bloated baby,anyone in northants,and lots of help please!

excuse me for posting on both rabbit chat and care.

baby bunny had a bit of the paste i got from the vets this morning. and i massaged his tummy too. he looked like he was detoriating quite badly at about 1pm and massaging his tummy just made him grind his teeth so i put him back in the box with the other 2 bunnies.

i expected him not to be alive the next time i checked but he is and his bottom appears to be alot cleaner than what it was so i'm hoping the diarreaoh has finished and that hes cleaned himself up.

partner has just given him another tiny amount of the paste.

the vet i saw was obviously a locum as i am always at the vets what with my cats and noramlly other peoples pets (!) and i've never seen her before.

my friend in northampton is going to check out her rabbits hutch and see if she can find any of these healthy rabbit droppings everyone has mentioned but shes not too confident that she knows what shes looking at.
plus shes on her way back from birmingham and has 2 kids to put to bed..

if anyone lives near me i'm in wellingborough and does know what they look like and has them if you could get in contact with me that would be great, i also have no idea what to do with them once i get them so help is desparately needed! i didn't even know the real name for the droppings when you all first mentioned them...

i'm also not too sure about the amount of probiotic i'm meant to be now using as i was just told to put a sprinkiling in with the milk.

introduced greens to the other 2 today they have been eating dandelion leaves but don't know how many they should be scoffing plus should they now have fresh water available now at 3 weeks old?

loads of questions i'm afraid but you have all been brilliant so far wouldn#t have made it this far without you all

The Caecotrophs are the soft poo a Bun eats from their bum. They look like a bunch of grapes and smell A LOT. A bun on a good balanced diet should not leave any caecotrophs so harvesting them can involve putting an Elizabethan Collar on the donor bun to prevent them getting to their bum to eat their caecotrophs.
You can try mixing some ground down ordinary hard 'currant poo' from a healthy adult bun into the babies milk. Currant poo wont contain as much 'good bacteria' as c-poops but will contain some.

With the probiotic I would just put a pinch of it with each feed. At this stage, and with enteritis being a real possibility I would not feed any veg. You could offer some Blackberry leaves. They can help prevent over production of 'bad' gut bacteria by altering the PH of the guts.

Janex

thanks jane for all the advice, i am learning all the time x

I never cease to be amazed with jane's knowledge...she should have been a vet

'carrot' is still with us. have been massaging his tummy again and when i did so a jelly like substance came out of his back passsage which was clear. after a while of massaging some more runny diarreah came out whilst i was doing it.

he also managed a tiny amount of a dandelion leaf.

not sure whether i should attempt to force feed a bit of milk later?

:shock: nooooo never feed buns ANY dairy produce!

aww por wee thing.i think you need to see vet asap tho..

http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/rwf/articles/GI_stasis_pet.htm

"Mucoid enteropathies

It's been known for many years that young rabbits may develop a severe illness characterised by abdominal pain; loss of appetite; and production of jelly like material from the back passage. Problems usually occur around weaning, but can occur later. Lack of dietary fibre is strongly implicated in many cases of mucoid enteropathy.

But that's not the whole story. Rabbits with mucoid enteropathy have virtually identical pathological changes to horses suffering from the dreaded disease Grass Sickness. Gut movement is controlled by the autonomic nervous system and it's this network of nerves that seems to go wrong in mucoid enteropathies - the intestines come to a standstill and secrete excess mucus. Some rabbits develop signs suggesting disruption to other parts of the autonomic nervous system, such as a relatively slow heart rate and urinary incontinence.

Acute attacks are usually fatal in both rabbits and horses. Occasional survivors are reported, but only after very intensive supportive care. The chronic variant of the disease carries a better prognosis. "

The more I learn about bunnies, the more I think they are like little horses :?

Thankfully I have 18 years experience of those

not our milk the kitty milk substitute from the vets!

What vets do you go to? If you are not happy with yours there is a vets in northampton, which I know is about 10 mins from you (as I live in Corby!) which specialises in rabbits (and cats - i think they are the only animals they see), I know that you need urgent help now, but if carrot makes it to tomorow it might be worth popping him over there as they will most likely be more experienced with this kind of thing than your normal vets. I have been told that they are very good. Just a though in case your a bit worried about our vet, appologies if not.

Hope the little fella pulls through for you, sounds like you doing a very good job.

M

we go to johnsons vets in wellingborough the south african blonde lady(sorry) is really rabbit savvy she is fantastic if its the same vets? Only just got on here now otherwise could have helped - not as much as jane though she should be a vet!!! A miuntain of knowledge!!

Hi
Hope Carrot makes it.. sorry im not near you but heres some photos of rabbit poo that may help
http://www.fuzzy-rabbit.com/sick.htm

The vet I use in Rushden is very good with rabbits - Anya at WellPets: 01933 314199 if you're uncomfortable with using a locum atm. If you phone up and explain it's an emergency, they'll see you straight away, they're open until 7pm too.

I assume the paste is Fibreplex? The only other thing the vets could do afaik is give vitamin injections and a gut stimulant injection, but I don't know if this would work on baby buns. :?

oh poor little carrot i hope he gets sorted soon. the vet i use in corby is also very good if you were near this way but your prob closer to rushden.

Hey bumble - what vets in corby do you use out of interest?? (sorry dont mean to highjack)

We use the vets in Duston northampton I take it you mean these as they only see cats and rabbits as their name suggests their number is 01604 478888