My Baby Stopped Eating And Drinking

Question
My 8 year old dwarf rabbit stopped eating, and drinking a few days ago.  On the 2nd day after many attempts at getting him to drink, and eat he started to shake.  I rushed him down to the emergency vet center.  The vet gave him Sub-Q and some pain medication and explained GI to me and said he was dehyrated and weak from not eating.  The vet then gave me Baytril and Metocloprimide for him and showed me how to force feed him since he would die if I didn't.   For the past 3 days now I have had him at home taking Critical Care, at the beginning he was taking it okay chewing and, swallowing normally, but now he has stopped chewing and, swallowing when I put the syringe in his mouth and giving him some.  I am not giving him a large amount, only 1-2cc as told by my vet at a time. He is still shaking and very very weak, he is lowering his head and just seems so down and out.  I can not seem to get him to do anything but sit there.  I am getting extremely worried about him.  He has recently passed some dropping, they are small and have lots of mucus on them.  And everyday 2-3 times a day I am massaging him.  Can you please tell me what I am doing wrong, or if you think there is something more I should be doing.  I feel like he is giving up, and getting worse it would kill me if there was something I could have done to prevent his pain and misery. His body shaking and not taking the Critical Care is my biggest concerns.  Thank you and please get back to me ASAP as I don't know how much longer I can take this before rushing him again to emergency

Answer
Dear Yvonne,

It sounds as if the vet gave you good medications and feeding instructions, but it also sounds as if your bunny is in severe pain, and is in need of analgesia.  This, alone, can mean the difference between life and death.  Please ask the vet about getting him some Banamine (which is not good for dogs and cats, but is *excellent* for soft tissue/abdominal pain in horses and rabbits; if the vet has concerns about intestinal ulceration (which we have not seen with Banamine), then ask about giving famotidine concurrently, to reduce the stomach acid to prevent this.  But it really sounds as if your bunny could benefit tremendously from simple pain relief.

Also, if the pain is due to gas, then simethicone suspension and gentle tummy massage will work miracles.  The full instructions for this and other treatments to alleviate the symptoms of ileus can be found here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

Also be sure his temperature is normal.  If he is lethargic and not eating, he may be going shocky, and hypothermic.  You need to know this so you can take proper action to get his temperature back to normal, and you can find such instructions here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

The mucus in his droppings is a sign of enteritis, which is painful.  But he very likely has gas, so the simethicone and gentle massage (as described in the ileus article) should really help him.  I hope you can get him some Banamine tonight!  If not, then meloxicam is the next best thing.  Please get some, even if you have to go to the vet without him (to save him the stress).

I hope this helps.

Dana