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Help Sick Rabbit !!!

Errol_Finn

New Kit
Hello,

We have 1 rabbit, who lives in an outdoor hutch through the day and at night is always brought in to the house and put into a big cage, he has never spent the night outside.
Approximately 1 month ago, we noticed that he was very slow and not hopping about as normal. We watched him for a couple of hours and then his condition got slightly worse, he was only able to sit in the same spot and was unable to use his back legs. By the morning he was unable to use hi front legs and was just lying down. I thought he was going to die so took him to the emergency Vet. The Vet said they didn’t know what was wrong and gave him an anti-inflammatory injection and we took him home. By the morning he was worse and was lying on his side unable to lift his head. We took him straight back to the Vets and he was put on a drip with anti-biotic. We were warned that he may not make it.
After 3 days, he pulled through and it was as if there was nothing wrong with him. We continued to give him anti-biotic once a day for 5 days and everything was fine. We monitored his food and water intake and everything was great. We kept him in the house at all times and he never once went outside.
A few days after the anti-biotic finished he seemed to have a re-lapse, this time his condition worsened so quickly I was convinced that he would not make it, we rushed him to the Vets and he was back on the drip and medicine. 5 days later he was back to normal. The Vets took a blood sample this time which has come back all clear and we continued to give him anti-biotic for 5 days and all was well.
It has now been 5 days and he started to show the symptoms again so this evening I whizzed him down the vets and they are going to keep him.
I was just wondering if anyone else had seen this before, symptoms are. Back legs all floppy and un-usable, moving on to the front legs and then completely unable to lift the head.??
Thanks
 
I'd say it sounds like that too. EC is a nasty thing and needs at least 6 weeks of Panacur to beat it. It might be that your vet was just putting it on hold with the treatments you were given. :(
 
I'd also consider 'floppy rabbit syndrome' as a possibility too....

I'm sure there was a very good thread on how to treat this quickly and effectively at home if you spot the symptoms in time.

Just to add.... Floppy Rabbit syndrome is usually cause by a vitamin deficiency of some sort which is why I am wondering if this is what is causing the problem due to the recurrent relapses. EC is a possibility but it is unlikely he would recover so quickly from his symptoms to then relapse later IMO.Recovery from EC in the majority of cases is usually a gradual one over a matter of weeks as opposed to days.
 
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Hello,

Thank you all for your advice. I am not sure what the VET tested for the last time he took blood, i have a feeling it was Mixi!!

The Vets have taken another blood sample, which is going to be used for further tests, I hope this EC to which you both reffer.

The rabbit is back home with me already, pretty quiet at the moment, im sure it is all quite a shock to his system but I am determine to get to the bottom of this and give him every chance!
 
:wave: Some vets have limited rabbit knowledge - i had one who was very ill and I came on here and got ideas and told the vet some of them and she was like oh I'll look that up!!!:shock: So maybe worth giving them a call and checking what they are testing for just incase they haven't got all bases covered. Hope it turns out ok. Sending get well soon thoughts.
 
updaet

Hello everyone,

Thanks for the advice so far. Rabbit is home and is on anti-biotics, which I have to give to him once a day orally through a syringe. 1.4, which is quite a lot and takes quite a bit of time doing. It is fair to say that he hates it!

the blood tests are back from the vets and have come back as all clear. I made sure that he was tested for E. Connia (sorry not sure on spelling) and that came back clear too.

I am worrind because this is now the 3rd time and after a wek of coming off the anti-biotics i am quite sure that he will go down-hill again. The Vet also spoke with a 'rabbit' expert however thwey had no ideas what it could be? although suggested floppy rabbit syndrone. sounds like they just havent got a clue.

I was wondering if there was anything else that you lot thought it could be as the vets seems to be stumped??

