welcome to the roller coaster emotional trip of 'world of bunnies'. As I said previously, Jane once posted that rabbits have a natural default setting of 'complicated'. And you are in the front seat right now.
I'm sitting here frantically following this thread and you're putting me through the wringer here so I know how your emotions must be right now with this.
You continue to show amazing vigilance with Mischief - you are keeping one step ahead with him and that gives you an amazing advantage and you are able to quickly intercept and take appropriate action at critical junctions. Mischief is very very lucky to have you there as his guardian angel.
It's only my opinion on his behaviour in the previous post but I would suggest that the effects of the probable opiate pain relief have worn off and what you are witnessing is Mischief now returning to his usual self as the effects of the drug subside. The pain meds are effective - if this is indeed the result of that, and it could be that Mischief has metabolised the meds and his systems are now resetting back to normal. But this is just my unprofessional assessment based on how you say he is presenting.
You also have an advantage because you are keen to observe his body language and doing all you can to aid us on the forum - especially Jane, with observations on his ears etc. If Mischief is presenting as comfortable - as in how he is sitting - is he shuffling about, being restless? Does he respond when you apprach him to have strokes?
Giving him Hay, parsley and mint isn't necessarily a bad thing for tonight - hay will be good for his digestive system, parsley is full of vitamins and mint does have medicinal qualities which Mischief instictively knows. But he also knows you are there supporting him. Fluids I would still be concerned about - the hay should make him thirsty so I would offer him syringe water but perhaps not force it. From what you posted previously it would seem that Mischief reacts when he gets stressed and speaking from someone who has a bunny who does react when stressed, I would advocate a gently gently approach - he trusts you to be his support but that can quickly be lost if you then create an ambience of mistrust. You could wet the parsley - give it a gentle soak under the tap so that it retains some moisture and from that Mischief will then at least be getting some fluid - albeit from small quantities on the surface of herbs.
Spend as much time as possible tonight with him - I know that is going to be a late one, but that will make Mischief comfortable and relaxed that you are there with him. If he remains stable, then you have done all you can for the time being, get yourself some sleep and assess the situation in the morning. I appreciate it's saturday but if you do need to contact the vets, then you have a clean day to do it, not a bank holiday day, but as it's a weekend then there would be additional rates for that.
I am pleased that the update was much more positive, but be mindful that rabbits hide illness very well and you take nothing for granted. Take the change in him as a positive, embrace that and continue being as thoroughly vigilant as you are and Mischief will have the very best chance possible of recovery.
Craig xx
Sorry I did not reply to this lovely message last night. I was so shattered. I tried to but couldn't concentrate.
Yes you are so right. We are constantly trying to understand what they are saying to us. And being bunnies they try to hide their illness which makes it much harder. Do you act on the side of caution and syringe feed them every 2 hours/rush them to vets/panic if they suddenly go quiet?? And then it ends up they are just trying to get some zzzzs and you keep hassling and force feeding them and they want to be left alones!!...
But we know they need food every few hours to survive so it has to be done. Until we know how to treat him and make him well again we have to keep him hydrated and fed so he is strong enough to get treatment when it can be sorted out.
I am not a vet so I can't check his vitals. But it's better to syringe feed him regularly than he have G.I. stasis. He went downhill very rapidly when we left him for a while. Much as we do not want to stress him out he is very thin now. If you can imagine a baby rabbit with no fat or muscle on him but a giant size. Then that is Mischief. He has no fat reserve now. And the vets said he has lost a lot of weight since his last visit just a week ago. He has lost around 0.4 kg in just over a week!!
I love that you called me a guardian angel. And I do feel like that. Yesterday I was telling him he had to fight. I was telling him we would help him but he had to work with us. I was crying as it is so upsetting to see him looking like a tiny frail thing when he is usually so strong and fast and feisty by nature. I was also talking to him and stroking him. Maybe he could feel the love? I don't know. But he must know we love him. I'm sure he knows we are trying to help him.
But he was lying there so quiet. We could hardly hear him breathe. And he did not react to any noise. And treats. We even tried him with a tiny bit of biscuit to see if he would react. He just sniffed it and turned his head away. He used to try and steal a whole packet of biscuits and try and hide under the bed!! We thought we were losing him.
But then he just jumped up and ran to his litter tray to poop. Then started frantically eating like there was no tomorrow. Maybe he understood what I was saying? It's not the first time I have felt he totally got what I was saying.
We have a special connection. I can ask him to do something and he just does it. We have a trick where I regularly ask him to take his treat off the bed so I can move position as I struggle to move sometimes, being as I'm a little disabled. I just say 'take it' and he jumps off the bed with treat in his mouth. My partner Phil just laughs and looks in wonder at it.
It's as if we just know what the other one is thinking. It's so hard to explain but it's an amazing experience. He is very intelligent and astute. He seems to understand you and he makes it very clear what he is thinking. You are in no doubt when he tells you something.
I do think you are right about the opiate painkiller. He did wake up eventually but was more sluggish all yesterday I also think he was very weak from lack of food and needs us to keep his syringe feeding regularly until he eats properly for himself. I think we just left it too long on Thursday.
It's all looking much better now. I just gave him a grape and 3 junior Excel pellets. We have left him under the bed surrounded by hay (alfafa, readigrass, timothy hay mixed with dry pumpkin and usual good quality long yellow hay), junior Excel and wet veggies.
We have a strategically-placed mirror so we can see him while sitting on bed chilling out ourselves and he is constantly munching on something good. As it is all healthy protein rich foods I can only see that as brilliant news!
I do believe he could feel our stress being that he is so sensitive anyway. Phil did hassle him a little even though I tried to explain he was getting grumpy. He even growled at Phil and pounced at him. Phil was adamant he was playing as he was pouncing like a puppy and caused a bit of a tiff between us! [emoji23][emoji23]
We will try offering him water. He has never been a big drinker though. He sometimes only drinks 20-30 mls in a day. But we always rinse veg under tap so presume he gets enough fluid that way.
To be honest, as he is now eating hay, grapes and a few pellets now we have given him 2mls of Loxicom last night and this morning I think it is probably his ears hurting. And the stress yesterday did not help matters.
I don't feel happy dropping Loxicom back down to 1ml twice a day if he is not eating. I'm thinking of trying to reduce it down slowly and see if he manages to eat. Say down to 1.7mls and if he still eats try down to 1.5 mls? See if can bring it down a bit at least. Bearing in mind Loxicom will help with inflammation as well as acting as a pain relief. I presume it's similar to Ibuprofen?
The inflammation in base of his ears could be putting pressure on his head and jaw aswell and so cause more pain plus there is the soreness from ulcers and actual nerve pain. I suffer from nerve pain in my face and get excrutiating pain in my ears/teeth aswell. I certainly don't want to eat then either!! There is nothing worse than face/ear/teeth pain imo. So finding the right level of painkiller is definitely key to his survival without jepardising his stomach/kidneys. Do you think my idea of dropping the dose slowly would be a wise move?
As he is looking so bright now (he has jumped on the bed for some attention and started nibbling my paperwork!! ) I'm starting to think a phonecall to vets in morning would be best move...see what they say. If he is eating again maybe discuss painkiller levels and just wait for the results from ear swabs. If they want to see him we can still take him tomorrow then.
Thank you for your helpful, inspiring words last night. Sometimes it helps so much just to hear you are doing the right thing by your bunny and re-evaluate once you have had rest yourself [emoji3]
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It would mean an hour train ride plus 20 min taxi either end aswell. I don't mind doing that for him but I don't think he would cope with the stress of it. 
