How to increase weight of a rabbit who has many health-related issues

[sakurapompom]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post! Please be kind

My second bunny named KoKo is one sick little champ. She's only 4 months old and weighted about 0.625kg. :sickbunny:

She has so many health problems. She's currently diagnosed with eye infection, abscesses, malocclusion. To make the matter worse, I've informed by the VET upon the first appointment that she also has heart murmur. Hence any treatments that are surgical have to be proceeded with extreme cautions.

Her diets combine the normal rabbit mix food, Oxbow papaya tablet and acidophilus tablet. I aslo tube-feed her twice a day with a mixture combined of crushed Oxbow tablet (KoKo doesn't touch the pellets if I leave them inside her food bowl), critical care and papaya.

Koko is extremely picky and the only food that she's willing to eat nowadays is cookies . Of course I can't feed her just that.

Would anyone please tell me what should I do with her? I'm running out of ideas as she's just increasingly picky with her food. I don't know if the medicines she's currently on has anything to do with her appetite.

Thank you all for reading this

 

[JBun]

Can you provide a little more info on the health problems. Is the eye infection a mild case or something more, where is the abscess and how is it being treated, has the malocclusion been addressed and the teeth filed down, when did these treatments happen, what medications is she currently on, how long has she been on them and how much longer will she be?

Are you syringe feeding only or is she eating anything on her own? Do you feed anything else to her like hay and veggies, and which kind are you feeding? Does she have any digestive problems as well and does she have any poop problems like mushy poop, smaller than usual poop, or is it normal?

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Could you try different pellets? Some rabbits are picky about what they eat and might not like certain brands. At her age and with some medical issues, alfalfa based pellets are fine and you can give alfalfa hay as well. It's hard to recommend a brand without knowing where you live as many can be country or even region specific.

Medications can certainly affect the appetite of a rabbit. Dental problems can make it harder for them to eat. Has the vet trimmed her teeth? It can be good to at least help get her eating a bit more. If the back teeth are an issue, some vets can trim them without needing to put the rabbit under, so that is a good option if she also has heart problems.

What kind of cookies does she like? You can make home made cookies that most rabbits love. It is basically crushed up pellets, oats, barley (optional), and a flavour such as apple, banana or something else (I use apple sauce stuff with no sugar added, but veggie baby food can work too). Just mix it all up, roll it out and cut into smaller pieces. Bake at 350F for about 30-45 minutes (I turn them over about 1/2 way through) and let them cool in the oven. These are healthy and you could give several a day without much worry.

 

[sakurapompom]

Can you provide a little more info on the health problems. Is the eye infection a mild case or something more, where is the abscess and how is it being treated, has the malocclusion been addressed and the teeth filed down, when did these treatments happen, what medications is she currently on, how long has she been on them and how much longer will she be?

Are you syringe feeding only or is she eating anything on her own? Do you feed anything else to her like hay and veggies, and which kind are you feeding? Does she have any digestive problems as well and does she have any poop problems like mushy poop, smaller than usual poop, or is it normal?

Yes , sure

Her eye infection is a mild case and is being treated with a prescribed eye-drop from the VET . Her VET also did a "eye-flush" test on her and concluded that she doesn't have block tear ducts. Her infection was probably due to the fact that she has abscess.

Her abscess is located at her back teeth. Due to her heart issue, they try to avoid invasive methods and put her on drugs for now. Her incisors are non-aligned but they haven't grow to the point where it would endangered her life, thus, the issue is currently monitored at this stage. Depending on how she goes, I'm thinking of removing her abscess teeth and having her heart examine by a specialist

I applied her eye-drops 3 times a day. The medicines she's currently on are Chloramphenicol Oral 0.2 ml and Meloxicam 0.15ml per day

I tube-feed her twice a day on the morning and afternoon and leave the evening for her to self-feed. As the VET recommended she should put on weight and I don't see that happen if I leave her eating on her own, I syringe-feed her twice a day and each time is about 3 syringes.

She's used to love greens but nowadays she doesn't touch them anymore, even grass. I've tried all sort of greens and even planted young timothy grass for her in a small tube, which my other rabbit is crazy to have a chomp, but she just doesn't touch any of them.

Her feces were used to be very small, dark, dry and uneven, the sort of stools you see when rabbit is dehydrated. However when I start to force-feed her, her feces return to big, sort of round, evenly uniform shape. There was some milky white mucus discovered in her stools when she first took her medicines for around 5 days.

She had a blood test and it was nothing wrong with her liver. She likes to lick metal and salty stuffs. She licks the metal base of my chair as in she's grooming it and does that for days! I bought her salt lick, again, she doesn't touch it and keeps returning on licking the metal base of my chair.

 

[sakurapompom]

Could you try different pellets? Some rabbits are picky about what they eat and might not like certain brands. At her age and with some medical issues, alfalfa based pellets are fine and you can give alfalfa hay as well. It's hard to recommend a brand without knowing where you live as many can be country or even region specific.

Medications can certainly affect the appetite of a rabbit. Dental problems can make it harder for them to eat. Has the vet trimmed her teeth? It can be good to at least help get her eating a bit more. If the back teeth are an issue, some vets can trim them without needing to put the rabbit under, so that is a good option if she also has heart problems.

What kind of cookies does she like? You can make home made cookies that most rabbits love. It is basically crushed up pellets, oats, barley (optional), and a flavour such as apple, banana or something else (I use apple sauce stuff with no sugar added, but veggie baby food can work too). Just mix it all up, roll it out and cut into smaller pieces. Bake at 350F for about 30-45 minutes (I turn them over about 1/2 way through) and let them cool in the oven. These are healthy and you could give several a day without much worry.

I"m currently located at Melbourne Australia

OOO and thanks for your recipe. I will definitely try that

 

[JBun]

It sounds like your rabbit may not be receiving adequate pain control, and that could be the reason for the reluctance to eat on her own. You may want to discuss with your vet about increasing the meloxicam dosage and also the frequency to twice a day, to try and get the pain under control(she may even need additional pain meds along with the meloxicam, for sufficient pain relief). I think Frances Harcourt Brown, a rabbit specialist in the UK, has recommended a dosage of 0.3mg/kg, and higher doses than that are sometimes given, around 0.6-1.0mg/kg. It sounds like your rabbit may be right around the 0.3 dosage, if I've figured it right and your bun is getting the 1.5mg/ml, so maybe a slightly higher dosage and twice a day will help. But with how young your rabbit is, that is something to try and sort out with your vet, to see if there is a safe way to do this. I'll try and find a reference for the meloxicam dosage if I can, or here is FHB's vet practice. Maybe your vet could consult with her, as she is considered an expert in rabbit dentistry.
http://www.crablanevets.co.uk/

Here are also some links with meloxicam dosage info.
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00Chem/ChComplex/Meloxicam.htm

Once the pain is under control, that should help get your rabbit eating on her own again. I imagine the chewing action is probably too painful for your bun at this point, but better pain relief should help that and will also help reduce some of the inflammation caused by the abscess. Until then you may need to increase the supplemental syringe feeding so your rabbit doesn't continue to loose weight, because until the pain is controlled, I don't think your rabbit will want to eat anything that requires much chewing. You may be able to just put the syringe feeding mix into a dish and see if your bun will lap it up on her own. But you'll want to make it up fresh each day as wet food can mold very easily.

Also key with your rabbit returning to normal eating, is the effectiveness of the antibiotic in reducing the infection. Hopefully the chloramphenicol will work. It is possible the antibiotic may be causing the loss of appetite, and if this is the case increased pain meds probably won't help. One way to possibly know if it is the antibiotic or not enough pain relief would be if she willingly takes her syringe feedings. If she is ok with the syringe feedings then it probably means that she isn't feeling nauseous from the antibiotic, and that it is pain from chewing that is causing the reluctance to eat.

And with the metal licking, I'm just making a guess here, but it could have to do with her not getting enough minerals. You could try a mineral lick but if you increase the syringe feedings, that may help the issue. Or it could just be a response to the pain in her mouth, from the infection.

Here are some links on rabbit dental problems, if you are interested.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawabscess.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Dental_diseases_main.htm

 

[sakurapompom]

It sounds like your rabbit may not be receiving adequate pain control, and that could be the reason for the reluctance to eat on her own. You may want to discuss with your vet about increasing the metacam dosage and also the frequency to twice a day, to try and get the pain under control(she may even need additional pain meds along with the metacam, for sufficient pain relief). I think Frances Harcourt Brown, a rabbit specialist in the UK, has recommended a dosage of 0.3mg/kg, and higher doses than that are sometimes given. It sounds like your rabbit may be right around that dosage, if I've figured it right, so maybe a slightly higher dosage and twice a day will help. But with how young your rabbit is, that is something to try and sort out with your vet, if there is a safe way to do this. I'll try and find a reference for the metacam dosage if I can, or here is FHB's vet practice. Maybe your vet could consult with her, as she is considered an expert in rabbit dentistry.
http://www.crablanevets.co.uk/

Here are also some links with metacam dosage info.
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00Chem/ChComplex/Meloxicam.htm

Once the pain is under control, that should help get your rabbit eating on it's own again. I imagine the chewing action is probably too painful for your bun at this point, but better pain relief should help that and will also help reduce some of the inflammation caused by the abscess. Until then you may need to increase the supplemental syringe feeding so your rabbit doesn't continue to loose weight, because until the pain is controlled, I don't think your rabbit will want to eat anything that requires much chewing. Also key with your rabbit returning to normal eating, is the effectiveness of the antibiotic in reducing the infection. Hopefully the chloramphenicol will work. It is possible the antibiotic may be causing some loss of appetite as well.

And with the metal licking, I'm just making a guess here, but it could have to do with her not getting enough minerals. You could try a mineral lick but if you increase the syringe feedings, that may help the issue.

Here are some links on rabbit dental problems, if you are interested.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawabscess.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Dental_diseases_main.htm

Thanks for your very helpful response. I will discuss it with my VET on the coming appointment which is very soon. About the lacking minerals part, I would suspect so but when I bought mineral lick for her she just doesn't touch it. I guess I'll stick with the Syringe feeds for now

 

[JBun]

I made a few revisions to my last post, so you may want to go back and check it. Sorry, it's quite late for me and my brain isn't terribly focused at this point.

I'm sorry you and your bun are having to go through this. It is quite the difficulty, especially for such a young bunny. I know it can be stressful being the caregiver, in having to nurse a sick bunny. Hopefully your vet will be able to find a good treatment course for her.

 

[sakurapompom]

Thanks Mod!

Just a quick update!

I noticed today her left cheek is getting bigger, more like it's swollen. Does that mean the drugs aren't working? :cry1:. She's also loosing fur under her chin where the abscesses are. I'm scared.:bawl:. Her next VET appointment is in 5 more days. I can't get an earlier appointment as I'm having exams and such. What to do for now until her VET day?

 

[JBun]

It does sound like the inflammation and/or infection is getting worse. I would suggest calling your vet immediately and tell them what is going on with her and mention the increased swelling, so that you can discuss your options for possibly changing her treatment. It could be that antibiotic isn't proving effective against that bacteria. I think 5 days is far too long to wait if the infection is increasing.

 

[sakurapompom]

Hi Mod,

Just a quick update. I did take Koko to the Vet today and she did increase her dose of metacam and chloramphenicol. Everything is just complicated as we can't run a test or anything due to her heart condition. We can't even conduct a culture test to determine which anti-biotic will be more effective. The Saturday appointment is still intact and if she doesn't get better by then we will move her to penicillin injection treatment. And if all fails I will proceed with the operation. I'd rather risk it than accept the euthanasia option.

I suspect she might have pasteurulla infection because all the associated symptoms seem to fit with the current observation

 

[JBun]

That's good news. Have you noticed any improvements with any reduction in inflammation, or has her eating improved at all with the medication increase? Hopefully you will see some immediate improvement from the increased metacam.

Penicillin may be a good option. I've read of the bicillin working well on abscesses. Pasteurella is a possibility, as that is a common bacteria to affect rabbits, and penicillin is supposed to be effective against it. A bicillin study was done on rabbits with jaw abscesses, that you may be interested in.
http://people.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm

 

[kira❤tonio!!]

Don't give it any diets give it a lot of its nutritions and all the food that need including pellets and give it more than usual but not much more and give it lots and lots of hay so maybe give a one big handful and when it has finished that give it an hour to two hours and give it another big handful also with the pellets what I tend to do is buy these:

And it sais depending on the weight of the rabbit how much you should feed them :

And I half it so I give him half in the morning and half when I come home from school which is about half seven and four you might want to give it a little bit at night but remember don't go over board just gradually give it a Lilly but more and stop when it is healthy again and just go as you normally would xx
I hope i was of some help xxxx


Sent from my iPod touch using Rabbit Forum

 

[sakurapompom]

That's good news. Have you noticed any improvements with any reduction in inflammation, or has her eating improved at all with the medication increase? Hopefully you will see some immediate improvement from the increased metacam.

Penicillin may be a good option. I've read of the bicillin working well on abscesses. Pasteurella is a possibility, as that is a common bacteria to affect rabbits, and penicillin is supposed to be effective against it. A bicillin study was done on rabbits with jaw abscesses, that you may be interested in.
http://people.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm

Sorry for the late reply

Yes she's been eating and more active

I think the injection is kinda working as her cheek is VERY SLOWLY improved.

However today when i came home I saw her pus is kinda popped out? It was leaking out and there isn't a mistake it was the pus as the smell is really foul.

VET is booked for Saturday this week ( that's the earlier I can get my bunny in).

What can i do meanwhile? She doesn't let me clean her? ( OR should I be cleaning her cheek?)

Apart from such an ugly sight it is she seems to be MORE happy and active since that pus exploded.