Curious about this

[Maureen Las]

The gas meds are liquid baby gas medicine which can be bought at a pharmacy. The primary ingredient needs to be just simethicone. You usually get a dropper in the bottle . some brands in the US are mylicon and Gas X for infants.
You need to give about 1 cc in a syringe . You place the syringe behind the rabbit's front teeth but not facing the back of the mouth

here is a description on how to medicate a rabbit

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=15552&forum_id=10

If he is still looking uncomfortable you can repeat 1 cc of simethicone every hour or so X 3 doses. You should try to get him to move around to help dispel the gas ; you can gently massage his tummy .; if he look s really uncomfortable you can heat rice in a sock in the microwave and give him something warm to snuggle with if he wishes to
You need to learn more about proper nutrition for a rabbit. The primary part of the diet should be hay. If you can get more than one type of hay the better it is. Grass,meadow,timothy ,oat, brome are all different hays available for rabbits.

Rabbits need fiber to keep their GI tracts healthy and also to wear down their teeth. their bodies were not made for carbs and sugar. You are feeding way to much pellets ,[particularly for a rabbit that age. A 5 lb rabbit should be eating about 1/4 cup pellets daily and the rest of the diet should be some green veggies and mainly hay.

carrots are like a sugary treat for a rabbit although we don't think of carrots as treats.

too many of them will alter the microorgansims in the Gi tract causing there to be a imbalance of microorganisms

once the Gi tract is dirupted it can cause a lot of problems; rabbits cannot vomit which cause some of the same problems in them as those that occur in horses

tomorrow you may want to stop at petco or petsmart and buy benebac . benebac is a combo of naturally occuring microorganisms that occur in small mammals digestive tracts. if you buy the single gel tubes you can give 1 tube to your rabbit. If you buy the powder you can place a little in a small piece of banana ( another food that should be given very sparingly) The benebac for cats and dogs is the same as for the small mammals.
You really have to think before you give your rabbit a treat. it can cause major issues if it is the wrong food or the rabbit is not used to it.

Most of the treats sold in petstores for rabbits are really a waste of money because they are bad for them. Seeds, nuts etc are really bad for rabbits .

Iwill give you some links on diet and hopefully you will go through them in time...

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12046&forum_id=17

 

[Maureen Las]

It will help us also if you can give us more info on Billy; I know your post started in Introductions so you didn't get a chance to read the info you need to post in the Infirmary


http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=44529&forum_id=16

 

[Billybun]

Here is:

1. Location - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2. Description (Breed, color., weight) - Rex male, white all over with dark brown spots all over, 4 -5 lbs.
3. Age: 4 years and 8 months
4. Not neuter yet but will be October 30, 2009
5. Fecal Output - droplets and urine look normal. Droplets are a bit of wet occasionally but sometimes it look shiny. Urine is muddy yellow
6. He's very active and run very quickly sometimes. I let him out in my living run during the day and I try to keep chocolate out of reach, plants soil are covered with hard paper. He runs up and down the stairs alot.
7. He's an indoor bunny as I live in a condo building.
8. Diet consist of 1 cup pellets , 1 large green romaine leaf/day, 4-5 mini carrots/day, hay and Timothy treats.

Billy is very active during the day. He runs about every in my place to check out the curtain, leather coach, he does eat a bit of these weekly flyers but I try to stop him when he take in a bit too much. He make this vibration noise sometimes when I put him in the cage at night time and it might be he's trying to get rid of the gas. I will stop feeding him carrots and the treats for now. I will try to cut down on the pellets and hopefully he will starts eating more of the hay which is a huge amount. I will call the pet store to see if they have the benebac.

 

[tonyshuman]

If you're in a rural area at all, farm supply stores will have the Probios as well, if you can't find Bene-Bac at the pet store. I think he's having a bit too many pellets as well. My 4-5lb guys each get 1 tablespoon pellets a day, and our very active dwarves (2-3lb) get about 1/8c each a day. I think a bunny his size and age shouldn't have more than 1/4c. That should help him to want to eat more hay. Don't feel bad if he looks pathetic and begs for his pellets--they're supposed to gobble them down right away and be really excited to get their pellets.

Some pet stores have feeding syringes, and some pharmacies will give you a couple without needles if you tell them it's for medicating a rabbit (not personal experience on this one--just hearsay). I get mine from the lab where I work, plus my boyfriend is diabetic and has syringes for insulin that he doesn't use anymore. A 1mL (100 unit, for insulin) syringe is good for medicine, and if you can get a larger one, it's good to have just in case he needs to be force fed food or water.

 

[Billybun]

I have never try to open a rabbit's mouth. I am afraid that he's going to fight it and that he's going to take a snip at my hand. He's not violent but if he does not like what you're doing, he will resist really hard.

Thanks for all the feedbacks. I will try to cut down on his pellet portion.

In another week, I will be seeing a vet for the first time, maybe I will ask them to demostrate to me how do I go about feeding Billy the drugs for his gas.

