poorly sisters! advice needed

I'm new to this forum but have read lots of posts and am overwhelmed by all your knowledge about bunnies.

I have two rabbits (from the same litter) Willow and Hazel. Hazel got an infected cut on Thursday and after going to the vets is on antibiotics and painkillers. I have also moved her into my house so I can monitor her eating and pooing. She is getting better but is very bored and angry that I am having to syringe her medicine every few hours. Meanwhile her sister, Willow is out in the garage in a large run. I took her to the vet on Friday just to check she didn't have any cuts either (I didn't know if something had got them when I wasn't watching) and the vet said she had soft poos and needed a fibre supplement to bind her up. All in all they are in the wars!

This morning Hazel (the one in my house) is doing much better but Willow is now not eating much at all and doesn't seem to be pooing much at all. She's gone from soft poos to not many poos.

Any advice on wheter I should keep going with the fibre stuff to bind her up or whether this has actually sent her the other way now and she is having trouble pooing. I also thought she may just be missing Hazel.

As you can gather, I do not have the knowledge that you guys seem to have. These are my first rabbits and my first major problem with them in a year! HELP!!

Linds

Hi welcome to the forum :wave: I can't really offer u any advice about the poo issues except make sure they r eating plenty of hay and not too much fresh stuff. I'm sure someone more experienced will come along soon But I would say its probably not a good idea to keep them separated as they may lose their bond and fight when u put them back together. Maybe u could put them side by side separated by mesh so u can still monitor eating and pooing but they can still c and smell eachother. Is the garage unused? U prob know already but if there r cars in there the fumes can be very dangerous to the rabbits. Good luck with them, I hope things improve soon :thumb:

Maybe separating them has upset Willow especially if they are closely bonded. Hope they are better soon.

Thanks for replies

Yeah garage is completely unused. They rabbits have a run which takes us most of it for the winter. We have a large outside run for the summer but when they both got ill last week we moved Willow into the garage and Hazel into the house. I think I will move Hazel down so they can see each other. If her wounds have scabbed I could even but her in with her now as the vet said if they've scabbed they probably won't get infected again..


Willow has hay and pellets but doesn't seem interested. I get this hay with little hidden treats like dried carrot and tiny bits of apple and thats all shes interested in.

thanks for advice.

I tend to agree Willows symptoms could very well be a result of the stress of loosing her sister. You may also need to be cautious when putting them back together as they may fight. Be on the safe side and follow bonding procedure (see sticky). For future reference avoid splitting a bonded pair at all costs. TBH if they will go back together with out much fuss, unless Willow is causing problems with her sister wounds there is no need to separate. I've had numerous pairs who've stayed together when of of them has had a wound or stitches without a problem.