Over The Counter Antibiotics For Rabbits

Meloxicam As Analgesic For Rabbits

What dose of meloxicam should be used for rabbits for safe and efficient pain relief?

Imagine this clinical scenario: you create an analgesic protocol for your clinic to ensure rabbits entering your care receive the best treatment available. Your research indicates meloxicam is the analgesic of choice as in comparison to opioids it has a reduced risk of gut stasis, which is a life-threatening complication in rabbits. Meloxicam also has a palatable oral form for easy administration.

You have heard that the minimum suggested dose of 0.2mg/kg may not provide adequate analgesia, and you are unsure if the higher dose of 1mg/kg would be a safe standard protocol. What is the evidence comparing 1mg/kg and 0.2mg/kg of oral meloxicam for significant changes in pain behaviour, and kidney and liver biochemical analytes?

What Can You Give A Rabbit For Pain

Rabbits cannot verbally tell us about their discomfort, so pain can be very difficult to identify. Pain perception is similar in all animals. Therefore, treating pain is crucial because it diminishes your pet rabbits quality of life.

Pain in rabbits can be treated naturally or medically, depending on the cause. NSAIDs are used for chronic pain, and narcotics, such as opioids, may be used for pre-surgery or post-surgery pain. Local anesthetics are administered for minor surgical procedures, such as skin biopsies. Natural pain treatments include acupuncture and massage.

Pain is almost always a sign of an underlying health issue that needs treatment. Identifying pain allows your vet to make an accurate diagnosis, treat pain to relieve stress, and enables your rabbit to recover faster.

What Rabbits Are Most At Risk

Ear mites are a highly contagious infestation. Therefore, rabbits who are kept in facilities that house other rabbits are the most at risk. Places such as rescue centers and breeding facilities will see a higher rate of ear mites in rabbits.

Rabbits that are kept outdoors are also more at risk. They may contract ear mites from other animals in the area, especially if there are any colonies of wild rabbits living nearby. Homes with dogs or other pets that spend time outside can also increase the risk of bringing ear mites into the household.

Lop rabbits are more at risk of developing a severe reaction to ear mites. The way their ears fold over their head creates a more humid environment which promotes the growth of the mites. Its also more difficult to detect ear mites in lop rabbits during the early stages of the infestation.

Rabbits that a kept as house pets alone or in pairs are at a very low risk of contracting ear mites. Ive witnessed a couple of cases with rabbits at the shelter where I volunteer, but this is because of rabbits who come in from a hoarding situation or unsanitary conditions. However, Ive never had to deal with ear mites in my rabbits at home.

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• AnonymousFebruary 22, 2017 at 7:13 am

  I left out mixing the pill in the heart shaped treat mixture.

• Brandy VencelJanuary 16, 2017 at 8:49 am

What Are The Signs Of Pain And Distress In Rabbits

You cannot control pain in a rabbit if youcannot identify it.

Humans and rabbits share the same mechanismsto produce and experience pain. However, rabbits lack the ability to cry outloud, or even make sudden movements when palpated.

Rabbits are small prey animals so they take many measures to prevent looking weak, in pain or sick. Signs of pain and distress are always subtle. When signs are more apparent, the underlying condition has already progressed to a much deeper stage.

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Apply Pressure To Stop Bleeding

While rabbit scratches are often deep enough to break the skin and cause a little bleeding, its very uncommon for those bunny scratches to be deep enough to continue bleeding for long.

If your scratch continues to bleed, apply pressure with a clean cloth until the bleeding stops.

Of course, if the bleeding doesnt stop visit your medical professional. Ive never seen this happen with a scratch from a rabbit.

Helpful Rabbit Care Tips

In order to prevent surprising medical emergencies, take time to bring your pet to the veterinarian at least every six months to make sure that there is nothing out of the ordinary is occurring undetected. Preventive action is always the best response and early detection will give you more options to address any medical condition.

You may also want to have an emergency kit in your home with some basic materials in case your pet already has a medical history. You may want to have set aside 1cc and 10 cc syringes, Bayer orange-flavored, aspirin, digital thermometer, and baby powder with cornstarch for damage nails.

When handling a rabbit in pain, make sure not to touch or put pressure on the affected or painful area to minimize discomfort and ease the pain sensations.

Always remember that medication is not the only answer, you pet will need tender love and care. Constantly caress your pet and talk in soothing tones so they will be calm and at ease as best as possible.

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Features Of Fenbendazole For Rabbits

A broad-spectrum anthelmintic as an aid in the control of encephalitozoon cuniculi and intestinal worms in domestic rabbits. Syringe contains 5gm of an 18.75% oral paste formulation of fenbendazole as a ready to administer oral anthelmintic and anti-protozoal for domestic rabbits. Legal Category: SAES.

