It’s often even more difficult to administer Critical Care than other oral medications because you need to go slow. If using a catheter tipped syringe, it may be possible to pull it up through the tip depending on the amount of water used. Improve International, Alexandra House, Whittingham Drive, Wroughton, Swindon, Wiltshire SN4 0QJ, England. The rabbit's digestive system is important for ensuring the rabbit obtains the nutrients required, and correct and consistent feeding is essential, however, what action should be taken when things go wrong? It is important to note that Emeraid is a semi-elemental diet, and is very different from some of the other tube feeding diets available.

Complete with all the nutritional elements needed to support the immune system, our vet-recommended rabbit recovery food ensures your small furry is given the helping hand needed for a speedy recovery. The syringe should be removed between mouthfuls, and the rabbit’s head should be stroked to encourage this.It is, however, important to be guided by your patient as some rabbits will not tolerate this much or will need to take smaller amounts more frequently. If you opt to feed on a counter or table, it is essential that you keep a gentle, yet secure hold on your pet to prevent them from startling and bolting off the surface. This can be very good; however, it does not have individual millilitre graduations on, so it can be easy to push too much food into the mouth in one go. Critical Care will still work as an appetite stimulant on a short term basis, even if the product is outdated.

Failure to meet the demands of the rabbit digestive system will disrupt the balance of the microflora of the gut ( Oglesbee and Lord, 2020), and will result in bloat, or fatal damage to the digestive system itself, through damage to the gastrointestinal mucosal lining. Freezing may extend the shelf-life of the product by slowing oxidation and vitamin degradation, but too many freeze-thaw cycles can have negative effects, particularly on vitamin stability. In a pinch, you can make a homemade version of critical care to give to your rabbit using their regular daily pellets.

This will only result in the rabbit, and you, getting more stressed and less food being administered.

The required amount of Critical Care (CC) for each animal depends on several factors, such as animal type, age, weight, and clinical condition. Many prey species have laterally placed eyes, leaving them with a blind spot directly in front of the nose. Oxbow critical care advises that for herbivores, the general amount should be 3 tablespoons of dry product or 50 ml mixed product daily per kilogram of bodyweight, however, they do also provide a feeding chart with recommendations according to size.Hetastarch has been recommended 3 (5ml/kg over 5-10minutes) instead of the high rate of crystalloid. Handling or unfamiliar surroundings can elevate blood glucose levels that can be as high as 30mmol/l in rabbits with acutely painful conditions such as intestinal obstruction.

In the author's opinion, syringe feeding is the best way and there are commercially available foods that are designed for syringe feeding rabbits and other small herbivores. Cardiac disease is not unusual and compromised circulatory function is common in shocked, moribund rabbits. As discussed, rabbits require a source of low-quality roughage, as well as a handful of non-selective pellets, and some fruit/vegetables in small amounts. It reduces the risk of cardiac overload and pulmonary oedema that is associated with high rates of crystalloids.You can choose to add a small amount of squashed banana or unsweetened applesauce to make the mixture more enticing for your rabbit. Analgesia is required for all sick rabbits based on the presumption that the underlying diagnosis may be painful.