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How to give Oxbow critical care

My rabbit has suspected E.C and she isn't eating or pooing as much as usual, just hoping she doesn't go into gut stasis...the vet gave me Oxbow critical care but I'm not sure how to get it into the bunny. It seems a big volume to syringe feed (I mixed about a quarter of the packet 1 part Oxbow to 2 parts water. Is there any other way of doing it? Thanks!
 
Oxbow CC doesn't taste good. The way you force feed the bun is to put the mixture in a 35 ml (cc) syringe from the big opening (the top), NOT the nozzle, then push the rubber piston back in, then force feed your bun.

I want to point out that I stop using critical care. CC is a board based emergency food for almost any animals, even lizards. What rabbit needs is mostly fiber.

So I come up w/ this simple idea of smashing raspberry or blackberry in a juicer, then cut 1 mm long of hay stem on the blackberry pulp, then put them in 35 ml syringe and force feed the bunny.

I done the above for 12 mth. w/ great success on 1 of my bridge bun Goofball.
 
Just a quick question, has your bunny actually stopped eating?
This is normally the only reason to have to force feed them - if they're still willfully eating, then the best thing to do is to encourage them to eat rather than force it down them?

Has your vet given a reason for the slowing in eating? Has the bun had any other treatment?
 
Oxbow CC doesn't taste good. The way you force feed the bun is to put the mixture in a 35 ml (cc) syringe from the big opening (the top), NOT the nozzle, then push the rubber piston back in, then force feed your bun.

I want to point out that I stop using critical care. CC is a board based emergency food for almost any animals, even lizards. What rabbit needs is mostly fiber.

So I come up w/ this simple idea of smashing raspberry or blackberry in a juicer, then cut 1 mm long of hay stem on the blackberry pulp, then put them in 35 ml syringe and force feed the bunny.

I done the above for 12 mth. w/ great success on 1 of my bridge bun Goofball.

in reply to oxbow doesn't taste good! -my guinea pig absoutely love it,she gets excited as soon as she smells it. I still syringe it though(otherwise she makes a right mess!!) but i don't pick her up she sits and sucks it out of the syringe! she is old and has chronic bladder problems i give her about 1/2 an eggcupful a day to try to keep her weight up!
 
My rabbits and guinea pigs have always loved critical care, I mix it in small quantities with warm water and syringe feed using a small syringe 2mls usually with the nozzle cut off. make the paste fairly thick and feed rabbit little and often. usually they get the hang of syringe feeding very quickly. I alternate syringe fulls of fluid such as water or fruit juice. it takes ages and is usually very messy!
you can make up cheaper syringe feeds using rabbit pellets mixed with warm water and/ or liquidise fruit and vegetables. I always add some probiotics to the feed as well.
don't over feed or else they can get lazy, try and encourage them to eat by themselves as well
hope all goes well...
 
Question about E Cuniculi

In response to "is you bunny eating?", the updated answer is she is now! She wasn't a couple of days ago and yesterday there wasn't much improvement so I took her to the vet again for some more metoclopramide and today she's eating much better, still no hay or pellets, just grass and veg, but that's better than nothing. I couldn't get any Oxbow down her anyway because the syringe the vet gave me was too small (10ml) and it wouldn't come out of the nozzle!!

She now has diarrhoea, so hoping that will resolve itself as she gets back to normal eating.

The E.C. has got worse over the last couple of days, the head tilt is much worse..how long should it be until the Panacur takes effect and is there anything else I should know about looking after a bunny with this horrible illness?

Thanks everyone!
 
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