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Health of new rabbit

LarryMolly

Warren Scout
Hi all - we unexpectedly took on a third rabbit on Thursday.

We'd been toying with the idea of bonding a third to our pair but hadn't actually decided for sure either way yet. Anyway I saw a rabbit for sale online living in the most horrendous conditions (surprised that they'd advertised her in that state) and after seeing that my partner and I couldn't leave her, so we went to get her the following day.

We're lucky that we have the space and spare pens etc so she's living upstairs in a 6x2 pen in our spare bedroom recuperating. (Will be increasing the pen overtime but she's been confined to a tiny cage all her life so don't want to overwhelm).

We went to the vet on Friday for a general health check and bum clean as she was filthy and she's booked in again for this Friday for another health check and her mixi/vhd vaccination. Vhd2 a few weeks after that and then she'll be spayed when she's properly settled and healthy.

But there are a few things about her health I'm looking for some advice on:

- her bum is now clean but she's a white rabbit so there is a lot of urine staining covering all her feet, tail, tummy and bum. Do I need to wait for her to moult for this to go? Can I do anything?
- she was being fed muesli mix and carrots and has never eaten hay before. She now has tons of hay and we're weaning her off muesli (she's hardly getting any in the hope she'll eat more hay). Any tips on how we can get her to start eating hay? She's reluctantly nibbling it at the moment. Not giving her green veggies yet but will be starting this in a few days once it looks like her fibre is better.
- she is eating but her poos are tiny. She started producing more normal looking ceocotrophs yesterday but is spitting half of them out. Should I try giving her anything like fibrefirst? Or just hold and let her start eating more hay.
- the vet said we need to keep an eye on her back teeth.
- she's learnt to drink from a bowl but has been drinking two full ceramic bowls of water a day. She was dehydrated I'm presuming when we got her as her water bottle was empty and green inside. But that does seems like quite a lot to me as our bonded pair drink one a day between them. I should also say that she's a mini lionhead lop so is small.
- in terms of her mental health - we've given her lots of stimulation and hidey houses which she seems to be loving. As well as a cuddly toy to keep her company when we can't be there as we read this can help them feel more comfortable.

Overall she's settling in very well. She a very sweet gentle rabbit and doesn't seem to have any aggression from the way she's been treated but any thoughts on the above points would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.




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My overall advice I think would be to slow down a bit :) Whilst her previous accommodation was unsatisfactory, it will have felt safe to her. She has now been moved plus has had a visit to the vet (which is probably a completely new experience too).

Regarding her food, I would change the muesli food over slowly. I would hold off on the green veggies for a little while, otherwise I think both she and her digestive system will start to feel a bit overwhelmed. Try to get her into the habit of eating hay before changing much else. Try her with a few different types of hay. Maybe in a week or so, try her with a small amount of herbs or forage.

Regarding her fur, I've no experience of this, but it maybe that it will need to wait until she moults it out.

She does sound very cute and well done for rescuing her :) Have you thought of a name for her yet?
 
My overall advice I think would be to slow down a bit :) Whilst her previous accommodation was unsatisfactory, it will have felt safe to her. She has now been moved plus has had a visit to the vet (which is probably a completely new experience too).

Regarding her food, I would change the muesli food over slowly. I would hold off on the green veggies for a little while, otherwise I think both she and her digestive system will start to feel a bit overwhelmed. Try to get her into the habit of eating hay before changing much else. Try her with a few different types of hay. Maybe in a week or so, try her with a small amount of herbs or forage.

Regarding her fur, I've no experience of this, but it maybe that it will need to wait until she moults it out.

She does sound very cute and well done for rescuing her :) Have you thought of a name for her yet?

I agree with Omi's advice but will also add that it may be that she is drinking a lot of water because she is hungry. If she has never had hay before then she probably already has some Dental issues. So she may not be able to eat hay, rather than refusing to do so. So I would only reduce her hard feed very gradually. Otherwise gut stasis may become an issue. You could certainly try introducing some Fibafirst sticks. She will probably turn her nose up at them at first, so try crumbling them into the reduced portion size of her muesli mix. I have never had a problem introducing Fibafirst to a Rabbit's diet, even if they have never had it before.

In a few days time and if all is going well you could try offering her some dried forage such as plantain, coltsfoot, dandelion, bramble leaves etc. Fresh herbs are usually well tolerated and personally I'd offer her a few sprigs of fresh coriander. If you chop it up and mix it into some hay the aroma may get her to eat both (if she can eat hay).

IME urine staining of fur is best to be trimmed/groomed out. Dont trim the fur on her feet/hocks though.


