Would you take the time to treat this rabbit?

Mrs. Jo · #1 09/19/08, 01:05 PM

In my post of a few days ago, I mentioned that one of the rabbits was a little off. She is still off, has a loose poop and is a little poopy around her rear end.

I have various things on hand, Sulmet, different wormers, pepto bismal, slippery elm powder various herbal remedies. Pennicilan too.

Would it be worth it to try and treat her? Or should we just put her down? I know rabbits are often not worth treating but I'm thinking of the experience we could gain.

I could do a fecal on her as well. I suppose rabbit coccidia would look similar to a goats.

If you would treat, what would you do for her first?

I was looking through stories guide and he treat all his rabbits with anti-coccidia meds every month and also gives them an antibiotic every month to help them grow. Wow, that seems like over kill.

Danaus29 · #2 09/19/08, 01:27 PM

Hay, lots of grass hay. I give my "off" rabbits tea and water. Some say it makes them have gooey poop which it might, but the tea is good for their digestion. If you had access to dry Sycamore leaves I would say give her that too. Some people here give their rabbits yogurt, I've never been able to get mine to eat it. Raspberry or plantain leaves (not banana but buckhorn) might help and can't hurt. I don't know if grape leaves and vine would be a good feed or not.

Beaniemom · #3 09/19/08, 01:29 PM

I'd give it a shot, if you can find some Plantain (the weed, not the banana thing) that will go a long ways towards firming her up. If not, I think the Pepto would be my next choice, I think I've had to use Pepto like once when the Plantain didn't work fast enough.

Then I'd treat her for Cocci. Am I remembering that these came as part of a group? Then I'd treat all you got from this person. Then I may or may not worm them, depends on if I think they're wormy germy critters or not! LOL

Goes without saying though, she is in Quarintine, right?

I wouldn't put her down yet though. As long as she's eating and drinking, and isn't snotty, I'd give her a chance. I know its a pain in the you know what to clean off poopy butts (make sure you are cleaning it off, you don't want to add hutch burn or fly strike to your list of problems!)

Pat Lamar · #4 09/19/08, 01:35 PM

I agree with you on the "overkill" statement, but he raises show rabbits, not meat rabbits. I surely wouldn't want all that stuff going into the food I eat and adding to the excess of antibiotics and causing immunity to them in our own systems as well as the rabbits.

I tend to prefer a more "natural" method of treating diarrhea. Yogurt is a miracle food for this! Rabbits like yogurt... they just don't know it, yet, so you would have to force feed it to start. I used a small animal applicator. For best results, plain yogurt would be preferred, and it has to have the live culture. Flavored would be somewhat "watered down." I usually got immediate results and rarely ever had to give a second dose. Can't over-dose on it, either, heheheh.

Pat Lamar

MaggieJ · #5 09/19/08, 02:33 PM

I can only repeat the advice I gave you the other day. Grass hay, common plantain leaves, shepherd's purse or raspberry, blackberry or strawberry leaves. No pellets or grain right now. Until I had tried these things, I wouldn't medicate.

Rabbits know what they need. Once my senior doe, Patches, had a touch of poopy butt. She doesn't usually like shepherd's purse, but that day she snatched it out of my hand and chowed it down. End of problem.

RiverPines · #6 09/19/08, 02:59 PM

Just hay and water!!
Slipper elm causes diarrhea!!

I would just let that bunnies system rest after all that and just give it hay and water.
Maybe some probios too to give its gut a jump start after all its been through.
And you dont feed it probios, you use a syringe (without the needle) and make her swallow it. Its not hard to do, just a little messy sometimes.

Mrs. Jo · #7 09/19/08, 04:00 PM

Well, she's been on hay grass hay, and greens. We've been giving her grass, raspberry and gooseberry leaves, dandelions, plaintion, some weeds I don't know but they like, ect.

I have a yogurt culture (the powder) in her water.

She is much lighter than my other adult doe and I just don't feel that she is solid, so may be loosing some weight. She eats the hay and greens pretty well.

She is pretty bright eyed and no signs of snuffles.

Rick · #8 09/19/08, 04:41 PM

Hi Jo

This is my first post here. I came here for knowledge, as I would like to raise some meat rabbits.

Maybe I can help. Do you have comfrey leaves available to you? If not, I have both comfrey leaves and kefir grains here . I can mail you some of both. The kefir grains will culture milk with even more strains of good bacteria than yogurt, and it is as simple as dunking the grains in milk, straining 24 hours later and dunking in fresh milk. I'll give you more details if you are interested, and can mail some comfrey leaves.

PM me if you are interested, and I'll try to get them in Saturday's mail.

