Help, my rabbit is not herself.

My bunny was okay this morning and usually sleeps mostly during the day but at around 6 she starts getting her groove on and shoots about the place but today shes just lying there. She will move if i pick her up (she hates being picked up and will run away) but she will just run to one of her sleeping places and back up into the corner. She ate a LOAD of hay this morning and shes just lay down looking sad and miserable. She isnt really paying much attention to anyone (she will usually ***** her ears up like made etc) and she wont eat anything, not even her favourites. I got hedr to have some water and she drank it lots of times so maybe shes eaten too much hay and not drank enough? Help! Im so worried about her!

I had a similar thing a while ago, and I had to take her to the emergency vets. Rabbits are really good at hiding any problems, so the fact that you are picking up on these subtle signs means that there could well be something wrong.

Also if your bunny is not eating or drinking, it can be a sign of something called stasis or pain, both of which need vet treatment.

Someone else might be along to provide more detailed advice but I experienced this with my bunny several months ago and in her case it was the beginnings of stasis which needs urgent vet treatment.

helgalush said:

I had a similar thing a while ago, and I had to take her to the emergency vets. Rabbits are really good at hiding any problems, so the fact that you are picking up on these subtle signs means that there could well be something wrong.

Also if your bunny is not eating or drinking, it can be a sign of something called stasis or pain, both of which need vet treatment.

Someone else might be along to provide more detailed advice but I experienced this with my bunny several months ago and in her case it was the beginnings of stasis which needs urgent vet treatment.

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She will drink if i offer her water but she wont take any food.

Drinking is a good sign. How long since she last ate anything?

helgalush said:

Drinking is a good sign. How long since she last ate anything?

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This morning, the only thing she did different is eat 3/4 of her hay rack, she doesnt usually eat that much hay. Could it be that?

Has she poo'd ?

Jack's-Jane said:

Has she poo'd ?

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Yes she has, not sure how much as she is lay in her litter house at the moment. Shes also cleaned herself a little bit and just cleaned her paw.

If she has not eaten since this morning and is not herself, not interested in eating anything not even her favorites I would advise you to get her to the emergency vets tonight, it sounds like the begining of a gut slow down and if she does not eat soon she will go in to statis.

my Trampy girly rabbit was quiet and not eatting didnt want attention. I got her to the vets asap and she had injection which the vet give her. I really thought they was gonna keep her in. I was almost crying in the waiting area. Trampys breathing was rapid. The vet said her temp was a little high and breathing rapid. She was fine after 3hours. So the injection must have been what she needed. The vet said she had an infection so may be it was the start of one. May be thats all you rabbit needs. Good luck I do hope everything goes well for you both.

She probably needs Metaclopramide and or Zantac which are both a gut stimulant and she will likely need pain relief.

Just rang the vet and she said aslong as she is drinking, pooing and weeing she should be okay. Im still worried

Are you able to syring her?

ilovebunny said:

Just rang the vet and she said aslong as she is drinking, pooing and weeing she should be okay. Im still worried

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I think she means till morning - if she doesn't tuck into her breakfast in the morning as normal you need to get her seen - clean her litter tray tonight so you can monitor output in the morning and leave her a buffet of food but, count the items so you'll know if she has eaten, I wouldn't syringe her unless advised by the vet. You said yourself she ate a lot of hay this morning which may be digesting slowly if she hasn't moved around a lot, as long as there is output and she is drinking and weeing as the vet said, let her rest with a selection of her favourite foods, hopefully you will come down in the morning it will all be eaten and a nice fresh handful of poop in the litter tray. If however she hasn't pooped or eaten her bits offer some fresh if she still declines i would take her to the surgery. Fingers crossed xx

How is bunny this morning?

She took a bit of food from me around midnight. We stayed up until 3am when she started eating little bits and drinking and she was running around. I got up and checked her at 5am and she took some more nibbles of food. This morning shes taken some more food and is running around being naughty and she is currently sniffing at my feet. She drank LOADS last night, is that good or bad, she doesnt normally drink as much as she did. Her poos are very small though.

ilovebunny said:

She took a bit of food from me around midnight. We stayed up until 3am when she started eating little bits and drinking and she was running around. I got up and checked her at 5am and she took some more nibbles of food. This morning shes taken some more food and is running around being naughty and she is currently sniffing at my feet. She drank LOADS last night, is that good or bad, she doesnt normally drink as much as she did. Her poos are very small though.

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Based on her symptoms last night I would say that was good. One of the main critical issues with GI stasis/ileus is severe dehydration in the GI tract. Normal emergency measures if you had taken her to the vet would have been fluids given under the skin or IV, I would have said that she was in ileus or stasis last night but she was able to get herself out of it by luck really and the sudden thirst would have been her rehydrating her bowel in order to get it moving again. Small poos indicate that bowel motility has still not returned to normal. Personally if it were my bunny I would consider taking her to the vet this morning for more fluids if necessary and a thorough check over in case the underlying cause triggering this episode is still there in the background, especially if she is slow to recover and get her appetite and droppings size back to normal. Ileus can be extremely persistent, and some gut motility medication and/or pain relief and fluids may still be important today - based on your vet's findings.

Personally I don't feel the vet last night advised you very well - her inappetite and lack of activity/odd behaviour and reduced droppings output are all huge warning signs that she needed intervention last night. I'm very glad to hear you stayed up with her and got her going again, well done.

However, if the excessive thirst continues then this could be an indication that there are issues with her kidneys or urinary tract for example - another reason for a check up today if need be.

If she is feeling much better now, eating and drinking and pooping lots then she may be ok. The size of her droppings should improve as her appetite returns to normal. Feeding wet leaves/veggies can help rehydrate her further and get things moving more quickly. You will need to assess her progress and make a decision as to trip to the vet based on this. Good luck x

Rang vets again and they said she sounds okay now (she will eat and drink and her droppings are normal sized again and she has eaten a few of them) Shes seems more alert today, she had her crazy run about the house this morning and shes having her normal arfternoon nap at the moment. But she seems much happier today getting up to mischief and hogging the dogs bed :lol: The vet said if she stops eating again then to take her in.
Is it worth getting her some critical care incase she gets poorly again?
Thanks for all your help everyone! xx

ilovebunny said:

Rang vets again and they said she sounds okay now (she will eat and drink and her droppings are normal sized again and she has eaten a few of them) Shes seems more alert today, she had her crazy run about the house this morning and shes having her normal arfternoon nap at the moment. But she seems much happier today getting up to mischief and hogging the dogs bed :lol: The vet said if she stops eating again then to take her in.
Is it worth getting her some critical care incase she gets poorly again?
Thanks for all your help everyone! xx

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So glad that buns feeling better

GrahamL said:

So glad that buns feeling better

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Ditto - critical care and fibreplex are useful to have but, you always need to check with the vet before syringing a rabbit, there could be an obstruction/impaction and syringing an obstructed bunny is equally dangerous.:wave:

VickiP said:

Ditto - critical care and fibreplex are useful to have but, you always need to check with the vet before syringing a rabbit, there could be an obstruction/impaction and syringing an obstructed bunny is equally dangerous.:wave:

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Dont even get me started on fibreplex Biscuit HATES it. Bit my finger whilst trying to feed it to him.