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Urgent! Please help!

Littlesol

New Kit
Hello guys, I have a pet store dwarf lion head bunny that's roughly 9 weeks old....she was great and healthy and beautiful, and then all of a sudden Candy started to let out this heartbreaking scream. Before I even realized what was going on I was already by her house trying to give her a head rub and some comfort....upon touching her, and even lifting her she didn't stop screaming for about 6 more seconds. Then all of a sudden she is acting normal! >.<. So naturally I do some research and after the wife and I literally researched for about 2 hours and came up with nothing, we came to the conclusion ( more like we HOPED) that something scared her, like our cat that is normally friendly or anything else I didn't notice. The next day she was fine, but the day after that.....she did it again.....and this time I was already there. Nothing was happening around her....she just started having a fit basically....and as soon as I put my hand to her with some comforting words....she stopped. So now I'm freaking out. I check her and she looks physically fine. Start doing some research, and about 10 mins later I look back in and boom....she has terrible diarrhea. Gave her water by hand and kept her close all day since vet wouldn't be in till the next day. Now...this is where it gets even weirder....I take her to the vet....and her poo is normal now mind you.....but the vet (who I am almost sure is lying about rabbit experience) kind of shrugged off the screaming as 'frightened by something', and gave me some hydration and blended dry greens to give her with some probiotic. And charged me $500. So we get home and a few hours go by and then all of a sudden she gets super watery poo again and I am running into the bathroom to get some tissue to clean her up and BAM she starts screaming again. At this point I'm literally in tears. Because after this scream fit....she is having like...neurological tremors or something.....and grinding her teeth like crazy. As I'm trying to find another vet to no avail.....about 20 mins go by and she's acting completely normal and fine again. Please. Someone help me out. It's seriously breaking my heart when I hear that. And to see her little convulsions I ....I want to help her but I can find no information on this.....please....
 
It certainly sounds as though your rabbit is having seizures. I think it's important that you find another vet, who has more experience in treating rabbits.

Sending lots of vibes for her. It must have been very distressing for you.
 
Hello guys, I have a pet store dwarf lion head bunny that's roughly 9 weeks old....she was great and healthy and beautiful, and then all of a sudden Candy started to let out this heartbreaking scream. Before I even realized what was going on I was already by her house trying to give her a head rub and some comfort....upon touching her, and even lifting her she didn't stop screaming for about 6 more seconds. Then all of a sudden she is acting normal! >.<. So naturally I do some research and after the wife and I literally researched for about 2 hours and came up with nothing, we came to the conclusion ( more like we HOPED) that something scared her, like our cat that is normally friendly or anything else I didn't notice. The next day she was fine, but the day after that.....she did it again.....and this time I was already there. Nothing was happening around her....she just started having a fit basically....and as soon as I put my hand to her with some comforting words....she stopped. So now I'm freaking out. I check her and she looks physically fine. Start doing some research, and about 10 mins later I look back in and boom....she has terrible diarrhea. Gave her water by hand and kept her close all day since vet wouldn't be in till the next day. Now...this is where it gets even weirder....I take her to the vet....and her poo is normal now mind you.....but the vet (who I am almost sure is lying about rabbit experience) kind of shrugged off the screaming as 'frightened by something', and gave me some hydration and blended dry greens to give her with some probiotic. And charged me $500. So we get home and a few hours go by and then all of a sudden she gets super watery poo again and I am running into the bathroom to get some tissue to clean her up and BAM she starts screaming again. At this point I'm literally in tears. Because after this scream fit....she is having like...neurological tremors or something.....and grinding her teeth like crazy. As I'm trying to find another vet to no avail.....about 20 mins go by and she's acting completely normal and fine again. Please. Someone help me out. It's seriously breaking my heart when I hear that. And to see her little convulsions I ....I want to help her but I can find no information on this.....please....

Poor little girl, I am so very sorry :(

There are a number of things that could have caused her seizures, but sometimes these things are brought on/exacerbated by stress. It's very stressful for rabbits to go from a breeder to a pet store and then to a new home, all in the space of a few short weeks whilst they are still babies themselves.

I should definitely research and find a better vet, both for this little one, and any future rabbits you may have.

Welcome to RU. I really hope you'll stick around and I hope you can get some help. It's so distressing for you both as well as the little one x
 
It sounds really awful. Your bunny must be in terible pain to scream. Have you changed her diet since you got her, or introduced vegetables if she wasn't used to them? Just trying to think of what has caused this. Maybe someone else has better advice. Good luck with her.
 
can you video it next time so that you have something to show the vet?

I am not a vet but given age etc I might think E. cuniculi (look it up) resulting in seizures and the scream - although I have never seen seizures that also give diarrhoea.

She will need rehydration fluids, pain killer (loxicom/metacam) for symptomatic relief and anti-infammatory as well as obviously diagnostics.

