Hello,
My poor bunny, Wiggle, has been quite unwell for the last three or so weeks (continue reading before biting my head off). I'm quite new to this, so I'm just looking for general advice. Essentially, I went outside one morning to check on my rabbits (I have five in total - highly excessive, although 4/5 of them are separated), only to discover that Wiggle was seemingly paralysed. Before I keep rambling on, I will give you a quick bit of info about everything.
4 of my 5 rabbits are males, three of which are desexed (Wiggle is not), and one un-desexed female. They all live side by side (with wire separating them) and Wiggle is located in between a desexed male and his mother, and another desexed male. Nothing has changed in their diet, and they all had fresh pens when this occurred too. They live outside but have a beautiful hutch that prevents any predators from getting even relatively close to them. Wiggle is just under a year old (and not sure what breed).
Back to it, I picked him up and he instantly seemed like a 'floppy bunny'. The female I have had this before, but she recovered in a matter of hours. We immediately took him to the vets, meanwhile I'm gushing tears, and she took him for the day. He stayed that night and ended up coming home the next day. The vet had been feeding him small amounts of baby cereal every hour and gave us antibiotic injections to give him for the next two days. From the first day when he couldn't even hold his head up, he had recovered enough to lift his head and hold it up.
Sometime in the next few days, he appeared to have these muscles 'spasms' or 'convulsions'. Basically I am not quite sure what to call them as the vet didn't think that these terms were accurate. More or less his whole body seems to go through these waves of uncontrolled movements if he tries to move or adjust his stance. He recovered within three or four days of this.
Thinking that the worst was over, I felt relieved and put him back outside with the others in a clean pen. He was fine for about a day before the same thing occurred. This time I took him to work with me in a box so I could feed him throughout the day and keep an eye on him. Immediately after work we went to the vets. She gave him another antibiotic injection and some fluids and we took him home. That night was the worst. He seemed to deteriorate rapidly and could no longer hold his head up. I cuddled him in a towel in bed all night and cried ridiculous amounts. His heart almost stopped about six or so times (I had my hand underneath to feel his heartbeat - he looked dead already). At this point I was begging him just to let go so he wouldn't be in pain. He was grinding his teeth and couldn't be touched without having the 'convulsions'. You could place your hand right near his eye and he wouldn't even respond or blink.
The next morning, he was still alive - I was devastated. To me, this meant that we would have to take him to the vets and have him euthanised because it was unfair to let him live like this. She told us that she would give him some more fluids and antibiotics and would give him whatever chance she could. She gave us a bag of the IV fluids to take home and inject into him 3x daily, along with a few days worth of antibiotic injections. He began to pick up again. I left him inside for a few more days to see if the symptoms occurred again.
Last night, I decided to put him back in with the others. This morning I really wasn't even surprised when I went out and his was paralysed-like again. Luckily, I still have the bag of IV fluids and have been administering that. At the moment, he seems relatively ok - he has been eating small amounts of fresh grass, and a tiny bit of corn. I am as of yet to syringe feed him, but will continue keeping a close eye.
I'm really sorry that this is so long but it's the only way I felt that I could explain everything!!
Also, my vet is fantastic - just not very experienced with rabbits. However, she is doing whatever she can for him.
tl;dr - floppy bunny-like symptoms, reoccurring
A few questions:
a) Is it the cage? Because it was freshly cleaned about two days before he was in it.
b) Is it the others? They all look perfectly fine, and are displaying no similar symptoms nor have at all during this duration.
c) Is there a name for this virus?! I have had rabbits with calici before and they have died within hours of having it, so I can presume that it is not that.
Please help Wiggle and I! (Sorry again for the length).
My poor bunny, Wiggle, has been quite unwell for the last three or so weeks (continue reading before biting my head off). I'm quite new to this, so I'm just looking for general advice. Essentially, I went outside one morning to check on my rabbits (I have five in total - highly excessive, although 4/5 of them are separated), only to discover that Wiggle was seemingly paralysed. Before I keep rambling on, I will give you a quick bit of info about everything.
4 of my 5 rabbits are males, three of which are desexed (Wiggle is not), and one un-desexed female. They all live side by side (with wire separating them) and Wiggle is located in between a desexed male and his mother, and another desexed male. Nothing has changed in their diet, and they all had fresh pens when this occurred too. They live outside but have a beautiful hutch that prevents any predators from getting even relatively close to them. Wiggle is just under a year old (and not sure what breed).
Back to it, I picked him up and he instantly seemed like a 'floppy bunny'. The female I have had this before, but she recovered in a matter of hours. We immediately took him to the vets, meanwhile I'm gushing tears, and she took him for the day. He stayed that night and ended up coming home the next day. The vet had been feeding him small amounts of baby cereal every hour and gave us antibiotic injections to give him for the next two days. From the first day when he couldn't even hold his head up, he had recovered enough to lift his head and hold it up.
Sometime in the next few days, he appeared to have these muscles 'spasms' or 'convulsions'. Basically I am not quite sure what to call them as the vet didn't think that these terms were accurate. More or less his whole body seems to go through these waves of uncontrolled movements if he tries to move or adjust his stance. He recovered within three or four days of this.
Thinking that the worst was over, I felt relieved and put him back outside with the others in a clean pen. He was fine for about a day before the same thing occurred. This time I took him to work with me in a box so I could feed him throughout the day and keep an eye on him. Immediately after work we went to the vets. She gave him another antibiotic injection and some fluids and we took him home. That night was the worst. He seemed to deteriorate rapidly and could no longer hold his head up. I cuddled him in a towel in bed all night and cried ridiculous amounts. His heart almost stopped about six or so times (I had my hand underneath to feel his heartbeat - he looked dead already). At this point I was begging him just to let go so he wouldn't be in pain. He was grinding his teeth and couldn't be touched without having the 'convulsions'. You could place your hand right near his eye and he wouldn't even respond or blink.
The next morning, he was still alive - I was devastated. To me, this meant that we would have to take him to the vets and have him euthanised because it was unfair to let him live like this. She told us that she would give him some more fluids and antibiotics and would give him whatever chance she could. She gave us a bag of the IV fluids to take home and inject into him 3x daily, along with a few days worth of antibiotic injections. He began to pick up again. I left him inside for a few more days to see if the symptoms occurred again.
Last night, I decided to put him back in with the others. This morning I really wasn't even surprised when I went out and his was paralysed-like again. Luckily, I still have the bag of IV fluids and have been administering that. At the moment, he seems relatively ok - he has been eating small amounts of fresh grass, and a tiny bit of corn. I am as of yet to syringe feed him, but will continue keeping a close eye.
I'm really sorry that this is so long but it's the only way I felt that I could explain everything!!
Also, my vet is fantastic - just not very experienced with rabbits. However, she is doing whatever she can for him.
tl;dr - floppy bunny-like symptoms, reoccurring
A few questions:
a) Is it the cage? Because it was freshly cleaned about two days before he was in it.
b) Is it the others? They all look perfectly fine, and are displaying no similar symptoms nor have at all during this duration.
c) Is there a name for this virus?! I have had rabbits with calici before and they have died within hours of having it, so I can presume that it is not that.
Please help Wiggle and I! (Sorry again for the length).
