of gut sounds? When you shake her, does she 'swish' like a thermos?

I'll pull out some Enteritis articles, hang tough.


sas :pray:
 
Here's a couple of articles in case anybody else is faced with this in young bunnies.

Hopefully someone can also link to one of Randy's threads.

Enteritis Complexes: Coccidiosis, Mucoid Enteropathy, and Enterotoxemia (Pamela Alley) - describes the different intestinal ailments that commonly cause diarrhea in rabbits.
http://www.showbunny.com/gastrointestinal.htm

Intestinal Diseases -- Enterotoxemia, Tyzzer's Disease, Colibacillosis, Proliferative Enteropathy, Mucoid Enteropathy (Merck Vet Manual)
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/171319.htm


sas :cry2
 
Not trying to step on any toes but you are feeding small world rabbit pellets?
Thats from wal mart right?

Once you get through this with all the babys I would look into switching to a better quality feed.

I am sorry about your loss
Binki free baby girl
 
I'm sorry for your loss.

I think you need to sort out some treatment for the rest of the litter because you face this happening with any others you have, and maybe more if this is something like cocci which is highly contagious.

Binky Free Luna
 
I'm so sorry. I agree that you should have the rest of the litter checked, particularly for coccidis. Prevention of this from happening to the rest of the babies is important, because with the symptoms she showed, she needed to be seen immedately by a vet, and even then it would have been difficult to save her. That sounds a lot like shock.

Also, simethicone is pretty much free from side effects. For coccidiosis it's not going to do much, because the bacterial toxins have overwhelmed the body, but if you're stumped and don't know what to do and suspect a GI issue, it's safe to use in almost all cases.

Binky free, Luna.
 
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