Hi all, i am new here and am in need of some advice sugestions or ideas of any kind. The story goes.... My children have two rabbits whome the whole family adores.. 4 nights ago we found Barbie laying in the hutch on her side not moving but still breathing. We bought her inside and i prepared the kids for the worst after finding princess a few months before outside dead *and knowing bunnies are fragile creatures* Anyhoo I made barbie up a nice warm bed on some old towels and bought her inside and offered her some water and to my suprise she drank. She could not hold her head or her body up it was like she was paralized. I hand feed her all night and offered her water all night and she ate and drank. I went to bed and figured she wouldnt be with us in the morning as she looked basically on the verge of death. To my suprise she was still alive in the morning, so after getting the kids off to school we headed to the vet. she had not done any wees or poos and it was concerning me and i was watching her belly move about and wondering if she was pregnant and having trouble, as i have had no experience with a pregnant bunny. We put her up on the table and she finally peed but it was full of blood. The vet decided she had a urine ifection and gave her antibiotics but said it didnt look good if she was still alive bring her back for another shot the next day. Home i went still feeding her and watering her every hour. Between my man and i we did all night shifts. Next day she was still with us but had now developed a twitching eye. She could not sit up to eat or drink so hand feeding was the go and a water feeder for her. Back to the vet that night when he started his shift* long day i tell you* and he decided that the infection had travelled to her brain. Possible she MAY get better treatment was same but still not much hope. Back home once again shifts through night till 5am and then we left her for about 5 hours to rest and get some zz\'s ourselves. This morning i walk in and nearly fall over as she actually LIFTS her head and TURNS and looks at me! feeds all day and back to vet tonight who is as suprised as we were! He feels she shoud get better we have to get more daily needles and keep going with our hand feeds and soon start physio on her back legs. Her eye is clear and the twitch has gone her urine is clearing up and she is starting to get a little bit of strength in her front legs. anyone else ever had similar things had to do physio i would love to hear what happens outcomes and ANY suggestions. Sorry for the essay but one last thing i am designing a run outside and would love any sugestions for mine i would like to make it a semi natural enviroment for our wabbits.
Hugs
Mandy
Wow, Mandy!
That is some tale. Hats off to you for all the TLC you were willing to give Barbie. I must say, as suddenly as this appeared to come on, I am at a loss as to what in reality this is. It could be so many things, but sounds like you are doing things right.
If you are interested at all in natural remedies, I invite you to check out the Rabbit Medicine Chest. I have a link to them fom my Website:
www.zodiacsatins.com/Links.html
The run for your rabbits sounds great. Be sure to bury wire beneath the surface of the ground to discourage burrowing out (or predators tunneling in). For the same reason, it would be a good idea to cover the run as well. We learned this lesson the hard way when we built a chicken yard years ago.
Hope Barbie continues to improve.
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
Hi Mandy,
Charlcie has good advice on that rabbit run. I have been successful in keeping my rabbits from tunneling out of their play yard by changing the inside of their yard every week; moving things around to give them a new ground pattern to explore. I am not sure that this would work with every rabbit. I made my rabbits a run and had to take it out. I used chicken wire on the bottom and covered it with dirt. One of my rabbits dug down and cut up his paws on the chicken wire. If I did it over, I would put down a rabbit friendly wire, like a vinyl coated wire in the places where my rabbits are most likely to dig. They like to hid their entrance of their hole, so they are most likely to dig next to large objects, inside of brush, under their hutch or next to the fence. I put patio blocks under their hutch. Suggestions for things you could put in the run would be: tree branches, platforms or step stools to lay under, a sandbox and some tubes to run through to take the place of tunnels.
I hope your Barbie is doing alright by now. We would love an update from you.
Hey there!
Thanks for the info on the rabbit runs! I was not sure how to keep them from burrowing out and didnt think of dropping in wire *i know plastic coated*
I have made a paper mache burrow that i did with wire as well its kinda funny looking but the rabbits seem to like it so far and i am going to sink that into the ground. Phsyco *our male bunny who thinks he is a dog* loves it and i found him several times napping in there .. its got a few pockets through it for them to nest in as well. Barbie is still improving i moved her from inside back out to the hutch for the day to enjoy the warm sun and she seemed to be happy in her own home but back inside tonight for warmth
.
She is still eating and drinking and has a lot more life in her eyes again woohooo! As she can not move still with her hind legs and she is not grooming herself anyone have any ideas how to keep her clean AND to clean her as i thought it was bad to bath bunnies??
Thanks again for the ideas too!
Hugs
mandy
Sounds like Psycho has a great new toy!
When you indicated Barbie was getting better, I was assuming that meant her paralysis as well. I am now leaning towards a spinal cord injury.
It is not uncommon for rabbits to actually break their backs while cavorting about their pen or if startled by a predator. I know it is an expense, but you might want to get an X-ray to confirm or deny that diagnosis.
I have seen rabbits recover to the point of wanting to eat and responding to attention, but I have not seen recovery past that point. If Barbie is urinating and having bowel movements, that is good, but you are right - she can\'t clean herself. You can give rabbits baths, but there is the added risk of actually injuring Barbie further.
This is a decision that only you and your vet can make. You will have to weigh the issues of quality of life Vs life. period.
You and Barbie are in my prayers.
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
Hi Mandy,
I had a rabbit with a spinal cord injury and I ended up putting him to sleep because he got bed sores, and I could not care for him the way he needed to be cared for. My vet suggested keeping a premi diaper on him, but I never tried it because I was worried about him chewing on the plastic. I let him out in the yard for exercise every day and his front legs did well in compensating for not being able to use his back legs. He could run using only his front paws and could hoist himself up into a litter box. When he was happy, he would do a little dance with his front paws and shake his head. He got used to being picked up and would lick me in the face. Putting him to sleep was very difficult for me.
If you do decide to keep Barbie, I know there are wheel chair contraptions made for animals, and I have seen pictures of them used on rabbits.
If you need more burrows, you can buy concrete forms at any building supply store. They are large cardboard tubes that cost less then $5 each, and you can get three of them that will fit inside of each other for easy storage.
Thanks for the update and good luck with Barbie. Keep us posted
Hi all me again .....
This time the news isn\'t good. Barbie past away this morning. We had kept up her needles ..... (and thanks for the sugestion about her spine but it was fine just the bug in her system) done her physo kept the food and water up but her little body just gave out i think she struggled on for a week now i feel terrible maybe i prolonged her pain
Physco is sniffling madly around for her i am sure poor guy. I am not looking forward to telling the kids as they are still at school and Beth is going to be devistated. *sigh* ok i wont babble on here to you all i am sure you all have been through this at some stage and dont need to know everything i am feeling. Thank you all again for your kind words and advice and support it was very much appriciated. I wont go anywhere as we still have one VERY healthy bunny who still needs lots of love and care and you all have great advice!
Thanks again
Love
Mandy
P.s pic attatched is beth and pshyco when we got him at easter thought a smile at the end of sad news would be nice [
attachment=46]
That was a sweet picture. So sorry for your loss.
Charlcie
Thanks for sharing your picture and your story. Sorry about Barbie.
So sorry to hear about your loss! I just read the whole thread, seeing as how I am new to the site, and I was in tears to see how much love and support you gave the lil gal and she still passed away. SORRY!