New bun owner, found an injured bun. Any advice would be great

[Newt_the_Bun]

Hi all,

Found this forum, and looking for any advice I can get. I just read the other new bunny owner post, and it was very helpful!

Ill try to be brief. My husband and I own a small hobby farm. We own miniature horses and a dog. A tornado came through our area last week and caused some significant damage to our property and trees (thankfully nothing horrible, just a lot of work). While doing the clean up, my husband called me over. He had found a small white bunny in our lawn, crawling on its side. It couldn't hop away. It was bleeding from its neck, and had large puncture-like wounds on it's back. We picked it up and took it inside. It was quite docile and allowed me to clean its wounds/ etc. We feed our horses plain grass hay (among other things), and keep their stalls padded with wood pellets, so it was very simple for me to set up a little temporary home in a large cardboard box while I went on a search for the owners. I walked all around our neighborhood, and asked around. No one around us (3-5 miles radius) owns bunnies. We have no idea where the bunny came from.

A few days of research and daily cleaning, I realized these "wounds" were not something I could manage on my own. I read that bunnies can abscess, but its very different from something our horses or dog would have. So after much calling and searching I find a vet that could evaluate the bunny. WELL, I will SPARE you the gross pics, but bunny had bots. Being familiar with horses I know what this is.. but ummm.

5 LARGE grubs were removed under anesthesia, but poor bun was a saint. Found out from vet bun is skinny, quite young, and "probably" female.

I have been giving vet prescribed antibiotics 2X a day, and pain ointment topically. The bunny is a SAINT. I have to put her in my lap, give her oral meds, and have to treat these large holes in her skin 2x a day too. Bunny still cannot hop. She kind of crawls. All four legs work, and hold her up, but no hoping has been seen yet. I have inside in a large pen. She is much more alert and loves to have head scratches, and crawls over to eat Kale and fruit out of my hand. I have been providing pellets, and hay.

So we have officially adopted the bun. Because of all the lovely little "Aliens" removed from her, we have named her Newt.

Here are the current issues:
1) She eats the hay, but likes to use it more as bedding. She loves watermelon and kale, and romaine. She likes cut up strawberry in small amounts. She is skinny, and not extremely interested in food yet (probably not feeling the greatest). Any advice to help this would be great

2) Not hopping. She seems fully content crawling around currently. This morning she greeted me standing on her back legs, and paws over the pen she is in. She no longer tips over as she had in the past. She is much more stable. Vet was more concerned about Bot problem, as was I, so will have to take her in for this. Any experience or advice on this?

3) Wound care and housing.. Keeping these holes clean has been a chore, and I eventually would like to give her a bath. I don't want to traumatize her anymore than i have to, but some of her hair still has some blood and probably residual pus. The wood pellets have been keeping everything nice and clean, but any advice would be very helpful.

4) When do I spay little girl? I'm not sure of her age, just that she is young. She has a lot of healing to do, but eventually I would like to get this done as well.

Also, here are some pics of Newt. She doesn't look the greatest here, but I wanted to see if anyone had any idea of what she is... and maybe a guess to what her adult size would be.


Thank you!

 

[Preitler]

Oh, what a cutie. Would guess that she's betwenn 6 and 8 weeks old, but that's hard to tell.

1) Since she quite likely lived out there for some time I would think you could offer grass and weeds too. That they waste a lot of hay is normal, with the right hay rack design that can be reduced somewhat

3) Problem with bathing is to get them dry, their fur dries incredible bad. When I give my somewhat disabled boy a butt bath it can take up to 24h to dry, in winter I even use a box where I sit him on top on a grate and a heater is blowing into the box. Anyway, a bath might be too much of a strain right now that could open the gates for infections to get a hold, I would do just some spot cleaning without getting her too wet.

Spaying can wait, depending on size about 6 months is the earliest I think.

 

[Newt_the_Bun]

Oh, what a cutie. Would guess that she's betwenn 6 and 8 weeks old, but that's hard to tell.

