severe diarrhea

[rabbitgirl]

Having rabbits for many years has given me a fairly strong stomach, but I nearly lost it today.

Poor old Smokey seems to have lost control. She's starting to soil herbox. This morning the mess was beyond anything I've seen--and this issince yesterday's feeding. She was suddenly utterly filthy. Somehow shemanaged to tangle a mess of poop and hay around her hind legs, and shewas tripping because her legs were virtually tied together. A huge--Imean huge--wet yucky mass was stuck to her underside. The stink nearlygagged me.

I can't believe it. I just can't believe that happened in onenight. It doesn't even seem possible for her to produce that muchfeces.

I reached in and pulled her out--she jumped blindly forward and smackedher head against the box wall. Cleaning was a nightmare. I didn't dareuse water in winter, and it would have given her a heart attack to getbathed. I pulled off the major mess and detangled her legs. She waspanicking so I didn't have time to work slow and gentle. Cleaned up thebox too.

Unbelievably, she ate and drank as normal and I left hercleaning herself up. I was very surprised to see that she was able tobend back far enough to lick her hind leg.

It's baffling. My herd gets diarrhea every now and then for unknownreasons (clears up within a day or two), but this was awful. She's soancient...I think she's senile as well as blind....wow....

Any quick food fixes for diarrhea? Rolled oats was my stand-by, but itdidn't work in this case....and it's not the season for blackberryleaves.

When buns reach this age, it's so hard to pin down what's causingthings. If it's bad tomorrow I'll bring her in, clean up withwater,and leave her in for a couple days. But I'd reallyreally rather not get her wet. She has trouble regulating her body temp.

Poor old thing....

 

[Carolyn]

Sorry to hear that, Rose. I feel badly for both of you. No one has fun on such days.

It's always in the back of my head that something could show upovernight with my rabbits. It scares the heck out of me, but I don'tlet it take over.

The old fashioned Quaker Oats have been known to help dry one up. That,and hay, and remove the pellets. No greens, treats or vegetables. Oakor dried mint (supermarket?) can also help with diarrhea.

Give her a hug for me. I hope it's behind you both.

-Carolyn

 

[Bo B Bunny]

you know, as old as smokey is, she might just be having problems because of her age.

As far as something to help. I've also heard that blackberryjuice is good for them. I don't know if that's true ornot.

I'm so sorry she's this sick

 

[rabbitgirl]

Oak? I didn't know that! She loves oak leaves and twigs, and hasn't had any in awhile. I'll try tomorrow.

Like I said, I'm used to diarrhea (some buns are far more prone to itthan others) and it usually doesn't worry me as long as it clears upquickly and they look fine otherwise. Pandemonium isreallysubject to periodic bouts of it. But this was such ahuge mess I'm thinking it's not just the usual.

I know the poor old thing is on borrowed time. Mom and I were trying tofigure out how old she is. At least 12 and possibly as old as 14. Isimply can't remember what year we got her.

Thanks! We'll see how things go. Too bad it's winter--I have more remedies in the summer.

Rose

Carolyn wrote:

Sorry to hear that, Rose. I feel badly for both of you. No one has fun on such days.

It's always in the back of my head that something could show upovernight with my rabbits. It scares the heck out of me, but I don'tlet it take over.

The old fashioned Quaker Oats have been known to help dry one up. That,and hay, and remove the pellets. No greens, treats or vegetables. Oakor dried mint (supermarket?) can also help with diarrhea.

Give her a hug for me. I hope it's behind you both.

-Carolyn

 

[rabbitgirl]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

you know, as old as smokey is, she might just be havingproblems because of her age.

Oh, I know it. There's no point in intensive medical treatment, forexample--like surgery for all the lumps on her belly, or her cataracts,or the occasional mastitis, or snuffles/weepy eye. Treatment at thispoint could kill her faster than the disease.

And it's sad, but she hates everything so much that it's hard to getattached to her like I do to the others. She's mine, I feed her andtake care of her just like the others, I feel sorry for her life ofanger and fear....but she's hard to love like the others. I find iteasier to be detached and think objectively about her than Bub,mybeautiful loving wonderful golden boy, or Izzy, my perfect littlecuddlebug, etc.

It's a matter of loving her in spite of herself. I hope that when she dies, she finds the peace she never had in her life

 

[Carolyn]

So glad you have oak! I thought you were going to tell me to go packingwhen I mentioned it, but those gorgeous woods you have available to youmust have an oak tree somewhere.

Wish I knew the cause of these occurences and the fact that it happensto the whole bunch of them, I find very interesting. Hope someone canhelp you with that one.

Her age could definitely be catching up to her at that point. PoorGirl. Give her lots of Love. I hope tomorrow she has her dignity back. She hates it more than you, I'm sure.

-Carolyn

P.S. Agreed, too bad it's winter!

 

[dr_peter_kraz]

Thats a shame. I feel bad for you andthat sweet bun. I found that even if shes an outdoor rabbit(which I've had no experience with) that the best way to handle it isno greens or veggies and a day at the salon (the bathroom).with Faye I try to clip off the major debree and then I have somespecial shampoo (which can be bought at the pet store). Ithen flip her upside down, put a towel on her belly and part of herface. Then set her in between my legs(somewhat, just so shecan't become antsy) and get in the bathtub with her on myknees. I have the water running at luke warm and get the areaalittle wet and then after I shampoo I have a quite hairdryer that Iproceed to dry her with till she is completely dry( I comb her to ,which helps her dry out quicker). After she is completely dryI take advantage of the situation and use some rabbit powdershampoo. So when she gets back she smells like arose. So she could have this problem and as long as yourwilling to put in the time she well be dry when she gets out.Also if she has long hair maybe give her a shave underneath and don'tforget to tell her how brave she is(hehe). Its funny when I'mblow drying Faye she jumps right in helping and one last thing when Iblow dry I also wet the ears(to help her stay cool).

