My Bunny's Ears are Dying!

[NZminilops]

The bunny is just a little baby, correct me if I'm wrong Aliena but I believe she is coming up 8 weeks old?

 

[Aliena]

I rub her ears all the time but some of it is already hard and dead and once the tissue is dead it can't come back to life She weighs 400g because she had enteritis and lost tons of weight. She has become incredibly fussy and the only things she really eats is banana, kiwifruit, grass and stuff I pick from the garden like dock, puha, dandelions and plantain but dad mowed the lawns and now there's none She has pellets which I do see her eating and rolled oats which she has had a tiny nibble of. Before she got sick she used to love rolled oats but won't eat them now. I've tried babyfood too but she won't eat that and when you syringe things into her mouth she just lets it fill up and then run down the sides. She has hay which I do see her eating and she likes spinach too. I just came back from the supermarket with treats like alfalfa and craisins and she just sniffed and then hopped off to sit in the sun.

 

[Aliena]

She was eight weeks on Friday.

 

[Aliena]

This is Alaska:

And this is one of her ears:

See how it's sort of bent/folded? Well its stuck like that, that is all completely hard.

 

[ellissian]

She is a beautiful rabbit Aliena.

I have a 11 week old baby and I've been told by members of this forum not to feed fruit or veg until he is at least 4 months old.

I'm not trying to criticise you I'm just passing on info I've received. I was also recommeded to use something called Nutra Cal (I think that was the name) to help build my baby up. Maybe it will help Alaska.

 

[hunnybunny63]

those pictures remind me of the tiem when Daisy bit Dandys ear during a fight. This left Dandy with a small piece of ear hanging off. after jsut half hour of this happening the tissue had died and gone all black.

We managered to get her an apointment at the vets quite soon after though and the vet told us that the only choice was to let her cut it off but Dandy had to be knocked out first because of the pain so we left her there for a few hours and then went to pick her up. Now she has a small part of her ear missing but doesnt seem at all bothered by it!

Hope you can find a soloution for your little bunny!

 

[polly]

She is gorgeous aliena,

i don't know whether this would be any good but ginger is very good for circulation not sure if bunnies can eat it. But it is great in aromatherapy as is lemon. If you can keep her from licking at it 1 drop of each oil in a base oil like calendala (marigold) or olive oil might help the circulation in her ears.

 

[~Bracon~]

she is so sweet. Im really sorry to hear about her ears . She's so lucky that she's with someone that cares for her. Fingers crossed that everything goes well

Lots of love from Hannah and Bracon

x x x x x

x x x x

x x x

x x

x

 

[Aliena]

Thanks for the advice guys. Ellisian, I usually don't give my bubs too many veggies but in her case I think she needs them and it wasn't until I started feeding her lots of grass and greenery that she started to recover from her enteritis. She won't eat much so I think fruit and veg are better than nothing.

 

[ellissian]

I understand Aliena.

I really do hope little Alaska gets well.


Have you tried her with critical care?

 

[Aliena]

We don't have Critical Care in NZ, or Nutri-Cal or any of that. I even scoured the entire supermarket just trying to find canned pumpkin but there was none to be had.

 

[hellsmistress]

polly wrote:

She is gorgeous aliena,

i don't know whether this would be any good but ginger is very good for circulation not sure if bunnies can eat it. But it is great in aromatherapy as is lemon. If you can keep her from licking at it 1 drop of each oil in a base oil like calendala (marigold) or olive oil might help the circulation in her ears.

ginger is fine for rabbits, if you can get them to eat it . The best option would be to grate up some ginger and boil about a teaspoonful in a couple of cups of water. Let it boil until its got a good colour and a good gingery taste then strain and syringe feed. probably about 2-3ml at a time. As a treatment for bloat its recomended to be fed every 30 mins until the gas/bloating is relieved but as a circlatory stimulant i would think maybe 2 or 3 times a day.

