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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.

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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A A lot of things wrong

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    • Burrow Beans
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        Hi! If anyone here uses the hamster hideout forum, you’ll know me from there it’s me! Burrow Beans! anyways, for the majority of you who don’t know me, I’ll briefly introduce myself. My screen name is Burrow Beans, and I have one dog, 5 cats, 3 hamsters, 2 rabbits, and a fish tank. I’ve used this forum before, but made an account to ask this question. 

        Basically, I adopted my dutch rabbit Panini in April of this year and then adopted a mini lop or holland lop, possibly a mix, I’m really not sure, from craigslist. We called him Avocado or Avi for short. 

        He was pretty underweight when we got him (September of this year), as I could feel his ribcage and spine very prominently. He was neutered and my exotics vet said he had a pretty good bill of health. He was 3.1 pounds when we got him, and is now 2.8. I’ve been feeding him timothy hay 24/7, 1/8 cup of pellets, and a cup and a half or so of veggies everyday. I’ve been giving him some papaya and other treats to help him put on some weight, but he’s still very thin. We took him into the vet and found out he had a respiratory infection- he took meds for that and that’s all cleared up now. However, he seems to have gotten fleas at the vet. He came back and I noticed flea dirt all over him. I gave both the bunnies the small cat dose of Advantage II the other day, and replaced their fleeces and other fabrics in their cage. They live in their own room (my bedroom) so I’m washing all my sheets today, and vacuuming the carpet with some natural homemade flea powder tomorrow. 

        However, Avi seems to have just gotten worse and worse. I picked up a flea comb today and spent about 20-30 minutes with him on my lap combing through to get all the dirt out. But he’s been doing this thing lately I’m very concerned about. Whenever I come into the room, both bunnies run over to me. He took one step, fell over on to his side, and couldn’t get back up. I had to scoop him up, and noticed his legs/genitals had either vegetable juice, water, or urine all over them.

        He fell over on to the veggie plate yesterday and I had to pick him back up. He can’t jump on to the second level of his cage (it’s about a foot tall.)

        I’m calling a different exotics vet today, because the last one was not helpful. I’ve gone to them for 2 hamsters and both bunnies. One hamster died halfway through his meds, and they sent Avi back with supposedly a clean bill of health (aside from his respiratory infection). 

        Any advice or help? He’s not an old bunny- the vet said he was probably around 1 1/2- 2 years old. I’m hesitant to take him to the vet as we’ve spent about $500 on testing, only for him to come back worse than before.

        Oh, and as a side note- my dutch, Panini, got flea treatment as well, just as a precaution. She’s in good health and she and Avi are very closely bonded. 


      • Bam
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          Falling over and peeing on himself makes me think of e cuniculi. It’s a parasite many bunnies carry asymptomatically, but some bunnies get sick from it. It affects organs with a very high blood flow, typically the brain or/and the kidneys.

          Treatment is a dewormer, Panacur (fenbendazole) for 28 days, often in combo with Baytril (enrofloxacine) and Metacam (an anti-inflammatory).Panacur is OTC, but Baytril and Metacam are prescription meds. 

          ETA:

          Balance problems can be due to an ear-infection, which would be consistent with an upper respiratory infection, since the ears and the pharynx are connected via the ear trumpet (eustachian tube). bacteria can wander between nose, mouth and ears this way. 

          However, e cuniculi is known to suprress the immune defense, and a lowered immune defense could make him prone both to a respiratory infection/ear infection and also to heavy infestation with fleas. It’s good you treated the others with the Advantage, or the flea could just use your pets as alternate hosts.

          Testing for e cuniculi very often give false negatives, so it’s often treated on clinical symptoms rather than on results of lab tests. Sometimes you have to treat with Panacur for more than 28 days. You could ask your vet. If they are familiar with rabbits, they might just tell you to start him on Panacur asap. Some vets still have the notion that e cuniculi is a rare affliction of rabbits, but it actually isn’t. 

          Panacur also kills other internal parasites, so if he has something in the way of worms that causes him to lose weight/not gain weight, Panacur could help against that as well. 


        • Burrow Beans
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            Would it make sense to treat him with Panacur? Also, does it cause diarrhea in rabbits? We used to foster puppies, and they had to take a 3-day Panacur, which gave them runny stool.

            I’m also going away in about a week, and am leaving the rabbits with a petsitter who wouldn’t be able to administer the medication. Does it make sense to start once I get back?


          • Azerane
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              If it is E.c, you need to start treatment ASAP, leaving the treatment until after you get back can have fatal side-effects, or result in a permanent tilt. You will need to start treatment and educate your sitter on how to administer the medication, it’s part of what a pet sitter should be doing if they are a professional pet sitter.


            • sarahthegemini
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                Why can’t the pet sitter give the medication? It needs to be started ASAP.


              • Burrow Beans
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                  We took him to the emergency vet tonight and he passed away when the doctor left the room. He said Avi had a seizure, and while he was still alive told us that we could try to hook him up to countless IVs and such but he wouldn’t recommend it. Avi passed away as I was petting him tonight. Thank you all for your advice.


                • Wascally Wabbits
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                    I am so sorry for your loss! It seems like you tried everything you could. Binky free Avi.


                  • Bam
                    Moderator
                    16838 posts Send Private Message

                      I’m very sorry that you lost him.

                      In case this was ec, you should treat Panini for 9 days with Panacur. Treatment should then be repeated after 6 months.

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                  Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A A lot of things wrong