Eve - Now Rehomed!

amongst other things!
A RSPCA inspector brought in a bunny for opinions on euthing it. I told him I'd take her, he told me it was unhomable, I said I can rehome that rabbit, he asked how could I rehome this ugly knackered rabbit when they couldnt rehome all the pretty ones they are inundated with ( :evil: ), After a bit more 'discusion' I now have the poor mite.
She is a small wee bun and quite thin. I would like a bit of advise on the best way to fatten her up as she desperately needs a GA but is too thin to safely have one just yet. She has only one ear...but where her ear should be is awful! She has a thickened ear base/stump which is full of crust and infection, deep down into her ear. (The crud kind of looks like ear mite crud) we cant decide if she was a) born with no ear b)has had her ear deliberatley cut off at some point or c) has been so badly infected her ear lost its blood supply and simply rotted away! :shock: (pictures to follow)
She is very friendly but was obviously stray for a while. she has ate well and poo'd well She's currently on abx to try and clear some of the infection so we can reaccess her ear, she needs beefed up so when she is strong enough she can have a ga to clean up the ear with a view to possibly amputating the infected stump and of course spaying her. I'm in two minds to her age, she is almost like a baby bun but the vets opinion is she is quite aged, she also has the start of minor spurs on her teeth.
She was with the RSPCA since xmas eve and was named Van Gogh, she deserves a much prettier name than this so I've got my thinking head on! Maybe you lot can help me when I get pictures up tomorrow
I'm desperately trying to not think of the possibility this may not be a happy ending but at least she is safe with me for the timebeing, wait till you see her, she's beautiful

I'd feed probiotic for gut whilst on ab's, a vitamin supliment (temporarily) as if she's that underweight she's probably had a very poor diet, a mix of excel junior (high protein) and whatever usual pellet you use. Porridge oats mixed with a little water til they're mushy. I think alfa hay is higher in protein so some of that may help. You could also feed some veggie baby food. Carrot is higher sugar. You'll need to keep an eye on her poop as higher protein foods can upset that. Of course, you'll need to introduce changes gradually.

Keeping her warm will help as she won't expend energy heating herself and not too much exercise.

Would it be worth treating her with ivermectin? If the infection did orginate from ear mites that will knock them out

Good luck with her

Tam

Agree with all of Tamsin's advice...
sending lots of good luck for this little lady.....xxxx....and as for name as she arrived at RSPCA on Christmas Eve...call her Eve!

awwwww, poor little thing
here is lot of hugs for her ((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))
bless you hun for saving her, have some hugs for you too (((((((hugs)))))))

Poor bunny. Hope she puts on some weight soon!

Thanks everyone, I love the name Eve, that shall be her name I forgot to mention she did have ivermec too incase it is mites. Thanks for the advise, I'll try out those things and see how we go.
Here a pic to be getting on with, sorry its not very good.

Oh she's lovely! What a pretty little girl!

Good luck with her

Kate x

What a little sweetheart! SHe looks lovely. Please keep us updated on her progress.

I've failed with porridge oats when I've been trying to get a bunny to gain weight :roll: What is working is a few sunflower seeds - I'm giving them to both Brody and Rusty as they were both on the thin side despite having very healthy appetites. Brody has been having them the longest and has put on a bit of weight Apparently they are very good for giving them shiny coats as well, wonder if that's because they have natural oil in them.

The amount hey are getting would fit on a 10p piece.

Good luck and like others have said, do keep us posted

When any of my buns ever get skinny (which has only ever been boys, because they have all had seizures or tooth problems) I give feed them like I would a baby. All the hay they want, all the pellets they want, but then I also give them a mix of very tiny pieces of minced carrot, minced apple, and mashed banana.

Good luck fattening her up!

Bless her she's gorgeous! I love her little nose. She looks far from 'knackered' to me, yeah she's had a hard time, but I've seen worse on here that have pulled through. All fingers, toes, paws & claws croseed here for her.

