Sick baby

[elmtrees11]

Need some advice:

We have a almost 7 year old dutch that is neutered. In the last 12 hours or so, I've noticed him being more lethargic, grinding his teeth and refusal to eat food. We even tried to give him a little bit of soft food through a syringe and that was difficult. His output is very small. If we pick him up and then set him back down, he will hop back to the same spot and lay down. His ears are up and will turn them when he hears noises.

He already has arthritis and is on Metacam for that daily. We've had issues with him being underweight and he still feels underweight, if not that he has continued to lose weight. We called the vet that we take him to and they can't see him until Monday!

1-Does anyone have recommendations of what to do next?

2-Does anyone have a vet that they recommend in Florida, in the Hernando, Citrus, Marion County area?

 

[JBun]

I think you should call your vet back and tell them that it's an emergency, which it is! A rabbit that is lethargic, not eating, and grinding it's teeth in pain, is a rabbit in severe distress. It's impossible to know what could be the cause without further investigation, which you need a vet to do today, as some health problems can lead to a very rapid decline, such as is the case with something like bloat, which is one possible cause.

If you need to find a different rabbit vet, you can try looking on these lists. May also have luck googling rabbit vets in your area. If you had told your vet your rabbits symptoms and they didn't tell you to bring him in immediately, you may still want to consider finding a different rabbit vet if at all possible, as a vet that doesn't know these symptoms are an immediate emergency with rabbits, isn't a good rabbit vet in my opinion.
http://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/forumdisplay.php?f=21

 

[elmtrees11]

Thanks for the input! Trust me, I was stressing over this. We ended up finding a different vet and getting him in. We have some different things to try. If not, I have the number of a few different vets offices that if things aren't better, we can go a different route.

There was no Dr at our vet's office at all. There were only the technicians available until Monday. Our vet is the only Dr at this particular office, which can be difficult in times like this.

 

[squidpop]

I would focus on hydrating him while you are waiting to get him to a vet- either buy some pedialyte or follow a good homemade pedialyte/electrolyte solution and syringe a few table spoons of fluids. Its important to make sure he stays hydrated until you get him to the vet. Also, if he is not hydrated he will have a hard time digesting any food- so hydrate first before you try to syringe any food.