Weak Immune System

[mariethomas]

Sadly, Casper has a weak Immune System. But it's not surprise, as he keeps contracting something.

Since he had random severe diarrhea, we had tests on his droppings. The vet happily said he was fine, but he had minor parasites. He said to bring him in to deworm him. (It was time to be dewormed anyway)

Today he was dewormed and weighed. Then he got his eye checked out. I've been paying close attention to one of his eyes because it's been a bit irritated and red. It also has a very thin, veil like thing in the corner of that one eye. A day ago it had discharge that dried up, and I couldn't remove it. He does not come into contact with his cages liter, but does come into contact with the bedding in the liter box. He flops in the liter box and then cleans his face. The vet says his breathing and his eye can be due to the cold?
For his eye, I was given eye drops. It's an antibiotic & anti-inflammatory for eyes and ears. Are all eye drops safe for rabbits? I looked up the composition, and everything is okay for rabbits. In the picture it mentions "excipientes c.s.p. so basically, inactive ingredients? I have to administer the drops in both eyes, every 6 hours for 3 days. I already gave him the first dose.

For he doesn't keep getting sick, the vet suggested we do some vitamins to strengthen his immune system. What I was given for this, is an oral vitamin. I haven't opened it yet, but I can tell it's a thick liquid. I'm suppose to put 1m on a syringe into his water bottle for 12 days.

Finally, he gave me the same antibiotic he always gives me for 3 days, 0.5ml on a syringe, in his water bottle. 3 days. Only then will I start with the vitamins.

Anyone ever have the experience of having a bun with a weak immune system? I'm guessing the cause is his diet.

 

[Watermelons]

whats the antibiotic?
medications should never be given in the water bottle as you cant know exactly how much they get. not to mention 3 days is not a very worthy amount of days to do anything.
even adding vitamins to the water can be bad as adding something other then water will change the taste and cause them to not drink creating even more problems.

 

[surf_storm]

I agree with watermelons, I have a rat on antibiotics at the moment for his ongoing respotory infection and he has found a way to hold his medication in his mouth untill he can rub against something to wipe it off lol so I now create a paste using rolled oats ground to a powder, rat/mouse mix ground to a powder and hot (not boiling) water, it sort of makes a porridge and I mix his meds in that

 

[mariethomas]

I don't know what exactly the antibiotic is. I'm almost sure it's the same thing he gave us in the past. He gave it to me on a 3ml syringe, but I'll only use up to 1.5m because that's what he said. Of course, I asked more than once but he didn't give an exact name. I do trust the vet though...

Casper has a small water bottle, finishes it about 3 times a day - so that's how much times I refill it. It's been two days with the antibiotic and he drank the water without suspecting anything. Today I'll give him the last dose.
But what if Casper doesn't suspect the vitamins in his water? Should I still give it to him in the bottle? I'm hoping he doesn't so it's easier this way...but I'm not sure I can give the vitamins without water.

Anyway...I hate to even mention the word "mucus" again, but he just passed a large heart shaped cecotrope, which I originally thought to be mushy poo until picking it up. He was going to eat it, but I took it away from him.
What I don't understand is, I just had a test done, and the vet said they didn't find anything wrong with him, JUST minor parasites. For which he got dewormed. And now I just found mucus, again. The last time he had this I was told he had E.coli, which we were given antibiotics for, and it took almost a month to rid him of it.
The picture is pretty self explanatory. The dropping is half cecotrope, and half regular hard poos (about 4-5), and it's obvious that there is dark mucus in two parts. I'm going to call the vet soon, but now I'm not sure what to think.

 

[squidpop]

I think since he originally had something like e.coli in his gut that is why his immune system is so delicate.

Hopefully the cecotrope isn't a sign that the the e.coli is back. With a few of my rabbits, if I feed too many greens they will have left over cecotropes but it usually goes back to normal if I cut back on the greens.

Maybe the antibiotic in the water is to kill water borne bacteria?

I hope everything at the vets turns out ok.

 

[mariethomas]

The vet said it to give it some time to go away, and said the antibiotic would help. I haven't seen anymore of it since then. We're going longer with the eye drops since that eye is still red. He also started his vitamins today. It looks and smells awful but he's been drinking it so far. Thanks