How can you tell if your pet rabbit is sick or not?

Question

Ive alreadey figured out one of em is half blind.

Answer 1

Sickly rabbits are often lethargic. They don't drink as much, and they usually refuse to eat (or simply nibble a little at food given).

If the ears are excessively warm (hot), it could indicate a rabbit has a fever since they regulate their body temperature via the blood vessels in their ears.

Look for panting---moisture around the noise and mouth. Salivating. Matted fur on the inside of the front paws. Matted fur around the nose with or without discharge can be a sign of a respiratory problem.

Look at the genital region for feces-caked fur. Look for redness and swelling or any abnormalities.

Look at your rabbits' droppings---they should be firm and round. Finding a cluster of wetter 'grape' looking feces is normal and not a sign of illness---non-grape looking clusters of feces could indicate the runs.

Look at your rabbits' urine...very cloudy urine is a warning sign of too much calcium in the diet. Urine is sometimes red tinted in color---this is normal.

Look at your rabbits' eyes...they should be bright and clear. Any eye 'boogers' are cause for concern. Cloudiness in the eye is also reason for concern.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

Here are several things to check:

~ Does its urine and feces look normal? Feces should be in dark round balls.
~ Is it eating and drinking like usual? If a rabbit isn't eating or drinking, that's a bad sign.
~ Is it coughing/sneezing/wheezing? You shouldn't be able to hear your rabbit breathing heavily. Sometimes they sniff to show anger or curiosity, but continual sniffing is a bad sign as well.
~ Is it missing fur around its ears/head? This could be a sign of ear mites.

Answer 3

I had a rabbit that had a eye infection, at first I thought he was blind but I put some vaseline on his eye everyday. He rubbed it in with his paws when he wiped his face everyday cleaning himself cleared it right up but when he stopped eating that let me know he was sick.

Answer 4

It depends on the sickness. They can stop moving or eating. They can have a loss of litter box habits. It's best to just go to a vet. http://www.rabbit.org

Answer 5

I think you should get your bunns checked out by a veterinarian who knows rabbits well. I've got lists of reputed rabbit-savvy vets that I've collected -
http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/links.html#bunnyvets
Check out all these links - just click on your country/state -
http://www.3bunnies.org/vets.htm
http://www.3bunnies.org/vets.htm#pets911_findvet
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/PB_vets.html
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoasun/RabbitVetsMain.htm
http://www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoasun/AustralianRabbitVets.htm
and I suggest telephoning them and asking them lots of questions - http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html