Rabbit Crisis...Need Advice!

[desertcat]

Here we sit in the midst of a blizzard, and one of our yound Dutch bunnies is having a problem. Yesterday, she was a little lethargic, but quiet, eating & drinking and investigating the insulation (grass hay) we added to her cage. This morning she's not eating and is crying. She's on her way to the house (well swaddled) for warming.

Question now is, (rermember I don't know nuthin bout rabbits!), what do we do?

Update since last sentence, Mike is now on my lap. Very quiet, not shivering, but just gave something like a little burp.

 

[Jared77]

Is he producing a stool? Is it normal looking? I know next to nothing about them, but I'm trying to clarify/eliminate problems by body systems.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

From what I have read and have always been watching for is blockage. Very dangerous and they die and painful. I think one of the few times they do cry. They get gas that is painful. I read one lady was told to get baby gas medicine and give to the rabbit. FAST! You can ask on Rabbit Talk or look through archives. It is a reason to go to the vet if possible. http://rabbittalk.com/ I copied and pasted it below. I read rubbing tubby, letting them hop around the house and move to break up the gas, but not sure if this is what is wrong with your rabbit.

Here is a thread there about the drops. http://rabbittalk.com/urgent-rabbit-care-needed-t10848.html?hilit=simethicone

He was very leathargic and i saw he hadnt eatin any of his pellets since last night. He wont move, and his stomach is very bloated. What should I do? The only thing different I have done is giving him some oatmeal, and some rose leaves/petals. Should I go buy some baby gas drops? And what brand? Please Help!
Brand doesn't matter. What you want is Simethicone and it should be available in the baby section of a good pharmacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simethicone

You can also try some gentle massage of the rabbits belly to stimulate gut activity.

There is nothing in either oatmeal or rose leaves/petals that should have caused this.

Pull the pellets and give him grass hay to try to get things moving again.

Symptoms, rabbit hiding in corner of cage. Swollen and distended abdomen and stomach area. Rabbit may be squeaking (grinding) its teeth due to pain.

Caused by unfamiliar food, ingesting fur, or rabbit eating too much green food at one time.

Simethicone, any brand infant gas relief drops can be used to treat bloat. Give a dropperful into the rabbits cheek a few drops at a time (allow the rabbit to swallow the drops) by lifting up a lip and dropping a few drops into the space between the teeth and cheek. Let go of the lip and allow the rabbit to swallow, repeat until dropper is empty. Give every couple hours until rabbit's belly is no longer swollen.
I have read children's simethicone drops will help break up the gas. I see maggiej beat me to it, I concur pull the feed and replace with timothy or some other high fiber hay
We are getting drops now. How much should I give him? He was grinding his teeth. Should I move him in for the night? It's suppose to drop to the 30s tonight.


Edit--- all they have is tablet, is that okay?

you can dissolve the tablets with a small amount of water and stringe it in his mouth. He is in pain right now.. It might be to late if he is grinding his teeth. It sounds like the temperature change was to much for him .. You have to act fast on this.
You have to give him the gas med every hour for a while then again in the morning. Rabbit cant burp. It has to go through his system. .. Bring him in where it is warmer if you can.... Put him down on the floor and make him move around. And then massage his belly .. Grass hay only at this point.. See how he is in the morning.
Got the drops in him, he guzzled them down, I am guessing they are flavored. He is in a dog crate in the storage room, under the carport with a litterbox and hay(and water of course). I also syringed some Gaterade in him, as well as massaged his stomach. He stopped grinding his teeth, and I think he is doing a tiny bit better than when I found him. I will check on him in a little while. I am praying and hoping he will be fine!
I continued the Drops/Gaterade/Belly massages every hour until 10:30 last night. I checked on him early this morning (prepared for the worst) and was greeted by a happy bunny!
His stomach had gone down dramatically, but it was still a bit puffy, and his attitude was SO much better! We will actually hop around now and kick when I flip him/pick him up like the evil rabbit he is! Last night it was just like holding a stuffed rabbit, you could do anything and he was so still. What a relief for him to be back to his normal self.

Questions: When should I give his pellets and start greens again? I gave him a few more drops early this morning, as well as about an hour ago, is it fine to stop now?
If you can keep him on grass hay and kitchen oatmeal (like Quaker Old Fashioned/Large Flake) for a few days more, that would be best. Then s-l-o-w-l-y reintroduce the pellets. But I do strongly suggest that you keep grass hay available for him at all times.

