Weight loss/not gaining in found rabbit

Question
I will try to be brief but you need a little backgroud.  "Lucky" took up residence in a neighbors yard over three weeks ago.  SHe fed him carrots but otherwise he seemed to survive on greens and dry dog food left out for a stray.

Sunday she came running to me that the rabbit was VERY ILL and he had had diahrrea all over the area.  She had bathed him repeatedly OUTSIDE to try to clean him up.  He even had dried stool caked on his nose.  I immediately took him home dried him thoroughly, wrapped him in a towel and a heating pad to warm him.  

Not knowing better, I diluted Tylan powder in water and gave him a small amount every four hours that night.

We ran out and got him pellets and he began eating immediately.  Monday am I got timothy and specialized pellets and grains mix for him.  He eats all well.

He has been drinking well but not excessively.

He appears to have an injury to his rear either muscle or skeletal as his hop is very restricted even when I take him outdoors for a few minutes fresh air (74 degrees today)

Vet stool check was negative for parasites giarrdia and cocycidia (excuse spelling)

WHAT IS GOING ON THAT HE DOES NOT SEEM TO BE GAINING EVEN THOUGH THE DIAHRREA HAS STOPPED?!!!(He has plop stool at night which I have been told is normal but day stool is pellet and firm)

I HAVE NO IDEA HIS WEIGHT BEFORE SUNDAY...BUT HE IS WAY TOO THIN NOW!

Thank you...Bettie  

Answer
Dear Bettie,

I would strongly recommend that you get the bunny to a good vet who is familiar with rabbit medicine, which the vet you already saw might not be.  You can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/

If the bunny was suffering from severe cecal dysbiosis (it was very likely this, and not true diarrhea), there could be many different causes, and you can find out more here:

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

But in any case, if the bunny still seems very thin, there's a good chance he's dehydrated and needs subcutaneous fluid therapy from the vet.  This will help get him back onto the road to recovery. Often, a bunny who seems very thin is merely dehydrated--and this can be worse than starvation.

It's not normal for any bunny to have soft stools at any time of the day, as you'll read in the article above. Cecotropes ("night droppings") should be well-formed and coated with rubbery mucus--not pasty or runny.  So bunny is not yet out of the woods.

You're providing him with a diet to help him recover already , but be sure you're giving the right type of pellets and other food:

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

I'd not heard of Tylan, as it is not commonly used in rabbits.  But I just looked it up and find that it's good for enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens.  Since there's a very good chance that the bunny's runny stool was due to an overgrowth of this potentially deadly bacterium (a common side effect of GI tract slowdown due to stress), your administration of the powder might well have helped.  But I have no personal experience with this particular antibiotic.  It's a macrolide antibiotic (in the same group as things like tetracycline), so it's not the antibiotic of first choice for a rabbit--but if he's still with us, it probably did no harm, at least.

You don't say exactly how long he's been "thin," but if it's been only a week, and he's eating well and drinking well, then be patient.  It can take time for a sick bunny to fully recover.  But be sure to give him good pellets and hay (no seeds, corn, dried fruit, etc!) and plenty of fresh, clean water until he can be seen by a good rabbit vet.

I hope this helps. Please write back if you have more questions.

Dana