My Pet Rabbit Penelope

Question
First of all I will tell you that I found my pet rabbit in my front yard.  Someone let her out to live in the wild, shame on them.  I doctored her back to health (she had been badly injured by dogs and cats) and she now has the run of the house and we love her very much.  I have been noticing that she has backed off from eating and drinking water like she usually does.  Therefore her urinating is especially slowing down.  I cleaned her up today at 4 p.m. and as of 10 p.m. she has yet to urinate, I am very worried about her.  She did however come out of her room to play with me and the cats and dog.  They love her.  I have called vets in my area before and they say there is nothing you can do for a rabbit.  I am so very worried that something is going to happen to her.  Please help with any information you can give me.

Answer
Hi Cindi

The vets in your area are wrong.  Clearly they don't treat rabbits but at the very least they should have given you information on the nearest animal hospital or veterinarian that treats rabbits.  I wish I knew who those vets were and I would like to give them a piece of my mind.

Your bunny needs to see a doctor as soon as possible.  It could have a kidney stone, a blockage or just about anything.  It may be a few hour drive but there are vet and exotic pets everywhere.  Please try to find one or even a 24 hour animal hospital.  24 hour animal hospitals have to be able to treat all animals in order to be considered hospitals.

Try looking for your state in this link

http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

You may have to browse around a bit but if you find one even a few hours away you could call them and they might be able to refer you to someone closer.  All of the vets listed here treat rabbits and exotic pets.

I really don't have any other suggestions for you because without a thorough exam it is impossible to tell what is wrong with her.  If you want I will call your vet myself and give them a piece of my mind.  I just hate ignorant people.  Even my vet for my dogs won't treat rabbits but he knows that I raise them and work for a clinic over an hour away.  Every time he gets information on rabbits his wife sends it to me in the mail out of the goodness of her heart.  He tells all his clients that have exotic pets to go to our hospital and I am just so annoyed that they told you rabbits can't be treated.  

While you are waiting to get ahold of someone try to give her some extra hay and if it comes down to it and she isn't drinking at all you might have to help her drink.  Get a 10cc syringe (without the needle) or an eye dropper and give her small bits of water at a time.  It is so hard to force feed a rabbit but if you put the syringe or eye dropper in the side of her mouth and put in just tiny bits at a time she will swallow it.  You don't want to push to hard because she could aspirate.  This is only a temporary fix though.

Please let me know if you need anymore help finding a vet in your area.  If you need to send me a private message with your location, state and county and any counties that are close by and I can help you look.

Good luck and I really hope she does ok until you can get her to an emergency room.

Thank you

Pam