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Do your rabbits act ill and then become ok again within a few hours?

Sue_P

Young Bun
One of my mum’s bunnies has come across as sick about three or four times since we’ve had her in the last two years. Her behaviour changes and it looks like there’s something wrong. She’s a young rabbit that licks a lot but when she looks ill she won’t give out licks and wants to be on her own and lies down with her legs behind her and pants a bit. She doesn’t want food either. We haven’t yet taken her to the vets about it, each time she’s recovered on her own several hours later. She was poorly looking again last night but this morning she’s back to her normal self. I was just wondering if this happens to other rabbits and what could the cause be? Temporary tummy ache? There’s never any diet change beforehand though and her girlfriend doesn’t get ill.
 
One of my mum’s bunnies has come across as sick about three or four times since we’ve had her in the last two years. Her behaviour changes and it looks like there’s something wrong. She’s a young rabbit that licks a lot but when she looks ill she won’t give out licks and wants to be on her own and lies down with her legs behind her and pants a bit. She doesn’t want food either. We haven’t yet taken her to the vets about it, each time she’s recovered on her own several hours later. She was poorly looking again last night but this morning she’s back to her normal self. I was just wondering if this happens to other rabbits and what could the cause be? Temporary tummy ache? There’s never any diet change beforehand though and her girlfriend doesn’t get ill.

Hi, my rabbit Honey used to do that quite a lot, it usually turned out to be fur in her tummy, as a couple of hours later she would pass big stringy poops. Nowadays she seems to know what to do, and drinks a lot of water if she's taken in a lot of fur, and that seems to keep her ok.
Another of my rabbits Daisy seems to get tummy ache quite often but I think this is linked to something she's eaten. She is always ok in a couple of hours.
But I would take your bun to the vets to make sure there isn't something else wrong, because you never know with buns!
 
Yes she certainly does. I took her to the vets when she wasn't eating and hunched in pain with gas so needed to go then but a couple of months ago her gut was slowing down, tiny poops and I was worried, didn't want her to get to the not eating stage again and in pain. Took her to the vets and suggested a specialist. When she'd got there she was as perky as anything, they took her overnight with xrays, blood tests etc £250 later I was told she was by far the healthiest bunny there! Little monkey. If things slow down again I was told not to worry until she hasn't eaten for 12 hours or is in pain. She may not have fancied what was in front of her or not that hungry!

There again, nice to have peace of mind and also had about 20 questions for the specialist.:D
 
12 hours?!! Seems a long time to risk it.
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Every time one of my pets or past pets has been ill I can never decide whether to go rushing to the vets or not. On most occasions it would have turned out to be a wasted trip due to the fact they’ve all gotten better on their own. You can’t help but worry you’re making the wrong choice though when the pet is actually ill, but it sure is very relieving when you see them back to themselves.
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I know the general advice at the first sign there’s something wrong is to rush them to the vets but frankly that can end up costing a fortune and if it’s all for nothing it’s a waste of money. I’ve always waited and hoped for the best, think there’s only been one time I’ve had an emergency visit and didn’t wait but that was cos a bunny was bleeding from his bottom a lot and looking gravely ill, there was a heck of a lot of blood loss that time so it was obvious something was very wrong. Mind you, he often leaked blood and looked like he might die at times but pulled through on his own. He looked very ill that time though. Do other people agree that waiting 12 hours if a bunny is looking ill is acceptable? What’s the longest amount of time they can stop eating for but then return to normal eating again?

@ ripminnie – The fur in the poos could explain why my last rabbit looked like he had tummy ache at times, I do recall seeing poos with fur in, not sure if those times were after the times he’d just been ill though. Wish I could rewind time and have a look.
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When she was hunched in pain I took her straight away and would do so again as I didn't know what was wrong. I wouldn't want to guess that it was gas again and give her infacol in the hope she was OK in an hour or so.

