Mini lop recovery after near death experience

[Nabeel_98]

Hey guys, so I have 2 mini lop sisters. The other day when I came home from work I noticed one of my bunnies was acting strange. Every time she tried to walk or run she would bang into something or fall over. I contacted emergency out of hours vets immediately. On my way to the vets her condition became considerably worse at the point that I was losing her. The vets took her in and told me she was very underweight and had low glucose levels, hypoglycaemia. She was fine the day before so I never understood how it came to this. Anyway, they kept her overnight and paid close attention to her as she was 'fading'. She was kept on glucose and oxygen for the night. I was in constant contact with the vets to see how she was doing as I was incredibly worried. The next day, the vet told me she was okay to be discharged, she survived the night but was still extremely weak. I took her home and started to feed her straight away. Although she didn't touch the hay and water, she was having her pellets and some veggies. I booked an appointment with my local vets when I got home. They said, cause of her weight, she has no fat storage and it was on me to feed her and do my best to get her back strength. They also gave me some critical care/recovery plus for her. Since then I have changed her hay from meadow to timothy and it had made a difference as she's been eating it. I have not slept for 2 nights to make sure she is eating, which she has. Her poop has been very healthy for the past couple of days and I have been feeding her 5 ml amounts of CC using a syringe, although she doesn't like it. She's not having much water which is a worry but I'm happy with her recovery speed. The only other thing which worries me is that she is still very quiet and not as active. Is this just a part of the recovery process? I understand she cannot be nursed to full health within 72 hours. Although the vet did say this is good as rabbits can burn their food quite easily when active. Is this a good sign? Really? I'm just wondering if the hypoglycaemia could be caused by something else? such as stasis? or is it just a lack of nutrients? I am determined to get her back to full health, and so far I would say the recovery process has been good. I'm going to try a change of diet which will encourage more fibre and protein for her growth.

I would be very grateful for any help, or anyone who has experienced this before.

 

[bright_eyes]

It sounds like the hypoglycemia is a symptom of a much bigger problem.

The fact that she's underweight indicates that this rabbit has not been healthy for at least a week or more. If she has been fed quality food on a regular basis and has been eating enough of it, she shouldn't be thin. There is either an underlying medical condition or nutritional deficiency that has caused her to be underweight. I'd suggest looking into further diagnostics whether that be bloodwork, x-rays, fecal analysis, etc. to check for parasites, intestinal blockages, tumors, or organ failure. She will probably not recover until you can diagnose and treat the root cause.

Something to ponder... I went through something similar with one of my girls recently. She crashed very suddenly, lost a ton of weight, couldn't hold herself upright, and stopped eating. No clear diagnosis upon physical exam or blood test. Shortlisted possible problems were: inner ear infection, brain tumor, or e. cuniculi. Vet and I decided to treat for various potential issues with antibiotics, anti inflammatories, and the E. cuniculi deworming protocol. It was a rough two weeks, we were in tears trying to get the medications and Critical Care into her every day. Right as we thought to euthanize her (since her quality of life was so bad) she perked up and slowly got better. She's been well ever since, so e. cuniculi was probably the issue.

 

[cwebster]

Glad both your bunnies are getting better!