Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum DIET & CARE Mucoid enteropathy? Help!

Viewing 8 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • bree_bun
      Participant
      16 posts Send Private Message

        I have been to two vets already and have done A LOT of researching on the internet to find out more information about what I think I’m dealing with… But I would like some personal advice/experience.

         

        Long story short, I found a six month old seal point netherland dwarf in my backyard in May. Someone either let her go or she escaped. I brought her to my vet and had her looked over. She was healthy and well! A month passes and she gives birth to six kits! BIG SURPRISE! Everything went well the first three weeks. Penelope (the mother) is a total sweetheart and a great mom! She is great with her babies and I have caught her nursing the buns multiple times. I always kept a good eye on the babies, making sure their bellies were full. Penelope’s diet consists of Oxbow Young Adult Pellets, timothy hay and small amounts of alfalfa with some greens. She handles the greens no problem.

         

        Three weeks rolls around and the babies are out of the nesting box and nibbling on hay. All of them appear to be doing well. Then one morning, one passed away very unexpectedly… I couldn’t understand why. Nothing appeared to be wrong with him. No diarrhea, no nothing. I was heartbroken.

         

        At four weeks old, one of the other babies (Olivia) I noticed had hard poo stuck in her bum. It literally looked stuck so I brought her to the vet. They removed it and sent us on our way home. Two days pass and Olivia suddenly has very watery, mucus filled diarrhea. I panicked and brought her to the vet. They gave her two antibiotics (Metroclopramide and TMS) along with Lactated Ringer’s Solution to be given under the skin two times a day. She showed signs of mucoid enteropathy like the diarrhea, rough coat, hunched position, teeth grinding, excessive thirst. By day five of the treatment she seemed better, she was eating hay and drinking water. Then suddenly she had a bout of diarrhea. I brought her back to the vet immediately and they administered more fluids and added a probiotic and another antibiotic called Metronizadole. Unfortunately, she passed away the next morning. She started producing bloody, mucus diarrhea. I am still not over it. I fell in love with Olivia and it kills me I couldn’t save her.

         

        Another bun who was Olivia’s snuggle buddy (Ronnie) started getting soft stool a couple days after Olivia did. I brought her to the vet also and they put her on all the same antiobiotics/lactated ringer’s/probiotics as Olivia. They had me seperate Olivia and Ronnie from the rest of the litter and Penelope. Ronnie seems to be going down the same path as Olivia… Right now she has the diarrhea with mucus and some teeth grinding. The vet also gave us Oxbow Crital Care for Ronnie. We feed her three times a day two syringes full or more if she takes it. She has been eating hay and drinking some. I have been administering Lactated Ringer’s two times a day for three days now and it really seems to stress her out. That’s the last thing I want to do… She takes the antibiotics no problem.

         

        Tonight I decided to do something different… I tried a homemade oral rehydration therapy recipe I got online from http://www.thenaturetrail.com. She absolutely loves the taste and took five syringes full. I left it in her cage for her to drink along with regular water and hay. I also pulled her pellets when the diarrhea started. I also gave her simethicone gas drops for pain, because of the teeth grinding (pain related?). She seems alert. It’s been 4 hours and her diarrhea has slowed down and it’s not as watery. How often should I give her the ORT solution? Can I give her too much? Also, how often should I administer the simethicone? She is 5 weeks old today. So young

         

        I don’t want to lose Ronnie. My vet couldn’t even pin point what is was. She suggested mucoid enteropathy from weaning. They did a fecal exam on Penelope and Olivia and no parasites were found. Can anyone suggest anything else I can try? I will stay up day and night feeding her syringes if that’s what it takes!!!

         

        The rest of the litter is doing great! LOTS of nice, formed poops! They have been eating hay, nibbling pellets (all the same as mom) and drinking water and still nursing off mom. They binky around like crazy. I don’t understand why half of the litter isn’t doing well. I keep their ex-pen SUPER clean so cleanliness isn’t the problem. I just can’t figure out why this is happening…


      • Sarita
        Participant
        18851 posts Send Private Message

          What lucky rabbits to have you as their caretaker.

          Here is a link that may help:

          http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

          There is a PDF link for treating infants/juveniles with diarrhea that I think may help you.

