Desert Rose Rabbits
Well-known member
UPDATE 7/4/13
Alrighty... knock on wood but Doe A is looking MUCH better today. While her eye is still a watery, and the third eyelid is still visible, there is NO creamy or white puss!! Still no sneezing.
Both does are drinking tons of water, but the temps here are well over 100, so I'm not at all surprised. They're both pigs and are loving the extra grassy hay. The woman I got them from said she never fed anything but pellets, and even then, she fed the cheapest she could find at any given time so there wasn't anything that was fed with any sort of regularity.
Anyways, I know it's hard to see in the pics, but her eye looks amazing. Best part is that her poops, so far, still look normal even with the food change and the addition of a small amount of greens. Same goes for Doe B. Hopefully I can get these two in reasonable shape before their litters get here.
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07/03/13
Hey everyone. So, I did something that I shouldn't have done today, and brought home a couple of does. Yes, they themselves were planned for over a week. What I shouldn't have done, though, was bring them home. The woman I got these rabbits from does NOT care for her bunnies. She's in the process of getting rid of all her rabbits and her supplies and had a lot of rabbits to choose from. I made the stupid decision to trust the pictures she sent me when I shouldn't have. Anyways, long story short, despite the potential consequences, after seeing the condition of these two I couldn't leave them in her care. Not at all, so home they came.
The woman claims both does are 'healthy' and both does are most likely pregnant... roughly a week along. She apparently put ALL of her rabbits, including the bucks, in some colony pens she had and din't care who hooked up with who, so we're dealing, most likely with two pregnant does when we weren't expecting it. We weren't planning on any litters for at least two or more months.
That aside, this is what I need help with... We don't really have an Rabbit-Savvy vets here in town, and all of my self-vet knowledge relates to horses and rats.
Doe A: Bottom of feet are covered in dried poop. I feel she's underweight. Most likely pregnant. The key thing here, is that she has one weepy slightly swollen eye where the third eyelid doesn't retract all the way (there's also a minimal white discharge). So far no sneezing. Her pelt looks horrible and REALLY lacks luster. However, though, she's eating and taking cilantro from my hand. Overall, seems quite active. I cleaned up her eye as soon as we got home and wiped her down quickly after I trimmed her nails. No signs of diarrhea and her vent looks good. Teeth look good and are not overgrown or oddly shaped.
Doe B: Overall, all things considered, aside from a lackluster coat, she seems ok. She's eating, even a little from my hand. She has reasonable mass to her, and again, most likely pregnant. Gave her a quick wipe down as well and trimmed her nails. No signs of diarrhea, and her vent area is clean. I did note, though, that she has what appears to be a 'healing' abscess. Now, it doesn't look like abscesses I've seen in other animals in the past, so I'm really thinking that this was an injury due to a fight, but I'm not sure. I pulled a huge scab off of it to see what I was dealing with and it has fresh skin as well as what looks like a 'bite' wound that's healing, not a hole like you see with abscesses. I did a warm compress on it just in case, but otherwise left it alone.
With Doe A, I had some Terramycin Ophthalmic Ointment on hand (something I have regularly due to a bird with chronic corneal ulcers. No worries about contamination, I have a system!) and after cleaning her eye up went ahead and put some on the eye.
Ideally, since she doesn't appear to be sniffling or sneezing and doesn't have any nasal discharge, I wanted to treat her at home rather than stressing her out with another 1-1.5 hour car ride with no AC in 100+ degree weather. I figured that I'd keep both girls in quarantine and well away from 'Buck' (who, incidentally may be renamed to Foreman from That 70's Show since he's so... twitchy). Also, they both smell funky. I've never had a rabbit smell before... even my bucks. I was always told not to bathe them, but Doe A, at the least, needs to be bathed. Is it one of those only wet the area that needs cleaning kind of thing?
Any suggestions on how to get these two back in shape for their most likely upcoming litters? For Doe A, any suggestions on further home treatment? I'm used to 'farm medicine' where we only use the vet when it's something we can't handle on our own. The only antibiotics safe for rabbits that I have right now is 100mg capsules of Doxy, and then the Terramycin ointment.