This week he has been completly normal doing huge binki''s in the garden, poor fellow!!
 
it could be a nerve problem or some other parasite . The fact his reacting to antibiotics suggests to me has got a rather nasty infection i'd take him to a different vet . It could be a calcium deficiency so i'd try tomato's and tomato juice. I'm a bit stumped myself:shock:
 
ut ohhh

Rabbit is sick again, this time we are not taking him to the vets because all they do it put him on a drip and give him anti-biotics which may not even be doing anything.

he has been laying in his cage for the entire day, hardly moving at all. although he is still eating when we put food infront of him. I am giving him water through a syringe to keep his fluids up. will have to now just hope that his immune system is strong enough....:shock:
 
i hope he does recover though.
this has to be tough on you :(
personally, i wish that the vets would have more knowledge over these things.

best of luck from me *hugs*
 
Like I said previously, it always sounded more like Floppy rabbit syndrome... It can be fatal too if he isn't given the right treatment. There was a thread on here about treatment at home.I will try and find it.
 
I've bumped up a thread for you titled 'Internet saves rabbits life' within this category....there is some useful information on adding vitamin E to your bunny's diet/meds.
 
update

Rabbit is still sick, he can hardly move around his cage and when he tried to situp he has really bad shakes. He is still eating his food so we have put every knd of food in there to encourage him as best we can. I am not sure whether he is drinking, it is really hard to tell. I dont think he can reach his water bottle so we have put a bown of water near to him. I have also been syringing water in to his mouth and he is drinking it that way.

He tried to situp tonight and his hind legs were shaking so much that he collapsed back down and lander on his face (we have a towel in the cage so no harm done) however he then did start making little faint squeaking noises. I am wondering if he is in pain or just scared. All I can do is sit wit the poor thing to try and re-assure him.

I will update of progress
 
what are you giving him in terms of treatment and pain relief? :?

Did you read the other thread I bumped up for you? If he is suffering from FRS which is an option, something as simple as giving him vitamin E will help him. He will not recover if he is given nothing.
 
hello

Hi,

Sorry for the lack of update. I have been giving him vitamin E and syringing water in to his mouth. He seems to be maknig a recovery now. :D Im totally amazed, as i thought he was going to die. We are giving his as much fresh vegtables as he can eat as well as the normal food and timothy hay. This has proven that the anti-biotics hasnt really helped from the Vet at all!!!

I think the main things that have helped him are:-

1. Syringing water into his mouth to keep fluids up (he couldnt even lift his head)

2. Vitamin E, slipped into the water

3. sunflower seeds, he seemed to be eating them on his own, they normal food

4. loads of fresh veg as they contain fluids as well


He has now gone from not being able to move at all to sitting up and now hopping about, he even managed to run up the stairs in the house in record breaknig time but was exhausted when he got to the top. I wasnt expecting that otherwise I woudl have blocked them off, I dont want him wasting his energy. However the outlook looks a million times better than when i first posted.

I just want to thank everyone here for all your help, the Vets didnt really know and you lot have been fantastic!!! saved the poor little fellows life!
 
Excellent news! If you read another post further down in this section someone else is dealing with a floppy rabbit syndrome bun (possibly) It might be worth speaking with her!
 
what type of anti-biotics is given? Is it Enro., Pen G., what's the name of it?

You need to get your bun to a rabbit savvy specialist, your prev. vet, like you said, clearly doesn't know much about bun.

At this pt., I would do urine test as well as X-ray. This kind of sickness cannot keep repeating themselves.

Also, the duration of the anti-biotics is clearly not remotely close to be enough. At one time, w/ one of my bun, even w/ Pen G. injection, we have to do it for 2 weeks.

So, anti-biotics for 5 days is useless. There is no such Anti-biotics that can cure a bacteria in 5 days.

2 other important things, you have ask your vet to get a pain killer called Metacam 1.5 mg

The dosage is calculated by:

dosage = weight of the bun. in KG x 0.1 / 1.5

You can give ONCE a day only

Since your bun is clearly in pain, if you don't give the metacam, he will have a GI stasis due to the pain itself. It's okay to give metacam for 2 weeks, it's also an anti-inflam. drug.

You have to keep his fluid intake up. If you are up to it, and feel it is necessary, you have to learn how to inject sub-Q fluid under the skin 2 - 3 times a day. It's not difficult, although fluid since as pineapple juice, freshly squeezed blackberry juice, raspberry juice are all excellent. I personally prefer syringe feed juice than sub-Q fluid under the skin. But in the rare case that you need to give Sub Q, here's a diagram:

needle9sq.jpg
 
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