Thursday, September 10, 2020

My Rabbit Almost Died


So this past week has been emotionally exhausting! On Labor Day I noticed that our rabbit Percy was acting different. He wasn't moving much at all and seemed incredibly weak. Percy is 7 years old which is similar to a human in their late 50s. I noticed he tried to get up and couldn't, I went to pick him up and the panic set in. 



Normally Percy will tense up and sniff me. He isn't a big fan of being held so I generally don't pick him up. This time, however, Percy felt wrong. He felt like he weighed nothing, no muscle tension. He was lethargic and just not acting right. I held him for a bit while I panic cried. It was a holiday and vets were closed. 



I cried some more. Mostly because I didn't know what was wrong. I was able to connect with a vet online and we started texting. She was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about rabbits. It seemed like we had the possibility that Percy was going into G. I. Stasis. This is a very dangerous thing for rabbits and if left untreated its a painful way to die.


 
The vet reccomended, of all things, to feed Percy Libbey's Pureed Pumpkin in a can. We needed to get him to eat something and fast. He of course refused. I had to make the decision to hold him down and use a qtip to put bits of the pumpkin into his mouth. He hated being held down, i hated the fact I was stressing him out but I had to try something, anything!

Thankfully Percy ate the rest out of the bowl on his own when i left the room to give him a break. He did step in it a couple times but he ate! 

By the evening I gave Percy a second bowl of pumpkin and was ecstatic to see him drinking and nibbling the hay. He is still doing better, eating and drinking and using the litter box. 

Here's a picture of his pumpkin covered face before I cleaned him up. 


This was him on Wednesday. He was much more alert and ate the greens right away. I'm in the process of getting a vet appointment for him. 


He is mid shed so he looks extra scruffy, but he's doing much better. I'm realizing we need to make some adjustments to his cage now because he is becoming an old man bunny.

G. I. Stasis is very dangerous for bunnies and kills a lot of them without the rabbit appearing ill. Rabbits are prey animals so they are incredibly good at hiding illnesses or pain. If I hadn't noticed the subtle differences in Percy's behavior on Monday I most likely would've had a dead rabbit by now. 

We aren't out of the woods yet. I felt an unusual lump on his belly and want to get that checked. Because I don't hold him very often  ( he hates being held) I have no idea when it appeared. 

I know Circle of life and all, still I'm holding out hope its nothing abd that he has a few more years to go. 

Love a concerned rabbit mom, Rebecca
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