Check List for Spotting Possible Health Problems and Diseases
| What you notice | Possible causes you can eliminate yourself | Cause of alarm if combined with these symptoms | Possible diagnosis requiring immediate treatment by veterinarian |
| Droppings that are soft to runny and may smell sour. Anus and abdomen soiled with feces. | Sudden change in diet (as from dry food to fresh), spoiled food, food or water that is too cold, intestinal problems caused by wet bedding or drafts. | Refused food, loses strength, sits in the cage trembling with fear, grinds teeth loudly in pain, bloated body, blood in stool. | Poisoning from chemically treated produce; intestinal infection, most commonly coccidiosis (highly contagious to other rabbits and especially dangerous for young animals); be sure to take a long a stool sample; isolate the sick animal. |
| The rabbit stops eating and produces only tiny, hard droppings or nothing at all in spite of painful straining; body may be somewhat bloated. | Too little exercise, insufficient water, abrupt change from fresh to all dry food; may be a symptom of an infectious disease or a result of eating spoiled food. | Strongly bloated body, loud grind-of teeth, violent drumming with the back legs; shortness of breath and impaired circulation. | Tympanites; take animal to the veterinarian immediately; may be fatal. |
| Some clear discharge from the nose, occasional sneezing. | Irritation from vapors of strong cleansers or from dusty hay; vitamin deficiency; generally weakened resistance. (There are some rabbits that are allergic to hay!) | Thick discharge of pus from the nose, which the rabbit tries to get rid of by snorting and wiping with the paws; chest and front legs sticky with mucus. Also, loss of appetite, general weakness, and coughing. | Contagious cold (separate the animal immediately from other rabbits); beginnings of pneumonia, which often follows a cold. |
| Tearing eyes; reddened and, sometimes, swollen eyelids; discharge of pus from eyes. | Symptoms of colds; irritation caused by dust or foreign body; injury from scratching bites, or overgrown wooly hair, (in Angoras, for instance.) | Eyes swelling shut; lungs of dough- or jelly-like consistency on the head; more and more boils that erupt. | Myxomatosis, which is practically always fatal; in areas where this disease is prevalent, rabbits should be vaccinated against it. |
| Accelerated breathing. trembling body. | Overheating caused by direct exposure to the sun or proximity to hot radiator. | Nostrils flaring; violently trembling body; mouth perhaps open; very fast, shallow breathing. | Heat stroke; very serious; take the animal to the veterinarian instantly; if her or she cannot be reached, see instructions to emergency treatment! |
| Reddening of skin, minor loss of hair, small bald spots. | Shedding in the spring and fall, allergy; vitamin deficiency; fur pulled out or bitten off by another rabbit. | Considerable loss of hair, sticky and crusty scabs; frequent scratching; rabbit holds head at a tilt and shakes it. | Mange (mite infestation), fungi. |
| Sitting around apathetically, moving too little. | Loneliness; pining for a social partner; too little attention from humans; boredom; lack of interesting and stimulating place to run. (Rabbits also become more sedentary with age.) | Rabbit no longer hopes or runs; teeth grinding indicating pain; legs sometimes pulled to close to body, sometimes stretched out unnaturally, sometimes dragged along behind; loss of equilibrium. | Fracture; torn ligament; a joint pulled out of its socket; internal injury from being caught in a closing door or from being dropped; paralysis due to hereditary disease. |