Took my own advice.

[RabbitPam]

 This morning Sammykins didn’t eat her breakfast.

Well, we’re always saying to watch your bunny for changes in eating/pooping behavior, and everything was quite normal with her last night. But this morning she didn’t go far when we go up and I let her out, and she didn’t eat her greens or pellets. I cleaned her litter box (full of poos, so she’d gone yesterday) and made it up fresh, then went to the fresh food market to get new greens, carrots, etc. Came back and she hadn’t peed or pooped or eaten, though she was moving around her house. I massaged her tummy twice and gave her simethicone for the first time. Gave her fresh new veggies – they went untouched. She ignored a banana slice!

So, called my vet. Described her, found out their hours today and what to do if she got worse tomorrow, and was told the vet would call me back with her advice. By the time she did , I had printed out my VPI claim forms to take with me and decided that if she could be seen today I’d bring her in. I was asked to come in right away, that my vet was booked up but would check her out between appointments if that was OK with me.

I am SO glad I did. She was quite bloated by the time we got there and I learned she was in pain as well. She was given an xray, fluids injected and pain meds right away. I asked if it was metacam, and learned it was much stronger, like bunny morphine. Her temperature was much too low which was a bad sign, so her ears being cold was not a good thing.

Bottom line: she had 3 injections of meds in fluids to get her gut to move. Xray showed not as much gas as we thought so that was a good sign. And her temp went back up to normal. I was asked to make her scoot around the exam room floor, and she was reluctant. Like horses, walking helps.

She got some rabbitude at the end of our visit, which lasted from about 11AM -3:30 PM. She still hasn’t pooped.

We got home with a syringe of meds to take every 12 hours (next dose is midnight) and some critical care, She’s eaten one syringe full so far.

Right now she’s resting, pushing her blankie into comfortable bunches, and ate one pellet. I am writing on my laptop in her room and hoping for poos.

My advice? Get a vet as nice as mine, and don’t wait to call her. Tomorrow (Sunday) would have meant an emergency hospital, and a very, very sick little bunny. Now she’s being treated, and has shown a little improvement.

I’m pretty lucky. This is her first real illness in 3 years. I think she may have eaten a piece of the stuffing from her old cuddle cup, which I found with a big hole in the middle this morning. I hope not, but that’s a possible culprit. Her cuddle cups have been removed.

Healing vibes would be welcome. Pray for poos!!!

[jerseygirl]

Oh Pam! I know that feeling all to well. Sending vibes and (((Hugs))) your way.

{{{{{Sammy!}}}}} Your vet sounds great. Keep us updated on how Samantha is doing.

[3 buns mom]

I know the feeling of waiting for poos. I went through that with 2 of my buns this past month. I hardly slept. I kept getting up, looking for poop. It always seems to happen on the weekends, doesn’t it? Glad you went with your gut and got her to the vet! Vibes for {{{{{Sammy}}}

[RabbitPam]

You’re right about weekends. And my vet has office hours from early morning to 2PM, and we ended up all staying until 3:30, they were so busy.

About how long did you wait until your buns made poos? We were hoping she’d drop some right there in the office, but she still hasn’t. I’ll probably give her more critical care in about a half hour.

[Silly Sungura]

(((Lots of healing vibes for Sammy))). What a scary and stressful day you two have had! I am so sorry; hopefully she will be all better very, very soon!!!

[jerseygirl]

Did the xrays reveal much food in her tract? If she filled her box the day before and then stopped eating, you’re prob not going to see a lot in the way of poops unless she still had ingesta in her. Is she making much in the way of gut sounds?

[RabbitPam]

It was mostly a report on the lack of too much gas showing on the xray (and no major blockage) than what was showing in it. That notion of not much food to be pushed out makes sense, though her belly went from bloated to softened to hardened to softened again, and eventually much less bloat, so I’m not sure what was in there frankly.

She wasn’t making gut sounds at all, which surprised me. In the car ride over I smelled gas twice, but that was before we even got there and my vet said the above. My vet called it car therapy, in the hope she would feel better on the way over. (My stomach made noise at one point this morning and I had to really listen for more to see if it was Sammy or me. I was disappointed.)

Just gave her dose 2 of critical care via syringe. She got most of 2/3 in the vicinity of her mouth, and we both wore the rest. She has been cleaning herself vigorously for the past 10 minutes. I like her energy, and she’s now eaten most of it – she’s fastidious and can’t stand the food stains! I’m hoping it may push out some poos, even if mushy from the CC.

[MimzMum]

Motion is good in any way, shape or form. Most buns with stasis really don’t care how they look and generally stay hunched over.
Darned cuddly cups. You’d think they’d find a way to make them indestructible for our bunnies’ sake.

