Geriatric Rabbit Care

Question
I have a seven year old Holland Dwarf Rabbit named Eskimo.  Since birth, he has had runny stools that the different vets have treated as a rabbit STD, so I have not been able to do too much about that except administer antibiotics occasionally, and apply lubrication to alleviate his pain.

In the past year and 1/2 Eskimo has acquired cataracts in both of his eyes, the veterinarians said due to his age, they should not be surgically removed, so I have left them alone.  

In the past month however I have noticed clear watery discharge coming out of his eyes that is 'eating away' at his fur.  I clean it with warm washcloths but his skin is beginning to show.  

His head has also began rocking back and forth, sometimes, he sits in the corner of the cage "staring at the wall" with his head rocking back and forth (not to make a joke but like Stevie Wonder).  He doesn't fall down or anything, he still runs around the house and his cage, but sometimes his head rocks a lot.  

I have also noticed his breathing has changed, it sounds like he is snoring even when he is awake.  In the past (when he was younger) he would snore but it would go away, lately it has become an everyday thing and it is getting louder.  

I am having difficulty in deciding whether these things are normal due to his old age and pre-existing conditions.  He is eating fine, his runny stools are still runny, he is active and still drinking plenty of water.

He just looks very old and is acting different.  I looked up Head Tilt, but it seems like Head Tilt is when the bunnies head is tilted to one side, not rocking back and forth.  I looked up eye discharge, and the article stated it may be an infection, or allergy.  I looked up cataracts and that's common for older rabbits. And his runny stools, as I have mentioned he's had those his whole life.


Eskimo has a pretty balanced diet, he eats pellets, green leafy vegetables, carrots, celery, occasional apple bits.  We give him papaya fruit and pineapple juice occasionally to help with his digestion.  He has a fairly large cage (about 7' long to run around in.  He's an indoor rabbit and also hops around the house (he's a lot slower then he used to be--but still active)

I hope this helps, any information you can impart will be helpful.

Answer
Hi Desiree,

first, I'm not a vet so take it with a grain of salt.

Have these vets ever done conclusive tests to tell what exactly is affecting your boy?  If not, I believe he isn't getting good care from them because they may be treating him for something he doesn't have or giving him meds that aren't the best suited for what he's got.

My suggestion is to take him in to a good rabbit vet (not all vets are good rabbit vets).  Start at:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.  

Okay, now for what you wrote.  Runny stools.  My suggestion is to decrease his greens.  One of my guys has problems when he is given too many greens.  There may be some greens he cannot tolerate well and cause him problems.  Or he may be able to handle the ones you give him but not in such a large amount.  Quantity (too much) can cause problems just as sensitivity to a green can.  No more than 1/2 cup of total greens per 5 pounds body weight per day, max.  He may need less.

One major problem I see here is that you don't mention giving him any hay at all in your list of foods you give him.  this is a huge problem.  Increase hay intake, it should be the biggest part of his diet.  This will give his fecal poops more bulk fiber.  For a normal rabbit fecal pellets are about 95% hay fiber.  He always should have timothy hay or orchard grass hay to eat.  Oxbow offers both of these.  Most rabbits I know can't get enough Oxbow hay.  No alfalfa hay as he is too old for this ( > 1 year old).  

My suggestion to get him examined by another vet (a rabbit vet) is critical.  I believe he has the beginnings of head tilt, as a precursor symptom of torticolis is 'wobbly head' which kind of sounds like what you are describing.  With the eye discharge and the labored breathing I believe that he has infections in his lungs and nasal sinus cavities.  I don't think he's getting top-notch medical care from the current vets.

I would also have the vet do a test for E Cuniculi antibodies (you can't test for it directly).  I would also have them do a fecal pellet analysis test to find anything else he may be suffering from.

Further to help his digestion I would give him probiotics every now and then.  There is something called "Bene-Bac" - short for "Beneficial Bacteria" that you can get at pet supply stores. I would pick up several tubes and every week give him a small amount from the tube to help replenish good bacteria in his gut.  This is critical as any antibiotic he is on will kill off good bacteria as well as bad, and if you don't replace them you run into nutrition problems, digestive problems and runny stool.  Basically a gut that is underperforming.  Anytime you give antibiotics you need to give probiotics during and after the antibiotics.

He sounds like he has a lung infection and a sinus infection.  The discharge is a symptom of the nasal cavity infection.  the other thing it may be is a tumor somewhere causing problems.  An xray of his head and abdomen will help to identify an area of infection or something else.  I believe this is important to see if the infection in his sinuses are also in his inner ear or brain.

I would probably switch from papaya juice to papaya tablets or dried papaya pieces.  The juice can be on the acidic side.  The tablets are not so bad.  My guys go nuts for them.

The other thing is since his diet appears to have no hay, and his snoring is worse, and his breathing is labored, and that you say he's a good eater, is that he could be overweight and carrying too much weight in his abdomen and this is putting pressure on his lungs and making breathing difficult (snoring sound) in addition to his potential infection in the lungs.  He may not be able to clear his lungs properly and an infection set in.  If he is not overweight, when you look at him from above, he should have a pronounced narrowing taper from his back legs to his shoulders.  If he looks more like a sausage and there isn't much or no taper, he is overweight.  Pellets will need to be reduced and hay increased.  Treats/hi carb/hi sugar items greatly reduced.  Greens to the amounts listed above, or less if he cannot tolerate that much.  I would think he may be because he is not as mobile as he was before and thus not burning off as much calories as before.

I would every few days give him a vitamin a gel capsule (just poke it and squeeze onto his pellets) to help with his eyes.

Feel free to write back with more info, more questions.  But I think I've given you some areas to start with.  Definitely go to a different, better rabbit vet.  I just don't see him getting quality treatment from what you've written here.

Lee