RABBIT CARE IN THE PHILIPPINES 10 - RABBIT MEDICATION (PHILIPPINE SETTING)

I tried to consolidate the various rabbit medicine that I've collected over the years.  Hopefully it will provide you with an insight on how much you need to prepare (and spend) in order to keep your rabbits in great shape.  It's still best to go to the vet whenever your rabbits look sick.  Rabbits tend to hide their sicknesses well so you need to be observant.  Any deviation in behavior can mean that your rabbit is sick.

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Rabbit Care in the Philippines 9 – Diarrhea Recovery, Food Consumption & Poop Size

If you read back entries 7 and 8 from https://www.facebook.com/groups/AdoptARabbitPH/files/, you will know that Ethan’s on the way to recovering from his diarrhea bout. For purposes of this discussion, I’m not talking about slightly wet poop or excess cecal. There was blot of liquid poop in his mat and apart from a series of semi formed poops.

However, after bringing him to the vet again for a post recovery check-up, my vet said there was no bacteria in his poop but did observe that Ethan looked even more emaciated than before. And so we do think he went hungry because he didn’t like the hay that was offered in generous amounts.

Since that learning episode, I’ve given Ethan a very solid variety of hay (Choppy Timothy, Oxbow Oat and Oxbow Alfalfa) apart from a pellet here and there. If you look at Ethan’s picture, you’ll see that he’s just a little bigger than my hand. How much hay does he eat now? (new rabbit owners take note). Must be around 7-8 fistful of hay for a day and I could still be under shooting that. Just make sure there’s plenty of hay in the rabbit tray 24 hours a day.

I should have expected though that there’d be a lot more poop if Ethan was eating right. To give you an idea of how much you should expect, this shot is for the night (8 hours estimate). Also take note of the size and color. These are really good samples. I kept congratulating Ethan on a job well done.

And so I am hopeful that even though Ethan still resembles a dinosaur skeleton, that he will develop into a chubby bunny in a few months.

Owning a Bunny in the Philippines 8 - The Baby Rabbit Diarrhea

In the last entry, I was talking about how Ethan almost died because of diarrhea.  I talked about changing his diet from Oxbow Hay to Choppy Hay (both Timothy) since he seems to like that better.  

Most of my research deals with rabbit diets.  I suppose the key mistake I made was not reading enough on baby rabbit diets.  Following his near death experience, I’ve since fed him 5-6 bowls of Choppy Timothy Hay and he has been voracious.  I was similarly concerned about his lack of water intake.  So much so that I even force fed him via a medicine dropper.  It’s clear now that it wasn’t necessary.  As soon as he started eating so much, he also started drinking as much.  From last night continuing to this morning, he has been spritely like he hasn’t been in weeks.  In between all of this, I’ve also given him at least a dozen pellets throughout the day and a couple of handfuls of Oxbow Alfalfa Hay.  Some literature would say unlimited amounts for both pellets and Oxbow Alfalfa Hay.  For now, I will increase the “dosage” but will not go as far as unlimited, except for Timothy Hay.

In this episode, we did call our vet from Vets in Practice.  She advised us to give him a teaspoon of pineapple juice and a few grams of Benebac (sorry I forgot the exact dosage she shared).  

Sadly I think the root cause of his ailment was hunger amidst a tray full of Oxbow Timothy Hay.  For my bigger bunnies, a little bit of tough love forces them to eat leftovers (yeah they all like ‘em new).  But that’s not something I can do with my scrawny baby Ethan.  

So yeah, I think the worst has passed although I’ll still keep an eye on him throughout the night later.   I’m disappointed that after all these years of loving care to my rabbits, I still make seemingly rookie mistakes like that.  I’m just really lucky Ethan pulled through.  

In my next update, perhaps I’ll talk about exactly how much I’ve gone with this Unli Alfalfa Hay thing for babies (rabbits under 1 year is what I read).  

So you want to get a rabbit 7 - A Baby Rabbit Diarrhea Emergency

I love weekend nights. With no work obligation, I can typically stay up the whole night to play with and care for my rabbits.  I was a little tired last night though coming from a company year-end party and so I was only able to check on my baby Ethan once last night at around 2 AM.  He was fine.  No outward signs of a problem.  The poop was not golden brown, but it was within the realm of normal.  

I stayed with the girls’ room for the rest of the night (Ethan, being new, is still in isolation).  When I was jolted awake by my body clock, it was past 6 AM.  Naturally my first instinct was to check on Ethan.  

I was shocked at the sight.  He was sleeping bent (not unusual for a rabbit, but it was for him).  I also saw splotches of wet poop throughout his cage.  I knew there was trouble.  When I tried carryng him, he had some convulsive actions but couldn’t stand.  

I woke Jean up and told her to run and prepare the glucose solution.  Within minutes, I held him in a trance position (I wouldn’t do this if it weren’t an emergency).  For the next 2 hours it seems, I kept trying to force feed him the glucose solution using a dropper but he hardly responded with a throat motion (i.e. didn’t seem like he was swalowing).  During that whole time, his breathing seemed really shallow and was not moving.  At some point, his head started shaking (like saying no) which seemed like a convulsive reaction too.  I just kept hoping.  

Jean also prepared an Oxbow critical care bowl, but first he needed to respond to the glucose. After a a while, I lay him down on my lap (with mats of course so he won’t fall).  I offered him a pellet.  Ever so slowly, he finally moved and tried to get it.  The next few minutes would be more hopeful as he kept responding to pellets.  I spooned some critical care to him, but he would only take a few.  In the next half hour, I would give him a pellet every few minutes until he could stand on his own.

After he did stand, he stayed on a pooping position (yeah you know what this looks like) for over an hour and must have pooped over a dozen nuggets.  Jean and I had breakfast separately so that he’ll have company.  Throughout that time, he stayed in place and was pooping.  The output?  Wet, but formed.

At that point, I figured the worst was over (at least for the day). He’s still here beside me.  It was harrowing experience even though we’ve been through that several times with Lily over the year.  

Postscript:

If you’ve not read my prior posts,  let me just say that I’m already extremely careful with my rabbits’ diet.  Still, things like this happen.  It’s very important to check on your rabbits (especially babies) at least every few hours.  In my case, in 4 short hours, my rabbit got sick and was no longer able to stand on his own.  We were fortunate this time around.  

I am also taking a risk and just straight shifting him from Oxbow Timothy to Choppy Timothy.  Yes, his poop was nice with Oxbow but he’s also been very picky.  And so it almost looks like he’s lost weight since I got him.  Choppy seems to be more palatable to rabbits.  It’s a risk because it’s a change in diet, but then again it’s Timothy to Timothy.  If this gets him stronger faster, then maybe it’s worth the risk. The adventure continues...

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