Critical Care for Underweight French Lop going through E Coniculi

[ninamichele11]

Hello all

My beautiful french lop bunny Avalon is currently being treated for E Coniculi and possible ear infection. She is on day 27 of treatment that includes Panacur, Loxicom, cotrimoxazole and Cerenia.

She was always a big girl weighing around 6.3kg at her heaviest, she did lose a little bit as she got a little bit older (she is soon 5 years old) but nothing drastic, however she rapidly lost weight when she became ill almost a month ago, she dropped down to 4.4kg and then again to 3.8kg, myself and the vet were very concerned and along with all the medication listed above she started on recovery food, at first she was having the science select recovery food but I was having difficulty with getting the consistancy correct where it would go into a syringe and come out (it just was not working). I have since switched over to Oxbow critical care which has been much easier and she has gained some weight and is back to 4.4kg again, hopefully we can keep getting weight on her.

It has been a struggle as she has been losing muscle mass I think as for almost 2 weeks she was almost entirely confined to a laundrey basket due to constant thrashing and rolling, she is now in a little playpen to hopefully help getting her up and moving again, she is still very weak but does get around to eat some food by herself, her own water and her appetite for hay never wavered even during her sickest period.

I still want to give her the critical care but I'm having trouble working out how much to exactly give her seeing as she is 1.underweight and 2. the amount the packaging suggests seems like an incredible amount of food especially when I have been trying feed her every few hours a little bit at a time.

The packet suggests 3 tablespoons per kg of bodyweight (a tablespoon being 9g), so for example if I was to give her enough for 4kg it would be around 108g of the food which when you add the amount of liquid needed is a massive amount to try and syringe feed a struggling rabbit over the course of a day, feeding every few hours.

I just want to make sure I am giving her the correct amount, and if anyone thinks I should feed her more or less since she is underweight but also struggling to give her the suggested amount on the packaging.

She is eating treats throughout the day (they are fenugreek natural ones nothing bad) they say they are appetite stimulators so been giving her a few of those.

Any advice at all is welcome, this month has been a real struggle for both of us and i'm not sure we are anywhere near any kind of full recovery yet but I want to keep fighting for her.

 

[katbun]

Sounds like you've been taking great care of Avalon, a month of treatment is very stressful! Well done for seeing her through this!

I've also been confused about the volume of critical care in the past, so maybe someone else can chime in on that, I just wanted to mention that when we were trying to put weight on Joey, our vet had him on Emeraid Sustain, which is much higher in calories and lower in fiber than critical care. Maybe it would be helpful for you alongside the critical care, something to ask your vet about first obviously.

Sending good vibes for Avalon

 

[ninamichele11]

Sounds like you've been taking great care of Avalon, a month of treatment is very stressful! Well done for seeing her through this!

I've also been confused about the volume of critical care in the past, so maybe someone else can chime in on that, I just wanted to mention that when we were trying to put weight on Joey, our vet had him on Emeraid Sustain, which is much higher in calories and lower in fiber than critical care. Maybe it would be helpful for you alongside the critical care, something to ask your vet about first obviously.

Sending good vibes for Avalon

thank you so much I will look into the Emeraid Sustain and talk to my vet about it! <3

 

[Omi]

Giving a bunny supplementary feeds when poorly is a balancing act really. You need to support its weight, and in Avalon's case increase it, as she has lost, but it should not be done too quickly, nor should it make her too full, so that she rejects her normal type of foods. It's also stressful for a bunny to have syringe-feeds and so sometimes trying to give a lot makes it counter-productive, as she should be kept as stress-free as possible.

It's excellent that she has remained committed to hay-eating as this will support both her digestive system and her teeth. What food, other than hay, was she fond of before becoming unwell?

I always think that rabbit food manufacturers certainly advise giving more than the optimal amount of pellet feed, so it's also possible that the same is true for critical care products.

I would monitor her weight regularly, as I think you are doing. As long as she is steadily gaining weight, I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to try to increase the amount of critical care.

I would also offer her other fresh foods in addition, such as herbs, dark green leafy vegetables and foraged wild plants (if you can find them close to you). I would also discuss the issue of supplementary feeding with Avalon's vet.

Sending her lots of vibes and I hope that she can make a full recovery

 

[ninamichele11]

Giving a bunny supplementary feeds when poorly is a balancing act really. You need to support its weight, and in Avalon's case increase it, as she has lost, but it should not be done too quickly, nor should it make her too full, so that she rejects her normal type of foods. It's also stressful for a bunny to have syringe-feeds and so sometimes trying to give a lot makes it counter-productive, as she should be kept as stress-free as possible.

It's excellent that she has remained committed to hay-eating as this will support both her digestive system and her teeth. What food, other than hay, was she fond of before becoming unwell?

I always think that rabbit food manufacturers certainly advise giving more than the optimal amount of pellet feed, so it's also possible that the same is true for critical care products.

I would monitor her weight regularly, as I think you are doing. As long as she is steadily gaining weight, I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to try to increase the amount of critical care.

I would also offer her other fresh foods in addition, such as herbs, dark green leafy vegetables and foraged wild plants (if you can find them close to you). I would also discuss the issue of supplementary feeding with Avalon's vet.

Sending her lots of vibes and I hope that she can make a full recovery

Thank you for responding!
Her usual pellets are the science select adult pellets, and she has a mix of herbs and greens everyday, and on occasion maybe once a month if that she will get a coin sized piece of banana or a blueberry as a treat. She is obsessed with basil and mint so she has those most often but i try to mix it up to she does not get bored, but always introduce anything new slowly and in tiny amounts at first.

I'm very lucky she loves the taste of her antibioitic and the pain killer so its only the panacur and anti nausea tablet i have to hide but i usually crush the tablet up add the panacur ontop and wrap it in a leaf of basil or a safe lettuce.

I will have a took with the vet about supplementry feeding! thank you <3