Bunny seems very sick

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grilledcheeze

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We have two bunnies. Both are Californian / New Zealand meat rabbits. They are kept separated by some distance and are both pets. Both are kept outside. One recently seemed very lethargic. Within hours he began seizing, has mucous discharge from the nose, and all down his chin is matted and wet. Poop seems ok, maybe a little soft, but not diarrhea. Will not eat or drink. It almost looked like he was attacked by something overnight. There was a small cut below one eye and on top of his head between his ears.

Is there anything we can do for him, or is it time to put him down? Does anyone know what may be wrong?
 
It sounds to me like a possible heat stroke.

Did this happen today?

The heat of the day has passed, but you may want to mist his ears with water, or hold his ears wrapped around ice cubes to make sure he is sufficiently cooled down.

You must get fluids into him. If he won't drink water, perhaps he will drink tea, diluted 1:1 with water. Or Pedialyte in some fruity flavor. Even Gatorade. Or water with a little molasses mixed in. If he will not drink, you can try syringing any of the fluids above into the back of his mouth, from the side. If you have no syringe, maybe you could use an eyedropper.

If you cannot get water down him this way, you can inject a subcutaneous bolus of water. If you happen to have an unopened syringe and needle, and an unopened bottle of contacts saline solution, you can do this tonight.

You can make your own saline, but in order for it to be sterile, you must follow proper sterilization procedures: http://www.ehow.com/how_7636306_make-ow ... ution.html

I do not know how much you would give a rabbit, and I cannot guarantee that anything will work. Your bunny is in an emergency situation, and I'm giving advice that might help, but I don't know.

Here's a page on giving such a bolus to a dog: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/dog_fluids.aspx

Make sure, if you try that, that you do not begin injecting before you first pull back on the plunger (which means you have to leave room in the syringe to do so). If you get air or blood, you must remove the needle and try again. You would give it wherever you could get enough skin together to give it. Sometimes it's the front shoulder area, sometimes it's near the back leg.

Hopefully, you can syringe fluids into the bunny. That would be much easier, I'm sure.

If he does not improve with fluids, it's probably time to put him down. :( Whether he needs to be put down now is entirely up to you. No one here would fault you.

Please keep us updated. :clover:
 
The night that this all happened, it was in the low 60's overnight, and was about 70 degrees out when we found him in the morning and brought him inside. The seizures continued into the night last night. We will try to get water into him via syringe.
 
Wow, I wouldn't expect that it would be heat stroke, then. I sure hope someone else has some ideas about what's going on!

You still do need to get fluids into him. Not drinking turns bad very quickly, whatever else is going on. :(
 
It sounds like your rabbit is in pretty critical condition. Not eating or drinking can lead to GI stasis. If they are beloved pets I'd advise getting him to a vet asap, and be very very careful not to touch the other rabbit, it's cage or it's feed after being near the sick rabbit.

To be honest, if I saw a bunny in that condition in my own rabbitry, I would have quickly put him down, preformed an autopsy, and sterilized everything he had come in contact with. But, you have to understand, I do have a lot of other rabbits to worry about protecting.
 
If its respiratory infection, that usually isn't accompanied by seizures. But maybe it would if his airways got completely blocked. Can you listen to his lungs and tell if there is lots of congestion? Is the discharge coming from the nose cloudy or clear.
 
Actually, he hasn't seized since I've been home. Over 2 hours now! The wheezing and snorting that were occurring after each seize are gone too. His ears are perked back up now. There is some white crust by his left eye, but the other eye seems fine. He is grooming himself again too. He is moving around his quarantine cage more as well. The cloudy mucous is gone from his nose, but it's still wet and wet all down his front. His front paws are wet too. Maybe from the water?
 
If he had mucous that was cloudy, whitish, yellow, that would probably be dead white blood cells from fighting infection. One of the things to do to check for a respiratory infection is check to see if the front legs and paws are caked with mucous- from washing it off their nose. Its possible that an infection can be caused because something like grass got up in the nose, but if the infection is bacterial I don't think it will clear up unless strong antibiotics are used, not Baytril, but Bicillin or Azithromycin.
 
Any chance it could've been a reaction to a spider or other other bite? Foaming and seizures makes me thing poisoning/reaction substance. As odd as it sounds, seems similar to what happened with a rabbit that got spider bit, rabbit in that case did not make it though. Good to hear he is doing better.
 
grilledcheeze":1qty4afu said:
His front paws are wet too. Maybe from the water?
Yes, it could be from water. You'll know when they're dry. If they're soft, it's probably water. If they're spiky feeling, there's dried discharge on them.

It's wonderful that he's drinking and seems to be recovering! :bouncy: It sure would be nice to know what on earth has been going on, though! :(
 
At this point, whatever he'll eat, to a point. I'd recommend you give him some regular kitchen oatmeal, though. If you have blackstrap molasses, you can coat the oats lightly with it, and it will add a little more nutrition... and will be very appealing. :)
 
Well, I don't even know what to say. After preparing the kids for what I thought was an inevitable "put down" to Sir Bugsey, he appears to have made a 180 and seems to be doing just fine now. Eating, Drinking, Pooping, Peeing, Sleeping, are seemingly back to normal.

I dunno.

Glad he's back though. Whatever he went through did not look like much fun.
 
Wow! :shock:

My goodness... I hope after all that that he stays okay! :clover: Please keep us updated. That's nuts... he's a strong bun. I'm pretty sure that whatever he was fighting would have killed most rabbits.
 
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