Did the Vet mention giving her a 28 day course of Fenbendazole (Panacur) to address any issues with EC ? If not maybe give the Vet another call and ask him/her if he feels it would be a good idea.

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/e-cuniculi/


Sounds like you got her out of a horrible home and I hope that she will soon be fully recovered xx
 
Hi all - we unexpectedly took on a third rabbit on Thursday.

We'd been toying with the idea of bonding a third to our pair but hadn't actually decided for sure either way yet. Anyway I saw a rabbit for sale online living in the most horrendous conditions (surprised that they'd advertised her in that state) and after seeing that my partner and I couldn't leave her, so we went to get her the following day.

We're lucky that we have the space and spare pens etc so she's living upstairs in a 6x2 pen in our spare bedroom recuperating. (Will be increasing the pen overtime but she's been confined to a tiny cage all her life so don't want to overwhelm).

We went to the vet on Friday for a general health check and bum clean as she was filthy and she's booked in again for this Friday for another health check and her mixi/vhd vaccination. Vhd2 a few weeks after that and then she'll be spayed when she's properly settled and healthy.

But there are a few things about her health I'm looking for some advice on:

- her bum is now clean but she's a white rabbit so there is a lot of urine staining covering all her feet, tail, tummy and bum. Do I need to wait for her to moult for this to go? Can I do anything?
- she was being fed muesli mix and carrots and has never eaten hay before. She now has tons of hay and we're weaning her off muesli (she's hardly getting any in the hope she'll eat more hay). Any tips on how we can get her to start eating hay? She's reluctantly nibbling it at the moment. Not giving her green veggies yet but will be starting this in a few days once it looks like her fibre is better.
- she is eating but her poos are tiny. She started producing more normal looking ceocotrophs yesterday but is spitting half of them out. Should I try giving her anything like fibrefirst? Or just hold and let her start eating more hay.
- the vet said we need to keep an eye on her back teeth.
- she's learnt to drink from a bowl but has been drinking two full ceramic bowls of water a day. She was dehydrated I'm presuming when we got her as her water bottle was empty and green inside. But that does seems like quite a lot to me as our bonded pair drink one a day between them. I should also say that she's a mini lionhead lop so is small.
- in terms of her mental health - we've given her lots of stimulation and hidey houses which she seems to be loving. As well as a cuddly toy to keep her company when we can't be there as we read this can help them feel more comfortable.

Overall she's settling in very well. She a very sweet gentle rabbit and doesn't seem to have any aggression from the way she's been treated but any thoughts on the above points would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.




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Well done you for taking her on. Goodness knows what a life she may have had if you had left her.

Regarding her white fur, she should eventually clean herself fully. If not, you can ask the vet to trim the fur, but not on the hocks. It doesn't matter about the staining, it will go eventually.

I have experienced the situation you have, where only muesli mix was being fed and no hay at all. I found that the rabbit physically couldn't eat hay because of spurs on the back teeth. The vet took them off and the rabbit ate better, though couldn't manage hay. When a rabbit can't manage hay I free feed readigrass, which is just as good as hay for wearing down teeth. Some people have experienced rabbits being sensitive to readigrass, but in my experience of fostering hundreds of rabbits, they love it and it's usually well tolerated :)

Fibafirst is a good thing to give :) Please don't withhold food if she doesn't eat hay. Fibafirst contains long strand fibre, so should help with teeth and digestion.

Some vets (mine does) advocate a 28 day course of Panacur as a precaution against E.C. I should talk with your vet about this.

Once again, I think you're amazing for taking her on. Has she a name?
 
You are very kind for taking her in, she's lucky to be away from that horrible home. How awful that she had never even had hay.

We did something similar last year and now have lovely Buffy, who is an Angora. You can probably imagine the state her fur was in, she was so dirty and horribly matted. She had to be completed shaved at the vets.

I'd love to hear more about her and her progress. Good luck x
 
Thanks so much for the advice everyone! It's really helpful as we've not been in this situation before.

We're calling her Poppy! She's a mini lionhead lop and is a lovely little thing.

My partner is on his was to get some fibafirst and we'll get some readigrass online as well. I didn't think she wouldn't be eating hay because she actually can't. Will ask the vet to check her teeth when we go in for her vaccination on Friday. She is getting muesli but we're sort of giving it to her in intervals hoping she'll eat hay inbetween. Very interesting about the water intake as well, hopefully she's not been going hungry!! Will keep a close eye on this.

Will ask our vet about EC as well. Sounds very sensible to me so I'll push for this. Will her being in the house with our other rabbits put them at risk if she has EC?

