A Sick Bunny

Sunny the Funny Bunny is not having such a good time of things... last Monday (the 14th) we noticed his head tilted slightly to the left. We got him out of his pen to see how he hopped around, and his coordination was clearly starting to go.

E. Cunniculi had struck again... but we were prepared.

First thing the next morning, we called the vet in Columbus and had Sunny's records faxed to a vet here in Westminster. That afternoon, the vet saw Sunny and verified our suspicions--the parasite was back. Armed with a handful of medication--antibiotics and his favorite Benzadole medicine--Holly headed home with our sick rabbit.

Things went downhill fast. By the end of the evening, Sunny could no longer control himself, and when he wasn't flipping, he was laying flat on his back. We cleared out his pen, got him into a box lined with towels, and settled in for the long hall. The box keeps him from hurting himself, gives him four easy walls to lean against, and also gives him absolutely nothing to do but lay around and sleep.

Besides laying in his box, Sunny has been routinely getting 3 feedings a day of "Critical Care"--an "add water" food/paste that he absolutely hates. We've been keeping up on this and monitoring his weight closely (we inadvertently were underfeeding him last time). Unfortunately, his condition continued to get worse.

Last time it took Sunny a full month to recover, but with us reacting quickly, it seemed that his decline started to slow down over the weekend. This was good, because he couldn't get much worse.

Around Tuesday, I was thinking that perhaps Sunny wouldn't make it this time... then the amazing started to happen. He started getting a little more active, started to stand up a little straighter, and started to perk up a little bit. He's starting to eat again a little bit too (if we hand-feed him so he doesn't have t search for it). He's also standing unassisted in his box... although if we take him out of it he is unsure of himself and rolls into a ball.

The poor guy has been through a lot again, and he is nowhere out of the woods yet, but he is showing that he wants to fight, and is even playing around in his box a little bit to pass the time. I think between us catching it early and knowing exactly how to take care of him, we just might be able to save our little rabbit one more time!

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes... especially the cards from Mom and Jenn! We show them to Sunny, and he actually is looking at them now (probably wondering how they would taste).

We don't like posting pictures of Sunny when he is sick, but with a little bit of luck, we hope to post pictures of a happy and recovering rabbit in a couple more weeks!