diariah in baby rabbit

Question
i have just bought 2 baby giant rabbits i was told they were 8 weeks. I got them from Dorset i live in kent so had a long journey. Ive had them 2 days and 1  seems too have got diariah i clean him every day but every morning he is like it can u help.

Answer
Hi Dionne

You need to take your baby to a vet as soon as possible.  Diarrhea in a young rabbit is a sign of enteritis.  It can be fatal.  

While you are waiting to get ahold of an emergency vet you need to give the baby as much fresh timothy hay as you can.  Make sure it is drinking sufficient water.  If it is not drinking you may have to force feed it some water from an eyedropper.  You just want to give a little drop at a time so that it doesn't aspirate.

If you changed the rabbits food it may not be digesting your food very well.  The people that sold it to you should have given you some of their original feed so you could slowly wean it slowly onto your own feed.  If they didn't give you any then try to get ahold of them and find out what brand they used.

Baby rabbits GI systems are very sensitive.  They also can turn and go downhill very fast from being sick.  I personally wouldn't wait to see a regular vet.  I would find a 24 hour emergency animal hospital that treats exotic animals.  Most 24 hour animal hospitals do treat rabbits.  It may be a bit of a drive for you to find one.  If you don't know where there is one in your area then get your phonebook and start calling vets.  Most of them have answering services and can tell you the most appropriate place to take your baby.

Good luck and I hope the baby is ok.  Just make sure you get it lots of hay right away.

Pam