It is is EC then you might start to see a change in the eye associated with this - it often comes on at this age if the young bun has had it transferred to them by the mother in the uterus. This will need careful treatment with a fenbedazol based drug (over here marketed as Panacur)

All these will need vet to prescribe etc

It could also be an epilepsy type neurological problem.

Try asking for a rabbit savvy vet recommendation on the American House Rabbit website as most of the people on this site are UK based.

I really hope you can find help. I did have very similar with a 10 week old bun and he lived for 5 years - but had increasingly frequent seizures. At first he had several as a young bun, they then beca,e very infrequent, but as he got older they started to come weekly.
 
PS although buns scream when in severe pain they may also scream as part of the seizure not necesarily related to pain.
 
PS although buns scream when in severe pain they may also scream as part of the seizure not necesarily related to pain.

The seizures would cause the diarrhea as well? And I am forcing her to hydrate. My wife just decided that with her research it sounds like coccidiosis. But our little baby is acting right as rain right now....I swear earlier the way she was moving her head, I was thinking to myself "she's going to die this time." I've had a rabbit die from stasis before...and it just. Gave me a flashback. I'll try to take a video. But it occurs once a day thus far. At random times.

Thank you all so much. Seriously. I didn't expect responses to be honest...lol....I was afraid I'd be stuck in the dark about this.
 
And no they have hay, hay, and more hay, and I give them pellets for breakfast and dinner, with the hay....her diet hasn't changed at all. And my other 3 rabbits are doing great. Except when they hear her scream. It stresses them all out.
 
The diarrhoea is the odd part and I did mention I have not seen that with seizures but I AM NOT A VET . Coccidia is one of the many causes of diarrhoea in a rabbit but as far as I know does not cause seizures but of all the illnesses I have encountered whilst running a small sanctuary for buns I have fortunately never encountered cocci.
.

Do the seizures follow a 'set [pattern'? Scream followed by arching head and stiff with grinding teeth or thrashing around, or scream followed by thrashing than arching and stiff before relaxing for example? And is she a bit confused for a few minutes afterwards?

ie are they a bit like an epileptic fit in a human?
 
She doesn't lose control during the fit, but afterwards the last time,her jaw started twitching, then it looked like she was doing some sort of silent scream. Then she involuntarily jumped backwards and her legs were stuck extended for a few seconds....then she hunched her back up and walked towards me like that....and then I held her and tried to comfort her and she seemed to relax a little...then after about 10 minutes she loosened up and went back to normal. It's definite signs of agony. And one other thing. She blinks ...A lOt after screaming...idk about you but I don't see buns blink all that often usually. But she blinks probably 30 times in a minute...like big exaggerated blinks almost.
 
Does she pass 'normal' hard pellets the rest of the time and also is she eating her caecal pellets the rest of the time?

Is the diarrhoea definitely fecal emissions and not thick urine which might be causing pain when being emitted?

Have you (or useless vet) examined the genitals ?

Is urine normal?

Try not to over stress her with liquids - a vet would normally give subcut fluids to a baby bun with diarrhoea as the risk of aspiration if given by syringe is quite high (ie getting water on the lungs).
 
If it follows the same pattern every time it may be a neurological 'fit' - and again this would point to EC (have you had a chance to look for EC on web yet? Look at EC seizures in young bunnies rather than the head tilt/hind leg weakness in older buns) or other neurological problem.

I know it looks like agony but if it is a brain related fit she may well not actually be feeling anything as such.

There may be other brain related causes but at 9 weeks its unlikely to be a brain tumour.

The ony other thing I could think of is as above post asking about urine and possible pain on expressing urine -
 
It's definitely fecal...and it smelled far worse than any rabbit diarrhea I have smelled before....but then 20 mins after the scream...she has poop that is about 70% of the 'norm'...and I don't think she is eating them no...but I checked her genitals of course ...I clean her rear after she has diarrhea to make her as comfortable as possible....all looks normal....idk about the urine though. I haven't really seen her pee...and I am careful when I syringe feed her water, making sure not to have her on her back and not to let it get in close proximity to her nose. Exotic vets are rare, and expensive here...and from what I hear from others nearby is that they are not too experienced/trained when it comes to rabbits.
 
What colour is she by the way? Some vets believe that Blue Eyed white rabbits can carry epilepsy. But EC can affect any bun.
 
I am concerned that you have not seen her pee - can you keep her on her own for a while and check the urine she passes in case she has a urinary problem? If she has a very bad urine infection or some sort of urine blockage or congenital abnormality (for example the urinary passage passes into the anal passage rather than having a separate outlet) then this would cause severe pain when trying to urinate. So you would want to discount that.

Have you examined her thoroughly in that area externally?

Sorry to be trying to go in two different directions at once (neurological/EC and physical) but its tricky from just description.
 
No please. You are giving me some hope. Thank you so much for your time and help! I separated her the first time she screamed....because I thought the other bun scared her...then all the other symptoms showed and j was so glad I separated when I did...the other bun she was with appears fine so far,.....knock on wood...
 
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