Help My Rabbit Is Sick And I Cant Reach My Vet

Broken Or Bleeding Toenails

If your bunny has broken a nail, or if you have cut too close to the blood vessel, apply pressure with a clean towel for a couple of minutes, until the bleeding stops. If you like, you can use styptic powder , plain flour, or even a bar of soap rubbed on the end of the nail to help stop the bleeding. If the nail breaks off right at the base, clean the area thoroughly with Nolvasan , and apply a thin coat of regular triple antibiotic ointment, such as Neosporin Try to keep your bunny in as clean an environment as possible until you can see your vet to prevent dirt from contaminating the injury site. Be sure to see your vet for follow-up care to this second kind of break, since bacterial infection can travel to the bone and cause serious problems.

Broken BonesTake your bunny to any emergency clinic, so that the bone can be stabilized until you can see your regular rabbit vet. If the emergency clinic needs to anesthetize your bunny to do x-rays or to stabilize the leg, isoflurane is the preferred anesthesia for rabbits. If you cannot get to an emergency clinic, do your best to severely restrict your bunnys movement until you can get to your vet. This will help to prevent further injury. Make sure your bunny has easy access to food and water so that he does not have to move around to get to it.

Heat Stroke

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How To Cure Ear Rabbit Infection

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What causes Ear Rabbit Infection?

Rabbit is a very popular pet among us. The fact that they have a cute appearance and the smooth ball of furs make them irresistible to love. However, they need constant and careful care, especially because rabbits can get easily stressed out. The animals are just like human, they can get stress, and the stress can make them sick, too.

Ear infection in rabbit is pretty common. However, if its left untreated, of course it can become severe. You surely dont want anything bad happen to your cute pet. So, you must know how to cure ear rabbit infection.

First of all, you gotta understand about the ear infection in rabbit. Ear infection in rabbit often called otitis media and interna, which is happened in middle and inner area of rabbit ear. This infection caused inflammation located behind the tympanic membrane, or we used to call ear drum. Half of the cases are directing to the acute vestibular disease.

Otitis media and interna often caused by the bacteria, fungi, yeast or parasites that are exist around us. They trigger the cumulation of wax in ear canal of your rabbit that cause inflammation and pain. If you watch your rabbit intesely, these two infections are easy to recognize. They start in the middle area of the ear, which is still pretty obvious to see, usually marked with the swellness and redness in the ear.

Prevention

Cure the Ear Infections

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Skin Parasites And Infections

There are a variety of skin infections and parasites that can affect a rabbit. This section is just an overview of a few common infections. Prevention is the best course of action and most of these are highly unlikely to occur in a rabbit housed indoors. Fur mites, ear mites, fleas, ticks, botfly, flystrike and ringworm are all fairly common in rabbits.

Fur mites:

Symptoms: A very itchy rabbit. You may see flaky skin and redness on your rabbit’s back.

What your vet will do: Take a skin scraping to check for mites–you can’t see them too easily.

Treatment: Revolution will be applied to your rabbit once a month. The vet may require a re-check to see that it has cleared. This is easily spread to other bunnies, so have them all checked if one of yours is positive. Absolutely no baths should be given.

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Preventing Rabbit Ear Mites In The Future

Now that your rabbit has recovered from their ear mite infestation, you will want to prevent it from recurring in the future. While you can treat it again in the future, it is not a pleasant experience for you or your rabbit.

How to prevent ear mites in rabbits:

• Temporary housing for the rabbit for 4-6 weeks. To prevent reinfection from the environment, its best to keep your rabbit in a separate location to ensure the ear mites in their original enclosure have died off completely.
• Keep a clean environment. Make sure to clean your rabbit enclosure and living environment frequently to prevent infestations of any kind of pest, including ear mites.
• Avoid spreading the disease between rabbits. If you are in contact with other rabbits , make sure to change clothes and wash your hands before interacting with your rabbits.
• Check your rabbits ears regularly. Look into your rabbits ears weekly to look for early signs of infestation. You should also watch your rabbits behavior for any signs of excess head shaking and ear scratching.
• Clip your rabbits nails regularly. Clipping your rabbits nails can prevent them from hurting themselves due to excessive scratching, which can help prevent a more severe infection from occurring.
• Keep your rabbit indoors. Indoor rabbits are much less likely to get infested with ear mites.

Convincing Rabbits To Take Medication

Bailey at her yearly vet check-up.

Sometimes our sweet little bunnies get sick and we need to give them medication that could come in various shapes and forms. This is not always an easy task, as rabbits often vehemently refuse to do so. Here are a few tips and tricks that may help you and keep everyones stress level down.

