• 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.
  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

    You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.

    We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.

    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

at home bunny health care

BlazeNFlash

New Kit
Hello,
i am new to this forum but i found your page through google and the information seemed very helpful on here. I have a bunny who recently stopped eating, she would eat small amounts of hay and was still drinking plenty, so i was not majorly concerned just keeping an eye on her, but now she is lethargic and will not eat any hay and i have not seen her drink today. from reading other posts it sounds like molar spurs, i know of one rabbit experience vet in my area (Windsor, ON, Canada, yes i know this is a UK forum), but when i called and asked i was told "we dont do that here". at which point she gave me a number for another exotic vet place which is closed. I will probably try to get to them tomorrow or maybe the day after, but i wondered if there is any way to help her from home, both to prevent molar spurs and to ensure she makes it to the vet. I have given her 3 CCs of water soaked with her pellets which revived her somewhat as well as i was able to get her to eat a small amount of soggy pellets. before she went off her hay she would get excited for treats but when they were offered she would ignore them. twice i have nursed her through GI stasis problems through stomach massage and force fed liquids as above, but this is different, she is getting thinner and i am very concerned for her. She was our second bunny (the first died 2 days after we bought it, the pet store i got it from was at fault for that it was sick when i bought it but i did not know enough about rabbit health to know then) she is a little over 2 years old and otherwise healthy apart from a bad habit of eating carpet if i do not watch her closely. i've just recalled she started eating things that she never tried to eat before she went off her hay. she was eating cardboard, plastic, and the gunk that seals the window into the sliding door. I love my little bunny, she is a black silver marten named Blaze for the white stripe on her face. Without a rabbit savvy vet i dont know what to do about her teeth if that is the issue. i am also concerned for her daughters, thumper and flash, who are still young, but i dont want them to have teeth issues. i read somewhere that giving them twigs to chew on can help, but i would appreciate some more reliable information than yahoo answers. thanks in advance.
 
I'm afraid that she will need to see a vet, if she has stopped eating and drinking altogether it is an emergency. Does the exotics vet have an out of hours number on an answerphone message? Can you look in the phone book or on the internet for another vet that can see her? (Not sure what time it is in Canada though). She will likely need pain relief as stasis is usually a secondary illness caused by another problem and also possibly gut stimulant medication. Its possible she could have a blockage from eating those things which you describe :( which would be incredibly painful for her, and again is an emergency.
 
thanks for getting back to me so fast. i am kinda stuck as it is 7pm for me now and they are closed. the last emergency place i went to (thumper sprained her leg and i got her examined and she was on pain meds for 3 days) cost me a lot, i am a student. also i do not have a car and this is a car city which restricts my mobility. which is why i was asking what i can do for her until i can get her to a vet. i've been force feeding her food soaked water so she wont get dehydrated but i don't want to force feed her too much in case she is blocked somewhere. also side note, one nibble is more pronounced than it the others which i can't see unless i look for them but this one looks kinda swollen.
 
A bunny that isn't eating is really urgent, if there is absolutely no way of you getting her to a vet tonight then all you can do is keep syringing her food but there are so many things that could be causing the problem you have to get her to a vet to find the problem and also to get her some meds to help her gut and increase her appetite. Is there anyone you can borrow some money from and anyone that could give you a ride to the vets? The sooner you give her the meds the more chance she has of getting better. A bunny won't survive more than a couple of days not eating, it's really serious for them.
 
I totally agree with Linzie.
How old are her daughters? Is she still lactating? (Just asking as you mentioned a swollen nipple)
 
Changes in diet can help prevent molar spurs occuring, but once she has them, then the only way to get rid is a vet filing them down. If that's what she has and she has stopped eating then she's unlikely to start eating again until then have been treated and she's had a painkiller. Spurs cause injury to the cheeks and tounge so make it painful as well as physically difficult to eat. You could try checking if you have a house rabbit society branch near you which could recommend a vet or talk to local rescue centres who may have a vet they use. An inexperienced vet is better than none, if they don't know what to do then they should have contact they can call and ask.

You could try adding fruit juice eg apple to her water to see if that will encourage her to drink. Otherwise syringing water may help a bit. Likewise offer her a big range of foods and see if there is anything she'll take. If there is absolutely no way to get her to a vet tonight then it needs to be first thing in the morning. When a rabbit stops eating that's a sign their gut is shutting down and if it's not got gong again quickly then it is fatal.
 
I would also check her belly often to make sure that it isn't hard or bloated. I mention this as you said you feared that she could have a blockage from some of the house stuff that she ate. If that is the case I don't think that it would be a good idea to keep force feeding her. I agree with those that said to find a house rabbit society,rabbit sanctuary or rescue in you area. I would google it and put in your zip code in to find a local one. Most have web pages with helpful info and a list of rabbit savvy vets in the area. If there is a phone # you could call for advice.
 
thanks for replies. i have just spent 20min on the phone with a registered rabbit friendly hospital and they said a rabbit expert vet will be in on saturday, i can get a ride that day to take her there, and i can get one tomorrow after 3:30 to pick up a powder they said will get her through until saturday. until then i will keep giving her water but avoid anything solid so i dont compound the problem. her daughters are both just over 1 year so she is not lactating, but she had a false pregnancy just before this started (or so i believe we were expecting her to give birth but she never did).
 
she was completely lathargic earlier would not move i could pick her up without fuss (she hates being picked up but if its her choice to be in your lap then thats fine). i gave her the water soaked in food and she seems to have more energy. shes moving around some, but i can tell she does not have her usual energy.

also by changes in diet, what kind of changes? different greens? rabbit safe branches? i just purchased a new food which will be arriving tomorrow that is better quality than the pellets i've been buying, they always have timothy hay available and i give them romaine lettus and sometimes carrots and once in a while they get small pieces of fruit as treats.
 
Last edited:
thanks for replies. i have just spent 20min on the phone with a registered rabbit friendly hospital and they said a rabbit expert vet will be in on saturday, i can get a ride that day to take her there, and i can get one tomorrow after 3:30 to pick up a powder they said will get her through until saturday. until then i will keep giving her water but avoid anything solid so i dont compound the problem. her daughters are both just over 1 year so she is not lactating, but she had a false pregnancy just before this started (or so i believe we were expecting her to give birth but she never did).

Can you not take Blaze with you to get seen, instead of collecting a powder? She really needs to get seen now.
 
^ agree with this.

Also I personally wouldnt start her on a new type of pellet while she is having these problems, and at any rate any changes should be made very gradually. Hay is the most important part of a rabbits diet and should be approx 80-90% of their daily intake. This helps with gut function and tooth wear.

Hope she gets on ok at the vets :(
 
Back
Top