Alrighty... knock on wood but Doe A is looking MUCH better today. While her eye is still a watery, and the third eyelid is still visible, there is NO creamy or white puss!! Still no sneezing.
Both does are drinking tons of water, but the temps here are well over 100, so I'm not at all surprised. They're both pigs and are loving the extra grassy hay. The woman I got them from said she never fed anything but pellets, and even then, she fed the cheapest she could find at any given time so there wasn't anything that was fed with any sort of regularity.
Anyways, I know it's hard to see in the pics, but her eye looks amazing. Best part is that her poops, so far, still look normal even with the food change and the addition of a small amount of greens. Same goes for Doe B. Hopefully I can get these two in reasonable shape before their litters get here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/03/13
Hey everyone. So, I did something that I shouldn't have done today, and brought home a couple of does. Yes, they themselves were planned for over a week. What I shouldn't have done, though, was bring them home. The woman I got these rabbits from does NOT care for her bunnies. She's in the process of getting rid of all her rabbits and her supplies and had a lot of rabbits to choose from. I made the stupid decision to trust the pictures she sent me when I shouldn't have. Anyways, long story short, despite the potential consequences, after seeing the condition of these two I couldn't leave them in her care. Not at all, so home they came.
The woman claims both does are 'healthy' and both does are most likely pregnant... roughly a week along. She apparently put ALL of her rabbits, including the bucks, in some colony pens she had and din't care who hooked up with who, so we're dealing, most likely with two pregnant does when we weren't expecting it. We weren't planning on any litters for at least two or more months.
That aside, this is what I need help with... We don't really have an Rabbit-Savvy vets here in town, and all of my self-vet knowledge relates to horses and rats.
Doe A: Bottom of feet are covered in dried poop. I feel she's underweight. Most likely pregnant. The key thing here, is that she has one weepy slightly swollen eye where the third eyelid doesn't retract all the way (there's also a minimal white discharge). So far no sneezing. Her pelt looks horrible and REALLY lacks luster. However, though, she's eating and taking cilantro from my hand. Overall, seems quite active. I cleaned up her eye as soon as we got home and wiped her down quickly after I trimmed her nails. No signs of diarrhea and her vent looks good. Teeth look good and are not overgrown or oddly shaped.
Doe B: Overall, all things considered, aside from a lackluster coat, she seems ok. She's eating, even a little from my hand. She has reasonable mass to her, and again, most likely pregnant. Gave her a quick wipe down as well and trimmed her nails. No signs of diarrhea, and her vent area is clean. I did note, though, that she has what appears to be a 'healing' abscess. Now, it doesn't look like abscesses I've seen in other animals in the past, so I'm really thinking that this was an injury due to a fight, but I'm not sure. I pulled a huge scab off of it to see what I was dealing with and it has fresh skin as well as what looks like a 'bite' wound that's healing, not a hole like you see with abscesses. I did a warm compress on it just in case, but otherwise left it alone.
With Doe A, I had some Terramycin Ophthalmic Ointment on hand (something I have regularly due to a bird with chronic corneal ulcers. No worries about contamination, I have a system!) and after cleaning her eye up went ahead and put some on the eye.
Ideally, since she doesn't appear to be sniffling or sneezing and doesn't have any nasal discharge, I wanted to treat her at home rather than stressing her out with another 1-1.5 hour car ride with no AC in 100+ degree weather. I figured that I'd keep both girls in quarantine and well away from 'Buck' (who, incidentally may be renamed to Foreman from That 70's Show since he's so... twitchy). Also, they both smell funky. I've never had a rabbit smell before... even my bucks. I was always told not to bathe them, but Doe A, at the least, needs to be bathed. Is it one of those only wet the area that needs cleaning kind of thing?
Any suggestions on how to get these two back in shape for their most likely upcoming litters? For Doe A, any suggestions on further home treatment? I'm used to 'farm medicine' where we only use the vet when it's something we can't handle on our own. The only antibiotics safe for rabbits that I have right now is 100mg capsules of Doxy, and then the Terramycin ointment.
