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Clostridial Enterotoxaemia!

Lizzie

Mama Doe
Mmmmm....thought that title might grab your attention, well I hope it has because it was what my little Merlin was diagnosed as suffering from on Monday! :(

He was right as rain Sunday night when I went to bed, then on Monday morning he was very quiet and sitting in an odd place in his cage: I gave him some Infacol and some tummy rubs, vowing that were he not better by lunch time I would whip him off to the vet. Well, he was not better and his tummy seemed more bloated so I got an urgent appointment: well, thank God I did as he was admitted immediately, put on a drip because he was dehydrated and given antibiotics. My vet had examined him very carefully, said that his intestines were very gassy, took his temperature and found it to be extremely low and there was blood on the thermometer when he removed it. So he made an educated assessment that it was "clostridial enterotoxaemia": as he said, if you wait to do the test to confirm and find it positive, the rabbit would be dead before you started treatment.

This is a very, very nasty illness and I don't want to be alarmist at all because it probably doesn't happen very often but, apart from the fact that Jason said the first 24 hours would be crucial, had I not been so "neurotic" and taken him in so quickly he would probably have stood very little chance of surviving. As it is he is now as right as ninepence, on prepulsid, anti- and probiotics, no fruit or veg, very little mix and masses of hay! He is certainly back to his usual cheeky self and giving me evil looks for the lack of variety in his diet!
 
Do we have a "common" name for this??? :shock: Glad the little chap's feeling better...its scary how quickly they can go down hill.
 
Oh Lizzie, isn't it just as well as you are neurotic! Wow lucky call sounds like he was caught in the nick of time.
Good to hear all is well again. However can we please have an update on the rest of the furries and doggies too :D How are you and Polly bearing up?


Angela
 
Oh that was a close one! Well done for getting it sorted out so quickly.


Presumbly its just 'one of those things' and except watching out for it nothing we can do to prevent it?
 
Thanks for that link, Tam... but you are right, squeamish people please do not! go there!!

I'm now going to add a narrow-bore thermometer and a big pot of Vaseline to my medicine kit... :lol: My poor bunnies won't ever dare fall ill now!
 
[quote="Pendragon"
I'm now going to add a narrow-bore thermometer and a big pot of Vaseline to my medicine kit... :lol: [/quote]

Oh you are a cruel woman Sue, I am cringeing at the thought of what you would do with the thermometer.... :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol:

Lizzie thank you so much for drawing this condition to our attention, I am so glad to hear that Merlin is on the road to recovery, bless him :D
 
Blimey Lizzie, as others have said thank goodness you were so quick at getting him to the vets, poor lad, glad to hear he's on the mend, sending hugs and snuggles for Merlin x
 
Hiya - Lizzie - Blimey you like a challenge eh Gal!! -

Hope your little bunster is feeling a bit better now - thanks for sharing this - its always good to learn about the more unusual little problems our bunnies may present! - good job you've got such a good vet by sounds of things.

Sending Bunny hugs to Merlin -
 
Thought you might all like to see a pic of the little fella!!!! His expedition on top of the cage took place under the very strictest supervision some time ago but he is quite handsome isn't he? If a bit lacking in the grey matter department!!!!! :lol:

MerlinCategory3HairyHoudini.jpg
 
Phew weeeee Lizzie

Glad to hear all is well now, poor little cutie chap, big squidges from me and the furry possee.

Kara x
 
How cheeky looking is Merlin the acrobat :) :wink:

Dorothy were there any other symptoms that Merlin showed apart from sitting in an odd place and bloated tum. It's just that Rob has a very sudden 'episode' one time and I've never really got to the bottom of what was wrong with him. He tum was bloated and full of gas, and he had a very low temperature, but he went very limp and lifeless, and was licking everything in sight. He was rushed to the vet straight away, and after antibiotics, vitamin K, prepulsid was right as rain the next day aswell. Very weird. Only difference is we were told to feed him as much as possible of anything he would eat. Maybe something entirely different :?

Glad he is feeling much better and that you reacted so quickly - your vet also sounds very knowledgeable, as I'm sure many other non rabbit savvy vets may not have picked up on this.
 
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