I bought my chubby bunny from the RSPCA, desexed and vaccinated and have now had her for over 4 months. She has become quite attached to me and enjoys spending time cuddling with me and playing I had her living outdoors in a very comfortable home made hutch with plenty of straw and hay available and she was very happy.
A couple of weeks ago I went to let her out and she didn’t budge! I gently pulled her out and placed her on the ground to discover my poor little bun couldn’t hop without falling over! She kept rolling onto her left side and this was immensely stressing her out, causing her to roll more. I picked her up immediately and brought her inside, noticing that she also had gunky eyes and a runny nose. I made an appointment at the vet within the next hour and rushed down there with her where the vet diagnosed her with pasteurella. She was put on Enrotril Oil 2x daily and Doxycyline 2x daily.Her temperature was recorded a little low but nothing else was checked.
I brought her home and the symptoms worsened that evening, she started to display signs of myxo :'( She had one eye that was now not just gunky, but also weepy and her genitals looked swollen. She looked uncomfortable and I just tried feeding her and making sure she was drinking and I constantly wiped her eyes with warms pads of water.
The next morning her eyes were better! Her nose had also cleared up and I was so happy. However, this is when I noticed she hadn’t been pooing. I felt her tummy and she was quite gassy so I bought her some infant simethicone and stayed up into the evening rubbing her tummy. She hadn’t stopped eating but just sort of lightly grazed on veggies and had gone off her normal food (pellets, most of her hay – she didn’t even eat mixed food when I offered it)
Her tummy made loud gurgling sounds and she ground her teeth all night with me up until 3am rubbing her tummy, and again at 5. I was so worried she wouldn’t make it through the night which is why I comforted her and tried to help relieve her. She hadn’t responded to the simethicone at all, so it was straight back to the vet the next day.
This time they administered subq fluids and the vet taught me how to do this at home when I asked. I asked the vet for motility drugs and she didn’t know they existed until she researched it upon me really pushing to administer something to help move things along. I’d been so worried about the other symptoms I hadn’t realized just how long it had been since she had pood. The vet finally prescribed cisapride capsules which I had to break up, divide into 5ths and dissolve to administer. She did her first 6 poo balls a little after this! This confirmed there was no blockage and she picked up from this point, gradually getting better.
It’s been quite a few days since this stage and she has immensely improved in the poo department (back to normal) I’m worried though, that she isn’t eating enough or drinking enough. She will usually only drink from a syringe of water even though I have a bottle and bowl set up for her and she won’t really eat unless i push grass and hay in her face. She wont eat her pellets, she won’t eat the oxbow critical care (I’m worried about her aspirating this from a syringe because it all seems to shoot out at once from the pressure, having solids inside), she just nibbles some oaten hay and grass and veggies, but I can feel her spine now!! She used to have a big neck fat bulge but it has turned into skin now
She is still falling to the side so I think she may have had a stroke rather than pastuerella, but it is not affecting her as much anymore as she is aware of it and moves slower and more carefully. I’m a physiotherapy student at the moment so I can work on rehab but I need her to be eating and drinking of her own accord before I finish my uni break at the end of this week!!
Sorry This is so long! I wanted to provide the history leading up to this.