Can my rabbit have infant probiotics?

[Sharlie]

Hi, my rabbit currently has bad gas build up. He's still eating and drinking completely fine and passing both urine and poo as well as some farts (his stomach will go soft for a few minutes then hard again). They're a bit dryer than usual but still moist and good shape and size. So I've been syringe feeding him extra water to help if there is dehydration which he's happy to comply with. I've also been giving him simethicone (infant gas drops) as well as gentle tummy rubs to help break the gas bubbles up and also having to room warm and letting him lay near/on wheat packs. He's also has some CBD oil and Meloxicam not only to help with the gas pain but also for another condition (this was given by a vet). I've ordered some critical care as well as bene-bac and pron8ture powder as no stores in Australia stock these which I thought was weird.

So I'm Here to ask if for the meantime while I wait for the specific probiotics (I did order these express shipping which should only take less than a week) can I give him infant probiotics?

I understand they won't have saccaromyces cerevisiae in them which is the best for bunnies. But it does contain 2 that had very mixed opinions. I tried to read some case studies specifically for rabbits but they didn't really give me a definite answer and I so desperately want to help his gas go away. It is also powder form as there's no way I'm giving him Yakult because of the dairy.

Any help or experiences would be great help.
Thankyou!

 

[nicolekline97]

Hi, my rabbit currently has bad gas build up. He's still eating and drinking completely fine and passing both urine and poo as well as some farts (his stomach will go soft for a few minutes then hard again). They're a bit dryer than usual but still moist and good shape and size. So I've been syringe feeding him extra water to help if there is dehydration which he's happy to comply with. I've also been giving him simethicone (infant gas drops) as well as gentle tummy rubs to help break the gas bubbles up and also having to room warm and letting him lay near/on wheat packs. He's also has some CBD oil and Meloxicam not only to help with the gas pain but also for another condition (this was given by a vet). I've ordered some critical care as well as bene-bac and pron8ture powder as no stores in Australia stock these which I thought was weird.

So I'm Here to ask if for the meantime while I wait for the specific probiotics (I did order these express shipping which should only take less than a week) can I give him infant probiotics?

I understand they won't have saccaromyces cerevisiae in them which is the best for bunnies. But it does contain 2 that had very mixed opinions. I tried to read some case studies specifically for rabbits but they didn't really give me a definite answer and I so desperately want to help his gas go away. It is also powder form as there's no way I'm giving him Yakult because of the dairy.

Any help or experiences would be great help.
Thankyou!

How is your bunny doing? I would say a small amount of prebiotic daily from an infant brand would be safe. I hope it worked.

 

[Sharlie]

How is your bunny doing? I would say a small amount of prebiotic daily from an infant brand would be safe. I hope it worked.

Hi, he's doing better. I ended up being able to get him in at his vet. Turns out it wasn't gi status or guy related. His bladder was excessively full.
I have to help him manually relieve himself now every couple hours but he's doing much better.
I was able to grab him some small animal probiotics off online but they still don't carry all the ones rabbits need.

 

[JBun]

I'm glad your vet figured out what was wrong and that your rabbit is doing better.

Here in the US we don't have the rabbit specific probiotics either, so we just use the common ones used with other animals, like bene bac plus. Or some people will use the horse ones. Some of the horse ones do contain the saccaromyces. Though I don't know how effective probiotics are. I've looked for studies with rabbits too, and there really isn't much info on whether it's helpful or not, at least in adult rabbits. I did read a study on probiotics used in baby rabbits and it did show that it helped protect them from enteric illness.