Sick Bun

Shop deals on ebay
Love your rabbit
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
J

jwark

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Messages
66
Reaction score
0
Location
Austin, Texas, USA
My rabbit is a new zealand white, about 2 years old. About 48 hours ago she just collapsed and won't stand up. I took her to the vet immediately and they're not exactly sure what is wrong with her. She has some cysts in her ear but we're still not sure that is the cause. The only thing the blood work and xrays came up with is a urinary tract infection.

So, I've been giving her meds (sulfamethoxazole and baytril). She has not improved at all. Her hind section is completely immobile now and her bowel movements are no longer pellets. She refuses to drink any water. I try to shoot it into her mouth with a syringe but she is very defiant and most of it spills out. I guess there's nothing more to be done, she does eat hay still. I'm just hoping maybe someone knows something more that I can do for her.
 
I'd switch antibiotics, pronto. I'm not sure about UTIs, but maybe an oral like Zithromax combined with Bicillin or PenG injections (and the 'cillins' really can only be injected). Baytril and the sulfa drugs aren't always effective.

Is she cold? You need to warm her up before giving oral fluids. (And if the fluids are a little warm, that's good too). Did the vet give her an infusion of fluids? If not, you really need another vet.

If she's still eating hay, that's good, but she needs fluids. Even try diluted apple juice or cranberry juice.


sas :clover:
 
She is warm. Her ears are cold but her body is warm. I've been keeping her wrapped up in a blanket but I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do. I'll try to ask the vet about switching her medication but to actually find a good rabbit vet is tough and the doctor does seem to know rabbits pretty well. The problem is they're not open until Monday. She did get an injection and fluids at the vet. The doc is hoping it's the cysts in her ear and said I should see improvement in two days so I'm really hoping she shows some signs of improvement by the morning.

The hardest thing right now is she is having bowel movements all over herself and it's really messy. I gave her a bath because I didn't know what else to do but I dried her off really well and only got her bottom wet. She hasn't urinated in over 24 hours, though. I will try to keep her warm but I'm not sure exactly how except to keep her covered with a blanket.
 
She needs fluids. Try to get her drinking. Even if you just give her a few drops at a time for as long as you can.

The diarrhea may be from the meds, but that's another reason for the fluids. The best thing for that is for her to be eating hay, so she knows what's good for her.

If she'll show interest in parsley soaked in water for awhile, you can try a little of that.

The same infections can show up in different parts of the body.

Do you know if he did a culture and sensitivity test to figure out what bacteria?

The meds he gave her are standard for the UTIs and rabbits, but they've been in use so much, they're no longer effective, rabbits have built up a resistance.


sas :pray:
 
She finally started drinking water. I feel better now but she has a long way to go. Thank you for the advice I will definitely contact the vet first thing Monday morning.
 
Good to hear she is drinking water again :)

I was going to suggest wetting down her hay with water, that way she would be getting at least a little bit of fluid.

Sending healing vibes your way~ :pray:

Please keep us updated
 
Yes that is a good suggestion with the hay (and parsley that pipp suggestion). I will definitely do that if she starts refusing water again. So far so good but she still does not move at all except to move her head.

Thank you for the good vibes, she definitely needs it. I feel so bad for her. I hope she's not in a lot of pain. She is urinating again now too. I've started putting some tissue paper to try to wick away the urine so it doesn't burn her skin. At least this happened when me and my girlfriend have almost a week off to take care of her.
 
Instead of water you could get some pedialyte which is an electrolyte drink for children; syringe her as much asshe will take.
If she still has diarrhea it may help to get some benebac which is a probiotic and give her a dose; this may help reestablish the good microorganisms in her GI tract whic have been disrupted by the antibiotics

you can get either the small tubes for small mammals or the powder that ismarketed for cats/dogs|it is sold at petco and petsmart ..probably some other pet stores also
 
My Satin doe did the same thing. I kept her warm and offered her wet greens until I could her to the vet the next morning. Shewasn'tinterested ineating. I thought she had passed away during the night but she was still alive the next morning. I rushed her to a vet who started her on IV fluids and antibiotics. She was hospitalized overnight. They did try to give her critical care. When I gave her greens she gobbled those up. It was then I knew she was better.
 
