Advice please......poorly baby!

I took in 7 bunnies with their mum who were all living in a 2 foot parrot cage!, the guy I got them from said they were 8 weeks old and then told me they were 4 months old, 5 boys and 1 girl and all the boys had testicles :shock: :shock: , four boys have been castrated and the two girls have been speyed and are all doing well, however 1 little boy who seems to be the runt is poorly, I noticed this a couple of weeks ago and so brought him indoors and put him in a tris so as I could monitor his progress.

He had bloat so went on a diet of hay and water and then 2 desert spoonfuls of excel for juniors and dwarfs all has been fine except that every 3/4 days he get awful diorrhea(sp), even if he is just having hay and water, I am giving him avipro and I syringed him critical care last night because he is so hungry, he is bright and alert and running around and playing. he has not lost any weight but neither has he put any weight on, that's 3 weeks of weighing

Any ideas as to what could be the problem or what I can do please?

I wonder if your Vet might think it a good idea to test his poo for coccidiosis? Although as he appears to be 'well in himself' it seems unlikely that that could be the problem :?
Blackberry leaves are very useful for scouring Bunnies. The leaves alter the PH of the intestines making them a less favourable environment for 'bad bacteria' to multiply.
Have you managed to get hold of any Fibreplex? It really helped Sir Victor Velveteen when he had nasty diarrhoea.

Janex

The vet isn't too concerned because he is very happy, alert and bright and very, very active, she said he isn't in pain and doesn't appear to have any "illness", I managed to get one tube of fibreplex today and it say 1ml per 1kg of body weight and as he only weighs 1100 grams that should be 1 ml x 3 x day

He is still on water, hay and grass and then the diorrhea clears up and then he gets it back again, it's really strange, the vet says his doesn't have bloat

I'm at a loss, anymore ideas?

I can send you down some blackberry leaves tomorrow if you want to try that.

I've tried raspberry leaves, would blackberry leaves be different? and what will they do? thanks for your help

I'm not sure, but Jacks's Jane mentioned them as being good for rabbit digestive tract. I've a load here and our garden's organic so the leaves are free of pesticide. I could shove some in a jiffy bag and post them tommorrow. It's worth a try and I'm sure your bun will enjoy them even if it doesn't cure anything!!

I will give anything a go!!, I just feel so sorry for this little boy, I know he is the runt and the vet explained that when they are the runt they sometimes have delicate tummies, she really doesn't think he is "ill" and I have to agree with her, he runs around, is very bright and alert.

I will pm you my address

Many thanks

capel said:

I'm not sure, but Jacks's Jane mentioned them as being good for rabbit digestive tract. I've a load here and our garden's organic so the leaves are free of pesticide. I could shove some in a jiffy bag and post them tommorrow. It's worth a try and I'm sure your bun will enjoy them even if it doesn't cure anything!!

Click to expand...

Many thanks, they arrived today and he has had 3 and loves them!

Thanks Capel, I hope it does the trick

this might be a bit much but does it not really f@#k you off when you hear about people treating rabbits like this? it just makes me so angry..
I wish I could have my salary but could take in buns like this..

terry7 said:

this might be a bit much but does it not really f@#k you off when you hear about people treating rabbits like this? it just makes me so angry..
I wish I could have my salary but could take in buns like this..

Click to expand...

Yes! it does actually!!, what really annoys me is that members of the public who are dumping the animals don't tell you the truth and that is so frustrating, if you take this instance, I picked them up from him and went home saw one had testicles and so took them all to the vet to get them sexed properly, obviously separated them all there and then, otherwise had I have left them for 1 hour or 1 day longer I could have had the 3 females pregnant :shock: :shock: , thank goodness I didn't but that could have resulted in any number of babies :shock:

I have to work full time otherwise I wouldn't have the money to do this and it's very hard work, I work 6 days a week 9am-6pm!

By the way you should see my other story, last week I had a mummy and her 4 babies born that morning dumped on me and the daddy who had been beaten up and had bad injuries except he turned out to be a female and could be pregnant!!, another case of not being told the truth!!

Ok this might not help but having come across a couple of buns with a simular problem lately this might not be what it seems.

Snowy does this bun have newspaper or toilet rolls in with him. If so get them out it could be the glue or ink that's upsetting him. As in the two I've had dealing with here it was an argos catalogue and the other was caused by the glue in kitchen/toilet rolls.

Both these rabbits had been on daily probiotics had tried different diets inculding the hay one, no vegs only pellets all sorts and where doing the same as your bun ok for a couple of days and then everywhere in the cage covered.

Both were holding their weight and both were happy in theirselves.
Might be worth looking in to.

rngpwelfare said:

Ok this might not help but having come across a couple of buns with a simular problem lately this might not be what it seems.

Snowy does this bun have newspaper or toilet rolls in with him. If so get them out it could be the glue or ink that's upsetting him. As in the two I've had dealing with here it was an argos catalogue and the other was caused by the glue in kitchen/toilet rolls.

Both these rabbits had been on daily probiotics had tried different diets inculding the hay one, no vegs only pellets all sorts and where doing the same as your bun ok for a couple of days and then everywhere in the cage covered.

Both were holding their weight and both were happy in theirselves.
Might be worth looking in to.

Click to expand...

Yes, he has newspaper in the bottom of his tris with hay on top, I will give your suggestion a go and see if it makes any difference, thanks for the suggestion