Any health problems associated with rabbits begin with changes in behavioral responses. The animal becomes lethargic, eats and drinks nothing, most of the time sits in one place. What to do in such cases, and how to help the animal, read below.

Why does the rabbit eat and drink nothing: the main reasons

There are several reasons that explain why the decorative rabbit has become frizzy, sluggish and refuses to eat food:

• problems associated with the functionality of the digestive tract;
• diseases caused by infections;
• other problems caused by deficiencies in care.

Gastrointestinal problems and their elimination

The digestive system of rabbits is very sensitive. Most often, owners of rabbits are faced with stopping digestion in pets. A healthy rabbit is voracious and approaches the feeder up to 10 times a day, if this does not happen, you need to immediately begin to identify problems.

Did you know? Rabbits jump very high. On average, any rabbit can bounce to a height of 1 m, and the longest jump officially registered is 3 m.

Can serve as an impetus to stop the stomach:

• switching to other food products - replacing part of the feed in the spring with greens, introducing new products;
• the accumulation of wool in the digestive tract.

Rabbits often lick themselves, so part of the hair enters their stomach. Together with undigested food particles and saliva, the wool forms a large lump that disrupts intestinal motility. The fact is that the herbivore absorbs a lot of food. It is low-calorie, so you need to eat a lot to get enough. A rabbit's stomach is never empty.

The animal can absorb food up to complete blockage. The presence of a wool coma in the gastrointestinal tract is determined by examining excrement. The animal begins to defecate much less frequently. Feces become smaller in size and do not lie separately, but are interconnected.

From the behavioral traits are added:

• rumbling in the stomach;
• gnashing of teeth;
• attempts to hide in the farthest corner.

When digestion stops, due to increased gas formation, the abdominal muscles come in tone. On palpation, the abdomen will be hard. This problem is eliminated through the use of comprehensive measures aimed at crushing the undigested coma.

You will be interested to learn how to fatten a rabbit for meat in a short time.

Thawing

Water should enter the rabbit's body in sufficient quantities - 100 ml per 1 kg of body weight per day. If the pet does not refuse to drink, you need to carefully monitor that there is clean water in the drinker all the time. If you refuse to drink, you have to act differently. You need to take a syringe, remove the needle from it. Every 30 minutes from the syringe, gently fixing the animal, you need to fill in 3-5 ml of water. Such manipulations are performed until the animal begins to drink on its own. To speed up the process of softening coma, you can use rehydrates and electrolytic preparations intended for people.

One of these is Regidron. This drug restores electrolytic balance, eliminates signs of dehydration. A package of the drug is diluted in 1 liter of water at room temperature. 3-5 ml of liquid are injected from the syringe every half an hour into the animal’s cheek. Rabbits are fed with such a solution for 2-3 days. You can also use the drug "Enterosgel". Rabbits are given it for 5-7 days for 1 tsp. 2 times a day.

Important! Ready solution "Regidron" can be used for 24 hours. After this time, the residues are poured and make a new solution.

Small rabbits up to 3 months of age are given 1 tsp. drug per day, divided into 2 doses. The drug is diluted in water and filled with a syringe. The medicine belongs to enterosorbents. Helps to remove toxins and prevent them from getting into the blood. Positive effect on intestinal motility. It will be effective for diarrhea. If the animal does not drink for 8 hours, they begin to inject intramuscularly saline solution of 10 ml every 3 hours. As soon as the rabbit can drink on its own, the injections are stopped.

Forced feeding

It is possible to feed a pet only when it at least slightly defecates. In cases of complete blockage, it is impossible to force the rabbit to eat. If you can feed, then the food should only come in liquid form. To do this, you can use powdered grain or herbal granules, diluted in vegetable puree or water.

Food is fed through a syringe of 2-3 ml at a time every 3-4 hours. You can put some hay in the feeder. The animal will decide whether to eat or not. The main thing is not to give alfalfa neither in fresh nor in dry form. This herb is poorly digested and contributes to the development of pathogenic bacteria.