1) Since she quite likely lived out there for some time I would think you could offer grass and weeds too. That they waste a lot of hay is normal, with the right hay rack design that can be reduced somewhat

3) Problem with bathing is to get them dry, their fur dries incredible bad. When I give my somewhat disabled boy a butt bath it can take up to 24h to dry, in winter I even use a box where I sit him on top on a grate and a heater is blowing into the box. Anyway, a bath might be too much of a strain right now that could open the gates for infections to get a hold, I would do just some spot cleaning without getting her too wet.

Spaying can wait, depending on size about 6 months is the earliest I think.

thank you! that really helps. I will do more spot cleaning for now, and completely put off spaying for awhile!

 

[SirLawrence]

Oh, I love her name! And Little Newt is adorable! I'm glad she found y'all!! ☺ ☺ ☺

 

[CrazyChickenGirl]

Hi all,

Found this forum, and looking for any advice I can get. I just read the other new bunny owner post, and it was very helpful!

Ill try to be brief. My husband and I own a small hobby farm. We own miniature horses and a dog. A tornado came through our area last week and caused some significant damage to our property and trees (thankfully nothing horrible, just a lot of work). While doing the clean up, my husband called me over. He had found a small white bunny in our lawn, crawling on its side. It couldn't hop away. It was bleeding from its neck, and had large puncture-like wounds on it's back. We picked it up and took it inside. It was quite docile and allowed me to clean its wounds/ etc. We feed our horses plain grass hay (among other things), and keep their stalls padded with wood pellets, so it was very simple for me to set up a little temporary home in a large cardboard box while I went on a search for the owners. I walked all around our neighborhood, and asked around. No one around us (3-5 miles radius) owns bunnies. We have no idea where the bunny came from.

A few days of research and daily cleaning, I realized these "wounds" were not something I could manage on my own. I read that bunnies can abscess, but its very different from something our horses or dog would have. So after much calling and searching I find a vet that could evaluate the bunny. WELL, I will SPARE you the gross pics, but bunny had bots. Being familiar with horses I know what this is.. but ummm.

5 LARGE grubs were removed under anesthesia, but poor bun was a saint. Found out from vet bun is skinny, quite young, and "probably" female.

I have been giving vet prescribed antibiotics 2X a day, and pain ointment topically. The bunny is a SAINT. I have to put her in my lap, give her oral meds, and have to treat these large holes in her skin 2x a day too. Bunny still cannot hop. She kind of crawls. All four legs work, and hold her up, but no hoping has been seen yet. I have inside in a large pen. She is much more alert and loves to have head scratches, and crawls over to eat Kale and fruit out of my hand. I have been providing pellets, and hay.

So we have officially adopted the bun. Because of all the lovely little "Aliens" removed from her, we have named her Newt.

Here are the current issues:
1) She eats the hay, but likes to use it more as bedding. She loves watermelon and kale, and romaine. She likes cut up strawberry in small amounts. She is skinny, and not extremely interested in food yet (probably not feeling the greatest). Any advice to help this would be great

2) Not hopping. She seems fully content crawling around currently. This morning she greeted me standing on her back legs, and paws over the pen she is in. She no longer tips over as she had in the past. She is much more stable. Vet was more concerned about Bot problem, as was I, so will have to take her in for this. Any experience or advice on this?

3) Wound care and housing.. Keeping these holes clean has been a chore, and I eventually would like to give her a bath. I don't want to traumatize her anymore than i have to, but some of her hair still has some blood and probably residual pus. The wood pellets have been keeping everything nice and clean, but any advice would be very helpful.

4) When do I spay little girl? I'm not sure of her age, just that she is young. She has a lot of healing to do, but eventually I would like to get this done as well.

Also, here are some pics of Newt. She doesn't look the greatest here, but I wanted to see if anyone had any idea of what she is... and maybe a guess to what her adult size would be.
View attachment 56863 View attachment 56866 View attachment 56864 View attachment 56865

Thank you!

She is lucky that such amazing people rescued her and she knows it!

 

[Newt_the_Bun]

Thank you! We really love her. She is so so sweet! Just want to get her healthy again!

 

[JBun]

What a sweet little bun She's lucky you found her. I agree, maybe try fresh grass if you can get it. There is a syringe feeding mix, but this bunny looks pretty young, so I would be concerned about introducing a new food with carbs in it and upsetting the delicate bacterial balance in the digestive tract. Baby rabbits are especially prone to digestive problems developing from new foods, but especially carbs/sugars. But I would imagine this baby is used to eating fresh forage like grass.

