Bunny Help

JD_Faery

I have a polish dwarf rabbit about a year and a half old. He has been perfectly fine up to now and now today he's not able to walk properly, not eating or drinking, and he had a head tilt (not intermittent, its there constantly). Has anyone had this experience?

I'm only asking because i wont be able to get to the vet until tomorrow and i was wondering is there anything i can do at home, or what should i do.

I would really appreciate any help anyone could give me. I dont want to google it because in the past with any kind of diagnosis I've found google to be completely off the mark and well, needlessly scary to be honest..

Once again, thanks for any help.

TooManyDogs

If you could get him to the vet today that would be much better for him. Rabbits don't tend to show that they're ill until they are really really sick and then time is very critical. The fact that he seems really bad today would suggest he's been hiding it for the last couple of days, most prey animals do that so they don't get picked out as being weak by preditors.

If you can't bring him to the vet today then I'd make sure to take him into a draft free place. You dont mention if he's an indoor or out door rabbit but if he's outdoor then bring him into somewhere like a utility or bathroom where it'll be warmer than outside but not too warm for him. If he's indoors check if his ears are cold, and if they are give him access to a warm hot water bottle wrapped in towels. Don't make him too hot though, that can be worse than too cold.

And good luck. Let us know how he gets on

JD_Faery

thanks a million for your help! hes an indoor rabbit, ill check that out now.

Thanks again

Sigma Force

Always treat an illness with a rabbit as an emergency hopefully you have already taken the bun to the vets. Head tilts can be common enough but can be cause by various things. Never wait with a rabbit no1. rule of bunny ownership.

JD_Faery

We rang the vet this evening and he told us to bring him in tomorrow, but later on he had an emergency call out so he rang us back and told us to bring him down then. Just home now, he has a middle ear infection. He was given an injection down there, and a course of antibiotics for a week. Fingers crossed he'll start to feel better soon.

TooManyDogs

Hopefully he'll be ok, fingers crossed for him. Rabbits can really scare the crap out of you when they get sick!

JD_Faery

i know! he's just so tiny and helpless no change yet but i wouldnt really expect there to be this soon. hopefully over the next fews days he will improve.

Sigma Force

Great he's being sorted, would take a few days for there to be any improvements. Would be a good idea to put him on a pro biotic while he's on the antibiotics and for a week or so afterwards. Something like avi pro or acedopholis. You can get acedopholis capsules in most chemists they aren't too expensive and you could snip off the top and squeeze the contents onto a piece of carrot and see if he'll eat it.

JD_Faery

hey everyone, just to give the update...

I kept him on the antibiotic for the week but there was no change in him so I brought him back to the vet on wednesday who decided she wanted to take him in and treat the infection more aggressively as they had the worry that it had progressed into an inner ear infection...on thursday they were really happy with him, he had started eating again but unfortunately it didnt last and he passed away on saturday night..The infection just got too much for the little guy. I'm heartbroken...

RIP lovely bunny

Macker1

I'm absolutely gutted for your loss. Me and the family lost one of our Rabbits before Christmas last year. The poor thing had suffered a stroke and was put to sleep by the vet. It hit all the family badly as we had all been quite fond of our little Cookie.



We had a measure of comfort in the fact that we knew he wasn't going to suffer and also had our other Rabbit Thumper to spoil.




At the end of this week we are hoping to collect our first family dog from DogsTrust which will also help the healing process even further.


Once again sorry for your loss. Remember the good times.....:)

TooManyDogs

I'm so sorry to hear about you poor rabbit.

Sigma Force

So sorry about your bun, good that you had brought him in straight away though time is of the essence with rabbits but they are also good at hiding their illness so sometimes are more in that people realise because they hide it so well.

Dunno why there's an angry smilie on one of my posts I don't put smilies on my post was either an accidental click or someone put it there.

Macker Cookie was lovely, cute markings.

Shewhomustbe...

So sorry to read of your loss, I've lost four rabbits and it hit me like a truck every time. My thoughts are with you during this difficult time.

JD_Faery

thanks everyone. its weird, no one seems to really understand why im upset..i just got so attached to the little guy..im heartbroken

anyway, Clarkson xxx





@Macker, beautiful

chuck eastwood

Really sorry to hear that, I have A lion haired dawrf about a year and a half old. Came home from work last week and found her with a long tuft of carpet hanging out of her mouth. vet was closed so had to take it out myself.Dont know how she didnt choke. We let her run up and down the stairs and into a spare bed room. She got in behind a press and started digging .Hope it doesnt put you off getting more rabbit's:)

Rabbitandcavy

So, so sorry about the loss of your bunny
It's sad the way some people don't understand why we get upset over out rabbits when they pass away, after all, they are ''only rabbits'' right? :mad:

Anyone with rabbits might be interested in joining www.irishrabbits.proboards.com lots of bunny lovers over there.