 

[hellsmistress]

Aliena wrote:

We don't have Critical Care in NZ, or Nutri-Cal or any of that. I even scoured the entire supermarket just trying to find canned pumpkin but there was none to be had.

unfortunately we dont have those things in aus either, i find that instead of canned pumpkin, pumpkin and sweetcorn baby food works well. Also acidophilus tablets from your local chemist seem to help a litte. If shes not eating properlymaybe she just needs to be tempted. Fennel and Dill seem to be favourites around my rabbitry and i believe they are appitite stimulants as well as helping with the chest area. anyway might help her apetite.

Chantel

 

[Pipp]

ellissian wrote:

I have a 11 week old baby and I've been told by members of this forum not to feed fruit or veg until he is at least 4 months old.

That's actually not really true. Bringing a baby home from a breeder or pet store and immediately feeding veggies is a problem, but if a bunny has been eating it's mother's food and the mom was eating veggies, no problem.

If they were raised on pellets, though, you have to introduced veggies very slowly one at a time in very small quanties to make sure they don't have a gas reaction and/or disturb their gut flora balance.

Aliena, you can make your own pumpkin just by boiling and pureeing it, or just use the baby food.

If she's eating hay and grass (I'd find more of what you had been feeding her pre-mow) and spinach, that's a good diet.

You may also want to try slowly introducing a few sunflower seeds.

She may haveSBS at this point -- a problem I've got with mine. Spoiled bunny syndrome. With all the food being offered, she's holding out for 'the good stuff.'



sas

 

[Aliena]

Tried sunflower seeds but she won't eat them even though she used to before she got sick. She seems to enjoy a food and then after a while doesn't want it anymore and sometimes I give her something and she gets all excited and buries her nose in it but doesn't actually eat anything. I think she does have spoiled bunny syndrome. She ate some tissue before, when I was mopping up the wee's she did on my carpet

I think in the future I'm going to give my baby bunnies lots of green food when they first start on solids but are still drinking heaps from mum, it really seemed to be a key thing with getting Alaska back to health and if it's good for bunnies in the wild then surely its beneficial to domestics.

A rabbit breeder I know sent me an email today about this ear problem, she had got in touch with a cat breeder, apparantly cats can suffer this ear dying thing too and it's called Neonatal Irythrolysis. The info she sent me was:

"This blood incompatibility in animals (other animals have this problem also) is called Neonatal Irythrolysis (or NI for short). The problem occurs when you have a Type B Queen mated to a Type A male. During pregnancy the Queen's system develops antibodies which will destroy Type A blood. The kittens are ok until they are born. It is when they suckle the colostrum (first milk) from the Mother after birth that they receive the antibodies. If the kitten is an `A' blood type it is in danger of either dying, usually within three days (this is sometimes put down to fading kitten syndrome) or the extremities dying off (tail tip dying - or in more severe cases most of the tail dying). I have to say that I have not heard of feet or ears being affected, but I suppose this could happen. The "B" type kittens will be unaffected as the antibodies do not affect their blood."

Does that sound like it could be what is wrong with Alaska? If it is then you'd think it would have started at a younger age, not at seven and a half weeks.

 

[Bangbang]

Hey there, I live in Australia we have nutragel (nutrigel) here, ask you vet if they have it or can get it in... not sure if its available in NZ but i would have thought so

 

[ellissian]

I'm sorry pipp but I was only repeating the info I was told here.

Milly is a very gassey bun so I'm still holding off for now. He's not very happy when I feed the guineas pigs their veg, he always trys begging for some!

 

[Sugar N Spice]

I'm so sorry about Alaska...I hope you find a solution.

:?

 

[gentle giants]

I don't know if this would be an option or not, but might it be possible to try removing her ears with a local anastetic? (sp?) I don't have have any idea how long or how difficult a surgery like that would be, mabye do one at a time because obviously she would have to be restrained.....

 

[ellissian]

And to be a little bit sedated, maybe?