Oh and for the name, I was goin 2 suggest Sunflower (to keep on the Van Gogh theme) but having seen her Eve suits her much better!

awww - poor little thing! Brought a tear to my eye, especially as I lost Tia on the 28th and she was an abandoned case of neglect too - I had her over a year but I think the years of hunger she'd suffered before rescue had maybe damaged her liver (couldn't afford a PM) so be aware that this bunny may have liver damage and that any GA will stress her liver more.

With fattening up - I've found my bunnies only need a tiny bit extra food to put on weight quite quickly, usually within a month. It's best not to overload a tum that's not used to lots of food, so I'd just give her 4 meals of pellets a day, so she doesn't gorge herself in one go, and lots of good hay - I'd lay off veg till she's recovered as she may not have developed the gut flora to digest it - and a probiotic should help with that.

Science selective contains probiotic and has been great for my bunnies - I've heard excel can cause sticky poops sometimes. My rescue buns were all put onto SS straight away as I had none of their original food, and they didn't have any tum problems with it - I think it's great! I get mine online but some vets stock it too.

One of my bunnies nearly starved herself to death earlier this year when I changed the hay - I went on the principle of less pellets = more hay eaten, but didn't bank on her stubbornness! I realised she was a bag of bones one day, and gradually increased her pellets over a week, till she was having 2 generous handfuls a day (morning and evening). She was overweight within a few weeks, so it doesn't take long for them to put weight on if they aren't suffering from worms or some other parasite.

Best of luck for little Evie

Thanks
I must say the one thing I hadnt thought of was worms so I'll worm her too. Shes getting ad lib hay and I only feed SS anyway, I thought it best not to give her veg so she hasnt had any and wont for a while. I'm a VN so know how anorexia and malnurishment can effect other organs, she'll have a full blood profile done before any anaesthetics. One thing I've noticed after cleaning her out and feeding her breakfast this morning is I'm not sure if her sight is poor/comprimised/blind. I always talk to her before touching her so she knows I'm coming but she does get an awful fright when you do touch her, even if you approach straight on. After her clean out I put her back into her cage and then filled up her bowl, she heard the rattle of the food and turned automatically from her bed to the left where her food was, but I had changed position of the bowl so it wasnt there. She then seemed to scan the floor area with her chin randomly, moving back and forth until she came accross the food bowl and then ate. she seems to have a blink reaction so its something else I'll have to closely moniter.

aww - sounds like she is a bit blind - maybe she was kept in the dark all her life, which wouldn't be suprising knowing some people

She may have e-cuniculi, which causes blindness and weight loss too, amongst other things - I'm wondering if my Tia had that as it also causes sudden death.

A blood test will show it I think, and a course of panacur will cure it, although it has to be a different dosage to the wormer - I forget which thread I read it in here - try a 'search' for it maybe, unless you already know the dose - Handy being a vet nurse!

Awww Vicki, lucky she was taken into the practice where you work I know she's in the best hands now - you do a great job Good luck with her and keep us posted. ((((hugs)))) Vicki x

Well, I think I've decided Eve is not totally blind but she does have some impared vision. She is doing very, very well and has gained a good amount of weight, I can no longer feel her hips so prominantly or her spine. She loves her porridge in the mornings, if I dont get it to her quick enough she bashes around her cardboard box to let me know! :lol:
Her ear gunk had all dried out on top and bless her shes been such a star today and let me get the majority of it out. So now her ear hole is actually a hole! Under the top crust was such disgusting pus i though i was going to vomit (sorry a bit graphic!), everyone at work will tell you my worst thing is pus, especially rabbit pus because its sooo thick and cheesy :? :shock: and god the smell!!! Anyway i p0rodded as much as I dared and I can actually see into her ear canal and its still quite gross deep inside but that will have to be dealth with under a GA. She goes back to work with me on monday for the vet to check her and fingers crossed she's in a good enough shape to go under GA and get all sorted so she can begin to find a new home

You are doing a brilliant job with her. Bless the little girlie. Hope she carries on putting her weight on. Good luck for Monday will be thinking of you both xxx

Oh she's such a lovely looking bun!! How could anyone think she's ugly?!?! :evil:

please keep us posted with pics of her progress!

I'm hoping the weather will stay dry so I can let her stretch her legs on the lawn tomorrow, so hopefully pictures too

Cant wait She is lovely