How can I improve/speeden the recovery of my rabbit after stroke?

Question
Hello,
10 days ago my rabbit started suddenly to feel and look very bad - he could barely stay on his own feet...We took him to the vet immediately... We think he might have had a stroke, although the vet himself wasn't sure what it was. He just said that my rabbit has huge hemorrhage in his eye bottoms. He was giving him some medicines, injections etc. for 10 days and the hemorrhage began to disappear, although it's not completely gone.
My rabbit hasn't eaten much for 10 days and still I could barely make him take a bite or two. I tried feeding him with a syringe, but the procedure is a bit too stressful for him.
He doesn't seem to have an obvious head tilt as a result, but I think he has lost completely or partially the sight with his right eye, because he doesn't seem to detect movement with it as with his left eye. He is still not completely stable when walking, although he tries to walk in a straight line.And because during these 10 days he had to stay in the vet clinic, he seem now very stressed when he's out of his cage and completely terrified when he's being lifted up.
So my question is what can I do to make him start eating and drinking water? And in general how can I improve his total recovery? How could I prevent another stroke?

Thank you very much in advance!

Best Regards, Vladimira

Answer
Dear Mira,

Wow, what a terrible scare.  Very strange; I have not heard of signs like this in a bunny before.  But a vascular hemorrhage is almost certainly part of this picture.  

Such a stressful event can cause a common side effect in rabbits:  ileus.  With ileus, the GI tract simply stops moving and shuts down.  This can be fatal if not treated aggressively and promptly, but there are things you can do at home to start the recovery.  If possible, get a stethoscope to listen to his abdomen for normal, gurgly intestinal sounds.  If his tummy is silent, you'll know what to do:

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

An enema is particularly helpful, but only very shallow and NEVER with a catheter.  

Also read this:

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

to learn how to take his temperature.  Keeping his body temperature is absolutely *critical* to his recovery.  He needs to come home now, since the veterinary hospital is also very stressful and frightening for a rabbit.  Getting him home will be a good first step in helping him to fully recover.

If you are not sure the vets you're seeing are very experienced with rabbits, please find a rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

for a second opinion.

Since we don't *know* this was a stroke, it's hard to say how to prevent it.  Typically, humans are given medications for blood-thinning, but I would be very cautious about this, and certainly not do it without the advice and supervision of a vet who is very experienced with rabbit medicine.


I hope your bunny will make a full recovery soon.

Dana