           I hope you can get it figured out.


        • jerseygirl
          Moderator
          22338 posts Send Private Message

            I agree, they’re lucky to have you eat watching over them. How stressful for you going through this!

            I’m wondering if adding treatment for coccidia is worthwhile? You’ve mentioned you got a negative fecal result. Is there possibility they can test negative falsely? Sorry, I don’t know enough about it. Just some of the symptoms are similar.

            Wishing you the best of luck! {{{healthy bunny vibes}}}


          • LittlePuffyTail
            Moderator
            18092 posts Send Private Message

              Im sorry I can’t elaborate on your situation, I just wanted to offer my condolences on the loss of your babies. You are an angel to that Mama and the rest of the babies!

              (((((Healtlhy Baby Vibes)))))

              Not sure if this would help, but my bunny is currently experiencing soft stools and my vet prescribed Benebac which helps balance the bacteria in the belly. Maybe you could discuss with your vet.


            • luvmyhunybuny
              Participant
              475 posts Send Private Message

                I am hand raising three 3 week old orphaned babies. I had a bunny break with diarrhea a few nights ago and I was able to turn it around following Dana Krempels diarrhea protocol. I highly recommend getting Questran from your vet.

                http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/squirts.pdf


              • Kokaneeandkahlua
                Participant
                12067 posts Send Private Message

                  hmmm I found a good link here http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/171319.htm not sure if it could help. Keep us posted on the others!


                • bree_bun
                  Participant
                  16 posts Send Private Message

                    Thank you everyone for the support, condolences and suggestions! I can’t give up on them. It’s been super stressful. I hate seeing them like this.

                     

                    Unfortunately Ronnie wasn’t doing well by Monday morning. He was getting worse and grinding his teeth horribly  The pain meds weren’t even helping and he was so weak. I brought him to the vet to be put to rest. Definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do  I couldn’t watch him suffer anymore. He had serve diarrhea all week. Nothing seemed to help.

                     

                    And just when I thought the other three left were healthy and it would be smooth sailing… I woke up the next morning and found another lil bun with explosive watery diarrhea. Brought him to the vet today and we are taking another approach… My vet contacted a vet at Oxbow and he said that it sounds like enterotoxemia. He suggested metrozinadole along with probiotics, SQ fluids, Oxbow critical care, buprenex (pain med) and simethicone drops. I’m losing hope with antibiotics.

                     

                    @LittlePuffyTail – I read great things about Bene-Bac! I gave him a tube yesterday. How often are you giving it to your bun? Are you giving the gel or powder?

                     

                    @luvmyhunybuny- I was able to get Questran from my vet today! She wasn’t sure how it would interact with the antiobiotic. She is going to talk to the vet at Oxbow and let me know tomorrow. I read great things about treating enterotoxemia with it. How long do you suggest giving it? Are you giving anything else with the Questran? The lil bun’s diarrhea is explosive. Have you given immodium? I read the article by Dana Krempels before and I was afraid to try it. What methods of the article have you used?

                     

                    Any more info or suggestions would be SOO greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone! I’ll keep you posted. Fingers crossed this little guy can pull through!

                     

                    – Bree


                  • luvmyhunybuny
                    Participant
                    475 posts Send Private Message

                      Bree~
                      The Questran will absorb any other meds so you cannot give it within an hour of other meds and do not give any meds for 4-6 hours after Questran dose. I followed what Dana Krempels suggests (I figured what have I got to lose? If I don’t try to treat it, she would die), except for the Cipro, as I did not have any. It stopped the baby’s diarrhea. We are 3 days out from her episode and she is still doing well. I would give it twice a day until the diarrhea clears. It can also be used on older buns, so keep it handy.


                    • LittlePuffyTail
                      Moderator
                      18092 posts Send Private Message

                        Im so very sorry to hear about Ronnie. ((((Binky Free Ronnie)))))

                        I’m giving Stormy the Benebac gel. The dosage my vet recommended was 1 tube, another 3 days later, then another 1 week later, and another 1 week after that. He’s had 2 doses so far and is getting the 3rd tomorrow.

                    Viewing 8 reply threads
                    • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                    Forum DIET & CARE Mucoid enteropathy? Help!