Our Rex rabbit is named Mr. Repo and got his name from the movie, “Repo Man”, because he always gets his way. He’s about seven years old. About a year ago, he started developing an almost constant grunting sound—sort of like a pig. If you have ever seen “Arnold” on “Green Acres”, you would know the sound. We took him to a veterinarian and were told that Mr. Repo had respiratory trouble and prescribed antibiotics. After a couple weeks of no improvement, we took him back to the vet, who checked his blood and found it to be extremely high in sugar. We were told that Mr. Repo was becoming diabetic! This came as a shock, and so we took him off the antibiotics, hoping that things might change. Later, another blood test appeared normal, and we discovered that his high sugar count was caused by the sugar-sweetened antibiotics.

We decided to try things on our own. We started using Marshmallow and Fenugreek, an herb combination known to benefit the respiratory system. We would mix a quarter of a capsule with a little water to make a paste, which we mixed with some raw oats. We gave it to Mr. Repo each morning and within a few months, his grunting stopped! We continue to do this each morning to help strengthen his respiratory system. In addition, we sprinkle one capsule of Proactazyme on his food each day to help prevent hair balls. Since rabbits clean themselves so much, they ingest a lot of fur, and we want to keep Mr. Repo around for a long time.

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