New bunny acting strange

[Rachel Vanderbilt]

Hi! I just recently got a new bunny, she's a 3month old English lop. She came with a horrible ear infection the other day I cleaned them out and I'm bringing her to the vet on Tuesday to see if she needs medicine or anything. But she won't eat her hay really, from what I've seen and she has been making cecatropes like crazy all over the place. She'll eat something pellets here and there and then kinda just lays around and grind her teeth.. iican also here her stomach gurgling and even feel her guts moving around .. I don't think that's very normal for such a young bunny. Any advice would be great thanks!

 

[Jaryleen]

Have you tried feeding her banana?

 

[Rachel Vanderbilt]

No I haven't

 

[Preitler]

Gurgling sounds are not good, and grinding her teeth is a sign for pain.

To help her with the gas you can give her simethicone drops (baby gas drops), about 20mg 2-3 times a day, it can't hurt. If she still eats you can put them on a little damp oatmeal, on pellets or put it directly in her mouth with a syringe (from the side behind her front teeth, only small drops at a time)

My doe relaxed when I put my fingers under her belly and gave her a gentle massage, as long as the bunny accepts it, normally she doesn't let me touch there.

Whatever caused the gas - change in diet, stress from change in the environment, weaning enteritis, or whatever, it is an emergency and the sooner you get her to a vet the better, he can give pain and gut mobility meds and maybe treat the cause.
It can develop into a full stasis fast, which would be really bad.

 

[JBun]

Like Preitler said, stomach gurgling and teeth grinding are not good signs. The stomach gurgling can indicate there is an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria occurring(likely due to the stress and pain from her ear hurting), which can be very dangerous to rabbits when it occurs. Teeth grinding is a sign of significant pain, which is likely due to not only the ear infection, but also cleaning the ears out would have likely caused increased irritation to the ears resulting in increased pain and inflammation.

If at all possible, I would get her seen by a knowledgeable rabbit vet today, tomorrow morning at the latest(tell them it's an emergency situation-teeth grinding/not eating). But if you have to wait until tomorrow you are risking GI stasis occurring, as it becomes an emergency when a rabbit stops eating(or not eating very much) for more than 12-24 hours. Because of the stomach gurgling, you do not want to be giving sugary/high carb foods to try and get her to eat as the sugars will further worsen the bacterial overgrowth. I would instead try to encourage her to eat dark leafy greens like parsley, cilantro, and green/red/romaine lettuce. If her ear is hurting, it will hurt to chew, so she might be more inclined to eat soft foods.

Your rabbit really needs to get put on pain meds, possibly antibiotics and gut motility meds, may need sub q fluids, and will likely need to be syringe fed until she starts eating well enough on her own, so it's important to get her seen by the vet right away to get these meds started before her condition worsens.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

 

[Jaryleen]

No I haven't

Try feeding her banana it won’t help but most rabbits will go crazy for bananas so if she doesn’t seem to want it then you might want to consider going to a vet. But make sure when giving a banana no more than 5 bites just because of the sugar

 

[Popsicles]

I agree that your rabbit needs to see a vet sooner than Tuesday, but problems can develop very quickly, and the sooner you can get them fixed the better.
On a side note, my rabbit doesn’t like banana at all, every rabbit is different, if my rabbit is sick I offer her her favourite herbs, which are better for a bad tummy anyway.

 

[sootybunny]

How is your bunny. I lost an English lop earlier this year. He was just a baby to me they seem very fragile. I would rush your bunny to the vet.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Definitely a rabbit savvy vet ASAP.

 

[Bam Bam]

Please, please, please get her to a vet right away. There are so many warning signs right now. Make sure it is a rabbit savvy vet.
Give her the baby gas drops. Do you have Metacam at home.
Please let us know how she is doing.