9 week old with diarrhoea - please help!!!

Hi there,

I have a 9 week old girl who has diarrhoea, I think it started this morning as she was fine last night. I have spoken to the breeder who we got her from and she has advised to wait and see what happens (i.e. if she gets worse) and that a vet probably won't be able to do much at all :?

So I was wondering if someone on here could advise please? I was up at 6ish this morning and she has not drunk from her bottle since

I have put a bowl of water in her hutch and she has hay but I have taken her food away. Is this the best thing to do? Or should I go to the vets ASAP. Any advice would be really gratefully welcome. Thank you! :thumb:

Vets asap as she is so young it is very dangerous to leave her

Sorry dont have a lot of time but didnt want to read and run!
Firstly please put her hay back in - a rabbit must NEVER be starved and will only make things worse. A rabbit digestive system is very different to that of a cat and dog and they must have assess to hay at all times.
Is she eating? Is she passing normal faeces as well or just watery diarrhoea?
If she has true watery diarrhoea then you must get her seen by a vet ASAP - waiting to see if it improves will only waste time and make things worse.
Rabbit do pass two types of droppings - the round pellet poos and caecotrophs. Caecotrophs look small bunches of grapes much smaller, shiny and sticky. If she is passing caecotrophs alongside normal poos it is less of an emergency and maybe down to new home, diet etc.
Hope that helps a bit.

Not good breeder advice at all, vets asap. It can be dangerous in babies, waiting is never a good thing with rabbits as they can deteriorate quickly.

Thank you so much :wave: , we are off there now xx

Edit: In response to Parsnips, she has hay but no food, her diarrhoea is just complete mush, no consistency at all, as in it doesn't look like a bunch of grapes etc, its just a big blob.

Again, thank you guys so, so much for all your help, I really appreciate it and I knew I would get good advice on here. Much love to you all :wave: xx

Just reiterating what others have said: Don't take hay away, rabbits need to eat conuously; emergency vet appointment needed.
Not impressed with your breeder or her advice at all. If unwell, rabbits go downhill very quickly.

ETA This crossed with your post saying you are off to the vet.

Hi guys,

Got back from the vet earlier and they gave truffles some medicine which we have been giving her. We have been told to keep her warm as her temperature is a bit low.

Is there anything that anyone could suggest to keep her warm overnight, would a low heated radiator help? or putting her cage near to it? She has a load of hay in her bed and we have been keeping an eye on her during the day to make sure she is awrm enough but obviusly we cannot monitor this all through the night. Thank you so much in advance :wave: xx

penguin the first said:

Hi guys,

Got back from the vet earlier and they gave truffles some medicine which we have been giving her. We have been told to keep her warm as her temperature is a bit low.

Is there anything that anyone could suggest to keep her warm overnight, would a low heated radiator help? or putting her cage near to it? She has a load of hay in her bed and we have been keeping an eye on her during the day to make sure she is awrm enough but obviusly we cannot monitor this all through the night. Thank you so much in advance :wave: xx

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Did the Vet administer any fluid therapy ? This is an essential for a Baby Rabbit with diarrhoea.

Is she eating and has she passed more diarrhoea today ?

I would just give her plenty of hay to snuggle in

Hope she gets better soon :wave:

Is bun a chewer? I give mine a hot water bottle wrapped several times in a towel, but I am reassured they won't chew it and scald themselves! If you could trust bun with it then I'd give her a hot water bottle, also I'd be thinking about checking on her a couple of times in the night especially if she's got a hot water bottle in!

She has been given 2 injections by the vet (one was saline I assume - it came from a drip bag) and Fibreplex, Emeprid, Batril 2.5% and Recovery (a liquid feed). These are all oral medications, and we've not had a fun time giving them to her as she is quite the struggler poor thing!

She passed a tiny bit of diarrhoea about an hour after getting her home from the vets, but no proper pellets yet and she has drunk little amounts twice from her bottle (she has not been out of our sight all day! lol)

She isn't her usual self (she is not moving around much, but we kinda expected that) but is washing herself and she is flopped out at present! Is it usual for her not to be very lively??

I may do the hot water bottle thing, thank you so much for that suggestion :thumb:

And thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment! :wave:

Edit: the Recovery medicine is meant to be given every 2 hours, I know no one can give professional advice, but I just wondered if I'd need to get up in the night too, if anyone had previous experience with this? xx

penguin the first said:

She has been given 2 injections by the vet (one was saline I assume - it came from a drip bag) and Fibreplex, Emeprid, Batril 2.5% and Recovery (a liquid feed). These are all oral medications, and we've not had a fun time giving them to her as she is quite the struggler poor thing!

She passed a tiny bit of diarrhoea about an hour after getting her home from the vets, but no proper pellets yet and she has drunk little amounts twice from her bottle (she has not been out of our sight all day! lol)

She isn't her usual self (she is not moving around much, but we kinda expected that) but is washing herself and she is flopped out at present! Is it usual for her not to be very lively??

I may do the hot water bottle thing, thank you so much for that suggestion :thumb:

And thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment! :wave:

Edit: the Recovery medicine is meant to be given every 2 hours, I know no one can give professional advice, but I just wondered if I'd need to get up in the night too, if anyone had previous experience with this? xx

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It depends on what your definition is of 'not very lively'. My rabbit was critically ill with stasis a couple of weeks ago and she was totally still and quiet, she had stasis for about 2 days before it got worse and she stopped moving around. I knew then that something was seriously wrong, you just know with these things, and we were straight back to the vets where she was hospitalised on a drip with just a 20/80 chance of recovery! Poor lass had an bladder infection as well as stasis and very sore after her spay! Thankfully she recovered after a while but id say trust your instinct. If at any point you feel that she has got worse, is cold or is shaking, I'd be ringing the vets again. My parents weren't happy taking her back to the vets because they weren't as confident she needed to go back, and it was only because I know dee and know when something was wrong that shes still here. Also about the meds, I was up every 1.5 hours feeding/medicating dee, so I would do what the packet says. Good luck xx

penguin the first said:

Edit: the Recovery medicine is meant to be given every 2 hours, I know no one can give professional advice, but I just wondered if I'd need to get up in the night too, if anyone had previous experience with this? xx

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I did with my fully grown rabbit, with a baby I would even more so. But I suspect you have already made your decision considering the time! Bit of a pain in the bum to keep getting up but one of those things. I have taken a sleeping bag and slept right beside buns when they have been ill before :lol: Also totally agree with the hot water bottle comment but not with boiling water, just warm, and make sure there is space for her to sit on something other than the bottle. A radiator will likely make her too hot.

Yes, it is normal for them to be a bit quieter when they are unwell. I don't know about baby bunnies, but in adults they don't tend to flop if they are in a lot of discomfort, so hopefully your girl is not too bad. Kits are very delicate though so I would keep a close eye on her behaviour as well as the eating, diarrhoea etc. Any drastic changes phone your vet as behaviour can be a great indicator of illness.

Again I am not sure about kits but it might be an idea to offer a bowl of water as well as a bottle. Some rabbits prefer a bottle and will actually drink more from it, which would help against the risk of dehydration.

Best of luck with your girl. Does she have a name?

How is little one doing this morning? x

How is she today?