URGENT: LUCRECIA NEEDS HELP

[Irais G]

Hello!

This is kind of a long story so I hope you guys have enough time to read this and please please please help me.

I recently got Lucrecia, she was used for surgery practices and got her kidney removed on Thursday, everything seemed to be going great, she was a very happy active bunny before the surgery and kept her liveliness even after, she woke up really soon from the surgery and pooped so much during and after, she also peed a lot and overall everything seemed just perfect. The problems came yesterday, she hasnt’t pooped at all this weekend and has peed normally, I started feeding her Friday night some lettuce, spinach and cherry tomatoes, she was very hungry and ate all the food quickly and now she hasn’t pooped, not once, yesterday when I came home I saw a weird thing, it looked like mucus with cardboard and hair, I’m not sure if it was a hairball or poop with cardboard, hair and mucus. I’m so worried for her, I have gotten so attached in this couple days and I really want her to be okay. Her eating habits are the same, she’s still eating lettuce and she seems to love the baby tomatoes I offered her pellets but she didn’t show any interest, I’m giving her water mixed with sugar using a syringe to make sure she drinks it, sometimes she’s into it, other times not so much. I repeat, she is very active and well, not once have I seen her laying down, she is walking, hopping, running and remains very curious. 

Last night I got really scared because when I came home I saw some light red pee, I used some hydrogen peroxide to see if it bubbled and it didn’t so I’m hoping she peed like that because of the spinach.

Her meds are: .3 ml Ketorolac every 8 hours and wrongly as I’ve come to learn, .5 ml ampicilin every 12 hours, total she has gotten 6 doses of this, both of this have been intramuscular. 

I don’t know what to do and I really want her to be okay, I thought she was doing so great because of her great appetite and energy but I’m so worried the ampicilin might hurt her  

I apologize for any bad english, it is not my first language but I’m trying so hard because I love Lucrecia and I want her to be fine ((

[Dface]

Your bunny sounds like she needs a vet.
She might have a blockage in her tummy, which is why you are seeing irregular poop, and the fact that she hasnt gone at all this weekend is a bad sign-12 to 24 hours without pooping is considered an emergency.
Also a kidney operation is very serious, so any complications like this would merit bringing her back into the vet, especially now that she has discoloured urine(sometimes it measn nothing but under the circumstances I would not ignore it )

Sugar is actually really bad for rabbits(Sugar water is a good idea for OTHER animals, but is really bad in rabbits) So syringe just pure water. Or water with a drop of pure apple juice.

Im not an expert -but I really recommend getting her in ASAP to the vet

[vanessa]

She needs a vet. I agree with Dface. NO sugar. Plain water or water with a little apple juice. When I need to convince my sick bunny to drink, I use 3 cups water with 2 Tbsp apple juice. I use Motts or Simply Pressed, because they have no added sugar, no flavorings, or preservatives.
My bunnies also chew cardboard, but mucous in the poop indicates digestive trouble. Ampicilin causes 40% to 100% fatality from severe enteritis, which is inflamation of the intestines with diarrhea. She may have a cardboard blockage. No diarrhea is good, but wach bunny reacts differently. She needs to see a rabbit-vet ASAP.
Discolored urine can be from spinach, dandilion, beet leaves, swiss chard, and a few other veggies.
Why did she have her kidney removed?

[tobyluv]

I agree that she needs to see a vet right away.

You didn’t mention if she is eating hay. Hay should make up the bulk of her diet. Spinach is one of the veggies that should be limited, due to the higher content of oxalic acid. Rabbits should be given as little sugar as possible. Fruit should be limited and it’s not a good idea to mix sugar with the water. An tiny bit of unsweetened juice would be better to mix with the water. Make sure it’s 100% juice, with no sugar added and no artificial sweeteners. Since she isn’t eating pellets, you can give her Critical Care in a syringe or you can make a mash of pellets, by dissolving them in water and feeding the mixture to her in a syringe if you don’t have access to Critical Care. Some rabbits will eat the Critical Care mixture from a dish or from your fingers, so that you don’t have to force feed them. You can add a little bit of baby food or plain canned pumpkin to the mixture, to make it more tempting.

Here is an article on veggies. You will see that some should be fed sparingly, while others can be given daily.

 http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

I’m not sure that ampicillin is good for rabbits, although I know that some medicines are safe when injected, but not safe when given orally. I’ve never heard of the other medicine she is getting. It is often a good idea to give a rabbit a probiotic when they are taking antibiotics. Antibiotics can mess up their normal intestinal flora and probiotics can help with that. Bene-Bac is what I have used in the past.