The number one thing you want to do is securely hold the rabbit. Most bunnies hate being picked up, so its a good idea to keep their feet firmly on the ground or a table or counter-top. We like to place a towel on the counter and Bunny or Bailey on top of it. The towel prevents them from slipping and can be wrapped around their posterior for a more secure hold. This is also known as the Bunny Burrito.

PillsBefore you try to trick your rabbit, try offering the pill as if it was a treat while the rabbit is still hopping around happily. Some bunnies will just eat it. If that doesnt work, add it to a small piece of banana or another favorite treat . Even wrapping it in herbs or placing it in the pellet bowl could help. The next step could be to use a pill crusher, which is available in most pharmacies for less than $10. The powder can be mixed with a favorite treat very effectively. If your bun still refuses to eat the medicated treat, you can mix the crushed pill with critical care or a small amount of organic baby food and syringe feed it all carefully.

Bunny on the counter top. He was fed some critical care from a syringe.

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What Do Mites Look Like

While small, ear mites are visible to the naked eye. The mites are dark-colored and oval-shaped, with suckers that latch onto the rabbits ear to feed. Most of the time, you will not see them because the mites hide within the rabbits inner ear. But as the infestation reaches later stages, you may notice these parasites on your rabbits ears or other affected areas.

Chiropractic Or Acupressure Massage

Chiropractic or acupressure massage may aid in relieving pain. For example, in conditions that cause gas, such as gastrointestinal disorders, a gentle side-to-side massage of the belly can be helpful.

Chiropractic adjustments may help improve spinal pain or joint pain. Appropriate acupressure methods may also help alleviate mild-to-moderate pain in certain areas.

Avoid making a diagnosis or treatment plan at home as this could lead to adverse effects in rabbits without treating the underlying condition.

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Urinary Tract Infection And Stones

Urinary Tract Infections are also fairly common in rabbits. They are usually easy to treat, but can be recurring.

Symptoms you may notice: When a rabbit has a bladder infection, you may see them urinating more often or straining in their litter box. You may actually hear them cry. U.T.I.s are very painful. They may also have accidents outside of their litter box. Look for any color changes. Rabbits can have naturally dark urine, sometimes it’s even orange. So, looking for blood can be tricky. Typically, there will be a darker spot in the middle of the urine. It may be red or pink if diluted. When it dries, it will turn brown/black. Normal urine shouldn’t do this. Another big clue is smell. U.T.I.s often have a strong bacterial odor.

What the vet will do: A vet will want to obtain a sample of urine, it can help if you bring one along. You can try putting your bunny in an empty litter box after feeding them greens. Use a syringe to collect the sample. It won’t be the cleanest sample for a culture, but they can look for the presence of blood. Rabbits with blood in their urine may also have bladder stones or sludge. The vet may want to culture the urine or start them on antibiotics right away. Make sure to ask for pain meds. A rabbit in pain may stop eating, thereby causing a whole host of other problems.

Treatment: They will typically be prescribed oral antibiotics and pain meds and you should see improvement in 48 hours.

Bladder Sludge on x-ray

Signs And Symptoms Of Pain In Your Rabbit

When working with animals, including rabbits, you need to be highly observant for changes in their normal behavior. Generally, rabbits are often active, playful, alert and inquisitive. Some physical manifestations of a rabbit in pain include limping, withdrawing, protecting a certain part, or licking and rubbing an injured part. There may also be reluctance to move,

There will usually be a decrease in its water and food intake. Other signs may include seeing them having an increased breathing, tooth grinding, being suddenly aggressive, and making little or no movement at all. When you start to hear audible pain manifestations, that is a sure sign that they are in heavy pain.

Oftentimes pain in rabbits is mis- or underdiagnosed as well as underestimated. This is because its very difficult to differentiate pain from anxiety in rabbits, especially since they are often combined and may be manifested by similar changes in behavior.

Preventing E Cuniculi Infection

There is no vaccine to prevent E. cuniculi in rabbits, and EC spores stay alive for months under the right conditions. Fortunately, chlorine bleach and other readily available disinfectants kill the spores.

To combat EC spores, follow these steps.

EC spores can be anywhere your rabbit was, such as the couch, carpet or bed, and the spores can float around in the air and reach other places, too. If you have an EC-positive rabbit, consider your whole household contaminated.

Controversy exists about how to manage EC-positive rabbits. I recommend that any EC-positive rabbit, whether or not she shows signs of illness, is treated monthly with a 3- to 5-day course of fenbendazole. Other rabbits in the household can get monthly doses.