What causes bloating in rabbits: causes, treatment and prevention

If you decide to have a herbivore pet, in particular a rabbit, pay attention to the fact that he may have digestive problems. Often this is manifested by bloating. Therefore, we suggest that you understand how to avoid such a disease and how to help the animal if the disease does occur.

Main symptoms

The main symptoms of bloating in rabbits include the following:

  • lack of appetite;
  • decreased motor activity;
  • decrease in body temperature;
  • shiver;
  • frightened state;
  • constipation (about 12 hours);
  • tooth grinding;
  • breathing too often;
  • complete indifference to what is happening around;
  • bulging eyes;
  • continuous knocking paws;
  • sounds in the stomach;
  • persistent drowsiness;
  • too small feces.

Causes

There are several reasons why a violation of the digestive tract of an animal occurs.

Bloating may be caused by:

  • malnutrition;
  • a sharp change in diet;
  • eating only dry food;
  • diseases of the oral cavity, due to which only soft food is absorbed;
  • high humidity products;
  • physical inactivity;
  • overweight;
  • bacterial infections;
  • excessive fermentation of food in the stomach;
  • stuffy hot weather;
  • spoiled food;
  • a small cage in which there is no room for normal movement;
  • stressful situation;
  • lack of hay in pet food;
  • expired compound feed;
  • the ingress of wool into the body;
  • change of climatic conditions;
  • the transition from milk to solid food.

Important! Do not let the sick rabbit walk outside, as it may eat a plant harmful to its stomach or containing poison.

Treatment of bloating in rabbits at home

Consider the methods and tools that will tell you what is the best way to treat a rabbit and what to do if one of the treatment methods is not suitable. Below are the medications and folk remedies against bloating, as well as procedures that will help cure and save the pet.

Medically

To improve the bowel, medication should be used.

  1. For this, it is advised to use Espumisan. It should be given at the rate of 25 drops per kilogram of rabbit mass. You can fill with a syringe or pipette every 3 hours.

  2. The “Tympanol” agent is considered to be common, one spoon of which is dissolved in a half-liter container with water. The treatment lasts as long as the symptoms of bloating appear.

  3. You can drink “No- shpoi when the disruption of the intestines was caused by stress. This medication will reduce pain. But in case of fermentation, it is better not to use it.

  4. With food stagnation, you can use any children's anesthetic syrup and apply according to the scheme written in the instructions.
  5. It can be treated with a proven medicine called Simethicone. It is given in 1 ml hourly. After the pain decreases, continue to give with an interval of 3 hours between doses.
  6. Rabbits also use well-known activated carbon. You need to give a drink for a tablet for every 10 kg of weight.
  7. In advanced cases , Viokase is used - a pancreatic enzyme that helps break down proteins, fats and carbohydrates. But be careful with the dosage, as the medication can burn the esophagus.

  8. In difficult cases, hormonal injections with vitamin B are used. They need to be injected into a vein. If this does not help, do the operation.

Folk remedies

There are a number of folk ways to deal with bloating in rabbits. Digestive system disorders can be treated with alcohol liquids: vodka, alcohol, moonshine. Alcohol must have a strength of up to thirty degrees, so if the liquid is too strong, dilute it with boiled, and preferably distilled water.

Young animals are given 1 tablespoon, and adults - 2. The medicine is taken with a syringe and poured into the mouth. The specified liquid is able to reduce gas formation and stop fermentation.

Learn about the lifespan of decorative rabbits.

Take half a teaspoon of vegetable oil and combine with vodka in a proportion of one to one. Let your pet drink thrice a day.

For the next medicine, you will need 0.2 grams of ichthyol tablets, 0.33 milliliters of valerian tincture, 6 milliliters of boiled water, 0.12 milliliters of lactic acid. Mix everything and give the animal a drink.

Decoctions and teas from dried chamomile flowers, mint leaves, oat grains help well.

Procedures

If medicines and folk remedies are not useful, try a massage. If this manipulation did not help, it is recommended to make an enema, which in most cases has one hundred percent effectiveness. Consider the correctness of the procedures.

Massage

There are 2 ways to massage.

  1. Lay the rabbit on your lap so that it cannot run away or get hurt. Then slowly massage his body from neck to tail.
  2. Put the rabbit on its feet and stroke it from neck to tail. Massage with light pressure on the stomach. Then the gases come out faster. But if suddenly the rabbit is too painful, stop moving so as not to harm.

Important! Do not hesitate to treat the animal. Severe colic, bloating, pain can kill a rabbit in a few hours.

Enema

When you see that the rabbit is trying to empty, but he does not succeed, use an enema filled with boiled water at room temperature. Add 1-2 drops of any vegetable oil. Draw fluid into a syringe without a needle. Lubricate the tip with petroleum jelly, slowly enter the “medicine”.

Put the rabbit on its lap, turning it on its back, and massage its stomach, wait a minute - the animal will soon be empty.

Did you know? Sweat from rabbits comes out through the paw pads.

Dietary feeding during illness

During treatment, the animal must especially maintain a proper diet. It is important to adhere to such rules:

  1. Give preference to hay, dried herbs, water.
  2. Drink cold chamomile or fennel tea.
  3. Let's get a hay based broth.
  4. Drink water infused with dill, lemon balm, chamomile, mint.
  5. After that, gradually add fresh herbs and vegetables.
  6. Feed apples that turn brown inside.
  7. Carrots and celery will be beneficial.
  8. Avoid cabbage, cucumbers, leafy vegetables, fruits (especially too sweet) for the duration of the diet.
  9. Also, do not rush to sharply resume your old diet, do it gradually.

Preventive measures

To prevent bloating in an animal, follow these simple rules:

  • give only fresh and washed foods;
  • feed grass that has already dried up;
  • less often feed legumes, cabbage, beets, silage and alfalfa;
  • let's drink only clean water;
  • more often add chamomile flowers and leaves, dill branches, dandelions, wormwood, sage, lavender, parsley, mint, nettle, thyme, chicory, wild garlic;
  • if you decide to experiment with new products, give them in small doses;
  • always feed at the same time;
  • make a fairly large cage to support the motor activity of the animal;
  • enter fennel, artichoke, ginger into the diet;
  • regularly clean the cage from fluff, wool and other debris;
  • do not feed expired products;
  • Replenish the water in the drinking bowl on time so that the pet does not have dehydration.
Important! In no case do not treat the animal by applying a warm heating pad. This will enhance and accelerate fermentation in the intestines.

What can not be done with bloating in rabbits?

Having found such a disorder in a pet, follow these recommendations:

  1. Do not eat sweet foods, especially fruits and vegetables such as carrots and beets.
  2. You can not feed foods high in fiber (bran, legumes, sweet fruits, oats).
  3. Do not allow the animal to be in the sun for a long time and do not heat it yourself.
  4. Eliminate dairy products from the diet, as herbivores do not digest lactose.
  5. Keep your rabbit calm and keep quiet.
  6. Do not scare or raise your voice at the pet. This will aggravate the situation.
  7. Put the patient away from healthy individuals.

Obviously, rabbits are prone to digestive problems. But they can be prevented in time or completely avoided. Therefore, do not be afraid to start herbivores.

Did you know? Female rabbits have a bifurcated uterus. Therefore, they can be pregnanttwice, while carrying the cubs conceived from different males.

If you provide them with proper timely nutrition, put them in a large cage, give only clean water and monitor the cleanliness of the cage and hygiene, pets will only delight you. And if the rabbit has bloating, you can easily cure the pet by applying any of the above remedies.

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