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| what's up doc ? |
Last week, we lost one of our litter of eight young
rabbits. She went downhill
suddenly and so we isolated her in the empty chicken tractor. Another one was also off her food and
hunched up, so we took her away too.
They were only ten weeks old and the recently bought vaccines were still
in the fridge. We were scared: was
this myxomatosis or viral hemorrhagic disease (VHD)?
The info from our two books and the Web seem to be
exclusively directed at pets, rather than rabbits kept for meat with frequent
advice to rush your bunny to the vet, not economically viable for us.
There was nothing we could do for the first one and, having
read up on the symptoms of these two horrible diseases, I thought it would be a
good idea to conduct a DIY autopsy (not so strange as I’m used to gutting and skinning
them under different circumstances).
The liver was in good condition but the small intestine was blown up
like a balloon: back to the Internet. (Click here for pictures of a healthy and
an VHD infected liver)
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| bunny tummy massage |
Happily, it didn’t seem to be VHD but perhaps
gastrointestinal stasis or bloat. We followed instructions to massage the
patient’s belly, monitoring her temperature, keeping her warm and hydrated and
trying Simethicone for flatulence, we even gave her an enema. (If you’re interested, the Simethicone
was bought at a pharmacy, in capsules.
We cut the end off a capsule and sucked the contents into a syringe, to
administer by mouth to the rabbit).
As I said, we can’t possible call a vet every time one of
our animals is in less than top form and part of being a smallholder is
learning how to recognise signs of bad health and treat them ourselves and, of
course, how to keep them healthy by good husbandry. By happy coincidence, our lovely vet, Dr Hammadi Mouhli,
called me to tell me that he was in our area and could he come by to
burdizzo-ise (vasectomise) three male lambs (as previously requested) so we
asked him to take a look at the remaining poorly rabbit as well. ‘Gros
ventre’ (big belly) he pronounced and diagnosed a case of Coccidiosis
infection, prescribing Metoxyl in their drinking water.
By the time I’d passed by the surgery the following morning
to collect the prescription, she was already looking a little better. We took no chances and have
administered the medicine but wonder whether our own efforts had already
treated her and what, in fact, she was suffering from.
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| happy bunnies |