Peter

 

[rabbitgirl]

You know, Carolyn....the tree overhanging her hutch is a massive oak.

About the diarrhea thing....the whole herd gets it, but I've never hadthem all get it at the same time, so I don't think I could actually pinit to one specific cause.

My suspicion with Pandemonium is that her stomach is just touchy. Shehad eating problems as a baby and nearly died at 1.5 wks. Plus thereare some weird genetic problems with her too--cataracts from age 2 orso, deaf from birth. And there was a weird episodeof noteating or drinkinga couple times a year or two ago. Turns outit was a mental thing....shewas afraid of the waterdish she'd had for ages....:?Fixed that one,anyway!I think Izzy's or the dad Bud's genetic line had someproblems somewhere. You can't get that many weird things in one animaland not suspect that.

You never get bouts of diarrhea with your bunch? That's strange....

Carolyn wrote:

So glad you have oak! I thought you were going to tell me to go packingwhen I mentioned it, but those gorgeous woods you have available to youmust have an oak tree somewhere.

Wish I knew the cause of these occurences and the fact that it happensto the whole bunch of them, I find very interesting. Hope someone canhelp you with that one.

Her age could definitely be catching up to her at that point. PoorGirl. Give her lots of Love. I hope tomorrow she has her dignity back. She hates it more than you, I'm sure.

-Carolyn

P.S. Agreed, too bad it's winter!

 

[rabbitgirl]

dr_peter_kraz wrote:

Thats a shame. I feel bad for you and that sweet bun.
Peter

Sweet.

hehehehe

You don't know her. This is her personality: :X:X:X:X:X

But it's still sad, andshe still needs care. Problem withwashing her is that it's the dead of winter here in the Midwest. A hairdryer would really make her panic--for all her other issues she hasexcellent hearing, and is paranoid about noise. I'll do that as a lastresort, though--thanks!

We'll see how she looks tomorrow. Hopefully she will manage to cleanherself well enough to get along, and I'll try some oak to clear up thediarrhea.

Rose

 

[Bo B Bunny]

rabbitgirl wrote:

dr_peter_kraz wrote:

Thats ashame. I feel bad for you and that sweet bun.
Peter

Sweet.

hehehehe

You don't know her. This is her personality: :X:X:X:X:X

But it's still sad, andshe still needs care. Problem withwashing her is that it's the dead of winter here in the Midwest. A hairdryer would really make her panic--for all her other issues she hasexcellent hearing, and is paranoid about noise. I'll do that as a lastresort, though--thanks!

We'll see how she looks tomorrow. Hopefully she will manage to cleanherself well enough to get along, and I'll try some oak to clear up thediarrhea.

Rose

Dr. Pete, Rose says Smokey is evil. We all think she's reallycute and sweet, but Rose still says she's evil. :?

I don't know, I think rose just pretends she is so no one bunnynaps here!

 

[rabbitgirl]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

Dr. Pete, Rose says Smokey is evil. We all think she's reallycute and sweet, but Rose still says she's evil. :?

I don't know, I think rose just pretends she is so no one bunnynaps here!

Stop maligning my good name, Bo!!!! :X:X:X:X

Update: still a mess this morning, but not as bad. Somehow she got haytangled tightly around one back leg, though, and the hayhadto be cut off before it damaged circulation.

Eating, drinking, etc. Here's hoping it clears up soon--what a mess!!!

Rose

 

[Carolyn]

rabbitgirl wrote:

You never get bouts of diarrhea with your bunch? That's strange....

Fortunately, no. *as I knock on wood*

-Carolyn

 

[Dwarf_Angel04]

As already mention...

Remove all pellets
No Greens etc.
Only feed plenty of hay and oats

I use a flea comb used for cats to get poop out of the fur. It works well and doesn't take much fur out!

 

[Buck Jones]

rabbitgirl wrote:

You never get bouts of diarrhea with your bunch? That's strange....

I don't either Rose and we have five outside buns. One tendsto get soft and excessive cecotropes, but she's always been thatway. She drinks and pees more than any other rabbit we'veowned as well.

I wonder what's at work at your place with the periodic reoccurrence of diarrhea?

Buck

 

[rabbitgirl]

Could indeed be soft and excessivececotropes--hard to tell when they are really soft and get trampled. Imean with Pandmonium and the others. Smokey's got classic diarrhea.



It's got me baffled too....hmmm....

Rose

 

[dr_peter_kraz]

Well hopefully you can get to the bottom of this

Peter

 

[Bo B Bunny]

rabbitgirl wrote:

Bo B Bunny wrote:

Dr. Pete, Rose says Smokey is evil. We all think she's reallycute and sweet, but Rose still says she's evil. :?

I don't know, I think rose just pretends she is so no one bunnynaps here!

Stop maligning my good name, Bo!!!! :X:X:X:X

Glad she's still eating and stuff. Sorry it's such a mess for you and for her.

 

[JimD]

dr_peter_kraz wrote:

Well hopefully you can get to the bottom of this

Peter

Was this supposed to be punny :??

 

[Carolyn]

JimD wrote:

dr_peter_kraz wrote:

Wellhopefully you can get to the bottom of this

Peter

Was this supposed to be punny :??

You're really on a roll today, Jimbo!!

I've seen you're comments out and about.

*laughs*

-Carolyn

 

[rabbitgirl]

JimD wrote:

dr_peter_kraz wrote:

Wellhopefully you can get to the bottom of this

Peter

Was this supposed to be punny :??

My thought too. lololol