Weak Floppy Bunny, Please help "Guineapigrescue"

laura_tcb

My 15 month old pet rabbit Silver is very unwell. Practically overnight he became very weak and "floppy" and cannot stand up. Over one week ago, he had his back teeth pared and has been eating well and lively ever since, but two days ago I noticed that he seemed a bit tired - but still ate the piece of carrot I gave him. That night he became so bad he was lying on his side. I rushed straight to the UCD Vet Hospital where they gave him oxygen and put him on a drip, a few hours later at 7am, I brought him to see Bairbre O Malley in Bray. I know Bairbre is the expert in Ireland on rabbits, but she could not find anything wrong - his temp is fine, heart fine, breathing fine, normal pellets, urinating normal, no pain on his body etc. She even did a chest xray to see was it Pneumonia but its not. He is still with Bairbre now on the drip, but no change.

The worst about this is that another rabbit of mine died a few months ago of the very same symptoms - I had a post mortem done by Bairbre, but again, nothing was obvious. I am very worried about Silver and was be grateful if anyone could shed some light on the subject?

Thanks very much.

comongethappy

Hi Laura,

I'm not a rabbit expert, nor have I ever had a rabbit - but do you think it could be poisioning - or has that been ruled out w/ bloods? It the grass around where you have the rabbit had been treated with weed killers, etc... there is a chance it could be affecting it.

laura_tcb

Bloods were checked and nothing wrong there - he was a small bit dehydrated but nothing serious so they said in the hospital.. he could not have been poisoned any other way either. Thanks for the reply

Schlemm

Are you feeding the rabbit the same food, or housing it in the same cage, as your previous rabbit who died?

LegacyUser

Hi there, very sorry to hear about Silver. It must be very worrying. It is a horrible situation to be in and it sounds like you have given this little fella the best chance by giving it the best medical care there is.

Fingers crossed that this little fella recovers.

laura_tcb

Thanks for your replies, He is not in the same cage as Vanilla was when she was alive, I was afraid of that so moved him, so I just cannot understand why or how this has happened. I have to call the Vet now at 9.30am to see if he survived over the weekend.

LegacyUser

Hi Laura .. is Silver okay?

Bainne2

Hi, I am very sorry to hear that your bunny is unwell. This seems very similar to what happened to my two guineapigs when they were organically posioned by foxglove. Has anyone been feeding the bun stuff that you don't know about (in my case my dad thought it was harmless to give them the weeds from the garden). Unfortunatly bunnies aren't that sensible and will just eat whats infront of them if it is tasty where as pigs have been known to have a sense of what is good for them (unfortunatly not in my case).

Charcoal is considered a remedy for posioning but it is advised that it is adminsidtered very soon after the posioning. I am not sure if organic posioning would show up on a blood test, I mean would it tell you if he had eaten grass an hour earlier.......

If you think this is posible it is important that the bun doesn't go off his food, syringe feeding might be necessary, you can use a coffee grinder to powder his food and then add hot water to form a paste which can be syringed using a needless syringe. Only press down if he is swallowing as other wise it could go down the wrong way. If he comes off the drip but isn't drinking on his own he will need liquid as well, this can be syringed as well the same way as the food but yo have to be even more carefull. I find adding a bit of juice (organic/fresh/non-concentrate/etc) is good as it gives it gives it a bi of taste and the vitamin c in the orange is helpfull.

The only other thing I can possibly think it might be would perhaps he got a shock, lost ****** to his brain and suffered neurological damage from te lack of it which would result in the loss of the ability to stand up, and from that pehaps he grew weaker again.

I will tell Rebecka (Guineapig rescue that you need help over here as well)

I hope you have good news to report back to us with.......and good luck

Sigma Force

Sorry, only just seen this now. Perhaps it could be some sort of virus. But if the vet couldn't find anything wrong them I'm not sure, did they check his teeth and mouth to make sure he could eat properly after having his teeth done? Could there be something in the house he could of eaten or chewed on? Did you get the rabbit from the same place as the last one? If so perhaps it's a genetic thing. Sorry I'm not much help on this any news on how he's doing?

laura_tcb

Hi Guys,

Thanks very much for all your replies, I have great news - Silver is much better and came home today!! I just cant believe it, I really thought I was going to lose him. Bairbre has been great, she has looked after him since Friday and thankfully he was well enough to come home today. His illness is still a mystery though - xrays clear, blood clear, pellets and urine normal so it is very strange! He gradually got back the power of his back legs - they are working fine, and his front legs are stiil weak - but he can move them and sit up normally by himself (still a bit shaky). It was almost like he had a stroke - but has regained power now so thats ruled out.

If I hear any more I'll keep you updated, but again thanks for your replies, its really nice to know that people really do care

Sigma Force

That's great news! Would be interesting to know what it was. Mysterious little rabbit.