Rabbit running into walls
by Amanda
(College Station, Tx, USA)
I have a 3 year old Mini Rex spayed female. Two days ago she was acting normal, running around eating and drinking. Yesterday I came in and found her moving around still but not really interested in her fresh greens; which she normally jumps right over to and starts to chow down. I thought well maybe she just is not hungry, right now.
Today she is not moving very well, keeps running into walls, stepping in her water bowl (which now her feet and stomach are all wet), has a slight yellow discharge coming from her eyes, and looks much thinner then she did two days ago and she has not pooped since yesterday.
A little about her back ground, she is an inside rabbit (never been outside), I had her spayed over 2 years ago as she lives with a neutered male rabbit for the past 2 years (he is showing no problems). They both have fresh water, timothy hay and pellets available daily and I feed them fresh greens once a day also. They have their own room and the position of the items in their room has not changed since they have lived in their for over a year. She has never shown any of these symptoms before and I have not changed their hay, pellets or diet at all.
Any help would be great, I have tried to contact my vet but because it is a Sunday no one answers and tomorrow is supposed to be a holiday.
***** Karen Sez *****Oh dear, the symptoms point to a possible respiratory infection (possibly Pasteurella multocida), with eye and also inner ear involvement. Another possibility is a parasitic infection that sometimes affects the brain. Either of these options carry very unpleasant consequences.
But I'm not a vet; I sure hope you can get your doe a professional veterinary opinion, and that the diagnosis is not alarming. In the meantime, your rabbit needs to be drinking at the very least. To coax her to drink, try flavoring her water with a little bit of black or green tea and a pinch of sugar or stevia. You could also tempt her to eat with fresh washed parsley.