I hope that your bunny will be okay.

[Irais G]

 To Vanessa:

Thanks for the advice! I had no idea about the sugar, I am now giving her just water, she started drinking by herself and eating pellets.

 I took her to the vet and he gave her some medicine to help her intestines to move since he touched her tummy and said that it didn’t look like she had a blockage or any solid poop at all. I am carefully watching her drinking and eating habits, she still walks and acts normal, I’m waiting a bit to see if there are any changes, if not I am taking her to the vet again to see what else he can do.

Sadly, where I live, medicine students sometimes use bunnies to practice surgeries and a friend of mine practiced with her, I always wanted a bunny so I gladly took her in, she was supposed to be fine according to my friend so now I am brokenhearted just by thinking she might not make it.

Today I saw her pee and it was yellow and then the towel she peed on turned a light orangey red tint so I’m guessing it’s the spinach she ate.

Oh, and I tried to think about the weird poop and I’m starting to think it was proably some leftover banana that I forgot to mention I fed her, I’m not sure about it though.

Thank you so much for your help, if she doesn’t poop in a few hours now that she ate pellets, is having her medicine and drinking water I am definitely rushing her to the vet again.

[Irais G]

 To Dface:

Thank you so much for your kind advice, I stopped giving her sugar with her water and now she is just drinking plain water, her vet gave her some medicine and now we are just waiting and watching to see if it works!

Thank you so much!!! Hopefully she’ll start pooping soon

[Irais G]

To Tobyluv:

Hi!

She ate a hanfdul of grass from my garden but not hay, I stopped giving her spinach since she didn’t even like that much and also the water with sugar. She started eating pellets today and seemed to finally like them, what is critical care? I have never heard about it, is it like pedialyte? My vet told me I could mix some in her water and see if she liked it, I haven’t had the chance to buy any but it sounded like a good idea, I don’t know if it is okay to give to her.

There are still no signs of poop, she is still active and well, just no poop. I think Ketorolac is for pain, it seems to work, I haven’t seen her laying down or heard her complain at all.

Thanks for the article, I am definetely learning a lot, I fell so bad that I am so uninformed but your opinionn and help are so appreciated by me, thank you!!!

[Irais G]

UPDATE:
SHE JUST POOPED A TINY BIT!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m going to try to insert a picture, I’m still learning how to use the forum so I apologize for any mistakes I make

[tobyluv]

It’s good that she ate some grass, hopefully she will keep eating that.and also eat hay. Hay is so important to their digestive system as well as to their teeth. Some rabbits can be picky about hay, and it’s good to try different varieties and brands if you have them available to you. Rabbits can definitely have preferences about their hay. Maybe you can try some other greens or veggies from the list that I linked to. Greens will provide fiber and moisture to your rabbit. Just try one new one at a time, though.

Critical Care is the name brand of a food supplement from Oxbow. If you aren’t familiar with Oxbow, they make good quality hays and pellets for rabbits, along with health supplements. It is a powder that you mix with water and feed to a rabbit through a syringe or they may eat it on their own. It has a lot more nutrients than regular pellets, but if you don’t have access to it, you can soak pellets in water and feed that to rabbits who aren’t eating. Here is a link to read about it: http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/vets/products/critical_care

You said that she has a lot of energy, which is good. Make sure that she gets plenty of exercise. That might increase her appetite and get things moving in her digestive system. Vets will often give a rabbit subcutaneous fluids to prevent dehydration and that also helps to get their digestive system moving.
I hope that she will start eating well and pooping soon.

 

I just saw your response after I submitted mine that she has started pooping.  That’s good news!  

[Irais G]

Thank you! I will read some more about hay and get her some asap!

My vet talked to me about giving her subcutaneous fluids but he wanted to first give her enough time to see if the meds had any effect, they seem to have worked a little, I’m still waiting to see her poop some more, is it possible her intestines were empty because of all the poop from Friday and the fact that she didn’t eat anything on Thursday and until Friday night?

I have never been so happy to see poop

[Azerane]

The grass is definitely good while she doesn’t have access to hay. Hay is extremely high in fibre which is the most important thing for keeping the gut moving. Hopefully she tucks right into it when you bring some home and it should really help her

[Author]

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