Diarrhea in my Rabbit

[mini990701]

maybe its the top of celery, but i don't know for sure. She is eating some hay if I tease her with it enough.

 

[JBun]

Don't feed the onion or grapes. Let's just stick with the pellets and hay for now, as long as she keeps eating enough of them. If she isn't eating enough then maybe you could try some of the veggies, like the parsley like one and the bok choy. I would say try them now, but sometimes if a rabbit isn't used to veggies, they can get an upset stomach from them. Just remember with the pellets to pick out all of those colored pieces before you feed the plain pellets to her.

 

[mini990701]

Ok! I will do that and I will keep you updated!

 

[mini990701]

She is eating hay and drinking electrolytes by herself without being forced. She is still a little lethargic, but much more active than she was yesterday. She drank the whole cup full of electrolytes yesterday after I went to bed and I made her another cup.

 

[mini990701]

Is she supposed to have gurgley noises coming from her stomach?

 

[JBun]

Gurgling sounds when they are drinking is sometimes normal, but if it's when she's not drinking then that isn't normal and she may be getting gas. I would stop the electrolytes now. The sugar isn't normally good for them, but it's just something you have to do when they are dehydrated from having diarrhea. She doesn't have diarrhea anymore does she? Has she pooped normal poops since yesterday? Is she eating her hay pretty good now? What about pellets? But stop the electrolytes and give her just plain water now.

 

[mini990701]

i just gave her plain water. Yup normal poops except that they are smaller! She just pooped about 30 minutes ago. She eats hay now and I don;t have to force her. I hand her a piece of hay and she yanks it out of my hand and eats it.

 

[missyscove]

In general gut sounds can be a sign of a healthy gut, but if you're hearing them without the aid of a stethoscope, i'm guessing she has a gassy stomach. My understanding is that you don't have access to any simethicone which could help if she's gassy. Definitely keep her hydrated. It's good that she's still eating hay. How do her poops look?

 

[mini990701]

They look normal, but are smaller. No i do not have any infant gas relief drops or any simethicone.

 

[LakeCondo]

You should be able to get simethicone if you're near a drugstore or big-box store. Look in the infant section for small bottles of anti-gas products & then make sure it's simethicone.

But if there hasn't been much food in the gut & now there is, I think gurgling sounds are normal. But if her body starts getting tight like an inflated balloon, it's time for simethicone asap. It's a good idea to have some on hand just in case you ever need it.

 

[mini990701]

Nope! She is very relaxed and her stomach feels normal. She is just moving as little as possible. She is eating a lot and the gurgleing sounds could have come from me because I have not eaten lunch yet and I can always hear my stomach growling.

 

[JBun]

Go eat lunch! Lol, I need to too, I'm starving That's so great she's eating better now. As long as she keeps eating lots of hay, don't give her very many pellets. Lots of hay is really the best thing for her right now. After what she's been through, it's good that she's pooping at all. Now that she's eating, they should start getting back to normal looking by tomorrow.

 

[mini990701]

Horray for Sugar!

 

[mini990701]

She is sometimes flopping over like she died, but then getting up about 2 seconds later. She also sort of acting lethargic. She is only getting up to eat and drink. Otherwise, she is just sitting there, a little bit flatter, and staring.

 

[JBun]

Is she pooping and how does it look? You could try the electrolytes again. I don't know what else you can do for her. I really wish your parents would have let you take her to the vet.

 

[JBun]

She doesn't sound like she is doing very good. There's really only one other thing I can think of for you to try. You need to get some horse wormer, but I don't know if you'd be able to get any at this time of night. If you can find a store open and they have some, would one of your parents take you to get some.

 

[mini990701]

Her poops are normal again. At times she is like her old self, happy and alert. Other times, I have to pet her on the head to get her to be responsive again. She is licking my like normal and she has no more tummy problems. She is eating a lot of her hay now. She is also drinking like normal now.

 

[Kipcha]

You did such an awesome job getting her through that

I am glad she is doing better. Hopefully she gets back to 100% soon.

 

[JBun]

The laying down and getting back up right away sounds like she may have gas. That's what rabbit's will do to try and find a position that's comfortable because their tummy is hurting. As long as she keeps eating and pooping the gas should go away soon. You'll only want to give her the electrolyte mix if she starts acting like she was yesterday. I'm really rooting for your bunny. If she keeps having a hard time after a few days, you may want to try the wormer next. But we'll just wait and see how she does.

 

[Imbrium]

just getting caught up on the last few pages of this...

If she does seem cold, maybe get some warm towels or a hot water bottle and set it near her.

another option is to fill a sock with uncooked rice and microwave it for a minute or two (I rest it on my wrist when I take it out to make sure it isn't too hot)

If you have a big enough syringe, you can try syringe feeding the pellet mash to her. Make sure it's not to thick. If you don't have a big syringe with a large tip, then the pellets will just clog it. You could try spoon feeding it to her instead if the syringe doesn't work.

there's a couple things you can do to make it easier to get pellet slurry through a syringe. you can cut off the tip and stick something in the hole (like a pen or something) and wriggle it around to widen the opening a bit. also, if you happen to have a mortar and pestle available, you could grind the pellets up before you add the water. failing that, you could try putting them in a ziplock baggie and hitting them with a hammer a bit.

if she seems to be in pain at any point, you can offer her pain meds... while metacam (from a vet) is the best choice, it's not the only one - you can use baby aspirin, baby ibuprofen or low-dose asprin. if you don't have/can't get any of those, I would think you could get away with using regular aspirin if you could figure out how to break it up to get a small enough dose. here's dosing info for pain meds:
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

I'm glad she seems to be doing a lot better... it always makes me so sad when someone under 18 knows their pet needs a vet trip but their parents are setting a poor example by refusing to take the animal. as frustrating as it is for me to hear about it, I know it must be so much worse to be the one with a sick pet who can't get medical attention. it certainly reminds me how fortunate I was that any time one of my pets appeared to be seriously ill, mom always took it to the vet even if it was "just a $5 hamster" (it probably cost us like $50-100 the time we took a sick hamster in and that was about 17 years ago).