 

[tonyshuman]

You don't really have to open the mouth--just pull back the cheeks a little like you would if you were checking his front teeth for issues. Then put the syringe in behind the front teeth. It helps if you restrain the bunny somehow, whether it be a burrito, trancing, or some other method.

 

[Billybun]

I will try this tonight but I am so going to wear a helmet or some sort just because I don't want him to lung at me. He's supersensitive to everything.

 

[Billybun]

So I took Billy bun to get neuter this past Friday and now he's still going through some healing. Now I notice that one of his testicle is way bigger than the other one. What do you think is going on?

I also notice that he pee-ed onto the hay I gave him to eat. He seems to be eating less and less of the hay and I have not ideas how to encourage him to eat.

Should i react quickly to these signs quickly?

 

[tonyshuman]

You have to give him enough hay that he can pee on some of it and still eat the rest. Check for hotness--if one testicle is very warm, red, or inflamed, it may be infected. It may just be that one is healing more quickly than the other.

 

[Billybun]

I can't really tell the difference whether one is hotter than the other. The bigger testicle looks like a punching bag comparing to the other one I normally see. The inflamed one is warmer although the normal looking one is warm also. He's running around like nothing is wrong with him. Am I the only one whose worrying for nothing. I will get in touch with the Vet tomorrow morning and see. I also gave him a box filled with hay. Maybe I should switch to sweet hay soon to encourage him to eat it.

 

[tonyshuman]

It's good that you're going to call the vet. It's possible that he has gotten a little infection. Here's a very good video on a post-neuter exam, and what to look for post-neuter.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/user/FastUpOnRabbitCare#p/u/11/2BwnW5Qe0Pw[/ame]

Sometimes blood pools in the scrotum because the vessels have been cut and the blood can't flow back out of the skin in the same way that it did before. That's not usually anything to worry about, as it goes away after a few days as vessels reform and heal. Some people recommend keeping hay out of the litter box while they heal from a de-sexing operation to keep the incision area clean, but I don't like that idea--you have to have hay near the box, and it's going to fall in the box no matter what you do. I hope it's just that.

 

[Billybun]

I just got back from the vet office couple of hours again. He said that the swollen testicle is within the norm and will want to continue to monitor billy. So he's OK for now and I will take him back this coming Saturday to check again.

Thanks Tonyshuman for the info and your suggestions! Gosh I never knew how much work it is to take care of a bunny.

 

[tonyshuman]

Good to hear! It's probably just swollen with blood/inflammation. Just want to keep an eye on it so it doesn't develop into an infection!

 

[SweetSassy]

Did the vet check his teeth? He may have teeth problems if he isn't eating hay. Just a suggestion. Also I have a hayrack hanging next to the litter box so the hay isn't on the floor. Do you have a hayrack?

 

[SweetSassy]

Billybun wrote:

I will try this tonight but I am so going to wear a helmet or some sort just because I don't want him to lung at me. He's supersensitive to everything.

I'm sorry, but I waslaughing so hard I was cryingwhen I read this.



I'm glad Billyis ok

 

[Billybun]

SweetSassy what I have learn now is to spread Billy's med on his greens and carrot instead of feeding him thru the springe. He does not seems to trust me much these couple of days when I try to hold him just because I had to take to the vet last week and I had to drive him there. He hated the car ride and was pretty shaken up by it. Oh well I will have to win his trust again. He's good now and he's still does these fast twist and turn jumps to amuse me. I told the Vet assistance that he's as fast and hyper as before the surgery and they said eventually he will settle down

 

[SweetSassy]

The fast twists and turns are called Binkies. That means Billy is happy.



It takes about 6 weeks after a neuter for the hormones-testoserone to go away. I'm glad he's doing well! :biggrin2:

 

[Fancy77]

How r u and Billy doing???

 

[Billybun]

Billy is doing fine. I took him to the vet this past saturday for a follow up after his neutering and found that one of his testicles has this white pus coming out near where the slit on was done. I told the nurse that and she told Dr. Munn about it. He gave Billy an antibiotic shot that morning. The nurse said that he must have came across something that irritated his testicle. I thought about that a bit and realized that I must have let him run free in my condo and he might have rubbed himself to the carpet floor occasionally. So far he seems to be Billy except that he does not seems to trust me much these days. After I refill his food and water bowls and place the carrots and romaine lettuce in his cage, he would finish the carrots and then he would crawl under my sofa to hid from me. He's been doing this for the past week now in the morning because he thinks I am going to take him to the vet. He's out and about when I am back from work! Such a smart bunny. This morning he was kind of lunging at me at the staircase and I heard him growling in a small voice. I think he was trying to tell me to leave him a lone or something. So I stopped trying to win his affection. Anyhow, I got one more visit with him to the vet and so I will have to endure the stress of taking him on a car ride again.

 

[SweetSassy]

Sounds like he's doing fine. Thats great! My bunnies always go under or behind the couch too. If you sit in the middle of the floor and ignore him (read a book or something)he may come up to you to check you out. :biggrin2:

....April