Vet gave my bunny amoxycillin

Question
My bunny started to leave his cecotrophs. They were sludgy. The vet gave him a shot of betamox (penicillin)and also some vomend.  The 2days after he was worse, so I took him back and she repeated the 2 shots. He got worse and I started giving him oral rehydration (bio-lapis) and liquid feed called 'recovery' as he wasn't eating. I then consulted another vet who told me that rabbits should not be given betamox as it can kill them! She put him on a drip, gave him pain relief, carried on with the syringe feeding and questran with the liquid bio lapis, started him on metronidazole and zantac antacid. We have carried on with this regime now his cecotrophs are formed but still won't eat them (they are mashed and added to the liquid food) and is not producing any formed pellet feces at all. He has a growling tummy. Will he ever get better or should we have him put down?

Answer
Dear Beckie,

He will get better with nursing and care, but it will help if you can get some cecotropes from a healthy bunny to reinoculate him and replace what was killed off by the Betamox.

Amoxycillin can be deadly to rabbits, so I'm glad you found a more knowledegeable vet!  The only penicillin generally safe for rabbits is *injectable* Penicillin-G Procaine and/or Benzathine.

I hope your bunny will be fine soon.  For additional tips on how to make him comfortable while he recovers, please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

Treatments are pretty much similar for a rabbit with ileus.

Sending healing thoughts.

Dana