Prescription Meds & Your Home Emergency Kit

We highly recommend that at you take your bunny to a bunny-savvy vet at the sign of ANY pain or illness. These items will help your bunny pull through until you are able to see the vet.

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HOME EMERGENCY KIT

Warm water bottles / blankets / electric pad

A sick bunny’s temperature drops quickly. Keep him warm and comfy. Just make sure that it’s not too hot as he may not feel up to moving away from the heat while he is ill.

Treats

Tempt your bun with his favourite treats to encourage eating. This is also how most owners pick up that their rabbit is ill – refusing a favourite treat is very uncommon for a healthy rabbit and this is normally the first sign to look out for.

1ml / 3ml syringes without needles
Have a look at some YouTube videos on how to syringe feed – ALWAYS insert the syringe from the side of the mouth (behind the front teeth), to prevent accidentally squirting food/liquid into your bunny’s airway (choking hazard!)

Critical Care / Dual Care

Excellent if you can find it, this is dry, high-fibre food made especially for sick/recovering small animals. It is easily mixed into a paste with some water. You can syringe feed this to your bunny to keep the gut from shutting down.

Apple/carrot/banana Purity

A less-healthy alternative to Critical Care / Dual Care

Devil’s Claw herbal drops aka Analgesic Solution

This assists with pain management and is available at most health shops or Dis-chem. Most prescription pain killers can only be given once every 24 hours. These drops can be given much more frequently and will help the bun pull through until his next prescribed medication dose. Safe to give along with prescribed painkillers. Syringe feed 4 drops (0.1ml) every hour for 3 hours, and then 3 hourly.

Chamomile tea

Keep your bunny hydrated with water/chamomile or rooibos tea/diluted apple juice. Chamomile is a good choice as it also manages pain (a little) and has calming effects.

Rescue Remedy drops

These keep your bunny calm by rubbing 3 drops on the inside of each ear. They also work well for travelling, bonding and or any other stressful activities)

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PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION

You can get prescription medicine from your vet to keep at home in case of an emergency. Most dosages depend on your bunny’s weight. Ask your vet to write down the dosage for each of your rabbits on the bottle. If you have the meds, but not the dosage and cannot contact your vet, at least contact one of our admins or knowledgeable members to assist, rather than guessing. Overdosing could be fatal.

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Clopomon aka Metoclopromide

Keeps the gut working to prevent GI stasis but can be dangerous if given to a bunny with a blockage. Important for rabbits that have stopped eating/pooping. Dosage is normally repeated every 8 hours.

Petcam/Metacam/Meloxicam

In many cases providing a bunny with pain relief is the first step towards recovery. Make sure that you know how to read your bunny’s body language – how to tell when she is in pain because giving this unnecessarily or for prolonged periods will be bad for your bunny’s kidneys. Dosage is normally repeated every 24 hours.

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Always remember to tell your vet which meds you have already given, in what quantities, and when then they were last given.

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Photo: Helena Lopes / Unsplash