Hi everyone,
Sadly my 4 year old lop girl Layla has been experiencing what appears to be a mild respiratory infection for several weeks now - she was still eating and pooping fine, energetic, doing binkies etc, we just noticed occasional sneezing and a slight wet nose, as well as an occasional snoring/wheezing sound when she was asleep. We took her to the vet and were prescribed Baytril, however after 2 weeks of this there was barely any improvement (we thought there was at first but it went rapidly downhill after she came off, with her sneezing increasing to above pre-treatment levels and her eyes becoming weepy). Last Friday we took her back in and were prescribed Sulfatrim 0.6ml 2 times a day. It has been hell trying to give her this, with the baytril we just mixed with banana and she loved her medicine time, but Sulfatrim seems to be a lot nastier tasting so the usual banana trick didn't work. We have to syringe feed which Layla hates, which fair enough, most bunnies would, but she is what I would call a 'spirited' bunny, she is incredibly strong, physically and mentally, impossible to pick up (likely due to a rough past as she's a rescue bun) and will fight to high hell to stop us restraining her or doing anything against her will.
Anyway, the antibiotics seem to actually be helping thank God, her sneezing has reduced significantly, and her eyes and nose are also dry. However, the side effects of the Sulfatrim seem to be impacting her more negatively than the infection itself. Yesterday I noticed she was leaving a fair amount of cecotrophes, so I thought to keep an eye on her and if she got worse to ring the vet. Today our normally active, troublemaking bunny is quiet and looks exhausted, and she's gone off most food, which for Layla is mind-blowing as she was starved before she was rescued so is normally crazy about food, so of course I made an appointment, and chose to do a telephone consultation so not to further stress Layla out, and have been prescribed Metoclopramide (Emiprid oral solution) 1.3 ml twice daily (She's 2.3kg for reference - is this the right kind of dosage for her situation?) and Bio-Lapis sachets.
This morning she ate some parsley (one of her favourite veggies) but barely touched her pellets (very unlike her as theyre normally gone in about 10 seconds), and we noticed she just wasn't eating any hay, and was also leaving loads of cecotropes everywhere - it was at this point we called the vet. In the afternoon I managed to feed her some dried bramble leaves, willow twigs, celery and more parsley, she is very enthusiastic about the brambles in particular, however she has no interest in hay or many of the other things I offered her (rosewood summerfield mix, ribwort, more pellets, dill), and as a result of her reduced appetite she's producing a lot fewer droppings. We just gave her the 1.3ml metoclopramide so will wait for a couple hours to feed her and hopefully this will improve her appetite.
Has anyone had experience with Sulfatrim or any other antibiotics that caused loss of appitite? Does anyone have any suggestions for how to encourage her to eat and drink, and how to minimise the stress of syringe feeding meds?
I'm also not sure about how to give the Bio-Lapis as it is supposed to be dissolved in their water, but she has a bonded partner who is completely healthy (thank God), I was thinking it's probably fine to let them both drink it, as surely it can't do the other bun any harm if it's just rehydration/probiotics? I know I could syringe it, but I don't want to stress her out further as she's already having 4 syringe feeds a day (and potentially more as I will give her critical care if she doesn't eat her pellets this evening), which causes her immense distress.
I'm completely new to gut stasis, although I'm not sure if she's in stasis as she's clearly still producing cecotropes and eating (albeit very selective foods), she's certainly in the warning zone so are there any things that people experienced with stasis would reccomend to do alongside the meds to ensure that she doesn't go into full blown stasis?
Thank you for any help or well wishes, I'm praying Layla makes a full recovery because she's my world and the most wonderful friendly loving bunny anyone could wish for, it's breaking my heart to see her suffer like this.
Sadly my 4 year old lop girl Layla has been experiencing what appears to be a mild respiratory infection for several weeks now - she was still eating and pooping fine, energetic, doing binkies etc, we just noticed occasional sneezing and a slight wet nose, as well as an occasional snoring/wheezing sound when she was asleep. We took her to the vet and were prescribed Baytril, however after 2 weeks of this there was barely any improvement (we thought there was at first but it went rapidly downhill after she came off, with her sneezing increasing to above pre-treatment levels and her eyes becoming weepy). Last Friday we took her back in and were prescribed Sulfatrim 0.6ml 2 times a day. It has been hell trying to give her this, with the baytril we just mixed with banana and she loved her medicine time, but Sulfatrim seems to be a lot nastier tasting so the usual banana trick didn't work. We have to syringe feed which Layla hates, which fair enough, most bunnies would, but she is what I would call a 'spirited' bunny, she is incredibly strong, physically and mentally, impossible to pick up (likely due to a rough past as she's a rescue bun) and will fight to high hell to stop us restraining her or doing anything against her will.
Anyway, the antibiotics seem to actually be helping thank God, her sneezing has reduced significantly, and her eyes and nose are also dry. However, the side effects of the Sulfatrim seem to be impacting her more negatively than the infection itself. Yesterday I noticed she was leaving a fair amount of cecotrophes, so I thought to keep an eye on her and if she got worse to ring the vet. Today our normally active, troublemaking bunny is quiet and looks exhausted, and she's gone off most food, which for Layla is mind-blowing as she was starved before she was rescued so is normally crazy about food, so of course I made an appointment, and chose to do a telephone consultation so not to further stress Layla out, and have been prescribed Metoclopramide (Emiprid oral solution) 1.3 ml twice daily (She's 2.3kg for reference - is this the right kind of dosage for her situation?) and Bio-Lapis sachets.
This morning she ate some parsley (one of her favourite veggies) but barely touched her pellets (very unlike her as theyre normally gone in about 10 seconds), and we noticed she just wasn't eating any hay, and was also leaving loads of cecotropes everywhere - it was at this point we called the vet. In the afternoon I managed to feed her some dried bramble leaves, willow twigs, celery and more parsley, she is very enthusiastic about the brambles in particular, however she has no interest in hay or many of the other things I offered her (rosewood summerfield mix, ribwort, more pellets, dill), and as a result of her reduced appetite she's producing a lot fewer droppings. We just gave her the 1.3ml metoclopramide so will wait for a couple hours to feed her and hopefully this will improve her appetite.
Has anyone had experience with Sulfatrim or any other antibiotics that caused loss of appitite? Does anyone have any suggestions for how to encourage her to eat and drink, and how to minimise the stress of syringe feeding meds?
I'm also not sure about how to give the Bio-Lapis as it is supposed to be dissolved in their water, but she has a bonded partner who is completely healthy (thank God), I was thinking it's probably fine to let them both drink it, as surely it can't do the other bun any harm if it's just rehydration/probiotics? I know I could syringe it, but I don't want to stress her out further as she's already having 4 syringe feeds a day (and potentially more as I will give her critical care if she doesn't eat her pellets this evening), which causes her immense distress.
I'm completely new to gut stasis, although I'm not sure if she's in stasis as she's clearly still producing cecotropes and eating (albeit very selective foods), she's certainly in the warning zone so are there any things that people experienced with stasis would reccomend to do alongside the meds to ensure that she doesn't go into full blown stasis?
Thank you for any help or well wishes, I'm praying Layla makes a full recovery because she's my world and the most wonderful friendly loving bunny anyone could wish for, it's breaking my heart to see her suffer like this.