Anaemia

Dee's severely anaemic, according her blood test results.

Is there any treatment for this? What does it involve? Can I do anything to get her feeling a bit better, any foods that are good for anaemic bunnies? She's very tired bless her, it's not nice seeing her like this

I seem to remember one of my rabbits suffering with anaemia, and it was the result of an underlying condition.
I had a look here:

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Hematology/Differentials/anemia.htm

.. I wonder what the vet said was the cause of your rabbit's anaemia, as that is the condition that will need the treatment ..

Good luck

MightyMax said:

I seem to remember one of my rabbits suffering with anaemia, and it was the result of an underlying condition.
I had a look here:

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Hematology/Differentials/anemia.htm

.. I wonder what the vet said was the cause of your rabbit's anaemia, as that is the condition that will need the treatment ..

Good luck

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I didn't take the call, but apparently it will most likely be an ulcer that's burst and bled or cancer ( ) as she was rushed in as an emergency on Thursday night in an enormous amount of pain and that's when the blood tests were done. They're the only things my vet can think would cause so much pain as well as internal bleeding.

Thank you!

I'm so sorry to hear that. I do hope she picks up soon and feels a bit more like her old self.

On the whole, green veg contain good amounts of iron, but she may not be up to eating so much just yet. I also found B vitamins good for absorbing iron and helping with appetite.

Good luck

We had a rabbit with a bleeding ulcer after a bout of stasis. It showed up as anaemia on a blood test. She lived for many years after that

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Hugo's There said:

We had a rabbit with a bleeding ulcer after a bout of stasis. It showed up as anaemia on a blood test. She lived for many years after that

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Do you mean the stasis triggered the bleeding ulcer? Sarah seems to think it was the other way round here - the ulcer burst, bled and that was painful which then in turn triggered the stasis. Did your bun have another blood test a few weeks later and the anaemia had disappeared, or what?

I don't have a clue about any of this. If it is an ulcer, will we be able to tell - are there any tests that can be done? Bear in mind she's over 7 years old and gets stressed very easily. And can ulcers re-occur? I don't even know if there is a definite cause for ulcers :?

MightyMax said:

I'm so sorry to hear that. I do hope she picks up soon and feels a bit more like her old self.

On the whole, green veg contain good amounts of iron, but she may not be up to eating so much just yet. I also found B vitamins good for absorbing iron and helping with appetite.

Good luck

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Thanks. She's doing well with her eating and eats broccoli and spring greens at the moment.
What are the B vitamins exactly? Like, how do you give them to bunny? So clueless about all of this

Is it regenerative or non regenerative anaemia ?

Jack's-Jane said:

Is it regenerative or non regenerative anaemia ?

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I don't think Sarah said. She was just 'severely anaemic'. What do either of them mean?

JemimaH said:

Thanks. She's doing well with her eating and eats broccoli and spring greens at the moment.
What are the B vitamins exactly? Like, how do you give them to bunny? So clueless about all of this

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There are B vitamins you can buy for rabbits and I got a bottle a while ago when I was caring for a poorly rescue rabbit. For my own, I have occasionally crushed a very tiny piece of my own B vitamin tablet and sprinkled it over food.

JemimaH said:

I don't think Sarah said. She was just 'severely anaemic'. What do either of them mean?

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Regenerative anaemia can be caused by bleeding from external injuries or internal bleeding eg from an internal organ due to a traumatic injury, from a tumour, from the GI tract .....

Some types of poisoning can cause regenerative anaemia-eg lead poisoning

Then there are some rare genetic conditions that cause regenerative anaemia

Non-regenerative anaemia is a frequent finding in Rabbits with a chronic disease eg abscesses, Dental disease, chronic ear infections (Morse had non-regenerative anaemia as a result of his chronic otitis)

Cancer of the Lymphatic system is another cause of non regenerative anaemia, but there would be other blood cell abnormalities too

As your Vet stated that a bleeding ulcer or *maybe* a tumour could be involved then I suspect your Rabbit's anaemia is the regenerative type.

I think you need to talk to your vet and discuss what it means for your rabbit and how you are going to treat it.

To be effective, the treatment needs to be aimed at the cause of the anemia. So it depends what is causing it. For instance, my Barney was anemic due to his gut not absorbing nutrients properly, so we focused on improving his gut health.

Depending on his gut health, your vet may also suggest upping his pellets or introducing a vitamin and mineral supplement to his diet.

nessar said:

I think you need to talk to your vet.

To be effective, the treatment needs to be aimed at the cause of the anemia. So it depends what is causing it. For instance, my Barney was anemic due to his gut not absorbing nutrients properly, so we focused on improving his gut health.

Depending on his gut health, your vet may suggest upping his pellets or introducing a vitamin and mineral supplement to his diet.

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Yeah, she's going back on Friday, I just wanted to swat up a bit before then :lol:

Thanks, that's interesting to know :thumb: