lethargic bunny

[SnowyShiloh]

Hi there! I'm sorry if I'm not supposed to be making another thread about Tallulah, but I'm concerned I won't get as many replies if I just start up her old thread. Also, what she's experiencing now is different than what she had earlier. By the way, she's 15 weeks old.

Basically, last night Tallulah was acting lethargic. Usually she's bouncing around with excitement when I open her cage door, but last night I actually had to reach in and pull her out. She seemed a little floppy and like her muscle tone wasn't as good as usual and her eyes seemed a little dull. When I fed her her pellets for dinner, she ate them, but not as enthusiastically as usual. She would hop around the living room and kitchen, but with less energy than usual and would sit in the same spot on the floor for much longer than is usual for her. She was eating, drinking, pooping and peeing like normal. My boyfriend didn't notice she was acting any different, but I know the bunnies better than he does.

Today, her eyes look brighter, she's more excited about food, seems to have more energy and is less floppy, but is still not her normal, hyper, bouncy self. She's still eating, drinking, pooping and peeing. If I hadn't seen how she was last night, I would notice she was acting a little lethargic and would keep an eye on her, but wouldn't be TOO worried.

I called the vet office to see what they thought I should do and explained what's been going on. The vet tech thought I should bring her in if I'm worried, since she had a runny nose a couple weeks ago and I should be watching for lethargy.

The thing is though that our normal vet who owns the clinic and is the best with rabbits won't be in the office until Friday, so if I want to take her to Dr. DeLeon, I have to do it on Friday morning. There are some other vets that are less rabbit savvy but see some bunnies and they will be working tomorrow, so I could take her in then. Should I wait a day longer and take her in to the good vet, or go tomorrow and bring her to a vet that doesn't have a ton of bunny experience? Last time I brought Tallulah, the vet we got was nice but not very knowledgeable and I didn't feel confident that she did everything right. I get the feeling that her symptoms are so mild that a less experienced vet wouldn't catch them.

Thanks for your help!

 

[trailsend]

Well if she is better today that's definately a good sign. If you are really concerned something is wrong, take her in right away, but if you feel she can wait the extra day because it's not an emergency, I would wait. I hate when this happens. At my clinic there are several Vets too, and I only trust one of them, and getting him is nearly impossible. All of the other ones have really been awful... one told me a dog I brought in had cancer and would be dead in days, when really what she had was a tooth infection, and another wanted to put down my lamb when his eyesight started to wane, instead of do anything to help him. SO I am very leary of Veterinarians I do not trust, especially if I have had a not so good experience. But of course, if it is an emergency you need to take her regardless.

The best thing to do is trust your gut in a case like this - you know her best.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Trailsend, I decided to take her in on Friday to see Dr. DeLeon, with the knowledge that if she seems worse tomorrow, I can take her in to see the other vet. Unfortunately, by the time I called the vet back a couple hours ago, the last appointment with Dr. DeLeon on Friday had already been snatched up The next opening isn't until March 6th! Talk about a wait. The tech told me to call at 8 am on Friday to see if anyone canceled an appointment so we can take her in then. Hopefully that works out!

I've been watching Lulu in her cage all afternoon and she seems kinda blah. She was sitting in her litterbox eating hay, but has been half sitting/ half lying down with her head in her food bowl for a good hour and a half! I've gone over a couple times to check on her and she always rouses her self and opens her eyes wide and stuff. I think she feels tired today.

I will update again later!

 

[trailsend]

Will wait for your update *fingers crossed* you'll be able to get in Friday. If not, I hope your appointment with another Vet goes well. I sure hope she is O.K. I have not read the other post you mention about her problems. Poor wee bug.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Trailsend, basically Tallulah has had: runny nose, runny nose with yellow snot, dry flaky skin, GIGANTIC turd bigger in diameter than a quarter, loose stool, poopy butt... She's my sensitive little bunner! This is the first time she's been lethargic though, she was quite happy and bouncy through everything else. Thankfully, her poops are looking normal right now and her nose is just the tiniest bit moist, barely noticeable.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Could she have gotten into something she shouldn't have eaten?

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Bo, I was thinking of that, but I really don't know what she could have gotten into. I'm really careful about not having stuff around she could eat and I keep a close eye on her when she's out of her cage. Good thing is she got excited about food again tonight and is eating her pellets rather enthusiastically right now!

 

[Marietta]

Could be just a mild gas attack (the symptoms she was having could've been gas) or maybe she was just having a "bad bunny day" and was nothing serious. If you see her acting normal today, being bright and alert, eating, drinking, pooping, peing as usual, then, maybe, whatever it was, it was minor and is over now.

How do you see her these last hours?
Marietta

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Marietta, she was pretty enthusiastic about her dinner and is still pooping and peeing and drinking normally, and is still hopping around, but still does not seem to be completely normal. She's still floppier than usual. Also, Paul was petting her tonight and commented that she feels skinny I think she feels skinny too, especially since yesterday. When we were at the vet two weeks ago, the vet didn't think she was skinny... I have this fear that she's malnourished and is acting lethargic because she's starved! Mind you, I DO feed her, but you know how fears go. Sigh. I've been trying to convert her over to the new brand of pellets (Zupreem Nature's Promise timothy pellets), but she's been getting poopy butt from them. I would give her more pellets since she seems skinny, but even if I give her more of the brand she's been on for the past month and a half, she gets poopy butt.

 

[Marietta]

Well, SnowyShiloh, you tell me about fears of a bunny mom!!! Bunnies definately give us more heart attacks than children!

I weight my bun every 10-15 days, in order to be constantly updated on if he's on the proper kilos or not...Mine is very energetic, he runs and climbs a lot, so he burns a lot of calories. Since Tallulah is still a baby, you can feed her the baby pellets in big quantities (almost all articles I've read suggest unlimited pellet quantities for buns up to 6 months' old), if you think she's thin. Have you weighted her? It could be a good idea to have a kitchen scale and weight her once or twice per month, so that, if she gets thinner, you should notice it right away, provide a bigger quantity of pellets and monitor her for any health issues.

Marietta

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Marietta, my birthday is today, and I asked for a kitchen scale, so maybe it's in one of these boxes here! I hope so, then I can plunk the buns into it every couple days to make sure their weights are good

 

[Marietta]

Sorry, I just saw your edited text, adding more info on her pellet switch. I can't tell you anything about the brand quality, since it's not imported in my country, but this change in diet can of course produce runny stools, if not done very slowly and very gradually. When you change whatever element of the bunny's diet (i.e. pellets or greens -for hay, it doesn't matter) you add the new stuff quantities very slowly, for a period of 1-1.5 week and in very small quantities in the beginning, adding up as the days go by. So, with the pellets, you start mixing the old brand with the new one, adding, at first very few pellets from the new brand and augmenting little by little, lessening, at the same time, the old pellet brand quantity. How much is her pellet intake per day?

Marietta

 

[Marietta]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

Marietta, my birthday is today, and I asked for a kitchen scale, so maybe it's in one of these boxes here!  I hope so, then I can plunk the buns into it every couple days to make sure their weights are good

WHAT A GREAT TIMING!!!! :biggrin2:

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! :toastingbuns


Marietta

 

[Bo B Bunny]

She's young and I like to keep them on an alfalfa based pellet for the first 9 mos or so. We just switched Tony over (he thinks we've totally ruined his life - he'll be over it in no time just like Bo and Clover were lol)...

What did you switch her from? Can you give hera pinch of oats (like old fashioned cookable ones) each day?

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Pennie, she's between switching from Kaytee Timothy Complete and Zupreem Nature's Promise timothy. Both vets she's seen have said to feed her timothy, I was ready to feed her alfalfa for the first several months. We'll see what the vet says on Friday, she hasn't seen Tallulah before!

What exactly do the oats do? Are they for added calories? How many should I give her, like half a teaspoon or what? She has a sensitive tummy so I don't want to give her anything that will upset her belly. Which type of oats should I use, quick oats or the steel cut variety or what? So many questions! Thanks for the help, Pennie

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Do you feed her alfalfa hay? Our vets and the Oxbow bag and such say to feed the alfalfa for growing bunnies cause they need the protein or something. Glad you are getting away from the Kaytee tho! that could be part of it - she might have had more junk in those pellets! See what the vet says but I wouldn't change her again real quick.

I gave Clover about 1/2 tsp of oats per day to help her pick up some weight. I use the Quaker old fashioned oats like for oatmeal or cookies or whatever. They all devour them!

I actually use those as a treat too! If we are playing and Bo does something like stacks his cups - I give him one. If they come to me when I call their name - I give them one.

 

[CorkysMom]

Oats s/n't upset her tummy, generally they can help w/ runny/soft poops. And as already stated, they generally love them!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Thanks you two, I'll pick up some oats tomorrow at the store! I actually do have some oats, but I'm not sure if they're the right kind. We bought a big box of individual packets of flavored instant oatmeal at Sam's Club, and there are several packets of "regular" flavor. Do you know if these are just plain oats, or do they have something added to them? Of course I wouldn't feed her one of the flavored packets, but is regular okay?

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

We are having a lot of buns with those "bunny bad days". It seems to happen about this time every year. Everyone has their opinions, but since we have so many rabbbits we have seen a trend. In our situation, it always happens with hay products that we buy in Mar, Apr and early May. Might be totally off base here but just our experience.

As far as feeding oats, on paper that should make things worse, but it does seem to help. We have used that method successfully. We use the Quaker Oats...in the cardboard tube (which makes a great play toy when too) with the picture of the Quaker on it. Something else that makes no sense but works is cooked rice. Our buns seem to like the Minute Rice Premium. Should not work, but it does.

I think I would treat this bunny for both coccidia and worms. One of the few times I treat rather than diagnosing as fecals are terribly inaccurate. Coccidia is sometimes very difficult to handle. Many of the "garden variety" treatments are really ineffective. Our best treatments for this have been a combination of Albon and one of the sulfanomide antibiotics (like Bactrim, Sulfatrim, etc.). Pins, rounds and hooks are treated with Panacur (Fendbendazole). If it is worms and they are treated, it can cause a poopy (and smelly) butt for a few days.

Keep a close eye of hydration. Many people feel that a poopy butt should receive less fluids...but that can quickly cause dehydration and that walks us into another issue.

Hope the cause is found during your vet visit.

Randy

 

[Marietta]

Randy, cooked rice helps only in diagnosed coccidia cases, or also in runny/mushed poops caused, for example, by dietary changes or too many veggies consumed, etc.? I know that with humans eating rice stops diarrhea and is suggested if one's tummy is upset, but I didn't know that it would be safe for bunnies. Moreover, I thought that cooked food in general (i.e. including boiled or steemed veggies) is not allowed to be fed to buns, but maybe it's not so?

Thanks,
Marietta