When Fiver gets gut slowdown, it can sometimes take till the next day to see poos. But the minute even a smallish one shows up, send up a flare, it’ll mean things are moving again!
I try to hand feed strands of hay as well, and fresh washed veggies usually tempt even a sore tummy.
Keeping Yourself and Herself in my prayers. I hope Sammykins is feeling better soon!

P.S. Got any plain canned pumpkin? A teaspoon of that might help.

[amysbunnersons]

ooo poor sweetie   vibes    hopin for poopin….who would think a bunch of adults would talk about poopin so much

[kralspace]

oh RabbitPam, I’m sending so many poopvibes your litterbox should be overflowing by morning. I sure hope she gets better quick

[bwild]

I walked in on Thumper chewing and SWALLOWING the stuffing from his cuddle cup the day before last. I have been watching him like a creepy stalker woman since, keeping count of his every poop! Luckily for me, no blockage occurred, although I’m sorry to hear that you weren’t so lucky However, I am sending many poopvibes your way!!

[3 buns mom]

For each of my buns, it took almost 3 whole days to see poop or for him to start eating! I almost euthanized my 7 yo because it was day 3, and no improvement. It started on a Saturday afternoon and I treated him at home. Luckily, I worked at vets offices and have had sick pets, so had everything that was needed at home to treat him.The xrays showed full belly, but empty intestines on Monday. As I was discussing options with the doctor, and lack of funds for surgery, and was in tears talking about euthanizing… he started eating his hay!!! I knew in my gut that he wasn’t ready to go, he wasn’t giving up, and neither was I…so I took him home and kept doing what I was doing, and later that night, he pooped!

Always go with your gut! I have always said that.

[FluffyBunny]

I’m sorry to hear about Sammykins. When my female had GI stasis, her belly felt very hard around the ribcage for a few days. The vet said that since there wasn’t a blockage, it was probably built up food and gas in the stomach area. She had very loud gut noises and was passing gas a few hours before we went to the vet, but everything was silent by the time the vet examined her. Her GI stasis wasn’t terribly bad, so she never really stopped pooping entirely, although her poops were very irregular for about two weeks after she was diagnosed.

If she likes her veggies, try putting some aromatic herbs right in front of her. Ms. Rabbit wouldn’t eat anything besides raisins and parsley for a few days when she had stasis. Also, if she won’t eat the Critical Care, try using some sweetened Pedialyte to mix it instead of water. Ms. Rabbit seemed to prefer the grape flavored Pedialyte. Oh, and keep doing gentle belly massages. It’s a great way to push gas through the intestines. After a while, you might be able to feel things moving around while you’re giving her a massage.

I’m sending poop and comfy belly vibes to Sammy!

[BinkyBunny]

Oh, Pam, I am so sorry. These bunnies can put us through such a scare. You are doing such a great job and how wonderful that you have such a great vet. I’m relieved to hear that she is a bit more energenic and I hope she is feeling back to normal soon. It’s 3am your time right now when I write this, so I hope you and Sammykins are sleeping well, and tomorrow morning she will be back to her old self. I’m sending off those vibes.

[RabbitPam]

SHE POOPED!!!!!
Thank you all for your good wishes and vibes. BB, are you still here? I fell asleep around 10 after giving her a second dose of Critical Care, and woke up at 4AM my time. So just gave her the syringe of liquid med.

She was under her tent resting, but there were about a dozen poos in 3 different places (including some in the litter box) in her house, and she was feisty when I tried to pick her up! They were medium sized and several were strung together, so whether it was cuddle cup or fur, that seems to be the issue. She was growling and snorting and bit me and scratched – so happy! I just trapped her between my knees and syringed most of the meds in her mouth.

Offered her a clump of more critical care from my hands but she didn’t take a taste. Put it in her food dish and saw that she’d eaten a baby carrot, all the curly parsley and most green leaf lettuce from yesterday! So I am letting the lump of CC sit in her dish in the hope that she nibbles on it between now and later this morning. If not, it’s back on the syringe in a few hours.

I know I speak for both Sammy and I when I say “What a relief!” Let’s hope it continues uphill from here.

[mzsunshine]

yayy! so glad to hear that sammykins is okay the poop gods have answered!!

 

so glad you went w/ your ~mothers intuition 

[RabbitPam]

It’s 8:30 and I will be wiped out today because I can’t go back to sleep.
Herself has had a run around the bedrooms, used her litter box again (pee & poo), ate some banana, parsley and a barley treat. She went under my foot for a head rub and fell asleep under my toes.
She’s acting very normal, no bloating, so will give more critical care in a few hours but right now she’s hanging out under her tent. I emailed her vet to give her the good news, in case she reads emails on Sunday, or at least will read it Monday AM if there is no change.

