HELP PLEASE!

hey,

I was on here a while back. My friends rabbit is sick. It sneezes all the time and when it does while liquid somes from it's nose and covers it's wiskers. We took it to the vet before and it was treated for the snuffles and diarea but only the diarea cleared up. Now the bunny is getting worse and my friens says it has a large lump on it's leg. My friend uses newspapers as bedding, rabbit pellets as food as well as hay, veggies and treats, gives it fresh water all the time and tries to keep it well groomes. She's had it for 6 weeks and has not bonded with it well. The bunny is very skiddish. We are goin to take it to the vet but would like to know what's wrong. The vet said he thought the bun was a girl but it was to young to tell. The bunny was sick when she got it.

where did your friend did this rabbit ?

Also how old is it?

Sounds like it still has snuffles/pasturella. It needs to see the vet so that it can receive treatment for it.

It's probubly only a little over 6 weeks (we're not sure how old it was when she got it but it was very small and youny). I'm not sure where she got it but it didn't sound like a very good place. It wasn't a chain or anything like that.

I hope its a lot more than 6weeks old seeing as you said in your first post your friend has had it for 6 weeks :wink: Ideally rabbits should stay with their mum until about 8weeks old. Unfortunately leaving its mum so early could have caused stress which in turn has brought on the diarrhoea and snuffles I hope the vet can give it some treatment that will help it enjoy life. Let us know how it goes at the vets.
Just had a thought if it is still very young, less than 12weeks it could be worth stopping the veggies and treats as at such a young age this could cause the runny poos. If it is older than 6 weeks then you can give veg, if its had it before your friend got it thats ok too, but if not it needs to be introduced really slowly to prevent tummy problems. Introduce one veg at a time and a very small piece at a time.

well she had it for 6 weeks and it as really young (probubly like 5, six weeks) when she got it. I'm not really rabbit educated so i didn't know how long they stayed with their mom.

Thats ok its not your or your friend's fault. Unfortunately some places sell rabbits at a very young age which doesnt do the baby rabbits much good unfortunately.
I just added a bit on my last post about veggies.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that all goes well and the baby improves once it has had more treatment. There are a few members on here who have rabbits that have snuffles/pasturella and some live very happily despite having it.

and it has been ill since she has had it ? shame on where ever she got it from :evil:

hi

poor little bunny - what a bad start it's had in life although it sounds like your friend is not trying her best to remedy that - snuffles can be caused by various different bacteria and it's best if the vet takes a swab of the snot and sends it for analysis in a lab - that way different antibiotics may be found that are more effective for that type of bacteria.

The lump on the leg sounds like an abscess maybe? He's a very poorly bunny anyway and it's going to be a difficult time - good luck

Re: hi

elve said:

although it sounds like your friend is not trying her best to remedy that

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My friend is doing all that she can! She treats her bunny like her kid. She is only 11 years old and is saving every penny of her birthday money to send this bunny to the vet. Plus, she could have chosen any other one of the bunnys (who were healthy) but instead she wanted to help this one! And the only reason this isn't her on here right now is because she doesn't know much about animal forums and I'm a member of the rat forums. :evil:

Hiya,

It probably needs a longer course of antibiotics.

If money for ves vets bills is an issue it might be worth contacting your local humane society. In the UK we have places that help help with discount vet treatment. I'm not sure whether there are eqivelants in the US but the humane society is most likely to know.

Best wishes,
Tamsin

money isn't a very big issue. She has saved up quite a bit and her mother and father are willing to help out. I just found her a new vet so maybe that will help. The one we took it to before turns out to be worse than we thought.

Hi!

Snuffles tends to get worse when the bunny is under stress for a different reason, so the lump on its leg is maybe causing it stress, and causing the sneezing to become worse. If it's an abcess, I think they can sometimes be quite tricky to treat, I don't have experience of them on rabbits only on rats: the vet will either drain it and then you/ your friend will have to clean it a couple of times each day, or the vet will remove the abcess completely which isn't always possible.

My bunny also has snuffles, he needs treatment every now and again when he has flare ups of it (about once or twice a year) but otherwise leads a happy, healthy life. You might find the rabbit needs to go on a longer course of antibiotics, or perhaps needs a different type of antibiotic to keep the snuffles under control.

As for the bunny being skittish, mine is too!! It took a long time for him to learn to trust me, I don't think he was handled very much when he was young, but now he is much more friendly, although very hard to pick up!

I'm glad you found a new vet, a lot of vets don't seem to know that much about rabbits (you've maybe found the same with rats).

It might be worth going to the place you got the rabbit from and complaining, as it was sick when your friend got it they might help out with vet bills (although this maybe unlikely) as snuffles and abcesses - if that is what the lump is - can prove quite expensive to treat over time, and it seems a shame that your friend has to pay for it all when the rabbit was sick when she got it.

I hope the rabbit is doing better - what's his/ her name? - it sounds like you and your friend are doing a good job of looking after it. Good luck at the new vet, and let us know how you get on!

Kate and Jack

oh sorry the bunny's name is oliver and my friend is Kristen. She is going to take olly to the new vet as soon as she can. The lump started leaking puss the other day and it's a lot smaller now but still there. Kristen also just told me the bunny has been gaging. :shock:

Poor bunny. I hope she can get him to a vet tomorrow, he sounds quite poorly and needs help fast. Let us know what the vet said and how the bunny is.

Silvia said:

oh sorry the bunny's name is oliver and my friend is Kristen. She is going to take olly to the new vet as soon as she can. The lump started leaking puss the other day and it's a lot smaller now but still there. Kristen also just told me the bunny has been gaging. :shock:

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Ok so it is definately an abcess on the leg - the problem is rabbit pus is very hard and lumpy and doesn't drain, to enable it to heal the vet will need to open it up and clean out all the pus possibly give some antibiotics too!

Is the bunny having difficulty breathing? Metacam (anti-inflammatory/painkiller) may help + bisolvon (dissolves the snot) + a change of antibiotic (septrin is good). You may need to add a pro-biotic to the water to keep up the good bacteria in the rabbit's gut.

Good luck!

Caz

I don't want to alarm you or even frighten you but I lost a Bunny just over 2wks ago that was gagging and had liquid from his nose, My Vet gave him a Penicillin injection (antibiotic) but unfortunately he died 48hrs later. So please get the poor Oliver to the Vets asap so they can start treatment. Prior to mine getting this he was fine and healthy the day before. With him getting the abcess as well it does sound like he as got an infection in his system.
Good Luck and what responsible young owners you are it is so nice to see.
Kay

ok, she got him an appointment for yesterday but she hasn't e-mailed me with the news yet. ai'll keep you posted.

All right, she just e-mailed me. She said that the bunny might have an uncurable disease, that the bumps could pop up anytime anywhere but their not sure what it is. They gave her some meds and told her to come back next week to see if they had to go into surgery or not! Yikes! why would they need to go into surgery? I think they might be trying to cut out the bump :shock: . She didn't tell me if they tested the bunny or anything. The did say it was in terrible condition and might pass sometime soon. oh ya, and they said it was a girl.

aawww glad the bunny has seen a vet again now. No idea what the condition could be tho :? I hope the medication helps.. keep us posted how the little girl does