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rabbit diarrhoea severe gastroenteritis health and welfare educational for animal lovers,
excerpts from The
Glamorous Vets, Singapore, sponsored by AsiaHomes Internet.
May 29, 2002 What killed the foot thumping rabbit's best friend?  "My
other rabbit died yesterday, after a few days of diarrhoea," said Ms
Seto. "Will this rabbit die too?"Ms Seto placed the quiet six-month old bunny onto the newspaper covering the top of the examination table. Long trails of greenish brown stools marked the paper as the inquisitive young rabbit scrutinised the newspaper . He was still alert and moving though he had watery stools for a few days. I palpated the bloated abdomen. The intestines were empty and soft. However, the skin was full of small lumps, a very unusual condition in a young rabbit. The lumps were less than 3 mm in diameter and were hidden by the thick soft coat. "Your rabbit has lots of small skin lumps all over the body," I told Ms Seto. "Was your rabbit suffering from a skin disease?" I asked. Ms Seto's friend was surprised to know about the lumps. Her friend laughed: "I could only feel the bones." Mrs Seto revealed that a veterinarian had prescribe oral medication for the past two weeks. She was told to phone the vet to know precisely what the drugs were. One was an antibiotic and the other was an anti-flea drug. "Were the drugs responsible for the diarrhoea?" Ms Seto's boyfriend asked. If this rabbit dies, the veterinarian gets the blame and maybe litigation. The younger generation of Singaporeans is more aware of medical negligence in human medicine as there was one case in which over two million dollars were awarded by a Singapore judge. "Diarrhoea in the rabbit can be due to various causes, "I said. "Did your rabbit eat telephone wires?" I asked Ms Seto as this rabbit had strong muscular thighs, expected of a free roaming animal. He would not have been caged all day. Ms Seto said the rabbit was given the freedom to roam in her apartment. "The rabbit chewed the phone wire exposing the copper," said Ms Seto's friend. "Did it chew on wood and other objects in the apartment?" I asked. "And newspapers and shoes too?" The answer was yes. "Did you feed leafy vegetables which might contain pesticides?" I asked. The rabbit was given vegetables bought from the market. "She bathes the rabbits daily too," Ms Seto's friend said. "The rabbit did not object to water?" I asked. The rabbit can get used to water if introduced to it from a young age. "He could have licked the shampoo off his body after every bath and chemicals in the shampoo might upset the good bacteria in the gut" I said. Now, the rabbit had bitten and maybe ingested phone wires and shampoos which could accumulate and cause irritation in the intestines. This would lead to diarrhoea over a period of time. "This rabbit is not responsive, unlike dogs" said Ms Seto's friend. "Maybe, it is too young," I said. The important thing to do now is to prevent death due to dehydration. Would it be possible? The rabbit was kept for three days and given dextrose saline injections and water daily. On the first day, he was quiet. On the second day, he banged his feet on the kennel floor and hopped away from me knowing that he would be pricked with a needle and given dextrose saline fluid under his skin. The aluminium cage of over five feet in length gave him lots of space to escape from Nurse Ann's clutches. The cage vibrated with a dull thumping sound as he stomped on the wire mesh and then hopped off to another corner. How do we get him to give him the daily injection? Nurse Ann had to use a piece of plastic cover to prevent him from fleeing. An anti-diarrhoea injection was given. The diarrhoea stopped on the third day. He had not eaten nor passed any stools. Ms Seto was concerned about him being away from home for so many days. He went home with strict instructions to be fed only on the dry pellets and water. He must be supervised when left out of the cage and to be bathed once a week with the shampoo carefully rinsed off. He was a clean rabbit as he had removed all brown stool stains from his anal area. He was happy to see Ms Seto and did not thump his feet and hop away, as I expected. "He is a thumping rabbit," Ms Seto laughed as she gently put the pet into her plastic bag. He certainly had a character of hot temper when given the time to interact with him. He was not an unresponsive pet. Young rabbits all over the world behaved similarly. They need to chew on all objects in the apartment when left alone as their front incisor teeth keep growing all the time and must be worn down by non-stop chewing. As to what killed his mate, I did not investigate the matter further as I did not want to upset Ms Seto who was just overjoyed to see her thumping rabbit alive. |