Please advise: How to treat wet tail
Michele
I'm willing to bet that the Fiesta garbage (I wish those pet stores wouldn't
sell all the c*** they do) is your problem. I would gradually wean your
bunnies off of it -- one week feed 1/4 new pellets, 3/4 Fiesta; the next week
feed 1/2 and 1/2; the next week 3/4 new to 1/4 Fiesta; and finally make a
complete switch. Don't give in to them if they go on a hunger strike! They
won't starve... let them eat hay... but get them onto some good pellets.
Besides the brands Arlette mentioned, Martin's is decent. Not ideal, but
decent. My rabbits do well on rationed servings (1/4 cup per 5 pounds rabbit)
of it.
What else are you feeding your bunns? Any veggies? Unlimited hay?
Have you talked to your vet about the antibiotics not working? If your vet
isn't giving you satisfactory answers, then you need to find a better vet.
I believe oatmeal works by absorbing fluids and keeping them in the body
longer.
If your rabbit is eating normally and has excess cecals rather than diarrhea,
then I wouldn't use sugar/salt water or Pedialyte. (Same with the oatmeal,
actually). I think these might actually worsen the problem.
If your rabbit has diarrhea, then you need to see a good vet yesterday!!!
BTW, your butt cleaning method is very similar to mine, except that I have to
do it without help. And I personlly am too suspicious of what may be put in
baby wipes to use them somewhere that the bunny will be grooming.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Sounds to me like you need a new vet, but in the
meantime, I'd experiment with feeding changes.
Good luck. Please keep us posted.
Michele
Amy Gleason wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm sure you get this question all the time, and I would love to be able to
> go back through the history and look for my own answer, but I fear that this
> may be a time-sensitive issue...
>
> I just spent the last, oh, hour or so cleaning the matted and dried poo off
> of my bunny Alexander's backside. I have looked on the web for information,
> but much of it is conflicting (as in, "There are only two things that cause
> diarrhea in rabbits: A and B," then the next page says, "There are three
> things that cause diarrhea in rabbits, X, Y, and Z."). I've taken him to
> the vet for this in the past, and they give him antibiotics and send him
> home - we give him the antibiotics and they do no good (and the
> administration of them just traumatizes him!).
>
> We realized that there was a problem as we were trimming his nails. Nothing
> in his environment or diet has changed in, oh, 6 months for the environment
> and about a year for the diet. We feed him Fiesta Rabbit food (don't have
> the nutritional info on me, and the bag has been thrown out) and Timothy
> Hay. We also give them dried banana chips as occasional treats. The food
> is kept in an air-tight container, as is the hay.
>
> His roommate, Caesar, does not have any apparent symptoms at all, despite
> the fact that they live in the same cage. This leads me to believe that the
> problem is not infectious.
>
> Here are my questions:
>
> Many of the websites I have looked at say to feed "a small amount" of
> oatmeal. How much is "a small amount"? If he is already dehydrated from
> the diarrhea, won't the dry oatmeal make it worse (as it will suck all the
> remaining water out of his system)?
>
> Can I supplement his water with sugar or salt (or Pedialyte even?) without
> harming the other bunny? What quantities (ratios of water to
> sugar/salt/pedialyte) should be used?
>
> Can I supplement his food in any way (other than oatmeal) that will help?
>
> By the way, if you ever have to clean up a nasty tail, here's a tip:
>
> Put a towel down on the floor of the bathtub. Put the bunny on the floor of
> the bathtub in about 1 inch of water (more if he's big, mine are dwarves).
> Let him hop around on the towel (traction) in the water until the water
> starts to cool (not long!). Do not leave him unattended, he CAN and WILL
> jump out of the bath. Then, take him out, wrapped in a towel. Have a
> friend hold him gently on his back while you gently swipe at the dried poo
> and stuff with a moistened towel or baby wipes (baby wipes work great, and
> smell better than paper towel). One of those bottles of saline that they
> sell for stuffy noses, that has a squirt-top, is good for getting
> hard-to-reach areas, too.
>
> Believe me, this works. I have way too much practice.
>
> Thanks, in advance, for your help.
>
> Amy (mother of Alex and Caesar, and the late Alaister and Charlie)