Mysterious Ailment. Help!

[Belladonna]

Ok. i don’t post here to often and this is going to be long so please bear with me.

I have a 4 year-old male french lop (neutered), Floppy, before now has never had a health problem. But two weeks ago I noticed that he was rather listless and lethargic, and not really interested in food, which is usually his favorite pasttime. Things did not improve and by Friday I had taken him to the vet. (I live in the Czech Republic, where rabbits are still widely considered a stock animal, so I have yet to find any rabbit savy one, all that are in my area know just the basics and not much else.) So the vet told me that Floppy had a slight temperature and a doughy gut, but couldn’t really tell me much beyond that. He gave me some sulfadimine for his water to help clear bad intestinal bacteria and sent us on our way.

Over the first weekend things got really bad. Floppy would eat almost nothing and Sunday I thought he was going to die for sure. I called the vet but he said there is nothing to do (useless man!). I went online and got info on rabbit meds. Luckily the husband is a gastro-intestinal doctor and got the drugs I found were safe and effective (child’s simethecone and a gut mobility drug that called Degan here, i forget the chemical name) I starting dosing Floppy with those combined with belly massages and lots of love.

So we pulled through the weekend and his appetite improved a bit, he eats (mostly greens and herbs, with small amount of pellets and umlimited hay) and poops regularly now, but not as much as he probably should. Poor bun has gotten skinny. Another note about his poop, every couple days he passes a mass of regular poops covered in a white/brown mucus blobs (very gross). His engery levels are still not up to par, he mostly lays in the same spot most of the day. He is not hunched up nor grinds his teeth, so I don’t think there is much pain, but perhaps some discomfort. This has been going on for the last week and over the easter holiday. Not much has changed in his condition.

To top off all this fun, Floppy has now injured the legs on his left side. I didn’t see it happen but I’m pretty sure that he did it when trying to jump into his box or litter pan. he was quite weak and clumsy after the first weekend, and I think he may have trangled himself up in the bars when he didn’t have the strength to jump clear over, as usual. I don’t think anything is broken, but he is very uncooperative about letting me get a good look and feel of the limbs involved. He limps a bit and now can’t jump into the litter pan (which has high sides) so that has become a bit of  smelly mess, but whatever.

So I guess my questions are this. What is wrong with my bunny, what illness could this be? I have looked at every website I can find and called several vets, but none of the symptoms match quite right. his diet has not changed and his bonded mate has shown no signs of any illness (she’s a picture of health), so I don’t think its something bad he ate or an external source. Its very frustrating and upsetting. Also, is there anything else I should be doing? My husband is convinced without me Floppy would have died two weeks ago, but I want to know the opinion of you other rabbit savy folks.

Thank you for any input you can give me.

[TARM]

I don’t have any answers for you but good luck an I hope he gets better.

[Sarita]

From what I can tell on the internet it sounds as if the Degan is like metroclopromide – are you still continuing this for him? Sometimes it takes awhile to get the gut moving again and even afterwards you want to continue awhile to keep the gut moving.

What about pain meds – was the vet able to give you any pain meds for him?

I don’t think anyone can actually tell you what is wrong with him since we are not vets and to venture a guess would not be right.

Have you also tried feeding him a pellet slurry – you can grind up his pellets and mix them with water and try to hand feed him this.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

To top off all this fun, Floppy has now injured the legs on his left side

This to me is saying “head tilt” That can be treated by a vet but would only get worse otherwise. Can you get him to a vet?

[skunklionshow]

I’m a bit concerned about the poop situation.  Are you sure it’s a mucous covered poop and not a cecal.  Cecals are very shiny and kinda mushy.

I agree w/ the force feeding of a pellet slurry. Is there anyway you can get some critical care for her?  I think you do need to access a rabbit savy vet.  Do you have a vet school anywhere near you?  I think that the concern is that it might be more than just gastro issues, maybe a e. cunnicula (sp?).  Please keep us posted.

[BinkyBunny]

Oh boy, you location really does limit you. I looked everywhere online I could for animal rescues, rabbit rescues, rabbit savvy vets in the czech republic and came up empty! What kind of hay and pellets does he get? Are they Timothy based?

Also, another good resource is Dana Krempels from Allexperts http://www.allexperts.com/el/703-9/Rabbits/ (scroll down to her name)
She is on vacation until tomorrow, but she is great about helping out and getting back to you within 24 hours. Once she is off vacation it will allow you to ask her a question. I highly recommend posting a question to her and if you do, be sure to let us know what she says.

[jerseygirl]

Only advice I can give you is try contact some rabbit breeders there. They may have advice and a name of a vet. Here’s a site I found, sorry if it’s useless, I couldn’t look over the site closely due to the language.  http://www.rabbits.cz

Also, as binky Bunny suggested; contact Dana Krempels.

[Author]

Messages