Urgent HeLP please! Coccidiosis?! EC?!?

[littlesol]

Hello guys, I have a pet store dwarf lion head bunny that's roughly 9 weeks old....she was great and healthy and beautiful, and then all of a sudden Candy started to let out this heartbreaking scream. Before I even realized what was going on I was already by her house trying to give her a head rub and some comfort....upon touching her, and even lifting her she didn't stop screaming for about 6 more seconds. Then all of a sudden she is acting normal! >.<. So naturally I do some research and after the wife and I literally researched for about 2 hours and came up with nothing, we came to the conclusion ( more like we HOPED) that something scared her, like our cat that is normally friendly or anything else I didn't notice. The next day she was fine, but the day after that.....she did it again.....and this time I was already there. Nothing was happening around her....she just started having a fit basically....and as soon as I put my hand to her with some comforting words....she stopped. So now I'm freaking out. I check her and she looks physically fine. Start doing some research, and about 10 mins later I look back in and boom....she has terrible diarrhea. Gave her water by hand and kept her close all day since vet wouldn't be in till the next day. Now...this is where it gets even weirder....I take her to the vet....and her poo is normal now mind you.....but the vet (who I am almost sure is lying about rabbit experience) kind of shrugged off the screaming as 'frightened by something', and gave me some hydration and blended dry greens to give her with some probiotic. And charged me $500. So we get home and a few hours go by and then all of a sudden she gets super watery poo again and I am running into the bathroom to get some tissue to clean her up and BAM she starts screaming again. At this point I'm literally in tears. Because after this scream fit....she is having like...neurological tremors or something.....and grinding her teeth like crazy. As I'm trying to find another vet to no avail.....about 20 mins go by and she's acting completely normal and fine again. Please. Someone help me out. It's seriously breaking my heart when I hear that. And to see her little convulsions I ....I want to help her but I can find no information on this.....please....

 

[Miss M]

Littlesol, I'm so sorry you are dealing with this with your poor little bun!

I think EC is out, as this sounds more like a gastrointestinal thing. Coccidiosis? Maybe... but I think I'd treat for gas first. I believe your rabbit is in great pain. I think the pain is responsible for the tremors, and I'm positive it's responsible for the screaming and teeth grinding.

Get some liquid baby simethicone gas drops and some low-dose "baby" 81mg chewable aspirin.

Gas drops: Medirabbit.com says to administer 1-2 ml (20mg/0.3 ml strength drops) once an hour for 2-3 doses. If it is measured in cc, that's the same thing as mL. I imagine the treatment can be repeated if necessary.

Aspirin: A rabbit can take up to two whole low-dose aspirin per day. You can give a whole one twice a day, or lower the dose and give 1/2 tablet twice a day, or you can devise a 4x/day dosage with it.

Continue the probiotic. I'd discontinue the blended dry greens, though, unless you can see the ingredients and they are things like plantain (plantago major or other plantago), strawberry/blackberry/rose leaves, and such. You can list the ingredients here and we can tell you if it's okay or not. Giving new greens to a rabbit that's never had them and is already in distress is very risky, unless it's a handful of very specific things which are medicinal.

Offer pineapple and/or papaya. Fresh is best and will have the highest concentration of enzymes, but canned will do. Papaya tablets will also do.

STOP any pellets. Offer grass hay (most hay is grass hay, but alfalfa is not) and regular old-fashioned kitchen oatmeal. <br /><br /> -- Sun Apr 24, 2016 5:41 pm -- <br /><br /> By the way, this can happen just from stress of moving to a new home. It doesn't need to have anything to do with the cat or anything. You must act fast. This is an emergency.

You may need to force medications. Rabbit teeth are scary and can do a lot of damage, but I've never been bitten forcing meds, food, or fluids. If she won't take the aspirin willingly, it can be wetted on your fingertip with a drop or two of water. Let it soak in, and the aspirin will get soft. Have someone hold the rabbit while you slip your finger into the mouth behind the front teeth. Put the medicine at the back of the tongue so she can't get it back out. Sometimes, leaving my fingertip in there has helped make sure the medicine goes down.