Sorry I meant I was told if her poops were getting really small and she hadn't eaten for 12 hours to take her in not if she's in pain. If she's in pain she's off to the vets straight away!
 
I used to have a rabbit called Bobby, who used to do this. The first time I took him to the vets and they could'nt find anything wrong, he was fine by the evening. The next time I left him for a few hours and he just went back to his normal self. It happened a few times during his life, would'nt happen for ages then all of a sudden we would find him like this and then he would recover when he was ready, we never found out what was wrong. I found the best thing to do was just leave him, it sounds awful, but he seemed to get more annoyed when I fussed over him and he got back to himself quicker.
 
I had one a few weeks ago, who just didn't quite seem herself. She was sitting hunched and just not very active, though her tummy felt fine and I checked her teeth. Overnight she did a nice bunny splat near the litter tray then was back to normal. I think she had been eating some plastic, as the bloody kids had left inflatables over the entrance to their burrow! :evil::roll:
 
Harvey "pretended" to be ill last week. He wasn't interested in his food at all :( so I picked him up to give him a cuddle and to feel his belly, it was rock hard so I was immediately worried, put him down and he had a mouthful of food :roll: less worried I decided just to keep checking him, and I went out about 5 times during the morning and each time he'd refuse all food, until I'd picked him up, given him a cuddle and a tummy massage :roll: and then he'd eat fine! I think he was pretending to be ill to get cuddles :lol: or more likely his tummy massages moved the gas around to a more comfortable location. After about 5hours I caught him munching by himself :D I reckon when I did take him to the vets when he stopped eating a month ago it was partly the moving about (he was a wriggly little thing when I tried to give him meds and would then violently leap from my arms and run to a hiding space :roll:) that dislodged his gas and helped his gut start going again, so maybe your bun is similar? She has gas making her feel ill but manages to dislodge it when moving about at some point later?
 
Some of my buns do seem 'off' for a short time and don't eat as much as usual. I try the fenugreek crunchie test - if they don't enthusiastically nom that they are straight to the vet. If they do, I just keep an eye on them and the next day they are fine. It is only certain of my buns who will do this and I think it is linked to their moult. With other buns, like my elderly bun Dylan, I wouldn't leave it at all but would make a vet appointment straight away.

A couple of my buns won't eat if I am watching them - but this is usual for them and I just hide and check.

One of Dylan's eyes periodically becomes sore and I have drops, Baytril and Metacam so I don't take him to the vet as the vet is happy for me to treat at home and it always clears up in a couple of days. If it didn't he would go to the vet, but gets incredibly stressed and at his age I avoid vet visits if at all possible.

I think it's important that we all know what is 'usual' for our individual bunnies so that we can quickly recognise when something is different. What would worry me with one of my buns, wouldn't concern me with another one.

If in doubt I do take them to the vet as I recognise my limitations.
 
Yes she had the gas episode of in pain and not eating when she was moulting. If she doesn't rattle the hutch in the morning for her pellets then something is wrong and she refused to eat any.

I keep an eye on her when she's craving my lining paper. She became obsessed with eating the paper, no interest in food so she was craving fibre but not eating her hay. She also kept chewing her willow ball when normally no interest.

It's been an expensive time but at least I know what to look out for now and know when she needs a vet or she just needs keeping an eye on!
 
Truffle does this. The first couple of times we whisked her off to the vets. Now I keep an eye on her, rub her belly and give her a couple of hours to see if she comes around first.
 
Thanks a lot for all your responses, comforting to know that other rabbits have their off moments too. I did wonder if Dixie had furballs as she’s malting at the mo and licks her companion a lot, either that or malting makes rabbits feel a bit unwell. Can’t really get touchy feely with her though to give her a tummy rub to move gas about if it happens again as she’s not used to being handled and is pretty good at getting free and flying dangerously out of control in all directions.
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I’ll relax a bit more the next time it happens though and presume it’ll sort ittself out, will defo give it a few hours anyway before complete panic sets in.
 
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