New Rabbits and Bloat
Last Sunday we picked up the last of our rabbit breeding stock, a buck and a doe. We had picked up our other 2 does about a week before that for a total of 3 does and a buck. The last two were my favorites in terms of coloring. Since we will be using the pelts of our rabbits it was important to me to get a variety of pretty colors to choose from. Our buck is a beautiful blue New Zealand and the new female is a broken red.
Monday morning I spent some time outside with the rabbits trying to get them used to me. I will not be socializing their babies but I want to be able to handle the parents if I need to mess with the babies or give medication. I noticed that the buck wasn’t as active as the others but chalked it up to the change in environment. These rabbits were raised in cages and are now on the ground. By Monday night we knew something was wrong. His tummy didn’t feel right and he still wasn’t moving around as much as the others. He also had a clear jelly like substance coming out of his anus. I contacted the breeder who recommended infant gas drops. Luckily I had just grabbed some earlier that day as a precaution.
(This is our new guy with bloat)
We started treating him right way 3ml, 3 times a day as recommended. It is now Sunday and I can’t say if I’ve seen any improvement. I have brought him inside in a large pet kennel so I can keep a close eye on him. Someone also mentioned getting him to exercise so I’ve been taking him out occasionally to run around our bathroom. If he truly has bloat it’s likely he won’t make it but I am hoping we caught it in time.
Anyone ever had a rabbit with bloat? How did you treat it? What was the outcome?
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Change of diet and to much of anything can kill a rabbit quick also we found rabbits do not do well if raised in cages and then raised on the ground seems like they have a weaker immune and get sick more often.
We would keep him away from the other rabbits for sure for a while. He may also have a wool block it occurs when the stomach fills up with rabbit hair. It can be a partial blockage, complete blockage. Rabbits with wool block will not eat as much.This can cause a lazy digestive system , constipation and gas build up.
Not a vet just raised a few rabbits.
Good luck with him
Is it normal for a rabbit with bloat to last this long?
Most rabbit can die with bloat after just a couple days. Any digestive problems we had with our rabbits we just fed them their hay and water until the problem resolved.No greens or pellets but that is just what we did.
How is he doing now?
I've never heard jelly like substance coming out the bank end before. I've had a couple of instances where they've gone into GI stasis and the belly felt lumpy. Massaging gently and getting them moving seemed to sort that out if I got it soon enough. Stress and not enough fibre was the cause for those cases.
Unfortunately he died yesterday. He was refusing to eat and I believe I waited too long to start syringe feeding him
I'm sorry. They don't give you much leeway to try and save them. Often it's too late when you find out something is wrong.
I think he wasn't getting enough food, I don't know he seemed better just a few hours before