Just took her back to the vet. They're going to keep her there for the day and work on her.

Doc thinks it's the cysts in her ear and said that it definitely could be that baytril is not working but that no other medication will penetrate the blood-brain barrier. She's doing a culture test on the cyst. She has to sedate her which I'm really worried about. Doc says she will probably prescribe some topical meds for it too along with the Baytril.

Doc also thinks she might have a stone that's preventing her from urinating. She figured out she is having problems urinating on her own without someone pushing down on her stomach. That might explain why she didn't want to drink anything. At least she is eating greens now which will give her some water too.

The bad thing is she is moving less and less. I hope they figure it out soon. Poor bun.
 
chloramphenical is an excellent drug that a rabbit can tolerate and it will penetrate the bood-brain barrier .

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm


Vets are hesitant to order it because it is dangerous if humans have skin contact with this drug. A responsible adult can use this drug on a rabbit without danger

Ihave used it in an eye salve for a rabbit andI just wore throw- away plastic gloves when I put the ointment in.
As far as I know baytril doesn't penetrate the blood -brain barrier :?

sounds like your rabbit really has multiple issues
I hope that the vet can sort them out
 
They just found a lesion in her brain. They said she probably has a 50/50 chance of surviving but that's being optimistic. Her condition is deteriorating and now her body temp is below 96 and I feel so horrible.
 
I'm so sorry. It sounds like she might have an infection that spread from the ear to the brain, is that correct? With strong antibiotic treatments, warmth, force feeding if needed, and supplemental fluids, the only other thing you can do is pray.
 
That's what the doc says. Looks like an ear infection that spread to the brain. She says we'll probably know in about 3 days if she doesn't improve then we'll be talking euthanasia. I have a heat lamp above her now to keep her warm.

We're now also giving her topical baytril eardrops and panacure suspension. I had a discussion with her about the baytril but she is pretty convinced there is no better option. She says it's complicated and she is limited in what she can use for her. I have no idea I just work on computers but I am doing whatever I can.
 
It would be good if the vet could do some injected medicine. Injected Penicillin is safe, well-tolerated, and can do wonders for abscesses. Other options are zithromax, cloramphenicol, and Convenia, but Pen G is most common. Since you're in a "hail mary" situation I would hope the vet would be open to trying things they may have not done before, like injected antibiotics for rabbits.
 
Thank you for the response. I tried to get a second opinion today but can't find a good rabbit vet to talk to me or even return my calls. I'm going to go in tomorrow and ask if she thinks there's any merit in doing penicillin injections and ask if she can go ahead and do it. She's not getting any better.
 
Her temp is up to 102 now without a heating lamp (I think that is good?) She seems more alert and is moving around a lot more. I consulted another rabbit vet who is listed on rabbit.org and he agreed it is probably time for something more extreme than baytril but he said if she's never had an infection before the risk of her being resistant to it is pretty low. That was before she started to show some signs (even if they're small signs) of improvement.

He even said it may be worth the risk to sedate her and drain the abscess surgically. Now I don't know what to do but I'm taking her in again first thing in the morning. Wow, this has really stressed me more than I ever thought possible. It's amazing how attached I've become to my rabbit. They really do grow on you.
 
That temp is in the normal range http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

The other vet is a good option. We don't always say it's a good idea to drain the abscess because usually they will just close up near the site where the draining was done (ie if it was a needle puncture to drain it, or a small incision, that heals) before the actual infection is defeated, which just leads to the abscess re-forming. In some cases, it can help though, especially if the abscess is putting pressure on vital organs.

I think with a bunny this ill, no matter how good your vet is, a second opinion is always appropriate.

good thoughts sent your way
 
Well I'm going to start injections tomorrow. I probably should have done it a long time ago. She is maintaining a steady temperature but she still won't move. Her eyes are very odd too now. One is looking down and one up all the time. I don't know how much longer she can take just laying down all the time and not moving.

What would you recommend? Penicillin?

She also started breathing almost what I would describe as violently. Her abdomen goes in and out very far and fast. I've seen her breathe fast when she was healthy like this but only after running around and it was more like rapid short breaths, this is very deep breaths. Her ears are normally very pink and they have a pretty drastic purple tone to them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top