# the bunny that drinks but wont eat



## Melodycass (Jan 27, 2013)

hi i have a young Harlequin rabbit it, as we dont know what sex it is, is drinking a lot but wont eat. its ears are down but not all the way and there isnt much brightness in its eyes. it is also behaving very listless as well. 

we found it sitting in its water bowl just sitting there dosing off. 

any help will be nice ^^


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## PaGal (Jan 27, 2013)

What are you trying to feed it? Are you providing it with pellets? What type? How much? 
Are you providing hay? What type? How often? 
Where is it living? Indoors or out? What is the set up?

If it is not eating it needs to be seen by a vet!


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## Melodycass (Jan 27, 2013)

we have tried grass and pellets that we got from the pet store. as it shares its home with its perants and younger bros and sisters they get two bowl fulls of the.
out doors with a big pen. 

i just hope they know rabbits


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## PaGal (Jan 27, 2013)

I'm sorry to not be more help. I haven't had to deal with any issues like this so don't know a whole lot. Hopefully others can give you suggestions until you can get to the vets.


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## Melodycass (Jan 27, 2013)

its ok every little bit helps ^^


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## JBun (Jan 27, 2013)

Is it very hot where you're at? Excessive heat can cause rabbits ears to droop. Ear infections and a vitamin A deficiency can also cause the drooping ears. I would suggest getting your rabbit to the vet right away, especially because your rabbit is listless and not eating. There is a rabbit vet listed in this link, for your area.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f21/rabbit-savvy-vets-new-zealand-13830/


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## LakeCondo (Jan 27, 2013)

It sounds very serious to me. Besides rushing it to the vet, you could try mashing up some pellets in water & feeding with a syringe.


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## pamnock (Jan 27, 2013)

Sounds like classic signs of mucoid enteropathy. I'd try to get some Nutri Cal (for cats/dogs) into it and get it on a broad spectrum anti-biotic if you are unable to get it to the vet. It may have also developed a secondary cocci infection.


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## ladysown (Jan 27, 2013)

a bunny sitting with feet in a bowl of water is a bunny who is quite ill.

get it under vet care as soon as you can.


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## indianavex (Jan 28, 2013)

From everything that I can tell, a rabbit who refuses food (won't eat it when presented and doesn't eat it later) is a rabbit who doesn't feel well. I'd try force-feeding early on, but listlessness and dull eyes is a pretty good place to draw the line and go to the vet. Animals hide weakness as a survival instinct. If they stop trying to hide it, something's wrong.


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## tonyshuman (Jan 28, 2013)

Agreed with the above. When a vet examines an animal, they often note things just like you did. If an animal is "bright, alert, and responsive," or BAR, they are probably mostly healthy. Your bunny sounds dull, listless, and borderline non-responsive. I've never seen a bunny in which this was not a sign of serious illness. Even if a bunny is just falling asleep, if you wake it up, it will be BAR.

If you can't take to a vet, I'd treat as Pam suggested. I assume you are in Christchurch, NZ? There you also have several horrible diseases that can affect rabbits (spread by the wild population) and are mostly fatal. Viral/rabbit hemorrhagic disease (VHD or RHD) comes to mind. Make sure to isolate the bunny from the rest, whether it is mucoid enteropathy or something else.


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## Melodycass (Jan 29, 2013)

thanks everyone for your help. we had to put runt down due to a bowel issue.
We had her home for the night fulled with pain meds and anti biotoc and she seamed to improve but when we took her to the vet they could find nothing wrong. due to how much pain she was in and could not eat we had to put her down. then after wards she did postmortom and picked up on the bowel. its very sad but it had to be done.

another sad thing happened though another of our rabbits, breading lop, had a massife stroke about an hour a go and had to be put down. now we are on the watch for 24 hours to see if its a bug or just something that happened.

again thank you so much.


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