Somebody suggested I post here

[birdlover]

Hello all,
I'm totally new to bunnydom but am already learning a lot here and from the vet I recently took him to. I know absolutely nothing about Bunnykins background (I haven't picked a permanent name yet; Bunnykins is just til I do) but the vet thinks he's between 3 and 7 years. She said it's hard to tell when he's in such bad shape. He came to the farm where I work as part of a Fall Festival where animals are brought in just from end of Sept. to beginning of Nov. I believe he came from an auction. No one can tell me!!! I noticed his left eye was all goopy and that he just languished in a corner the whole time while the other bunnies seemed active. I decided to take him home and try to help him. I forgot to ask the vet for an estimate. Yikes! $255 (after the fact)!!! Anyway, she said he's a boy :biggrin2: , his heart and lungs sounded good but that he was underweight and his body was covered in scabs with a big absess over the bad eye. She thought he'd been in some kind of fight and needed to be put on antibiotics. Sooo, he was given baytril and trimethaprim-sulfa to take twice a day and antibiotic eye drops (neomycin and polymyxin) plus meloxicam for pain. The eye is pretty much healed now. One sore on his rear has been draining which the vet said is a good thing. The scabs seem to be coming off with little bits of fur. Overall, I'd say he's much better. Hope this helps anybody else with bunny issues!!!

 

[Haley]

Youre awesome for helping this little guy. Hes very lucky.

Sounds like you have a knowledgable vet, which is great since not all know a whole lot about bunnies.

How is he doing with eating? If you want to help put some weight on him theres something called Nutrical which is made for dogs and cats and it works very well for underweight bunnies.

Im sure though now that he has proper care he'll be a healthy bun in no time. :biggrin2:

 

[Ivory]

Make sure to buy the malt-flavored Nutrical, I don't think that they would like the beef and liver flavored one.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Name him KEN..... Bunny Ken :biggrin2:

I'm glad you got a good bunny vet and he's getting better now.

I know you had a bunch of questions in your introduction - did you get them answered?

 

[tundrakatiebean]

other things people have recomended for fattening the buns is oats (the kind you make do on the stove to make oatmeal out of, not the quick oats kind) and the black sunflower seeds that are found in a lot of bird feeds, some people suggest the seeds be hulled others feed them with the hull on.

Good luck to you and your little boy! Sounds like he's quite the fighter!

 

[katt]

tundrakatiebean wrote:

other things people have recomended for fattening the buns is oats (the kind you make do on the stove to make oatmeal out of, not the quick oats kind) and the black sunflower seeds that are found in a lot of bird feeds, some people suggest the seeds be hulled others feed them with the hull on.

Good luck to you and your little boy! Sounds like he's quite the fighter!

the only thing i would be worried about with simply adding oats and black sunflower seeds is it isn't good weight. sure you don't want a thin rabbit, but simply adding fatty foods will only add fatty weight. just be carefull that you don't add to much. if you are using nutrical, that should do the trick without adding oats and black sunflower seeds to the diet. you want him to gain muscle weight, not just fat.

someone correct me if i am wrong

and ps haley- liver was the only flavor of nutrical i could find up here when i had izabelle, and she LOVED the stuff, she couldn't get enough of it. . . smells terrible though!

 

[birdlover]

Thank you guys soooo much!!! Yes, I have a vet that is well known in my area. Even the bunny rescues heard of him. He deals in exotic animals and I practically worship the ground he walks on. I'm taking "Bunny KEN" hehehe back next week and I'll see how much he weighs now. His backbone no longer feels bony. What I've been doing is giving him as much as he wants (within reason, of course) of his kibble, timothy hay (have never seen him eating it), apple, carrot, celery, carrot tops and romaine lettuce. I also bought some kind of multivitamin kibble like thing. He's not crazy about it. I guess the next thing in line, after his next visit, is neutering?? Thanks again for all the tips guys!!!! I love this place.

Ellen

 

[Bo B Bunny]

the multi vitamin stuff - what kind is it? and what are his pellets? Those are big issues because a lot of food is made without the bunner's health in mind.

Big companies sometimes make things to look appealing to us rather than good for the animal