Petal had diarrhea this morning!

Argh, I feel terrible! I was so worried about getting Petal to settle in and eat last night, that I gave her veg and pellets when she's obviously not used to either! Woke up with bunny diarrhea to clean up I called the emergency vet who told me to clean her up and get her the mix rabbit food she was on before, which I stupidly forgot to get from her foster mum. She said to wait and see if she's eating and pooing normally now, but any more diarrhea and I should take her in. So far she's not had any more diarrhea, and she's definitely eating hay and I've given her some mix stuff and she's eating that. Just hoping it wont happen again tomorrow morning! I'm still getting her to the vets tomorrow though, she still has stitches from her spay which need to come out, and her myxi needs doing. Is this all too much for her? Should I wait a day or two for her to get settled before I whisk her off to the vets? Poor thing has been moved from pillar to post in the last couple of weeks. Would be grateful for any advice as it's been a long time since I've had a new bun and have never dealt with a bun with diarrhea before!

I think the problem will have started with a quick change in food including increased veg etc. also the new environment can make the bun nervous and heighten the risk of an upset tummy. It's great news that Petal is eating today and showing no more signs of abnormal poo. I would still take her to the vets to get her checked out, i would also want her to be 100% before giving her the myxi jab. Diarrhea can lead to dehydration so it's important Petal keeps drinking aswell as eating plenty of hay. If you still want to change her diet from the current mix to pellet form it is best to do it gradually by mixing a little of the new pellets in with the mix and gradually adding more as the days go on.

try not to worry too much, it sounds like you are doing all the right things for her

Kirsty&Lola wrote:I think the problem will have started with a quick change in food including increased veg etc. also the new environment can make the bun nervous and heighten the risk of an upset tummy. It's great news that Petal is eating today and showing no more signs of abnormal poo. I would still take her to the vets to get her checked out, i would also want her to be 100% before giving her the myxi jab. Diarrhea can lead to dehydration so it's important Petal keeps drinking aswell as eating plenty of hay. If you still want to change her diet from the current mix to pellet form it is best to do it gradually by mixing a little of the new pellets in with the mix and gradually adding more as the days go on.

try not to worry too much, it sounds like you are doing all the right things for her

Totally agree , hope she picks up soon and doesn't get it again

Hope she is better soon.

Well she appears to be fine now, eating, drinking and pooing (normal), so hopefully it wont happen again. But yes, she is going to the vets as soon as an appointment is available just to be sure. Fingers crossed I'll wake up and find a nice scattering of dry poos waiting for me to sweep up!

great news

I've been given fiberplex by the vet and we're waiting about 10 days before doing the vaccs! Any tips on giving fiberplex to a bun? I'm going to try and get her to have it straight from the syringe but I have a feeling she's not going to like it!

hanspan wrote:I've been given fiberplex by the vet and we're waiting about 10 days before doing the vaccs! Any tips on giving fiberplex to a bun? I'm going to try and get her to have it straight from the syringe but I have a feeling she's not going to like it!

Mine love it , good luck

Snowy wrote:

hanspan wrote:I've been given fiberplex by the vet and we're waiting about 10 days before doing the vaccs! Any tips on giving fiberplex to a bun? I'm going to try and get her to have it straight from the syringe but I have a feeling she's not going to like it!

Mine love it , good luck

Argh! I messed it up completely! I got it in her mouth and she was licking and not rejecting it, but I couldn't push the blooming syringe down! So I took it out to try and push it down, and the stuff went everywhere. So i tried again in her mouth, got her to eat some, then she spat out the syringe but I didn't notice and I squeezed it into her cheek by accident! So I then had to try and get it out of her fur, and it was all a bit stressful and she hardly had any! I'm thinking of going out to find some banana to mix it with, but since she's never had banana, I'm worried that will have the opposite effect and give her the runs again! There was no diarrhea this morning, just excess cecals, so perhaps I should give up on the fiberplex and just reduce her mix feed? If she continues to munch lots of hay, that might sort it out anyway? I hate stressing her out as she's been here such a short time and so much of that time has been either having her bum cleaned or some other stressful event!

Hope Petal is feeling better.

hanspan wrote:

Snowy wrote:

hanspan wrote:I've been given fiberplex by the vet and we're waiting about 10 days before doing the vaccs! Any tips on giving fiberplex to a bun? I'm going to try and get her to have it straight from the syringe but I have a feeling she's not going to like it!

Mine love it , good luck

Argh! I messed it up completely! I got it in her mouth and she was licking and not rejecting it, but I couldn't push the blooming syringe down! So I took it out to try and push it down, and the stuff went everywhere. So i tried again in her mouth, got her to eat some, then she spat out the syringe but I didn't notice and I squeezed it into her cheek by accident! So I then had to try and get it out of her fur, and it was all a bit stressful and she hardly had any! I'm thinking of going out to find some banana to mix it with, but since she's never had banana, I'm worried that will have the opposite effect and give her the runs again! There was no diarrhea this morning, just excess cecals, so perhaps I should give up on the fiberplex and just reduce her mix feed? If she continues to munch lots of hay, that might sort it out anyway? I hate stressing her out as she's been here such a short time and so much of that time has been either having her bum cleaned or some other stressful event!

Oh dear, that made me laugh I had similar problems when I first used it but then I got the hang of it, you could always try squirting it on to a favourite treat and feeding it, just a thought

Were you positioning the syringe tip between the gap behind the incisors and infront of the molars, as this gives you the best access point into the mouth with the most chance of them not being able to spit it out again. If she struggles you could also try the bunny 'burrito' on her, that is wrap her securely but gently in a towel so she can't lash out and wriggle.

To be honest, I'm not sure where I was placing it, I was sort of doing it from the side and couldn't get a good view of her mouth. I did manage to get her to voluntarily put it in her mouth and eat some without me holding her, but it only worked once and now she wont go near it! Because she seems to unused to fresh food, I I can't think of any treat to put it in which wont possibly give her diarrhea again. I'll try the bunny burrito later!

At a push a tiny bit of digestive or rich tea biscuit with it smeared on would be OK. Alternatively you could get the water soluble probiotics and add it to her drinking water (only downside is this won't give you the added fiber).

I've got some digestives, if it wont make her unwell, I'll give it a go. I'll try bunny burrito first though, thanks!

goodluck

Bunny burrito did not go down well! Digestives seem to have worked, I gave her 4 tiny pieces smeared with the fiberplex and she's eaten 3 so far

fudge will take medicine on mini shredded wheat bitesize type things.....

Glad to hear Petal's recovered, it's well scary seeing that.