Enema

You can help the animal's body cleanse with an enema. To carry out the manipulation, 10 ml of warm liquid (+ 35 ° C) are collected in a syringe. The anus of the animal is lubricated with petroleum jelly. Lay on their knees belly up. They fix the pet and carefully insert the tip of the syringe into the anus and release the water very slowly. Leave the animal in the same position for at least 30 seconds, ideally 1-2 minutes. So water will penetrate into the deeper sections of the digestive tract.

Massage

With bloating and an accumulation of gases in the intestines, massage will help. Such manipulation is carried out 1-2 times a day.

Did you know? Rabbits are highly fertile. Previously, they were specially brought to the deserted islands so that the distressed sailors had the opportunity to survive. However, animals destroyed most of the rare plant species.

Massage sequence:

1. Take a comfortable position and lay the animal on its lap upside down.
2. Carefully stroke the stomach up and down - this manipulation aims to relax the animal. Once the rabbit calms down, you can proceed to more active manipulations.
3. Use your fingertips to lightly push, combining them with stroking. Work on the right side of the abdomen first, then the left.
4. Finish the procedure by stroking up and down.

The procedure should take no more than 2 minutes. It’s better to put your phone next to it and set an alarm by setting the timer for 2 minutes.

Infectious diseases

Most often, the following infections affect rabbits:

1. Colibacteriosis - caused by E. coli. Animals refuse food, oppressed. With this disease, diarrhea immediately begins, due to which the weight of the animal decreases sharply and rapidly. The diagnosis is based on fecal examinations. In the first 12 hours, after detecting the symptoms and determining the diagnosis, the animal is not offered food. Spray rehydration. For 5 days, an aqueous solution of Furazolidone is prescribed - 30-50 ml / day, divided into several doses.
2. Pasteurellosis is a causative agent of a gram-negative bacterium that affects not only the gastrointestinal tract, but also the mucous membranes of the eyes and nose. The disease is contagious, so the animal must be isolated immediately. Manifested by a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, tearing. Animals are weakened, lose their orientation in space, often fall, refuse food. Diagnosis is based on laboratory blood tests and mucosal secretions. They treat the disease with Biomycin. The dosage is determined by the weight of the rabbit - 20-25 units per 1 kg of live weight. Concomitant medications are mandatory for an antibiotic, the list of which is determined by the doctor. The course of treatment is 14–28 days.
3. Salmonellosis - Salmonella coli affects the respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract. The disease often affects young animals under the age of 3 months. There is diarrhea, refusal of food, lethargy. Affected individuals are isolated. Treatment is carried out with the help of "Furazolidone." Dosage 30 mg per 1 kg of body weight. Give in the form of an aqueous solution or with food 2 times a day. The course of treatment is 7 days. If there are several animals, and only one gets sick, the rest are given prophylaxis with the same drug in half dose.
4. Coccidiosis - coccidia (the simplest harmful microorganisms) are the causative agent. It affects the intestines and liver. In rabbits, several forms of coccidiosis can progress which cause 10 different types of coccidia. Only 1 type of coccidia causes liver damage, the rest affect the intestines. Intestinal forms of the disease are manifested by bloating, diarrhea, lethargy, refusal of food, convulsions. The hepatic form is less pronounced, characterized by the appearance of a yellow tint on the eyelids, in the nasolabial area. The treatment is carried out by Baykoksom. Features of the drug are determined by the doctor. In addition, they conduct evaporation with a solution of iodine of 0.02% concentration.
5. Aspergillosis - the causative agent is a mold fungus of the genus Aspergillus. With this disease, the respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract are affected. Animals lose much weight, breathe heavily, sneeze and wheeze. Dying of exhaustion. There is no specific treatment, so if such a problem is found, the rabbits are killed and the carcasses are burned.

Important! If one of the infectious diseases is found in the animal, it is necessary to visit a therapist and carry out prophylaxis for himself and the whole family. Most diseases that occur in rabbits are dangerous to humans.

Other reasons

Among other reasons that cause a refusal of food, there are:

• poor oral health;
• improperly selected diet;
• stress;
• catarrh of the stomach.

