constipated bunny

Question
My bunny cut his neck almost a week ago and after we took him to the vet and got a cream to put on it, he stopped eating as much and is barely going to the bathroom. We are now syringe feeding him baby food and water but are having problems with him swallowing it. Is there anything else to get him to eat? Is there anything to get him to go to the bathroom?

Answer
Hi Lorrie,

you need your vet to prescribe him some pain medicine in order for him to feel good enough to eat and move without being in pain.  Rabbits will rather just stay still when in pain and give up moving and eating in an attempt to feel a little better if they stay still.

Ask the vet if he can give you pain meds for as long as you will be nursing his cut.  Metacam (drug: meloxicam) is a very safe and well-tolerated pain med for rabbits.  this is critical to your rabbits' survival - pain control.

Be very careful when syringe feeding not to force too much at a time.  You don't want him taking it into his lungs and causing a second big problem.

What I do is with one hand, lift up a side of his mouth, and put the syringe tip in between the 'gap' of his front and back teeth, and very slowly squeeze water or pellet mush onto his tongue.  This will trigger a lick reflex and you can continue to very slowly squeeze more if he is swallowing it properly.  If he pulls his head away, let him finish what he's got.  Then start over.

Instead of baby food I would take his normal food pellets (no extra junk, ONLY the timothy hay pellets (like Oxbow Bunny Basics-T pellets) and make a slushy paste from them and syringe feed him this.

Your vet should have also considered giving him a drug that would help him start going to the bathroom.  Part of the problem is that he stopped eating, and so, not much is in him to come out.  Once he starts eating, he will probably need a drug called propulsid (cisipride) to help jump-start his gi tract to help him go to the bathroom and start forming his fecal pellets again.  

You need to find a knowledgeable rabbit vet IMMEDIATELY.  Like tomorrow as soon as physically possible.  Your rabbit is in danger of dying.  Especially since he is weaker from lack of food and water.  If you don't have a good vet, do two things:

1. The House Rabbit Society may recommend a good rabbit vet in your area:   www.rabbit.org\vets

Please find one in your area and call them that you are coming in as an emergency case. Print out this email and bring along for the two drugs I suggest they should prescribe.

2.  If you can't find a good rabbit vet near you, either go back to your doctor and request pain meds (metacam) and a gi motility drug (cisipride) for your rabbit.  Print out this email and bring along for the two drugs I suggest they should prescribe.

2a.  If you don't want to go back to your original vet, find an emergency clinic FIRST THING tomorrow or TONIGHT (they usually are open 24 hours a day) and ask if a rabbit specialist is working, and that you have an emergency case.  Print out this email and bring along for the two drugs I suggest they should prescribe.

Please do not be fooled that this is not a life-threatening situation just because your rabbit appears normal and is not freaking out.  He is in critical condition and because of his weakened state he may not be able to survive much longer because of lack of food and water and stress from being in pain.

Please get to a rabbit vet of some kind as soon as you can, literally.  And please let me know how he's doing.

Lee