Is she eating and drinking normally? Because I'd expect not, with these symptoms. A rabbit who stops either eating or drinking will begin to go downhill very quickly. Unlike humans, who can stop eating for days, even weeks, as long as they are still taking in fluids, rabbits must keep eating at least a little, or they will go into gastrointestinal stasis. The GI tract stops, and you cannot restart it if it stops. Obviously, fluids are necessary as well, but if a rabbit stops drinking, that is usually followed quickly by stopping eating as well.

If you cannot get her to take pineapple or papaya, you can put them through a blender and force it on the tip of a small spoon. Or on your finger. These are things which help break up any fur blockages in her system.

Pumpkin, fresh or canned (not pumpkin pie filling but regular canned pumpkin), is good for rabbits.

If she's not eating or eating very little, feel free to tempt her with some things that might otherwise be discouraged except as treats. You can coat the oats with a little molasses, especially blackstrap which has some trace nutrients in it. Fruits, tomatoes, whatever will get her to eat.

If she's not drinking or drinking very little, the same applies. Gatorade, Pedialyte, unsweetened or lightly sweetened tea, fruit juices... again, whatever will get fluids into her.

If you have access to a willow tree, you can give willow twigs and leaves instead of aspirin. I believe it's the bark which contains most of the medicinal value. Most rabbits will eat only the more tender twigs.

 

[a7736100]

Best thing would be to put her to sleep and get yourself another rabbit. Saves a lot of grief.

 

[Miss M]

Best thing would be to put her to sleep and get yourself another rabbit. Saves a lot of grief.

That is an option, but with the rabbit spending most of her time acting normal, I think there's a chance to save her. The $500 wallet scorching would make having to put her down hurt even worse, too.

 

[littlesol]

Ok. Thank you for your replies firstly...she is eating....and drinking....I am using an oral syringe to give her some lightly sweetened water....and I did the aspirin and simethicone....well before I could do he simethicone she had another episode, I administered the aspirin and gave her some comforting words and she laid down next to me for about 20 minutes....and then she started relaxing....more and more....I think the aspirin helped heaps. Someone else had asked me if she is peeing regularly....and after checking...I am seeing little to no urine.....do you think this could cause her pain? What could be done to assist her with this?

 

[Miss M]

That's great that she's eating and drinking! And that the aspirin seems to be helping.

Is she drinking only from a syringe, though?

Since you're giving her some sweetened water, and especially with the diarrhea, it would be good to make some electrolyte for her: homemade-electrolytic-solution-t14844.html

It is possible because of the diarrhea that she is not absorbing enough water for it to end up going through her kidneys, resulting in little to no urine. One quick way to check for dehydration is a capillary refill test. First, hold one of your hands above your heart and then pinch one of the fingertips of that hand just hard enough for the nail to turn white (not very hard). Let go, and watch the nail you were pressing. Assuming you are not dehydrated yourself (and don't have one of a couple other conditions), you should see the nail return to its normal color in just a couple of seconds. Now try this on a spot on the rabbit's gum. If it takes much more time for the gum to turn pink than it took for your nail to normalize, the rabbit is probably dehydrated. This is not a perfect test, but when dehydration is suspected, it is helpful.

You may need to give the rabbit a subcutaneous (below the skin) injection of saline solution to combat dehydration, as once it gets to a certain point, a rabbit cannot drink enough (especially with diarrhea) to rehydrate itself. You can do this yourself, obviously making sure the rabbit is well-restrained and that you don't stick yourself. Syringes and needles and possibly sterile saline can be gotten from feed stores and Tractor Supply.

How to give a subcutaneous injection (read the first post carefully): post85704.html#p85704

Discussing giving subcutaneous fluids in rabbits (later in the same thread): post301466.html#p301466