The threeb's - that's lovely you helped Buffy! I hope she's doing well with you guys :)

I will keep you all updated as things progress x


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks so much for the advice everyone! It's really helpful as we've not been in this situation before.

We're calling her Poppy! She's a mini lionhead lop and is a lovely little thing.

My partner is on his was to get some fibafirst and we'll get some readigrass online as well. I didn't think she wouldn't be eating hay because she actually can't. Will ask the vet to check her teeth when we go in for her vaccination on Friday. She is getting muesli but we're sort of giving it to her in intervals hoping she'll eat hay inbetween. Very interesting about the water intake as well, hopefully she's not been going hungry!! Will keep a close eye on this.

Will ask our vet about EC as well. Sounds very sensible to me so I'll push for this. Will her being in the house with our other rabbits put them at risk if she has EC?

The threeb's - that's lovely you helped Buffy! I hope she's doing well with you guys :)

I will keep you all updated as things progress x


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This link may be helpful to read to further understand EC, scroll down about half way to see specific details of how it can be transmitted

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Encephalitozoonosis.htm
 
Thanks so much for the advice everyone! It's really helpful as we've not been in this situation before.

We're calling her Poppy! She's a mini lionhead lop and is a lovely little thing.

My partner is on his was to get some fibafirst and we'll get some readigrass online as well. I didn't think she wouldn't be eating hay because she actually can't. Will ask the vet to check her teeth when we go in for her vaccination on Friday. She is getting muesli but we're sort of giving it to her in intervals hoping she'll eat hay inbetween. Very interesting about the water intake as well, hopefully she's not been going hungry!! Will keep a close eye on this.

Will ask our vet about EC as well. Sounds very sensible to me so I'll push for this. Will her being in the house with our other rabbits put them at risk if she has EC?

The threeb's - that's lovely you helped Buffy! I hope she's doing well with you guys :)

I will keep you all updated as things progress x


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Poppy is a lovely name :love:

Bear in mind that vets can't always see the full extent of a rabbit's back teeth using just an otoscope - it's about 50%. She may need a sedation eventually if she continues not to eat hay. It will be interesting to see how she gets on with the fibafirst :)

Will she be bonded with your other rabbits and sharing the same litter tray? E.C. is passed via infected spores in the urine, so if they are sharing, all rabbits would be treated at the same time.

Here's bit more info:

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/Ecuniculi_Lft.pdf

http://www.dechra.co.uk/therapy-are...cs-antifungals/disease-information/e-cuniculi
 
Poppy is a lovely name :love:

Bear in mind that vets can't always see the full extent of a rabbit's back teeth using just an otoscope - it's about 50%. She may need a sedation eventually if she continues not to eat hay. It will be interesting to see how she gets on with the fibafirst :)

Will she be bonded with your other rabbits and sharing the same litter tray? E.C. is passed via infected spores in the urine, so if they are sharing, all rabbits would be treated at the same time.

Here's bit more info:

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/Ecuniculi_Lft.pdf

http://www.dechra.co.uk/therapy-are...cs-antifungals/disease-information/e-cuniculi

Thanks for this, I'll have a read.

We're going to try and bond Poppy with Larry and Molly in future when she's completely ok. Ideally they would be bonded but if it's not possible then we'll find her a friend. So will definitely get the vet to treat her for EC just in case.

Thanks a lot :)


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Thanks for this, I'll have a read.

We're going to try and bond Poppy with Larry and Molly in future when she's completely ok. Ideally they would be bonded but if it's not possible then we'll find her a friend. So will definitely get the vet to treat her for EC just in case.

Thanks a lot :)


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You're very welcome :)

Good luck with it all x
 
Thanks so much for the advice everyone! It's really helpful as we've not been in this situation before.

We're calling her Poppy! She's a mini lionhead lop and is a lovely little thing.

My partner is on his was to get some fibafirst and we'll get some readigrass online as well. I didn't think she wouldn't be eating hay because she actually can't. Will ask the vet to check her teeth when we go in for her vaccination on Friday. She is getting muesli but we're sort of giving it to her in intervals hoping she'll eat hay inbetween. Very interesting about the water intake as well, hopefully she's not been going hungry!! Will keep a close eye on this.

Will ask our vet about EC as well. Sounds very sensible to me so I'll push for this. Will her being in the house with our other rabbits put them at risk if she has EC?

The threeb's - that's lovely you helped Buffy! I hope she's doing well with you guys :)
I will keep you all updated as things progress x

Yes, thank you, she's doing great, such a lovely rabbit. She's loved up with her boy Theo now. They live in an 8ft x 6ft shed with a 16ft tunnel connecting to a run, so compared to the tiny hutch she could barely turn around in x
 
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