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urgent!! diarrhoea help?!

SmokyJoe78

Mama Doe
Hi,
Lizzie has been off her pellets yesterday and today (though eating fresh food and hay normally) and now has diarrhoea - big splodgy lumps of poo (not watery though) and is pretty smelly. Her rear end is not dirty though.

I have phoned the emergency vet, who say they will see her if I want them to, but they are not so concerned that they think I should definitely take her. The emergency vets costs £110 just to be seen :shock: and if I need to take her then that's fine, I'll pay whatever, but if she doesn't really need it (like they're suggesting), I'd rather not go.....

What do people think?
My own vet is open in the morning....
 
Is she dehydrated at all.....when you pinch the skin at the scruff of her neck does it tent?

My foster bunny was like this a few weeks ago and he was fine with some basic first aid but I had to bring him into the warm, clean him up and give him fluids, Infacol, probiotics and painkiller.

He perked up enough to eat within a few hours and tummy cleared up over the next few days.
 
If you decide to keep her home then you will need to keep her hydrated. You can use something like Dioralyte for babies to do that if she likes it, or just give water, possible with an additional bowl with something else in (be that the dioralyte, or water laced with a mild amount of something you know she can tolerate, if you don't know what she can tolerate, then don't risk that).

I would also suggest pushing hay more than anything else.

Personally, I would only keep one of mine at home if I knew for sure what it was that caused the diarrhoea and if they were acting ok, but then I have a lot of tools at home to cope with buns who need hydrating (such as Sub Q fluids) I would probably suggest getting her checked out because buns go down hard and fast. Do you know what caused it? Has she eaten anything different today? Been anywhere different? Beeing stressed? Anything unusual? How is she acting in herself?

Is she producing the normal round pellets or is that the diarrhoea? I'm wondering is she has unformed cecals, or if it is the fecals (the normal pea size round dry ones) that are the problem.
 
Thx Sooz - she's eating some hay now and I'll try to get her drinking more. Her skin just goes back to normal when I pinch it....
 
If you decide to keep her home then you will need to keep her hydrated. You can use something like Dioralyte for babies to do that if she likes it, or just give water, possible with an additional bowl with something else in (be that the dioralyte, or water laced with a mild amount of something you know she can tolerate, if you don't know what she can tolerate, then don't risk that).

I would also suggest pushing hay more than anything else.

Personally, I would only keep one of mine at home if I knew for sure what it was that caused the diarrhoea and if they were acting ok, but then I have a lot of tools at home to cope with buns who need hydrating (such as Sub Q fluids) I would probably suggest getting her checked out because buns go down hard and fast. Do you know what caused it? Has she eaten anything different today? Been anywhere different? Beeing stressed? Anything unusual? How is she acting in herself?

Is she producing the normal round pellets or is that the diarrhoea? I'm wondering is she has unformed cecals, or if it is the fecals (the normal pea size round dry ones) that are the problem.

Thanks Sky-o
I don't really know what has caused it - she's just been off her pellets (she's normally a ganet!) and also her partner SmokyJoe has been off his pellets a bit too (but no diarrhoea from him).
In amongst the diarrhoea are some fully formed pellets...... so maybe it is the cecals?
 
Thx Sooz - she's eating some hay now and I'll try to get her drinking more. Her skin just goes back to normal when I pinch it....

She's not dehydrated then.

If you can get hay down her and plenty of water (cooled boiled water often goes down better) and bring her inside until she is 100% you will *probably* be OK to wait until the morning to see a vet.

You may need to syringe some fluids into her if she won't drink much voluntarily. If you have and probiotic or CC then that will also be beneficial.

If she stops eating, pooping or appears to be in pain she will need to see a vet tonight.
 
She's not dehydrated then.

If you can get hay down her and plenty of water (cooled boiled water often goes down better) and bring her inside until she is 100% you will *probably* be OK to wait until the morning to see a vet.

You may need to syringe some fluids into her if she won't drink much voluntarily. If you have and probiotic or CC then that will also be beneficial.

If she stops eating, pooping or appears to be in pain she will need to see a vet tonight.

I have some pro-biotic I can give her - she seems quite bright in general
thanks
 
It doesnt sound like diarrohea if its still formed it might just be shes had to many veggies and not enough fibre,just offer hay and water for now see how she goes
 
I wonder if maybe there is something wrong with the pellets? Was it a new bag that they stopped eating? Or a new bale of hay?

It sounds like cecals to be honest. Sometimes lots of sugar can cause that, or obviously something else (could be a parasite or something else entirely).

I hope she does ok overnight though :)
 
Thanks very much for your help - I always get so worried what to do for the best in these situations.... Just when I've got my head around stasis/bloat.... not so good with diarrhoea :roll:
I've just started a new bag of excel so maybe that's it - although all the other bunnies seem to be eating it ok :?
She's seems ok now - has done some normal poos, so fingers crossed.
If anything changes then I'll take her to the vets
thanks again - that's why I love this site - instant advice and reassurance :D
 
If it could be the pellets then I would suggest just getting a new bag of them asap. Rabbits often know more than we do and there may be a reason it's not being eaten.
 
I highly recommend you to switch to a 100% hay diet for 5 to 7 days and see if the diarrhea condition improves. No green, no fruits, and no pellet.
 
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