My rabbit is not eating

Question
i live in CA, right now its getting around 85 degrees outside, my pet rabbit of 3 years is not eating, she is drinking water, and her bowel movement was first hard, and now is runny she has been like that for 2 days,i cannot afford to take her to the vet again, i just spent $320 on her 2 months ago when she was attacked by a cat. i am hoping you can give me some advice, since she is drinking, and pooping and her breathing seems fine as well as her eyes, and fur. I did notice she is losing weight, she use to weigh 10 lbs and now she feels about 7 lbs. I know its only advice, but anything will help. Dont want her to die, shes a member of our family.

Answer
Hi,

you need to get her in to your regular good rabbit vet.  If she's a family member you need to.  I just forked out 5 times as much the last few months for one of mine and it's not like I have money falling off the trees for me.

First, get her inside and cool her down.  Second don't let her be an outside rabbit.  You can't control what she can eat and what parasites or infections she can get outside that being inside would protect her from.  It would also prevent other peoples' animals from attacking her and would save you from unnecessary, preventable expenses like that.  Third, get some critical care from Oxbow, either from your pet supply store or vet and start feeding her (carefully and slowly).

She probably has some kind of parasite in her.  You need to push fluids and get her to the vet.  They need to do a test on her fecal material and probably bloodwork to see what she all has, and then determine what drug(s) she needs to eliminate them.  If you can keep her hydrated and inside while she recovers recovering from parasites is fairly easy to do, given the right drugs and your watchful care inside the house.

DOn't wait to see the vet.  Losing 30% of body weight has really drained her strength levels, this is enormous stress on a small animal's body, like a rabbit.  She needs to have a certain amount of internal strength to deal with the meds.  Go through all your non-essential spending and cut out what you don't have to have.  Arrange with your regular rabbit vet a payment plan so that you can get her the care she needs but pay it off over time. Most vets will do this especially if they already know you and have your animals as patients.

The key is going to a good rabbit vet, not all are, and if you need to find one go here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

to find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.