[Sarita]

Continued healing vibes to Ms. Sammykins. Glad she pooed.

[MimzMum]

Lolz… Well that is tremendous news and did you ever think you would be so happy to see rabbit raisins! What a nice birthday gift she’s given you.
(I’ll wish you a happy one and Herself being completely back to normal for your special day here, since my dumbphone won’t let me make new posts or PM’s at BB.com yet. *wink* )
Big hugs for you & noserubs for Sammy!

[mocha200]

Yay for Sammy!

[tobyluv]

I just saw this thread and I’m very glad to see that Sammykins is now eating and pooping!

[peppypoo]

Hooray! Best wishes for continued recovery

[RabbitPam]

 

This morning, Monday, she is totally fine. 

She was eating and pooping normally through yesterday evening, and there was a fresh, normal pile in the litter pan at 6AM today.

So, I think I gave her the last dose of liquid meds and Critical Care she will need today. She is eating like a starving sailor. Was very mad at me chasing her around her house to administer her meds. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to like the Critical Care, even with mashed banana in it. But I don’t see the need for more later, though might give another dose of the liquid meds in 12 hours just to be safe. If she’s eating normally still, I may just sprinkle some Critical Care onto her food later (they say to mist it with water to make it stick) just to get it in as a supplement, but no more syringe of the stuff I think. I just don’t want to stop it too soon. If any of you guys think I need to do this more today, let me know. They told me to stop when she has one completely normal day, which I think was yesterday, and so far definitely today.

Thanks for all of your well wishes. You guys are the best.

[TBpony414]

CONGRATS!!!! My bunny has had several scary statis episodes this summer so I know how stressful it can be. BTW your poop pic is hilarious

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

ROFL OMG tooo funny what a GREAT picture!!! I think someone needs to save that and we will bring it out on the threads where we are all patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for POO NEWS!!!

Pam-seriously congratulations to Sammy on her poopies-I’m SO glad she’s feeling better! It’s really scary how quickly that came on I’m so glad she’s pooping!

[RabbitPam]

It was a larger addition to my Bunny Peas. Actually, they kind of look like bunnies’ peas….

Yes, it was startling to me how fast it came on, but tonight I gave her a nice overall massage, and her belly is so much thinner. I am now wondering if she was a bit rounder before this happened and I just didn’t notice it as being something wrong.

Another thing I saw this morning when I did a complete habitat overhaul (changed out the sheet on the rug I use for flooring now that I stopped dropping med. stains all over it.) was another source of nibbles. She had a small platform that was white coated wire, which she like to lie under, and I had the bed I got from BB on top of it for a kind of open shelter. I had hoped she’d climb on it, but she doesn’t like heights. When I moved it today, I saw lots of little nibble marks across the wire, but it had a plastic coating that peeled off in places from chewing, so she may have ingested some of that, too. I threw it out.
Took a plain cardboard box and cut two holes in it, with the bunny bed under it. She prefers flannel fabric, so got a fresh yard of that today to go under the box instead. so far she has explored it, but is sleeping under her tent. Still, without her cuddle cups, I needed new and clean stuff, so got growled at when I took her dirty blankie (med drips on it, too) to be cleaned. But she got a fresh one right away, so I was forgiven. Again.

Am so glad I have VPI insurance. It’s not a big bill, but right now any reimbursement is very welcome.

[jerseygirl]

Happy to be reading all is right again Pam. : )

Some buns can chew and ingest these things without trouble. Others not so much. It’s hard to tell which way it’ll go sometimes. Do you think she could have chewed her cuddle cup out of discomfort? Like if she had some gas pain?

[RabbitPam]

JG, it doesn’t exactly sound like her. I have never caught her chewing her cuddle cup – she’d stuffed it in front of her tent like a barrier, so I had no idea she chewed it at all. She totally ignored the new one that I was trying to transition her over to, and have now removed both. I think she had a combo of irritants leading to some partial blockage that just made a difference in the night. As I said, she’d pooped and eaten normally the early evening before. I did see her squishing down her butt the day before once, and wondered what that was about.

What I’m hoping is that the repeated injections of fluids/meds worked out any residual irritants, like flushing out my own kidneys does, and she’s not harboring anything else inside. The peelings off the wire was really tiny, so it may never have bothered her for all I know. Heck, I gave her a green market head of fresh escarole for the first time all week, which she ate normally, but I kept washing dirt off of it, not sure it was from an organic farm, so was suspicious of that as well. She sure loved going back to her other greens instead.

[Author]

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