Bloat? Fat? Or Pregnant?

[Easy Ears]

Ok, so I have a friend who got into a interesting predicament with her cousins who got some rabbits at the flea market. Long story short the two rabbits of unknown age and opposite gender have been living together for about 4 weeks. I believe they are both some kind of lop mix. Anyway, I will be going over to her house tomorrow to look them over. My friend said she thinks the doe is pregnant because she looks pretty bloated. I've read up on some bloat stuff and heard it wasn't good to massage the stomach when you have bloat, so would feeling for kits be a bad idea if it was bloat? Or could it be that she is just fat? How would I know? Would looking at her droppings help?

 

[Prisma]

Where did you read that massage for bloat is bad? Usually a light massage for bloat is a good thing, it will get the stomach moving again. If it happens to be kits, you'll be able to fill them easily at this point probably, I'll be around and about small ping pong sized, as they should be close to being born. If she has not separated them they need to be separated ASAP, even though he may not hurt the little ones on purpose he may trample them in a hurry to breed her and unless she wants a little back to back it is a must to remove him as she can get pregnant right after giving birth.

 

[Zass]

:yeahthat:

It's become common online to refer to gas as bloat, which I feel causes a lot of unnecessary confusion.

Massage is often recommended for gas.

Bloat is a totally different story.
From medirabbit:

Bloat is a dreaded condition in rabbits, with poor prognosis, causing excruciating pain. Most rabbit savvy vets often opt to humanely put the rabbit to sleep, to spare it more suffering.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_disease ... /bloat.htm

Simethicone infant gas drops can help with gas, along with massage, exercise, and adjusting the diet to prevent recurrence.

 

[TF3]

If it was bloat she would have a rabbit in distress... clearly suffering after a period (possibly short) of acting ill/ lethargic etc.
When you hear hooves look for horses, not zebras ~ it could be gas, but given the situation, pregnancy seems most likely!

 

[imajpm]

Better get a nest box in there. Mine start looking really fat shortly before they pop!

 

[Zass]

There are also diseases, like cocci, that can also cause a rabbit's abdomen to appear distended, and I think, sometimes diet can cause it, even without gas or bloat.

Looking at the dropping can certainly help give an idea as to a rabbits overall heath.