From: wd5j@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets
Subject: Update: Darwin my good rabbit
Date: 4 Oct 92 18:36:55 EDT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Cornell University

Darwin update:

I posted here a few weeks ago, just when I first adopted Darwin, my 3 month old
Since I had so much trouble finding information and help, I thought I'd write
about the ordeal and both give help and maybe (for future reference) receive
some, too.  Thanks, Meg (sp?) for all the great information about House Rabbit
Society.  So, anyway, 5 days after I brought Darwin home he developed diarrhea. 
I guess his droppings were a little less "Trix"-like for a few days.  He lives
in a clean, large cage with a grated floor.  I had changed his diet to a
different brand of pellets (Agway - 15% protein), and also started to bring
home alfalfa hay.  I think at his breeder's he was getting only mixed grass
hay. Anyway, as soon as I saw diarrhea I pulled his pellets and gave him some
Gatorade, which he loved (my housemate used to raise 4-H rabbits and suggested
it).  Next day, his stool was just water and he stopped urinating, and his
attitude was still good.  I added lactated ringers solution (electrolytes)
under his skin, and looked at his stool under a microscope--the rabbit person
here at Cornell said he'd never seen as many coccidia as in this rabbit.  

So I started him on Albon (sulfamethoxazole) drops, continued Gatorade and
fluids.  By the third day, his attitude worsened and he just sat around.  I
called Flemish giant breeders whose numbers I got from the State fair.  One of
them suggested burdock leaves and Cheerios.  Another said to pick up the rabbit
and "shake" him--if I heard fluid and gas, "He's a goner".  So of course I went
upstairs and picked him up and heard lots of fluid.  I started to add this
stuff called cholestyramine (Questran), which binds clostridial toxins, because
lots of rabbits, I understand, develop enterotoxemia.

I'm writing all this to say that NO ONE knew what was going on.  There was no
fever.  He started to pass blood.  I added acidopholos to his water--he was
also getting yogurt daily.  And a few dandelion leaves to perk up his appetite.  
I called the lab animal/rabbit person at Oregon State, where I attended vet
school.  He said the blood was a bad sign.  If there's no blood, about 50% of
these rabbits survive with supportive care.  But Darwin was passing blood!  He
also said it was critical to carefully palpate the abdomen for impactions
because, ironically, some of these diarrheas start off as
obstipation/constipation problems.  Then Darwin was started on tetracycline
drops and we switched his sulfa drug (for the coccidia) to sulfaquinoxaline.  I
got him some Cheerios as well (he liked them).  He was so thin by now, I
thought daily about euthanizing him.  Finally, I left him with a wonderful
veterinarian friend while I left town for a few days.  He was still given
acidopholus, subcutaneous fluids, sulfaquinoxaline and tetracycline, Cheerios,
hay, a FEW pellets which he refused.  He hated the Questran so Jerry stopped
that.  Jerry added Nutrical, a high calorie paste (which Darwin loved).  Then,
on day 8, a miracle happened.  Jerry looked at the cage and saw solid
droppings.  Wow!

So now we've slowly reintroduced pellets.  Darwin gets only those, grass hay,
acidopholus in water, the sulfa drug hidden in dandelion leaves, Nutrical
(because he's so skinny) and a bit of apple twig daily.  He's ravenous and
silly again.  I hope his growth won't be stunted (he's already bigger than my
cat, Bela).

That's the Darwin saga.  What a wrenching experience.  I was struck by how
little we as veterinarians really know about rabbit diarrhea.  Mostly it's a
management problem, like ventilation, in rabbitries.  I concluded from it all
that it was a combination of coccidiosis (though *most* rabbitries are
affected) and the stress of a new environment, with the abrupt richness of
alfalfa hay (BAD stuff!).

I love Darwin-nose.

Ilana Reisner
(Maccabee's vet, too)