Very sick bunny

A friend asked me to come with her to buy a bun, she wanted me to give it the once over etc. We went to a breeder and I was the one who ended up coming away with a bun! A sick one. He's a very small French Lop buck who I have named Lupin. We've had him about two weeks now. At first he wouldn't eat so we took him to the vet, we got critical care, metacam and an antibiotic as the vet said it was most likely co something cocideia or something. Anyway, he's been on all that for a while but he has cronic diarhea now to the point where it is pouring down his legs, stomach etc. The vet stopped him on the antibiotics just incase they were upsetting his stomach. He was on prepulsid for a few days until we ran out (the vet said he'd only need it until it ran out)
He is on metacam and critical care now and is eating better, the problem is the diarhea(sp?) he is being bathed several times a day and is in my room as I obv don't want to risk flystrike. He's a very sad little bunny and he's very skinny.
Is there anything at all I can give him to help with the diarhea? At the moment we're giving him every food under the sun just to keep him eating as he won't take the critcal care properly (he just lets it dribble down his chin no matter what we do)
He's got plenty of hay which he eats, but not enough of.
Help!

Im sure there was something Jane was giving her Bobbie when the antibiotics made her really ill... maybe you could ask her?? There is a post on here about cocidia where Sgprescue had started a thread about it so might be worth checking that out too. Here it is http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=98959
Hope he is feeling better soon

Do you know which antibiotic it was?

You could ask your Vet about giving Lupin Questran (Cholestyramine)
It is a med that can help bind up the enterotoxins and prevent them being absorbed into the bloodstream.

Cholestyramine
Compiled by Erica Deighton
The information gathered here is intended to help rabbit caregivers and their vets access some of the current evidence in support of the potentially life-saving use of Cholestyramine [Questran®] for the treatment of enteric disorders in rabbits. This evidence seems quite robust and well-documented in veterinary texts, yet apparently not yet in wide-spread use in clinical practice.

"Therapeutic agents used in the treatment of enteric disorders shows Cholestyramine applicability across disorders". [1]

"There is evidence that the ion exchange resin Cholestyramine absorbs the enterotoxin and improves survival rate if it is given in the early stages.....This preparation is safe enough to give rabbits in any situations where enterotoxaemia could develop". [1]

"Cholestyramine also binds fat soluble and bacterial toxins and is effective in the treatment of enterotoxaemia if it is given in the early stages of the disease. In a study by Rateau et al., (1986), Cholestyramine reduced loss of water and electrolytes from the ileum of rabbits treated with cholera toxin. It was also effective in preventing death from enterotoxaemia in rabbits treated with clindamycin (Lipman et al., 1992) even if the treatment was delayed until 48h after the administration of the antibiotic......"[1]

"Cholestyramine ( 2g/20ml water orally once a day for 2 weeks) can be given to absorb exotoxins if Clostridium spirofrome is suspected to be causinf enteritis. Cholestyramine is a[n inert] granular [ion exchange] resin with an affinity to hydrophobic compounds. It does not affect gastrointestinal motility and is not absorbed, but can dehydrate intestinal contents if not given with plenty of liquid." [2]

Cholestyramine, an ion-exchange resin capable of binding bacterial toxins, has been used with very good results. [3]

Utilization of cholestyramine resin as a preventive treatment for antibiotic (clindamycin) induced enterotoxaemia in the rabbit. [4]

"A specific approach to reducing enterotoxaemia relies on gavage feeding cholestyramine at 0.1 g/ml in water. This ion exchange resin binds bacterial toxins and may be useful but should be given early in the development of the disease before significant toxin absorption has occurred."[5]

"control enterotoxemia (cholestyramine 2 gm in 20 ml water PO q 8 hr). It is obvious that treatment must be aggressive and initiated early on in the disease process. Even under the best circumstances, the prognosis is guarded." [6]

"Severe antibiotic associated colitis may be helped by cholestyramine, a drug used in humans to bind cholestrol, as it also binds the Clostridium toxin that poisons the gut."[7]



Janex

if you contact Cheryl or Jay they maybe able to shed some light on how imodium might help

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=71214&highlight=imodium


is the bun being treated for coccidiosis? and is there a possibility that he could be the runt of the litter?

Thanks hun. He's not so much bloated any more though his tummy is very loud. I thought he was getting better but he's utterly miserable. I'm so impressed with him though as he is so placid even though he is constantly having things stuck in either end (thermometre at the vets! :shock: ) and being bathed several times a day. If it were me, I'd be bitting everyone in sight.

In addition, if he has diarrhea that badly he will need pedialyte or some kind of rehydration salts like humans have with diarrhea - and sub-cutaneaous fluids or maybe even a drip, as he'll be really dehydrated. It's good he's eating hay though - hay alone is best for this kind of problem and definitely no veg.

He's not so much small as skinny, you can feel his spine etc. I have a french lop doe the same age (12 weeks) and she's nearly twice his weight but the same height etc. The antibiotic is septrin.
He's very alert considering, he goes through phases of lying still then all of a sudden having a good look around and chucking things about.
We have an apppintment tomorrow so I'll ask about the meds mentioned I may ask them to admit him as they probably will be more successful with syringe feeding.

Aww that poor bunny. I've had very good results with blackberry/raspberry leaves with runny poo, so they may be worth a try.

I've given guinea pigs Immodium and Diocalm to treat diarrhoea but I'm not sure about giving them to rabbits.

Healing vibes

Sorry to hear about the poor bunny. Did your vet think it was mucoid enteritis or coccidiosis?