A Bit worried about my rabbit

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out if somthing is wrong with one of my rabbits, or if it is me worrying over nothing.

Earlier today I noticed that our male rabbit (Barnie) was lying in his hutch all out stretched. (I better mention his hutch is open at all times and is in a shed that he has full run of.) I wasnt too concerned except that he usually lies on top of the hutch and only goes in the hutch when he goes to the toilet. I nudged him and he got up and went through the catflap on the shed to his run(which is attached to the shed) I went out side the shed to see what he was doing, and found him lying outstretched on the wet soil. I thaught this was odd but didnt really think to much of this, but tonight when I went down to the shed to feed them, Barnie seemed really subdued. Not even nibbling his Kale or hay, I tried him on Alfalfa which he loves and he is not interested. Also we have this little game where I hold a bit of straw in front of him and he bites it in half, but he doesnt even want to do that. Usually he is really hyper. but he is just lying there. Apart from that he looks fine, his ears ***** up ( cant you say p rick up on here lol)etc but he looks really sleepy. My other rabbit a female called domino seems fine. They are both 2 years old, love eachother tremendously etc. I was wondering what could be wrong with him. Is it possible that he is just having an off day? Or should I be more concerned?

He needs to see a vet asap, once rabbits stop eating they are usually very ill. Because they are prey animals they hide all signs of illness until the last minute. He has gone into gut stasis and will need medication urgently to get his guts moving again, along with pain killers and fluids

It sounds like he has tummy problems, which can be very serious in bunnies if not treated quickly.
When was the last time he ate anything? Has he poo'd today?
Can you feel his tummy - does it feel hard, or quite soft.
It could be a bit of wind, in which case syringing some cooled boiled water, giving tummy rubs and maing him move around a bit may help.
Or it could be a blockage.
Either way I would probably ring the vet to be sure.
He will need some pain relief as well as meds for his tummy.
Does he generally have teeth problems?

Taking him to emergency vet now. Thanks so much. Will let you know what happens! Thanks

Good luck, I'll check in the morning for news

Hope Barnie is ok

Firstly thankyou ever so much for advising I should get him to a vet. I took him and as you said he had gut stasis. The vet said that we had caught it at a very early stage. He was given 2 injections, a pain killer and I forget what the other was. I have also been given some recovery food to feed him by syringe every 2 hours. At this point he seems to have perked up a bit, I have left him in the shed (with the heating on) with his sister domino who was washing his ears! I shall go back and check on him and give him more food in a couple of hours. Good job I have the week off, as I feel I am going to be up all night!

Hoping he's had treatment and is on the mend now. Keep us posted.

Glad you have hopefully got it sorted. The painkiller's really perk them up well. Sending eating and pooping vibes now.

So pleased that you spotted this early and also sought advise, Hope he is on the mend soon, do let us know how he is the the morning.

If you have any infacol 2mls of that and then 1 ml every hour for a few hours can also help reduce any gas in his stomach.

I just gave him some more of his recovery food. And saw him nibble some hay. He also gave his sister domino a quick wash. I am hoping this is a good sign.

I just gave him another feed. He seems alot better, he was giving himself a good thorough wash (with the help of Domino) and he even played our silly bite the hay in half game. He seems a bit sleepy still. I am putting that down to the fact that he must be exhausted after his traumatic day.

:wave: So glad he seems to be on the mend. You did a great job getting him to the vet asap. Hope he's back to 100% in no time at all!

Hope he is feeling better this morning, and doing lots of poos

That's great news, you must be so relieved.

I'm so glad he is doing ok

The exact same thing happened to me yesterday! Arthur stopped eating, and wasn't interested even in raisins :shock: I was worried, checked on the forum and saw everyone saying go straight to the vet for things like this, so I did and by the afternoon he was fine again!

Vet gave him an injection to get things moving, gave me Recovery food to syringe and some probiotic powder.

Thanks Rabbit forum!! I was so worried, it's nice to have somewhere to go for reliable advice

Yay! sounds like he's on the mend.

Barnie seems to be back to normal again now, he is in his run eating lots of grass. Thanks everyone for all your help, without this forum I would have left it until today to do anything, I hate to think what the consequences might have been. Glad to hear your rabbits doing fine too Squizz! Just thaught I might ask if anyone knows what is in that recovery food. It smells really nice, I was tempted to taste a bit! But I didnt!!:?

GringoPete said:

Barnie seems to be back to normal again now, he is in his run eating lots of grass. Thanks everyone for all your help, without this forum I would have left it until today to do anything, I hate to think what the consequences might have been. Glad to hear your rabbits doing fine too Squizz! Just thaught I might ask if anyone knows what is in that recovery food. It smells really nice, I was tempted to taste a bit! But I didnt!!:?

Click to expand...

It doesn't taste that good! (got it everywhere including in my mouth when it squirted out in a big glug) :roll: :lol:
Edited to add: Glad to hear he's making a good recovery