 

[Dandy&Tuli4693]

Also depending on her weight you can usually get them fixed once they are atleast 3 pounds
My boy was definitely old enough to get spayed but the vet said he had to be atleast 2.5pounds to be safely neutered

(Now he is neutered)

S in nce you dont know her age that will give you a general idea when to spay

I use a kitchen scale and it works perfect

Just get her up to 3 pounds and then email or call your vet and see what she thinks

 

[dogwoodblossoms]

What a sweet little bun She's lucky you found her. I agree, maybe try fresh grass if you can get it. There is a syringe feeding mix, but this bunny looks pretty young, so I would be concerned about introducing a new food with carbs in it and upsetting the delicate bacterial balance in the digestive tract. Baby rabbits are especially prone to digestive problems developing from new foods, but especially carbs/sugars. But I would imagine this baby is used to eating fresh forage like grass.

Maybe try kitten replacement milk? She might be too old but it might help her appetite.

 

[Newt_the_Bun]

This is all so helpful! Thank you!

She dove head first into some grass I picked for her tonight. I actually have a scale in the barn to weigh hay for the mini horses, so I’ll weigh her tonight!

Today I noticed huge improvements in her skin. The “extraction” areas are all closing except for one which is rather large and “angry” yet. Four more days of antibiotics and then I think and little Newt will be finally on the mend.

We are starting to talk about a more permanent enclosure in the house. I have been saving bunny enclosures for ideas, but little Ms. Newt still won’t hop much at all. She crawls around instead. I spoke with the vet again today she said she couldn’t find any issue that wouldn’t allow her to hop, and is not sure why she won’t. She no longer falls onto her side and cannot get up - so I think she is getting stronger. I hope she can hop one day!
Any ideas for a hop-limited Newt would be wonderful. She cannot get into a litter pan with sides yet, so any ideas there would be awesome.

Thanks again! its been very helpful!

 

[Preitler]

Do not feed milk of any kind, this rabbit is already weaned.

Litter pan isn't that important now, they really start to use those during puberty at about 4 months. But you could form a ramp around it with boards or piles of hay.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

The 16 babies born to two abandoned females, prior to spay surgeries, were housed with momma until we wisely separated genders at appropriate age. The babies had access to a litter box area at an early age.

@Newt_the_Bun , Withtiny Newt's bot fly infestation and recovery and continued improvement as priority, placing a low-sided litter box with hay in her area will do no harm.

Q: Does she have a hidey box or hidey cove?

Please keep us updated on her recovery! She is extremely fortunate you took her under your angel wings and got the grubs removed.

Tim, in photo, i dunno if he's a mutt or another breed of abandoned bun however he was also fortunate to be captured as a stray.
He had to receive anti-parasitic med. He was a tiny one, too, and took immediately to a hospital bed pan as his gentleman's restroom. Thank you for being Newt's guardian angel. I can comment later on bath concern. We'[ve given 4 of our disabled buns with hind limb pareses butt baths in the past years.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

@Newt_the_Bun, I'll try to photograph low sided litter pan ideas for you. When our 12 y.o. fx'd her femur, during her 3-month callous-healing period in confined housing area we used the top of a copy paper box, with 3/4th of one side cut down low. I would pad her box with bath mats that were super easy to launder and top with hay.

Unsure if you have access to Facebook groups like Disabled Rabbits or Elder rabbits. Tons of devoted humans who care for their loves with disabilities.

I'll see if I can find archived images of Tiny's box, if time allows. Hope you can get an idea from description above! Less-abled buns and strays can latch onto your heart in a HUGE way (as all of ours have).

I'm immensely happy Newt has your TLC, and you want to keep her inside as a future snuggled family member.

I've seen tons of sad and depressing postings lately, more than I can bear in the last few months about discarded rabbits and rabbits who mean zilch to humans. Your post has given me encouragement on the genuine, caring capabilities - and efforts - of humans.

Kisses to Newt!

 

[JBun]

Maybe try kitten replacement milk? She might be too old but it might help her appetite.

