• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Medication

Kareena

Warren Scout
I keep reading on here how people have diffferent types of medication at hand for their rabbits, and I'm thinking I should get things to hand to prepare incase it is needed. I'm just wondering where do you get them from, and what do they do. I've read infacol a few times, is this the same one they give to babies? Also I remember reading about something for hair balls, does anyone know what that was?
thankyou
 
There's some useful information in the Rabbit Care reference section here: http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=46658

However, what I would say is that if you need to ask these questions (and I don't mean it in a patronising way, just in as much as it indicates a certain level of knowledge at the current time), the best thing you can have available is your vet's phone number and a credit card. You can do more harm than good by trying to self administer or delaying veterinary treatment and it could in fact be fatal.

If you know what you're doing, bunny first aid kits can be helpful in emergencies or in providing 'first aid' before you can get to a vet, but they shouldn't be used as a substitute for it or create a delay by someone asking how to use things they have accumulated in a kit.

Hope that helps :)
 
I would never administer medication myself, the same day I posted this I paid £30 to take one of mine to the vet, as it is he was prescribed fibreplex. I'm sure now he didn't need to go. I was thinking more along the lines of things like hairballs, how to stop them building up. I was also wondering about infacol as I kept reading it on here and wondered if it was good to have in the house.

I was viewing it in the same way as i do for my children, ie I always have calpol in the house, for other medication I would obviously seek medical advice, and in that way I meant should I have something in the house for rabbits.
Thanks for replying.
 
There's really very little that you can do at home for an ill bunny - rabbits hide illness very well (because they are prey animals so they try not to draw attention to their illness as a predator is more likely to go for them) which means that whenever you notice a poorly rabbit, it is likely to be much more poorly than you might think. Of course some people have rabbits with ongoing or chronic problems and their vet may feel it is appropriate to give them medicines to use at home, but it's the exception rather than the rule, meaning that the bunny first aid box is really of limited value to most people.

There seem to be different schools of thought on hairballs - i.e. does hair build up and cause a blockage, or do rabbits with sluggish intestines result in a build up of hair and hence a blockage? Personally in most average buns, I think it's more often the latter.

You can buy pineapple and papaya 'treats' for buns which are supposed to contain an enzyme which breaks down hair...similarly fresh (not heat treated) pineapple or papaya have a similar effect. However they are very sugary so can have an adverse effect on a rabbit which already has a compromised digestive system. Some people feed one of these treats or a small chunk of fresh pineapple daily when the rabbits are moulting. Obviously regular grooming to remove loose fur, especially when moulting, will also help to reduce the risk of them ingesting lots of fur. Personally I think that the best way to prevent hairballs is to keep the gut in good condition by feeding a high fibre diet and to make sure that the rabbits are kept well hydrated by having fresh, clean water available and regular grass and portions of vegetables.

Infacol (simethicone) is indeed the stuff you buy for babies from the chemist. It can be useful to help relieve bloat because it draws small gas bubbles together into a large bubble and can help them to pass. However, this really is one of those things that I think should only be used in conjunction with a vet visit. Bloated rabbits really require painkiller and investigation, and can go into stasis and die very quickly if they are not given prompt veterinary attention depending on the cause - hence my reluctance to suggest that people self administer. It probably doesn't hurt to have some in the house but if a rabbit is showing signs of possibly needing it, I would still want to get onto the vet first. You can then always ask the vet if it's ok for you to give some infacol while you are waiting to get the bunny to the vets as it may help a little, but it should not be used as a substitute. We've seen too many 'wait and see's' result in the death of a bunny where the bun has appeared bloated or in stasis :(

Hope that helps!
 
Thanks alot for that!!
It was actually the hairballs that was worrying me the most, what you wrote is very reassuring. I was under the impression all rabbits were extremely prone to it. Yes I would definately contact a vet in case they seemed at all ill.
I ppreciate your advice thankyou!!
 
Back
Top