My rabbit will not move.

Question
I am in South Korea and I bought my girlfriend a rabbit the other day. This
rabbit as best we can tell is only 3-4 weeks old and should still be with her
mother. She was very energetic the last few days and now she does not move.
We allowed her to eat as much food pellets as she wanted in the last 48hr
could this be the problem? I am not sure what too do there is not vet in the
area and we think she might die soon.

Answer
Hi,

yes, at 3-4 weeks they are still being weaned.  Such a big change to her diet in such a short period of time can really be very hard on her gi tract and cause problems.

You need to give her fluids, right now give her water from a plastic dropper, very slowly, so you see her swallow a few drops.  Once she swallows, squeeze a few more drops out, and let her swallow that.  Give her 4-5 droppers full, if it is a small dropper, 2-3 droppers if it is a larger dropper, every 2-3 hours.  

If you can purchase baby gas drops - drops that babies take when they have gas in their stomachs - give your rabbit two full droppers of the gas drops, and rub her little tummy for 1/2 hour.   Even if you don't, after giving her water, rub her tummy for awhile and see if if gives her any relief, it may take some time.  If you can find Bene-Bac at a pet store over there, give her part of a tube right away to help get more good gut bacteria into her system.

But right now the most important thing is to get fluids into her system because if she had gas she stopeed eating and drinking, and her body will pull water out of her gi tract and cause things to start drying out in the gi tract, and that is a problem because she needs to have enough water in the gi tract for things to work right and not shut down.

The safest thing for her, once she is over this, is hay, and limited pellets.  You can keep giving her milk until week 4-5.  Hay is the most critical thing for rabbits to eat as they get older.  They can survive without anything else but hay and water, it is that important.

I didn't find any South Korea vets listed as rabbit vets, but I have some contact info for a store there that carries Oxbow rabbit products (excellent hay and pellets).  If you can contact them, they may know of rabbit vets around where you are.

Super Bunny
Banpo-1-Dong 717-10
Seocho Gu,
Seoul, South Korea
Phone: 82-2-514-7342
Email: 1974bear@hanmail.net

Write back anytime.  Lee