Caring for a rabbit after intensive care at vet hospital

:wave:

One of my rabbits had to be rushed to the emergency vets last night because she wasn't using her hind legs properly and she was refusing food.

The vet checked her out and check her hind legs- she gave a forceful kick when provoked and so the vet was sure that there was no nerve damage or other damage - it just appeared that she was in pain and so refusing to eat.

They admitted her so that they could administer pain relief and if necessary tube feed her as her stomach was quite empty and gassy. She is very slowly getting better - she has been given a drip today and has started nibbling food (and her drip tube!)

They are hoping that she will be well enough to come home tomorrow and I'm working on that assumption because I want her to get better. I want to be ready for her though.

I've got a few questions:

- I was thinking of buying her an indoor cage so that she will continue to rest and we can keep a close eye on her. She shares her outdoor hutch/run with her husbun so it would be incredibly difficult to determine how much she is eating and pooping if we put her back in with him and I would worry about her hurting herself before she is recovered. I would turn the heating off and she could have her own quiet room for a couple of days. Do you think this is the best plan?

- Should I be asking the vets to do anything else? She is on a drip, being tube fed, they are keeping a close eye on her and are ready to administer gut mobility drugs and obviously really closely monitoring her.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm really missing her and worried about her - I want to make sure that when she comes home I look after her as best as possible.

I would keep her inside as you suggest. Even a puppy pen would do so you can fold it down. She may also need to be kept warm so just be careful of the temp. Would you be able to bring her partner in to be next to her but separate so that you can monitor her?

With regard to food. I had a poorly bunny last week who had a dental and I can not recommend Oxbow Critical Care Fine blend enough. It is the first time I had used it. He started to lap it up rather than having to syringe feed it. Also as it is made up with luke warm water she would get some fluids too. Your vet may stock it, if not you can get it on line (I managed to get an emergency pack from our local RSPCA). If not you can mush pellets up with warm water or use Science Recovery.

Also get a variety of veg and herbs in to tempt her with. At first mine would only eat Basil and was not interested in anything else :roll:

She will probably need more painkiller so check with your vet if you can bring some home and when she can have it.

Sending her lots of vibes for a quick recovery.

Have your vets considered E.C??
I dont know much about it............i could be very wrong....

yvette said:

Have your vets considered E.C??
I dont know much about it............i could be very wrong....

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I was thinking that too yvette! One of my bunnys was exactly the same and that was EC.

Pain relief (and Panacur in case its E.C).Hope she gets better soon.xxx

Thank u so much bunny babe!

What are the symptoms of EC? What causes it?

Thank you for all the responses.

I'm not really sure what the symptoms of E.C are but I believe it's caused by a parasite.

One my buns developed stasis and had to be kept at the vets overnight, when we got him home we placed him in a makeshift pen, with a hot water bottle wrapped in a towl along with a variety of hays-normal, timothy, herby hay, a dandalion mix and a very small bowl of pellets. I also dissolved some probiotic in his water and offered it to him in a bowl and via a bottle. I also offered him his favourite greens, mainly kale and put the radio on for him to keep him compny

Bunny Mum2b said:

Thank u so much bunny babe!

What are the symptoms of EC? What causes it?

Thank you for all the responses.

Click to expand...

A parasite I believe. I don't know much about it but it might be worth asking your vet for a course of panacur as a precaution.

How is she doing today.

Also it is worth a note that to encourage fluids you can add a dash of boiling to warm to make it luke warm and mine tend to drink more like this and out of a bowl rather than a bottle. You could also try some fresh pineapple with some water to encourage (but not too much due to the sugar content).

Sending her lots of vibes and hope she can come home with you today.

Thank you so much for your advice and concern.

She is home and doing fine I knew she was much better when we put her in the pet carrier and she started digging and chewing the towel (she also came with a piece of apple that she was munching at the time we came to collect her).

The vet showed us her chart and the poops went up from three on Friday morning to loads and loads. She hasn't had an pain medication since 8pm last night - so the vet is sure that whatever was causing her pain has gone as she has continued to improve all today. The vet said to keep a close eye on her but is satisified she doesn't need any more medication.

I'm keeping a really close eye on her!

Thank you for all your advice and help again - I really appreciate it.

E.C symptoms...Lameness.Neurological problems.Im unsure.Perhaps search on here for other E.C threads???
Hope someone can help and shes getting better.

So glad she is home and feeling a bit better. As your vet says, keep a close eye on her and still try to manage her poops etc. I still give mine the luke warm water whether they are ill or not as they do seem to enjoy it more.

Has she started using her hind legs again properly?

Did the vet do any xrays to rule out spinal problems, or suggest the possibility of EC?

The vet didn't do x-rays as she was satisfied with the power of the kick she got my rabbits to do when she was first admitted. She determined that although she could use her hind legs - she just didn't want to.

Her hind legs seem completely fine now, she is bouncing around, standing up on her hind legs and moving completely normally.

The vets primary concern was to administer pain relief and to get her eating as her stomach was quite empty and gassy. We agreed for her to be admitted straight away. She didn't mention EC in this consultation and I don't think anything in the observations they did over the next 48 hours led them to believe it was.

She seems ok now - I'm watching her really closely.

If the vet hasnt mentioned E.C then Im glad.xx

I'm glad EC does not seem like the cause too.

Re. the gassy stomach, some people use infacol to try to disperse gassy tums (I have it in my first aid kit but touch wood not had to use it).

Just thought I'd update with a picture of my little one from when she was in hospital (glad she is home now):





She seems to be doing ok - but I'm not happy unless she is eating and pooping - but I keep trying to tell myself that she can't always be doing that, she does need to sleep/rest/walk around a bit.

I've got some infacol - last time I tried to dose her with it - I ended up taking quite a lot myself.

Aww, bless her. They look so sad with the tubes in. I hope she is doing OK today.