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Light eye colour, eating down

22 10:32:58

Question
We have a house bunny.  I am unsure of his breed.  He has long downward laying ears that reach the floor, but do not lay on the floor or drag.  My mother bought the bunny for my daughter as a Christmas gift 2005.  I don't believe he was an adult at that time, but I am unsure of his actual age.  Due to the time of his arrival, my daughter named him Jingle.  My mother kept Jingle at her house until this past August.  I had been against giving a 5 year old something alive as a gift.  I think kids can be too animated for a rabbit's comfort.  My mother kept him in a standard rabbit cage inside the house & rarely let him out to play.  We have had several not so pleasant conversations about this.  I felt he needed to get out more or at least buy him a larger, hopefully 2 story, cage to make up for it.  With his littler box, he could stand, turn around and lay down in his cage, but not get much more exercise.  Well, since Jingle Bunny has been living with us, he has free range of the house during the day, and here lately, we have been leaving the cage door open to let him come & go as he pleases at night.  We have 2 dogs & a cat who don't mind having Jingle as a member of the household.  
    For the past month, we have been taking my daughter out of state every week for medical purposes.  My mother has been coming by to tend to the pets.  We leave Jingle caged up while we are gone.  Although our dogs have accepted him, we fear that one might decide to play while we are gone and Jingle might get injured during the "play" time.  We keep busy schedules and because of recent events we haven't been paying real close attention to Jingle.  We noticed that he doesn't hop out of his cage much & socialize like normal.  There are times when he likes to be solitary in his cage, so we didn't put much thought into it.  I went to shoo him out & clean his cage today when I noticed that something is wrong with him.  His eyes which are normally dark brown, are light in colour.  I can clearly see the iris & pupil.  His eyes are a light grey/brown colour.  The rims of his lids are a little red.  He isn't as animated as normal, but doesn't appear to be completely listless or lethargic.  He had some stools stuck to the fur on his bottom, which rarely happen.  He's not walking right, going much slower than normal and with out his little hop with each stride.  He also appears to have difficulties with his right rear leg.  I gave him approx 2cc of Nutri-Cal.  After about 10 minutes I offered him a veggie blend of broccoli, carrots & cauliflower.  Normally he jumps right at food like that & devours it.  He barely sniffed it at first.  After about 5 minutes he began to nibble at some.  About 10 minutes later, he nibbled some more.  I startled him when I brought him some veggies, and he ran for his cage (about 2 ft. away) and smacked into the door which I had closed to keep him out until I could clean it.  I spoke to him & petted him the way he likes and he calmed down.  He isn't moving much, and going slow when he does.  He's always been the kind of bunny who loves to stretch out and lay around.  After eating a little, she stretched out and appeared to have calmed down.  I am very worried for him, but I will be with out a car to take him to the vet for several more hours.  At least 7 more hours from now, and I first noticed him about 1 hour ago.  I want to get him to a vet, but fear that by the time I am able, it will be too late, or there will not be a vet available at that time.  I have been searching online for help, but either I'm not finding much, or I'm not understanding much.
    Jingle's normal diet is Small World Rabbit brand  pellets, Kaytee brand hay which we switch between timothy & alfalfa (he doesn't really eat much hay at all, if any), and we give him the occasional bits of steamed veggies or apple wedge.  A vet told us that his diet was fine and as long as he had normal formed stools, and appeared happy & health otherwise, we shouldn't worry.  Jingle drinks well, 16oz over about 3 days.  The litter we use is Feline Fresh.  We have been using this litter for about 3 1/2 months now.  It appeared to be the same as the litter my Mom was buying for him, and he seems to like it better, too.  Also, I am ashamed to say, I haven't gotten around to cleaning his cage in about 2 weeks, although I have been changing the litter box.  I fear that because we have been keeping him locked up in is cage for a few days each week while we've been gone has made him sick.  I did just read somewhere that you shouldn't use pine with rabbits, which his litter is made of.  
    Is there anything I can do for our house bun until I can get him to the vet?  Sadly, if I am unable to get him in somewhere tonight, I will have to wait until Monday morning.  Any ideas as what could be wrong with him?

 Thank you,
    Devan Scherer

Answer
Hi Devan,

Wow....I am very concerned here.  There are quite a few possibilities so I am going to ask a few more questions...and give you some of my thoughts on your husbandry.  I have been treating rabbits for many years and our rescue handles primarily "special needs".  I also live near a major vet school and I get to help train many of the senior vet students going thru clinicals.  And quite a few vets are using protocols I have developed here.

Can you get some close up pictures of his eyes?  If so, I will give you my rescue e-mail so you can send them directly.  I am concerned about some of ocular and/or neurological deficiencies he seems to be having.  Is his head tilting to either side?  Look at his eyes closely....are they "ticking"?  It might be a very subtle movement so you have to look closely.  On his ride side you mentioned he is favoring...does his leg seem to drag or does he stumble on that side?  May not happen all the time.

As far as food....an adult rabbit's diet should consist of no treats, very limite high quality pellets, limited greens and unlimited grass hays.  Carrots contain high amounts of sugar which can cause some GI distress in some bunnies.  Cauliflower and broccoli are huge producers of gas in some buns.  We offer some of the "safer" greens such as romaine lettuce, dandelion greens, parsley, cilantro and small amounts of kale.  Pellets should be very high quality....I would suggest revisiting the pellets you are offering.  Most rabbits will eagerly eat high quality hay.  We do not offer Kaytee here because it is very inconsistant.  We use more of the "premium hays" that are available.  I have contacts for high quality hay all over the country...let me know your general area and I can point you in the right direction.  As far as your litter you are using....it is a concern.  We use newspaper.  Safe and cheap.

This guy really needs to be seen by a highly skilled rabbit vet quickly.  Keep in mind that all vets regardless of what they say are not rabbit savvy.  Some know nothing at all, some are OK with basics and then you have the ones that need to be treating something like this.

If you can answer the questions I asked above and get me some pics...maybe I can see something that I can help you with until you can get to a vet.  If you can get some pics, my e-mail is rabbitresq@aol.com

Randy