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Help Please!

plom3

Young Bun
Hi I was hoping somebody would be able to help, I know this post is long, sorry, but please read if you have five minutes as i'm really worried about my rabbit.

I have a Mini Lop Buck, he is just over 13 months old and is kept as a house rabbit. He is all up to date with his jabs, and was neutered just under a month ago. The day after he was neutered, he was not eating, drinking, pooping or urinating, so I took him back to the vets, who looked after him for the day, liquid fed him and then I took him home and he was back to normal (well a bit quiet for a couple of days, but soon back to his usual self causing mischief and jumping about).

This week he has been moulting a lot, and had been passing more cecotropes than usual, but i had been keeping my eye on him and his behaviour was as usual and he was perky and jumping about. I also made sure his normal poops weren't strung together from digesting fur, and everything seemed fine.

Today I came home from work, and he was lying on his saw dust, which he never does, he only lays on his plastic ledge. I took him out of his cage to have a run around and to groom him to try and get rid of some of this fur he is moulting (which I have been doing all week). While I was doing this he urinated on my bed, he hasn't urinated outside of his cage since he was tiny, he is very well trained and only goes in his litter tray in his cage. I decided to take him to another room in the house to run around in where there is more space to run around, however, he kept coming up to me and snuggling up on my lap, which is very out of character for him, the only time he is ever this needy to me is when we go to the vets, otherwise he's mr independent. Anyway I put a matt down on the floor as I thought it may be because the floor was very cold as it is stone. He walked around a bit, found the ledge under the coffee table and just sat there before I took him back upstairs.

I put him back on my bed for a second to give him a once over with the brush before putting him in his cage, and he urinated again, very unlike him. (don't worry I have obviously changed the sheets)

I gave him fresh food (although he still had food left from this morning) and fresh water which he has not touched, and he is still lying still on the sawdust not moving or doing anything.

I am very worried about him, I don't know if he's ingested fur from grooming himself, or if it is to do with the operation last month, or if these things are totally non related.

I will take him to the vets tomorrow, but I was just wondering if anybody had any advice in the meantime, or if you think this sounds like anything in particular.

My dad has been doing some building work on the heating in the room next door tonight, so it has been quite loud, although he was lying on the floor of his cage before this started so i don't think it's to do with that.

I'm sorry for the long post, I just wanted to get everything across so I don't miss anything important out.

Thank you!

Plom3
 
Hello!! Welcome to the forum....

Sounds like hes a bit poorly.
Can you give your vet a ring and see what he says??

The thing with bunnys is that they go downhill really fast.If hes not eaten today or drank then its time for action now.
Is he hunched?? Tooth grinding??
Just give your vet a tinkle, for peace of mind.xx

Hope he feels better soon.xx
 
He is a bit hunched, I just went to clear out his litter tray so I know if he is going to the toilet and he's gone into his bed which he never used and isn't coming out! I will give them a ring now, thank you :)
 
Hello and welcome - sorry its not in better circumstances

Obviously we cannot see the rabbit so this is going to be guess work -

It sounds as though something -either fur or the noise or something unrelated - has resulted in the bun going into 'gut stasis'.

This means that his gut is not passing food along as it should do and he is filling with gas and air and becoming uncomfortable.

This in turn means that he will stop eating - which then makes the situation worse as he will become more gassy -

The specialised guts and stomachs of rabbits make this sort of thing a nightmare and as the gas builds up and stomach turns toxic they can go downhill very very fast

If he has been like this since this morning then the situation will already be serious and really he should see an emergency vet tonight who should give him pain relief, fluids (subcutaneously) and gut motility drugs . ALL are vital. S please check that pain relied and fluids are given.

The exception would be if hair is causing an obstruction - in which case gut motility drugs can be fatal and the vet would decide on another approach. (though still with pain relief and fuids subcutaneously)

In order to ascertain which is the case (obstruction or not) an x-ray will probably be done.

