Help me with my sick bun. I have 4 Flemish giants all fixed and three girls, one boy. I acquired my younger two girls last October from a meat rabbit farm and they were 8 and 12 weeks old. They have gotten along perfectly, live in a large outdoor enclosure with a fully insulated rabbit shed. They are wild and don't really seek human attention. A few was ago, the younger two I noticed were fighting quite a bit. They were caught and found with a few superficial wounds in various stages of healing. Well, the fighting persisted so I took the instigator and placed her in a pen in the lg pen so they could still see each other. Well today I went in to feed her and it appeared she hadn't eaten and so I picked her up and she feels to be skin and bones under her very fluffy winter coat. I'm appalled I didn't catch this sooner but she is semi wild and runs if you approach her...I immediately thought worms and gave her a pea size dose of safeguard paste for horses...i will be seeking out vet attention asap but in the interim any interventions? TIA
Sick 9 mo old Flemish giant
- Thread starter AmandaG01
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Marie28
Loving the herd life
Has see been drinking water? If it a water bottle make sure it is working properly rabbits won't eat if they can't drink. Also check her teeth, this can also cause rabbits to stop eating. Are your other rabbits acting okay?
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- #3
I haven't seen her drink but she's also skittish so she hides if I go into the pen... she did eat some banana and quick oats today however and ate some green leaf lettuce last night. She has a water bowl not bottle. Doesn't appear to be eating her grain... after the dose of safeguard yesterday,today it looks like her poop was loose and caked up around her rear end...
DutchBunny03
Loving the herd life
If she was the more submissive of the two fighting rabbits, the thinness may be the result of the dominant one not allowing her to eat. Thats one of the dangers of keeping more than one rabbit in a single cage. She may still be afraid to eat.
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- #5
Yes I thought of that as well and left to food stations. So an update since I last posted: I brought both fighting rabbits into the house in separate cages. I ended up bringing them both to the vet on Monday. $600 later I ended up coming home with antibiotics and medicate him and critical care. The bigger of the two rabbits is fine and is back out with the other two eating drinking etc. The smaller rabbit however still seems kind of depressed. We finished her anabiotic's and pain medicine. I brought her into the vet for a follow up hopeful that she gained weight because she did resume eating and pooping etc. I'm pretty sure she had G.I. stasis and has recovered from that fairly well however after her physical with the dock and pulling scabs off of her, it was discovered that she has a large abscess on her abdomen pretty deep the size of a golf ball and she may potential he need surgery. I'm absolutely sick about this because she's not going to probably be able to go in with my other rabbits and I don't have space for her to be in the house. I'm in quite a situation however I'm going to obviously do my best to tend to her wound hoping that the Betadine flushes and antibiotics will do the trick. There is the update. Another $200 yesterday I'm pretty beside myself and feel so guilty
DutchBunny03
Loving the herd life
You seem very dedicated to your rabbits. Some owners would have just let the poor thing die, because vets are so darn expensive. Don't feel guilty. Things like this are out of our control. It depends on the rabbits. Some rabbits can live together without any big problems; others decide to reenact the Hunger Games on each other.
If her healing goes well, she should be ok to go back with your other rabbits.
If her healing goes well, she should be ok to go back with your other rabbits.
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- #7
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- #8
You wouldn't believe how guilty the vet has me feeling looking at me like I have 10 heads because I don't sit there and know exactly how much my rabbits eat and how much he they eat and blah blah blah because they live outside in a very nice enclosure but I don't stare at them. I take care of them. It's unbelievable. Thank you for the reassurance