What Preitler said. It's not a good idea to put a bunny back on milk if it's already been weaned for more than a few days, as it no longer has the necessary enzymes and bacteria to properly digest the milk, especially when it's milk replacement and not actual rabbit mothers milk. It could end up causing digestive problems.

That's great that she's taken to eating the grass and her condition's improving! She's probably just weak from starvation and loss of muscle mass. I would imagine that she'll gradually improve and regain a good amount of function, if not all, as she regains that muscle.

Disposable or washable puppy pee pads. Low sided litter box. I had an old bun that gradually lost use of her hind legs. While she could still hop, but had trouble getting into the litter box, I cut down the front side of the litter box for her so she could more easily make it in. Then as she could no longer stay up on her hind legs, I put puppy pee pads down and a towel with soft faux fleece over her main area to provide a soft surface for her that would also drain the urine to the bottom layers and keep it off her skin.



Take a look at this disabled rabbits link to see if there might be any set up ideas that would work for your bun.

http://www.disabledrabbits.com/housing.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Special_needs_rabbits
If there is any pus present in any of the bot holes, it's important to keep the hole open and clean the pus out each day, until there's no longer any pus and the hole will then close over. This could be why that one hole still isn't improving. If she still has some red inflamed skin around the holes, I would ask the vet about continuing the antibiotics for another couple weeks at least, and also if you need to start flushing out the wound. If there's still infection present, last thing you want is to stop antibiotics. And infections in rabbits usually take much longer to clear up than other animals. 4 weeks on antibiotics is usually the minimum needed.

(contains graphic medical related photos)
Medirabbit: abscess management

 

[Newt_the_Bun]

Y’all are so helpful! I love your other stories.

1st. No milks for this bun!

2nd. My husband saw her try to hop today, she didn’t fall over!

3rd. We have a little DIY hidey house for her made out of an upside down raspberry collecting bucket we are building her new place this weekend- I love the idea of a low sided litter or bed pan! So far she only soils one area of her little enclosure now.

4th. I called my vet about more antibiotics - she said she would like to see bun Friday, and prescribe what I need next. She said she will clean any of the wounds that are not healing well too. I am continuing to flush the one angry wound, and giving the oral antibiotics

5th. Her appetite has returned with a vengeance! Newt is constantly eating now. I did buy her pelleted feed and she has been gobbling it down. How much should I continue to offer her? I don’t want to overdo it, or make her sick!


Thanks all! Construction of the more permanent enclosure starts this weekend

 

[JBun]

That's fantastic! Such great improvement for how unwell she started out being. She looks so content and happy It sounds like you'll have no trouble litter training her and she'll take right to it.

For pellet feeding, I would say it depends mostly on the amount of grass and hay she's eating, and the maturity of the cut. With you being familiar with feeding horses, you probably know how the protein/nutrient content of hay varies with how green and how leafy or coarse it is. If your hay is nice green and leafy or a mix of leaf and hard stems, then that's the ideal protein/nutrient amount for rabbits, and pellets are just an added vitamin supplement essentially. You're aiming for about 14-16% protein, so more leaf than stem consumed will help boost that protein amount. You want the right balance of protein/nutrients for growth, and indigestible fiber for digestive motility.

If little bun is eating a pile of hay/grass the size of her body per day, has poop that is a good size and consistency, and is filling out and gaining weight, that means she's getting the right balance in her diet. Some people say unlimited pellets for baby rabbits, but I've found that it can cause issues for some babies, so I go more off the three points mentioned above. But whatever pellet amount, you want to gradually increase amounts(not a sudden increase) to give the rabbits digestive microflora time to adapt to the change. Sudden changes in food can cause digestive problems for some rabbits, particularly baby rabbits. With the exception of medium to mature grass hay, which a sudden increase almost never causes digestive issues but actually helps. Though rich early growth fresh grass/hay can sometimes cause problems.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Nutrition_for_rabbits
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/File:Pet_size-o-meter.jpg
https://bunssb.org/bunnies/guide-bunny-poops/
Not sure what kind of pellets she's getting, but you want a plain(no added seeds or colorful bits) pellet. And for baby rabbits, an alfalfa based pellet with the alfalfa as the first ingredient(and not a grain by product). Though a grass based pellet is fine too, just lower in protein. Some good high quality pet brands are oxbow, science select, and sherwood.