In the meantime whilst you wait to get to an emergency vet (or if that is Totally impossible - though I do repeat that this can be fatal very rapidly) please try to keep the bunny warm (by hugging him for example, or in a warmed towel ), offer warm water dripped towards his mouth (do not at this stage try and force anything in).

If you have any (if their are children in the house for example) baby Infacol can also be given 0.5ml dropper -

But none o fthis is any substitute for a good vet.

Good luck
 
Thats fabulous! We get loads of people on here who come on first time in situations like this and then dont go to the vet even though everyone says to and it all ends unhappily for the poor bun - its really great when someone cares enough to act on advice.

:thumb::thumb:

Best of luck with your little one!
 
Hi everyone!

Just back from the vets now! You were right Parsnipbun, he seems to have gone into gut statis. Luckily his guts were still moving a bit, so not stopped completely which meant they wouldn't have to keep him in over night. The vet gave him three jabs to get his guts moving properly, and gave me some recovery sachets to feed him through syringe throughout the night. I've got to go back to my usual vet in the morning to give him another set of injections, and to check his teeth which is often the cause of gut statis. She was trying to see his teeth tonight but he wasn't having any of it and she didn't want to put him under any more stress.

I've just given him his first liquid feed which he took really well. He's been in his cage for about 15 minutes now and has just started drinking for England! Horray! Things are looking good! I'll be off to the vets in the morning but so far so good!

Thank you for all your help!

Plom3
 
That's great that he is taking the syringe feeds well and drinking by himself. Every time I have tried to syringe feed a bunny it has been a struggle.

Hopefully his eating and drinking means that the the gut motility drugs are already taking effect. And that's excellent advice to get his teeth checked out tomorrow in case dental pain is behind this.

You're doing an excellent job to take him to the vets so promptly and feed him through the night. Best of luck and I hope he will be ok soon!

What is his name, by the way? : )
 
Hi, he's called Pebbles! He's a greyish/blue colour...I'm going to attempt to put a pic on, it's quite an old I've But it's cute!
613aIHm
anyway I best get some sleep! Good night all!
 
I hope that Pebbles is feeling better this morning. It is lucky for him he has such a dedicated and caring human to notice something wrong and act on it so quickly!
 
I must echo what others have already said, you've done a great job :thumb:

Many many people join this site for advice and then ignore it - that's obviously their choice but sometimes has disastrous effects for the bunny.

I'm SO pleased that Pebbles has you - you seem like a fantastic owner - Well done and 'vibes' for Pebbles
 
Vibes for little Pebbles :D

The advice given on here is brilliant, and well done you for taking him to the vets. Hopefully he makes a full recovery :wave:
 
Well done for getting him the right treatment so quickly. :) I hope he's feeling better this morning. Sending lots of vibes for Pebbles xx
 
Hi everyone!
Just to let you know how Pebbles is getting on. He wouldn't take any more liquid feed in the night or this morning, but I wasn't too concerned as he has eaten straw, a small amount of pellets, and had been drinking, and pooping (although no wee!) I took him into the vets this morning, who got to have a look at his teeth. They said he has spurs on his teeth which are probably causing him discomfort which is why he stopped eating, which caused the Gut Satis. While he was there they said he ate a small amount, drank a small amount, passed pellets but did not urinate. I took him home for the night but have to bring him in tomorrow for a dental procedure, which will probably mean him being kept in for two days. This is all turning out to be pretty expensive! I hope that it is the teeth causing him the problems though as at least then we know what it was, it's not 100% that but it is likely.

They did say however that the spurs will grow again meaning this is likely to be a continuing problem, which is worrying as he is only 1, and at £130 a pop this procedure is pretty expensive!

Tonight he's eaten some food, drank, urinated and pooped so that's a relief (they gave him more jabs for gut and pain)

Fingers crossed it all goes well tomorrow and that that's the end of the problem for at least a while!
 
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