Rabbit diarrhea

Question
My rabbit has diarrhea from 2 days. Is is female, 8 months old. I was giving her antibiotics prescribed by a vet, because her eye was operated. The name of the antibiotic was Tercef. 10 days have passed since the last antibiotic and while the treatment she was eating less than normal. When I took her to another vet today he told me that this antibiotic is not made for rabbits and it is poisonous for rabbits because it kills the bacteria in their intestines. He told me that there is no particular medicine for this and that I can put lemon juice to her water. Please tell me what else can I do to help my rabbit get back to normal. She has lost weight and I can not just wait and see what will happen. I gave her water with lemon but she refuses to drink, although the lemon water doesn't seems like a cure to me. Please give me advice what to do.
Thank you!

Answer
Dear Teodora,

Lemon juice will not help, but activated charcoal suspended in water and given orally might help adsorb bacterial toxins that could be causing these problems.  Cephalosporins are not ideal for rabbits, but are generally not as bad as oral penicillins.

If you can get your bunny some loperamide to help stop the diarrhea, and ask the vet for help with supportive care such as subcutaneous fluids to keep her hydrated, it will help a great deal.

Also, if you can get cecotropes from a healthy rabbit and get her to swallow them, this will help re-establish a healthy flora.

STOP giving the Tercef now, if you have not already done so.

The problem you are facing now is one that is also common in baby bunnies handled incorrectly:  intestinal dysbiosis.  The following protocol might help:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/squirts.pdf

Please share this with your vets and get all the help you can to get your bunny back on her feet.  Be sure to monitor her body temperature:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

I hope she will be okay.

Dana