| The information contained on this page is not meant to substitute for professional veterinary care. If this is an emergency, please see your local vet. I am not a vet. These are home remedies that I have used and found helpful in preventing sickness or death from common conditions found in rabbits. |
Prevention- It is easier to prevent disease than cure it. Here are some hints to maintaining a healthy herd.
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Medical Kit
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Diarreah or Mucoid Enteritis- This can be an emergency situation. Rabbits do not live long if left with diarreah. Young rabbits are especially vulnerable. They can die in as little as 24 hours, going from a perfectly healthy rabbit with normal droppings to a dead rabbit by morning. Prevention is important. I do not recommend feeding greens and vegetables to a rabbit under 4 months old. If you choose to feed vegies, then introduce slowly in small amounts. Feeding fibrous timothy hay is recommended. Oats (Old fashioned rolled or flatted horse oats) make a good treat. Young bunnies sometimes get droppings stuck to their bottoms, but these are sometimes cecotropes (the morning droppings that they eat). I usually trim the fluff from their bottoms to prevent this. If your bunny is suddenly listless, sitting in the corner, bloated or sloshy sounding belly, possibly grinding his teeth, and has a very wet tail and back feet, he may have Enteritis. He may have clearish or greenish jelly poops, which may have a different smell than usual, you need to act quickly. You might notice that he's stopped eating and drinking as well. Fluids are vitally important at this stage as dehydration kiills. I will have a 5 CC syringe handy to drip water into the rabbit's cheek. I put him on his back, and drip slowly so that he doesn't choke. I keep flipping him rightside up so that he can swallow. I usually mix a vitamin/electrolyte mix into this water. After the fluids, I make up a mixture of Pepto Bismol (I used 1/4 of the tablet crushed- not sure of how much to use of the liquid). I also mix in an Acidophilus/Bifidus capsule of powder to hopefully help restore the gut bacteria. I'm not sure if this works, but it doesn't hurt them. Finally, I crush up a 1/2 tablet of digestive enzymes (pineapple and papaya enzymes). I make a watery paste with this and syring this into the bunnies cheek. I try to get as much in as I can. I do this morning and night, until I see a change. Keep up with the water throughout the day! If you are stuck for the above ingredients, another thing to try is to feed fresh cecotropes from a healthy rabbit to the sick one. These look like long grapelike clusters, and are different from the fecal pellets that look round like marbles. These are usually eaten by the rabbit right from the anus, and provide the rabbit with special bacteria and nutrients. I remove pellets and offer hay only to get the fibre back into the bunny. If you feed vegies, I would remove these as well. If the rabbit will take a few oats this is good too. A sick rabbit will be very stubborn about not eating. I don't offer anything with sugar to sick bunnies.
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Gut Stasis or Furblock- Also an emergency. You will notice that your rabbit has stopped eating and may have stopped drinking as well, but there is no sign of diarreah. You will see small fecal pellets. You many notice that there are few or no poops in the cage. Your rabbit may look listless and feel lighter than usual. If you feel the belly in between the ribcage and the back legs, you will feel it is rather empty. If you are able to palpate (feel gently and deeply into the rabbit's gut), you may find a hard lump or blockage. The trick to stasis is that everything has stopped moving and then fur and other material blocks up and everything comes to a halt. I treat this with heavy mineral oil. I buy this at the pharmacy. The sooner you treat, the more success you will have. I give about a tablespoon of the oil twice a day by mouth with a syringe. Slowly drip the oil into the bunnies cheek while he's on his back, then turn him back over so he can swallow. Have a tissue handy to mop up any drips, as it can get messy. I also feed him a crushed up tablet of digestive enzymes and powdered cidophilus capsule mixed with water to try to help dissolve the blockage and restore gut bacteria. Water and rehydration is vitally important to get things moving. Syringe water into your rabbit's mouth if it won't drink on it's own. The final thing I try is frequent gentle gut massages to try to get things stimulated to move again. Offer lots of fibrous timothy or grass hay - fibre helps to grab the excess hair from the gut and then the rabbit can eliminate it. When the rabbit starts pooping and eating again, you know things are back to normal. |
| Worming-I use Piperazine for pinworms, especially after returning from a show. I also worm with Ivomec injectable liquid about once every 3-4 months. Ivomec kills internal parasites and external parasites such as ear and fur mites. I give a drop or two orally. If I suspected ear or fur mites, I would put a drop externally as well near the location. Fenbendazole horse wormer is used for when I want to rotate wormers. This wormer must be given for three days, so it is a bigger job to administer. It is apparently good to kill the organism that causes Wryneck. |
| Coccidia- Cleanliness can help prevent Coccidia. This is a hard one to beat...there are two different types. I would recommend speaking your your vet about testing and a good medication if you suspect this disease. An unthrifty, out of condition rabbit that won't gain weight no matter how good you feed could have this problem. |
Rabbit Syphillis- Rabbit VD can be spread quickly in a herd by sexual transmission. You may notice scabs on the vent area of your rabbit. Both bucks and does can have it. It can cause miscarriages and stillborn kits. You can use Penicillin injections to get rid of this disease. Be careful when considering breeding your animals to outside animals as they may carry this disease. |
| Teeth- Maloclussion- check your rabbit's teeth often. The top teeth should be in front of the bottom teeth. If they meet evenly, check often to ensure they don't start to grow incorrectly. If the bottom teeth are in front of the top teeth, then they will not trim themselves from regular chewing. Pet people may want to maintain the teeth for the life of the rabbit with regular trims. Breeders should cull (put down) their rabbits. Some breeds do go through changes to the head structure as they grow and teeth may correct, but it is something to watch carefully. |
Pasteurella- I would not keep a rabbit with Pasteurella (snuffles) in my herd. The rabbit would be put down if I ever came across it. This is a highly contagious disease that is never truly cured by antibiotics. It only goes into hiding to resurface if the rabbit gets stressed. . It can cause sniffing and sneezing, matted paws, as well as infections in bites that fill with a cheesy white matter. Never bring a rabbit into contact with other rabbits if you suspect snuffles in your pet. |
Eyes- If your rabbit develops runny or sore eyes, he may have picked up an infection. Young rabbits in the nestbox need to have their eyes checked regularly as they are opening, because it seems to be easy for them to get their eyes stuck closed again. I keep a small tube of Antibiotic eye salve on hand (from the vet), to use on any rabbit that is showing signs of eye problems. Check to make sure that it isn't a cut or injury to the cornea that is causing the tearing, as this would warrant a visit to the vet. |
Ears- Ears should be clean and dry and free from crustiness. If you see crusts, this could be ear mites. Ivomec 10 days apart should clear it up. Remove crusts by syringing in baby oil or the mineral oil and wiping with cotton swabs until it is all removed. A final dose of baby oil in the ear will suffocate any live mites. The rabbit may have scratched and reddened the area, so it may need a bit of Hibitane cream on it. |
| Nails- Nails need to be cut. If you cut the quick they will bleed. Styptic powder will stop the bleeding quickly. If you don't have this, use cornstarch, flour or similar and apply pressure to the tip of the nail. I do my rabbit's nails with the rabbit on it's back. Use a very good light if your rabbit has pink nails. Dark nails are harder...just don't go into the thicker back part of the nail. |
Birth and breeding- please see my page on breeding Other good rabbit medical sites.. Kendra's Little Lop Shop-examining your rabbit
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