Above is from Rabbit Talk forum about a rabbit that had gas.

 

[Mickey328]

And when he gets over it make sure he has constant access to lots of fiber...and is eating it. Their digestive systems are much like horses and if it doesn't keep moving, it can be deadly. Ours have free choice of whatever grass hay is in season...right now it's Timothy. They also get a couple good handfuls of alfalfa every day...not the cubes, the actual hay. Grains are okay, but if they're not used to having a lot of fresh stuff, keep it limited and very, very slowly increase the amount he gets to let his system get accustomed to it.

If he's a wooly type breed, the fiber is even more important; they can get wool block pretty easily from grooming themselves.

When we got ours, they'd been fed exclusively pellets. We switched them to grains over the course of about 2 to 3 weeks, and also started to introduce fresh food...in tiny amounts. They're big (Silver Fox) rabbits, so to start, they'd get about a 1 inch piece of carrot in a day, and then none for a couple days, then another, and so on. Start with a tsp or tbls one day and nothing more in the way of greens for a couple days. Then again. After a couple weeks, you can either increase the amount or give them a bit of something else; but always in those small, small quantities till they get used to it. Always keep an eye on their poop and general behavior and appearance and if something's not right, cut them back to hay and a little grain for a few days.

So glad he's okay! You did good

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

And when he gets over it make sure he has constant access to lots of fiber...and is eating it. Their digestive systems are much like horses and if it doesn't keep moving, it can be deadly. Ours have free choice of whatever grass hay is in season...right now it's Timothy. They also get a couple good handfuls of alfalfa every day...not the cubes, the actual hay. Grains are okay, but if they're not used to having a lot of fresh stuff, keep it limited and very, very slowly increase the amount he gets to let his system get accustomed to it.

If he's a wooly type breed, the fiber is even more important; they can get wool block pretty easily from grooming themselves.

When we got ours, they'd been fed exclusively pellets. We switched them to grains over the course of about 2 to 3 weeks, and also started to introduce fresh food...in tiny amounts. They're big (Silver Fox) rabbits, so to start, they'd get about a 1 inch piece of carrot in a day, and then none for a couple days, then another, and so on. Start with a tsp or tbls one day and nothing more in the way of greens for a couple days. Then again. After a couple weeks, you can either increase the amount or give them a bit of something else; but always in those small, small quantities till they get used to it. Always keep an eye on their poop and general behavior and appearance and if something's not right, cut them back to hay and a little grain for a few days.

So glad he's okay! You did good

I don't think he is okay yet. I hope my post is not confusing. It is copied from another forum about a rabbit that did get well with baby gas medication.

 

[desertcat]

Thanks gang!

Happy bunny update. She's still in the house, eating, drinking, peeing, pooping and driving the cats totally nuts!

Do rabbits get gas colic like horses? That's really what this was most similar to. And NOW I know something else that needs to go in the first aid kit!

Don't tell anybody, but I really enjoyed sitting around holding the bunny (seemed more comfie when closer to vertical) and watching lots of tv shows I'd recorded but hadn't had time to watch. Really nice change from the usual snowstorm frenzy of cooking and cleaning. Sun came out a few minutes ago to look at our 17 inches of snow that has drifted to about 3 feet in our driveway...Acccckkkkkk!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Thanks gang!

Happy bunny update. She's still in the house, eating, drinking, peeing, pooping and driving the cats totally nuts!

Do rabbits get gas colic like horses? That's really what this was most similar to. And NOW I know something else that needs to go in the first aid kit!

Don't tell anybody, but I really enjoyed sitting around holding the bunny (seemed more comfie when closer to vertical) and watching lots of tv shows I'd recorded but hadn't had time to watch. Really nice change from the usual snowstorm frenzy of cooking and cleaning. Sun came out a few minutes ago to look at our 17 inches of snow that has drifted to about 3 feet in our driveway...Acccckkkkkk!

I have only had rabbits a few months and I have been reading a lot so I will know what to do with them. Yes, they have gas colic similar to horses. I read their stomach and digestion is similar to a horse. I am not sure about all the differences of gas, fur block or enteritis. There is a weaning enteritis. I got my 5 young ones weaned without that problem. They were weaned very late. Glad your rabbit is better.

 

[Nyboy]

I did not know Texas got snow.

 

[canesisters]

:bun Soo happy that she's better

 

[897tgigvib]

Love and tlc made the bunny all better!