Sick baby bunny

[Minke]

hello!

I started a topic a little while ago because my bunny wasn’t eating or pooping. Seeing as everything has progressed some and I have different questions now than I did a few days ago I thought I could start a new topic.

I brought a french lop baby home on Tuesday, and where I am it’s currently Friday evening. He only pooped the first evening and the next morning, and he had excreted some see through slimy stuff before stopping pooping all together. Since then we’ve been feeding him really runny Critical Care every hour (I’m a bit sleep deprived, haha ) just to keep him hidrated and stimulate his gut, he has been given fluids by the vet (through a needle, I forget the clinical term), we have gotten Cisaral drops (containing cisapride), and carprofen drops to help with the pain. He’s been eating hay on his own for the past little while, and every time after he receives his pain relievers he hops around, and playfully flops on his side, and even comes to my hand to be pet! But there are also times when I notice he still really has a painful and full tummy. 

I’ve been in contact with my rabbit savvy vet every day, and he seemed quite concerned about the fact that Lemon hadn’t pooped yet. He upped the dosage of Cisaral and consulted some rabbit veterinary specialist professor at a university. He seemed to think that due to the slimy discharge in the beginning, and that the large intestine at the back seemed to be having trouble, he suggested prescribing metoclopramide (metocloral drops), as well as Toltrazuril drops. 

After this exhaustive intro, finally some questions : 

1: I do trust the two specialists that I consulted, but I just thought I’d ask; can I use metocloral and cisaral drops at the same time? I think it was explained that they both work for different sections of the digestion system. Does anyone know more about this?

2: The specialist seemed to think that he had some infection, to which he prescribed Toltrazuril. I’ve been reading about it and it sounds quite scary; it’s called coccidiosis. But what I read is that it’s accompanied by diarrhea which Lemon definitely does not have… so I’m a bit confused. And the problem is that the only way to know for sure is with a stool sample, which we don’t have because Lemon is all clogged up. I’m all for using Toltrazuril as a precautionary measure though, better safe than sorry, and I can’t find any major side effects. 

I’ve made an excel sheet to keep track of everything I have to give and at what times. Poor little thing… he’s being pumped full of so many meds and food… It’s really a miracle that he still wants me to pet him!

  

[Luna]

I’m actually not familiar with any of these meds (except critical care). Are you in the U.S.? I probably have never heard of these drugs just because Luna has never been prescribed these meds. So it’s been 3 days without any poop?! He definitely needs to eat to help stimulate his gut, but if he is eating hay on his own, I’d caution against any force-feeding (critical care) until he poops. Did your vet take an x-ray to see if there was any obstruction in his gut?

[Minke]

they know that there’s probably some kind of obstruction, in that the food isn’t moving through the lower intestines. but besides surgery the only thing you can do I think is hydration, painkillers, and meds to stimulate gut movement. they usually don’t survive surgery…

And no I’m in the Netherlands

[Minke]

omg ok he’s pooping. but it’s all very watery. It’s also not loads, but its something! I’m going to continue with the meds and everything in the same way… if he has diarrhea then he should be kept hydrated right? so I’m keeping the watery critical care. He’s also eating hay and hopping around (get poo drops everywhere but at least he’s pooping).

is this good!!? Or am I getting this wrong and is diarrhea worse than constipation…

[Luna]

Yay! I hope he’s on the mend. I don’t know anything about the diarrhea thing, but I’m sure other members will weigh in.

[sarahthegemini]

If its true diarrhoea, he will need to be taken back to the vet.

[Bam]

Coccidiosis is sadly rather common in baby buns. It would explain the runny slimy poop very well.

As for the cisapride (cisaral) nd the metclopramide (metocloral) they do stimulate different parts of the intestines, so they are often given to bunnies together. 

Carprofen is an NSAID, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. It’s the same class of meds as Metacam, and you might have heard of Voltaren for humans. It’s a pain-killer and it decreases inflammation and lowers fever. It’s on Medirabbit’s list of safe analgesics. 

It sounds like your vet is rabbit savvy.

Hydration is important, sometimes a bun with diarrhea can’t absorb water through the GI canal though. Then sub Q or even intravenous fluids must be given, and your vet did that. But a dehydrated baby bun doesn’t hop around and eat hay. Things to look out for is loss of all appetite, lethargy (bun gets very “sleepy”, won’t move around, doesn’t even try to hide or hides away and absolutely won’t come out). Also feel the ears so they’re not really cold – if he’s hopping around he won’t get too low body temp, but it’s still sth you want to check for since Carprofen lowers temperature and sick buns can easily get low temp. 

As for what’s worse. diarrhea or constipation, true diarrhea (ample, very loose stools often with mucus and absolutely no formed poops at all) can kill a baby rabbit in a couple of hours. This can happen with coccidiosis and that’s why it’s so important to get treatment right away, no delay, it’s a true vet emergency. Constipation can also kill a rabbit and vet care should be sought after 6-12 hours.

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