HEALTH ISSUES

[Srishti]

It was on last saturday that my bunny, Foster, threw up all of a sudden thrice or maybe four times. It was grass particles with a lot of saliva at first. First of all, we don’t really have rabbit savvy vets here in Delhi, India. So, i went to the nearest vet and he gave her two shots; one for pain relief and the other for acidity. She was getting better then on friday, i heard some rumbling sounds out of her stomach. I thought it was gas so, I gave her fresh grass to eat like normal. On the next day, I could hear those rumbling sound even louder and in no time, she threw up again! I have read that bunnies cannot vomit. This time it was a lot of saliva with her CECOTROPES coming out of her mouth!! I went crazy. It all just seemed so abnormal and scary. So I rushed her to a different vet. He seemed knowledgeable. He told me that it could be due to fermented grass and its “fungal infection” that is causing her to vomit and also gas.
He gave her three shots of Rantac, Amoxycillin and Ondrm( i dont know how to spell it) for gas, pain relief, and vomiting each. He also gave me RabbitM, a multivitamin oral drops and Igesia, a pre and probiotic supplement for exotic animals.
When she came back home from the vet that day, she didn’t move from one place the whole night since late afternoon. She didn’t eat anything and didn’t poop at all. Although she utinated thrice.

The next morning I gave her the medicines and also started to syringe-feed her. The doctor told me not to give her grass or hay at all. She was shivering all this while. She started to sit and stand a little bit but was very lethargic. She pee’d but didn’t pooped at all in one day. I talked to the doctor and he prescribed me to give her 1cc of Liquid Paraffin. I have been giving her that since friday evening twice a day. After one dosage, she pooped a little (not the normal poop, though) on saturday morning. It was mucous-y. I continued with her meds and gave her cilantro and spinach to eat with cucumber. She started eating on saturday and was moving around a little.

I thought she was on her road to recovery but, she has gas. I can still hear very loud gurgling sound coming out of her tummy. She is grinding her teeth real loud (obviously in pain). When I woke up in the morning today, she had puked. It was a clear slimey liquid, probably just her saliva. I think its GI stasis. I asked the doctor if I should give her simethicone but, he told me to give her Ondrm drops for vomiting and Digytone for gas instead.

My bunny is suffering real bad. I just want to see her feel better, soon. Please guide me through this. I don’t want her to go.
Also, she is 4+ years old and weighs 2.7kg. I am also giving her belly massages but she jumps out and doesn’t let me do it for more than a minute straight. Please help.

[Flora the Bunny]

I hope your bunny gets better

[Azerane]

I’m afraid I can’t offer any expert help. I will however say that it is true that rabbits can’t vomit, they are physically incapable of doing so. I will suggest however that your rabbit has had choking episodes and has inhaled food while eating. This can lead to them coughing up chewed food and mucous etc. I suspect at the time she had cecotropes coming out of her mouth that she had just been eating them. I’m not sure why she could be choking so much, maybe some sort of inflammation at the back of her mouth or similar that would be worth checking out.

One of the scary things with aspiration of food and liquid is that it can lead to infection or pneumonia in the lungs as a secondary condition. I’m not sure what the medicines you are giving are, however for the gas I would get simethicone if you can. It is gas medicine for babies. Here in Australia one brand is Infacol. It is safe to use on rabbits and helps bind small gas bubbles together so that they can pass through the system more easily. Also please keep in mind that GI Stasis is a symptom, and not a disease itself. Rabbits can go into stasis due to pain from another condition, from infection, gas, etc.

[Bam]

I agree with Azerane, rabbits can’t puke because of how their esophagus and stomach are joined. There might of course be rare anatomical anomalies across the rabbit population, but I rather think the puking is about food that is first swallowed but for some reason has been unable to reach the stomach.

I can’t find anything on Ondmr drops, but I know we have other Indian members that have been given Digytone for rabbit GI problems. I know herbal medicine is widely used in India, but most of it isn’t available here.

I know Arnica Montana is commonly used in India for pain, we have a member who got that for her rabbit that had broken his leg.

[Author]

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