Rick

MaggieJ · #9 09/19/08, 04:42 PM

Not all greens are helpful, Jo, or even safe. Dandelion greens are excellent feed but they are somewhat laxative... not what she should be getting. Gooseberry leaves I am not sure about, but I really do suggest you not feed your rabbits anything that you are not familiar with. This is why I was so specific about which plants to feed... they all have different properties.

Mrs. Jo · #10 09/19/08, 06:04 PM

O.k. I will try and make sure she doesn't get anything that you mentioned could be laxative. Just grass hay, water and probiotics.

Rick, I have the kefir culture already and I do have some dried comfrey on hand. You think that would help her?

I wonder how much of her problem is upset form the move and how much could be from a parasite, or bacterial problem. All the other rabbits look fine and act normally. The fella I got them from did say that he let them run around in his backyard sometimes, so it's possible she could have picked something up.

Mrs. Jo · #11 09/19/08, 06:10 PM

Pat Lamar,

Hmm, just in case. At what point would consider that she has enough time to get better on her own, and you figure she might need some treatment for cocci? Could you tell me what is used for rabbits or if you think the Sulmet I have would work?

Thank you~ Jo

Rick · #12 09/19/08, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jo@ LaudoDeumFa

O.k. I will try and make sure she doesn't get anything that you mentioned could be laxative. Just grass hay, water and probiotics.

Rick, I have the kefir culture already and I do have some dried comfrey on hand. You think that would help her?

I wonder how much of her problem is upset form the move and how much could be from a parasite, or bacterial problem. All the other rabbits look fine and act normally. The fella I got them from did say that he let them run around in his backyard sometimes, so it's possible she could have picked something up.

Hi Jo

I can't speak from experience as I do not have rabbits in hutches yet, but the wild bunnies ate our comfrey down to the root the first 2 times we tried to grow it here (we have it fenced now). Go according to what another poster said- it should know what is good for it.

Good Luck.

Rick

ladysown · #13 09/20/08, 06:57 PM

Jo
the sulmet I have from the feedstore is generic. use the same dose for rabbits that you would for chickens. OR do what was recommended to me...give a concentrated dose. Give it right to them orally so you know they have it in their bodies.

For me what I'm doing is using the liquid sulmet that I got. I pour a wee bit into measuring cup (say 1/3 cup). to that I add about half again water. For a big doe.. my 8 pounder I give, every day, 5 ml of that mixture. my smaller ones depending on size get 1-3 ml. Everyday.

I was recommended to do this for two weeks. Not to miss a day.
Now I did choose to miss a day as my two mini rex doe sisters...blind ivory was scared out of her mind the last time I treated her so I figured give her a day to forget her fear. And her sister was looking odd. She was looking better this morning so gave her another dose...but smaller than what I gave previously. I don't want to induce med poisoning either. It's a bit of trial and error at this point.

Laura Workman · #14 09/21/08, 11:23 AM

Jo, listen to Maggie. Blackberry leaves, raspberry leaves, plantain, grass hay. That's it until she's feeling better. Works like a charm. Oh, maybe a bit of parsley to enhance her appetite if she's not eating well.

Mrs. Jo · #15 09/21/08, 08:04 PM

Thank you. I am doing the grass hay, plantian and raspberry leaves. No change in droppings yet. They are still very soft and wet.

MaggieJ · #16 09/21/08, 09:38 PM

Do you have shepherd's purse? It's a little stronger than the others. Continue as you are doing, but add some shepherd's purse if you can find some.

If that doesn't work, you may be facing a bigger problem than just poopy butt due to stress or a minor digestive upset.

http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/weedguid/shepherd.htm

Rick · #17 09/28/08, 11:23 AM

Hi Jo

It's been a week since you posted on the sick bunny.

Is it improving?

Rick

Mrs. Jo · #18 09/28/08, 01:51 PM

On the sick bunny-

Sorry, I'm finding the gal to be a puzzle. Sometimes she makes the normal rabbit poos. (cocoa puff poop) other times it's these long blobby, torpedo shaped things. She leaves them laying around. I'm not sure if they are the cecetropes or not.
Her weight has improved and she feels more solid now.

Occasionally her rear end has wet poop on it. Yesterday, I checked and that was dry.

I'm thinking about treating her with ivermectin and a sulfa. It's possible she could have picked up worms or has a case of coccidia.

She might be bred, but I don't want to breed her to my own bucks until I know what her problem is. So I find that the weight gain is a good thing but still don't know why she isn't pooing like a normal rabbit. But she is still alert, eating and energetic.

ladysown · #19 09/28/08, 03:05 PM

just so you know, coccidia poops are long and blobby and torpedo shaped. I call them goose poops. Treat her with sul-met for two weeks. They can be intermixed with regular poops.