Please Note - Medical Advice
Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.
You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.
We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.
Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.
Yea he was super unwell earlier, loads of splats, we have him the new 2020 hay and he loved it, but obviously didn't agree with him, but he was okay other than more splats till a few hours back. He stopped eating, and no output. He's moulting quite badly too atm. I've given him loxicom. We have tramadol here for him too incase. But Idk what to do about a vet. My vets away, theres an exotic vet Monday and Tuesday who's fully booked (I have the white buns booked in with him on Monday hence how I already know the situation [emoji38]) but this can't wait till Monday :/Poor baby. Is it related to his megacolon? I wonder if you could syringe feed him a little water & metacam. Has it come on suddenly? xx
I know, makes everything worse thank you, unfortunately his episodes are normally really bad when they happenThe stress is 100 times worse when you can't get them to an appropriate vet.
I hope he spontaneously improves quickly.
Oh no, I'm sorry Atticus is unwell [emoji17] I can understand why it's so difficult knowing what to do for the best. It's such pot luck as to whether you'll get a rabbit savvy OOH vet.
How long ago did you give Atticus the loxicom? I've sometimes seen it take as long as two hours to have any noticeable effect. So if you've only just given it to him then I'd be inclined to wait a couple of hours and monitor before deciding what to do next.
If there's no improvement then I think this is what I'd do in your position. I think the big issue is that there's no output. If there's no improvement over the next few hours, I would take him to the vet and get them to do a blood glucose test to check there's no blockage. If that's all ok, then I'd try and keep him stable and keep his gut going with syringe feeds and gut meds until he can be assessed by your rabbit savvy vet.
I know that Atticus has a very delicate stomach so please feel free to ignore the above if that's not appropriate for him!
I really hope that it's just a tummy ache and that he will start to feel better once the pain meds kick in.
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Dear Graciee,
I am so sorry to hear Atticus is unwell. In the best of times it is hard to find good vets for rabbits, yet COVID has made this task even more difficult with the social distancing requirements for staff and cleaning surfaces well between patients.
Yesterday afternoon I thought it was wonderful to learn that the second rabbit vet in the area had a cancellation for Madelyn. Afterwards I regretted making the trip and stressing my girl so much during her final hours.
Last Friday I asked if a vet tech would be able to do the glucose test, and I made it clear that I did not need the tech to interpret the results. They did agree to those terms before she made a brief rallying and pooed enough for me to know she was not obstructed. AFAIK they do not need to get special strips for rabbits, so it may be they are afraid to interpret the results, rather than read the results. It is worth asking. Also, I do not know if you are like some on RU that would be able to get a couple drops of blood from their bunny and use the strips and meters sold in stores or online.
Sending vibes to you and Atticus.