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Rex rabbit mystery sickness

22 10:33:47

Question
hi1
Our vet told us the bring him in when it happens but it  happened on Christmas day and on a  Sunday evening, when she was not available.
Buddy is a Rex, 2 1/2 years old.  When he does not feel well he jumps on the couch and sits right up against me and stays there, breathing fast and shaking.  I just  rub him gently and speak to him gently.  Eventually he pees all over the couch ( he never would when he feels well) at which time his breathing returns to normal and the shaking stops. He goes to his house, rests some more and a few hours later he eats and acts normal.  
This is the only time Buddy jumps on the couch and sit up right against me and stays there. It seems to me he wants to tell me : " I am sick, help me"
I just wonder what could be the cause of his suffering could be.  Could it be a urinary problem?  It does not smell bad at all.
We feed him bunny food 1/4 cup 2X a day.  Give him as much Timothy hay as he wants, clean water everyday.  We wash his litter box every other day. He gets celery leaves or lettuce or a piece of carrot. He runs free in the house and stays in a pen overnight.  He does not eat furniture, clothes or carpets so that could not be the problem.
I'd like to know what it is so we could try avoiding it, he seems to be in so much pain it is heart breaking. We do not want to take him to a vet who knows nothing about rabbits and so far he only had this when our vet was off. Would an emergency vet know what is happening?  I fear they would be more familiar with cats and dogs.  

Answer
Hi Doris,

we have several rex rabbits.

First, you'll have to get back to me as I need some more info.  First, how often does this happen?  Like how often a month, or year?  Is there anything specific to when he does this?  What's the routine leading up to him doing this?  And is he neutered?

Short answer is that it sounds like he has some trapped gas somewhere in his gi tract.  The solution is to immediately give him several full plastic dropper doses of baby gas drops, and lift his front (ie hold him so his abdomen is off the ground) and massage his tummy area with your other hand.   This can manually break up the bubbles and also help to work the baby gas drops to where they need to go to break up the gas.

you are aware that rabbits have a cecum (ie fermenting vat structure) in their gi tract.  Often bacteria imbalances in there can lead to gas, which may not be able to work its way out.  This is painful and I think this may be what you are experiencing.

What leasds up to it?   Too much pellets, too little hay, too much greens.  When one of our guys goes through this we really cut back on greens for awhile and really watch the pellets.  Also there should be nothing else in the pellets but pellets - no seeds, or extra crapola.  Just food pellets.

I believe you might be overfeeding him pellets.  Rex rabbits are genetically predisposed to gain weight compared to other rabbits.  The guidelines (for non-rex rabbits) on pellets is 1/8-1/4 cup per day per 5 pounds of body weight.  It should be a little less for rex rabbits.  Now if he is very active and athletic, then I wouldn't go less than this as he will burn it off.

Emergency vets would know, if they are experienced in rabbits.  They try to get vets with expertise in various backgrounds.  Someone there will be a rabbit vet.  They do by volume see a lot more cats and dogs.

Lee