Poor oral health

In rabbits, teeth grow throughout life. If animals do not have time to grind them, problems of a different nature arise. Most often, in domestic rabbits, hooks begin to form at the ends of the teeth. This pathology is called malocclusion. In the presence of such hooks, the animal is simply not able to absorb food, since in the process of chewing it injures the mucous membranes of the oral cavity.

As a result, bleeding and abscess begin. If nothing is done in time, blood poisoning can occur. If you find a problem, you need to contact your veterinarian. The doctor will grind. The procedure needs to be repeated periodically, because it will not be possible to fix malocclusion forever. You need to grind your teeth about once every 3-5 months.

Important! Add tree branches to the rabbit diet. This will enable the animal to grind its own teeth, as they do in the wild.

Improper feeding

The rabbit's nutrition should be selected in accordance with its age characteristics. A balanced rabbit diet should consist of coarse and succulent feed.

An approximate daily diet of proper nutrition for an individual weighing up to 5 kg looks like this:

• hay - 200 g;
• root vegetables or greens - 200 g;
• grain or compound feed - 30 g.

The daily feed rate is divided into 2 times and fed in the morning and evening. At a time, the animal will not eat half the norm of the feed, it will come to the feeder throughout the day when it is needed. In the morning it is better to fill the feeders with grain, at lunchtime, when the feeder is half empty, you can offer vegetables and greens. In the evening, the feeders need to be filled with hay. It is also worth considering that young individuals visit the feeder more often in the morning and in the afternoon, more adult rabbits eat more often at night. If the morning portion of food has not yet been eaten, do not add the next.

Did you know? Rabbits many times come to the feeder throughout the day. They take no more than 3 minutes to take one meal - during this time the animal manages to make 360 ​​chewing movements.

At first, rabbits are fed with compound feeds that are intended only for a specific age. Each new product is gradually introduced into the diet in small quantities and look at the reaction of the animal. It is advisable to give new types of feed in the morning or afternoon. In addition to compound feeds, greens and hay, the rabbit's diet should include mineral preparations and fortified supplements. The lack of some elements in the diet can provoke eating your own coat and excrement.

Stress state

A change in habitat or the appearance of another animal in the house can be stressful for a pet. Stressful situations can not greatly affect the rabbit's diet. Appetite for stress disappears for a maximum of several hours, then resumes again. You just have to wait.

Qatar stomach

If the conditions of detention and poor nutrition do not match, rabbits often develop gastric catarrh.

Find out why rabbits sneeze.

There are 3 types of such pathologies, for which diarrhea is a characteristic symptom:

• alkaline - feces dark brown with an unpleasant smell of rot;
• acidic - feces liquid, greenish tint with air bubbles;
• colds - feces are painted in a yellowish tinge with impurities of mucus.

A common symptom is a refusal of food, lethargy. If the pathologies under consideration are detected for 12 hours, the animal is left without food, only water is given.

Further treatment is carried out depending on the shape of the catarrh:

• when alkaline, give “Salol” 2 times a day, 0.3 g for each kilogram of body weight + add manganese to the drinking water (1 g per 1 liter of water);
• when acidic, “Syntomycin” is used, 0.2 mg per 1 kg of body weight;
• with the common cold, “Biomycin” is added to food, 0.2 g + in the nasal passages, 1 drop of “Penicillin” 2-3 times a day.

Preventative measures

To avoid the above problems, you need:

1. Take the rabbit for examination to the veterinarian every 3 months and take blood tests, feces.
2. Organize a balanced diet.
3. Monitor the condition of the pet’s teeth.
4. Provide sufficient space for the pet - the rabbit should be able to run and jump.
5. Make sure that the rabbit does not get bored during your absence - loneliness can also become a stress for the pet. If you are not at home for a long time, and the rabbit is sad, you need to buy him a pair.
6. Follow the schedule of vaccinations and do not neglect them.
7. Clean your feeders and pet cage regularly.

Did you know? The rabbit has more than 17, 000 taste buds in its mouth.

Lack of appetite in a rabbit is a serious problem that can take several months to resolve. To prevent this from happening, you must follow the maintenance rules and periodically inspect the pet.