Gi stasis recovery

[SarahRose]

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting.
One of my two buns, Vincent, is recovering from his first bout of G.I. stasis. We first noticed that he seemed sluggish and wasn’t eating on Thursday, and we took him to the vet Thursday night. She diagnosed him fairly quickly as having G.I. stasis. She gave us Reglan, an antibiotic, and a NSAID. I’ve been syringe feeding him critical care, and giving him his medicine ever since then. He’s definitely doing a lot better, he especially recovered a lot of his spunk after I gave him a belly massage and he passed some gas. He’s not much of a cuddle bun though so he’s really not a fan of being picked up and held for syringe feeding. He’s eating some but not as much as we would like and he is passing some pellets. My question is how long do I need to keep feeding him critical care? I’ll keep up with the medicine but if I could stop giving him critical care I think it would make both of us a lot happier. I’m getting a little tired of getting foot flicked whenever I put him down after a feeding. And I can’t go near him without getting thumped at, despite the fact that he clearly enjoys his belly massages and they make him feel worlds better. Oh well. When we get through this, it’ll probably take some time to regain his trust, but I can be patient.

Based on skin elasticity he’s fairly well hydrated (though he’s not drinking a lot of water) and most of the what he eats are all wet leafy greens (we have seen him eat some hay). It’s hard to keep track of intake (and output) since we have two, and isolating them isn’t really an option. We isolated him at first so we could see if he was pooping, but both of them seemed far too stressed by it, and he definitely started to improve once he had his gal back by his side.

Let me know what you think, we are new bunny owners and would be happy for any advice.
Thanks!

[Roberta]

Hi SarahRose, It can be a long slow process getting back to normal after a bout of stasis. I would keep feeding the critical care until he is eating more hay, one of the most vital elements is fibre and that is what the CC helps to provide. Watch his poops, at this stage they will probably be noticably smaller and fdarker than your other buns poops, it will take a week or more for those to start looking normal again to. Once they do you know you are out of the woods and he is almost completely recovered. I also give my buns simethicone during stasis. I checked with my vet before doing this and he felt it could only be of benefit and at the very least could do no harm. I gave Starsky and Pipi 1ml twice a day. You can also mix the CC in with some steamed mashed pumpkin to add fibre and possibly get him to eat it on his own from a dish.

[SarahRose]

Thank you for the tips Roberta! I’m giving him simethicone too, cause I know that he’s definitely having pain from gas just based on how much he likes the belly rubs (and how much it stinks up the room after a good one ).

Also, thank you so much for the mashed pumpkin idea. I mixed some in with the critical care and this is by far the most I’ve gotten him to eat from the syringe yet. He kept letting the critical care dribble out of his mouth, but he definitely seems to like the pumpkin more, which has me feeling pretty relieved, because I was really worried that he wasn’t getting enough nourishment. Also, I know that’s one of the better ways to get water in to him without resorting to sub-q fluids. If he starts to show signs of dehydration I’ll get the syringe, needle, and saline out, but given how skittish he is with me now, I’d REALLY like to avoid having to stick him with a needle.

It’s rough taking care of a sick bunny. He hates the treatment, so he definitely doesn’t like me much right now, but it’s worth it to see him starting to feel like himself. I’m starting to think that he may have been having some issues with gas for a while now and that it only just now resolved into full blown stasis. Belly rubs will be making a regular appearance I think, even after this is over. Yesterday when I was giving him a belly rub I felt his gut gurgle and I think it was the happiest I’ve been in a while. I suddenly understand why new moms become so obsessed with poop!

Thanks for the tips and the encouragement!

[Bam]

Roberta has covered this topic very well =)
I’ve nothing to add except that I not long ago had to force feed one of my buns for a whole months, several times a day, and even if he was NOT AMUSED and spat CC all over himself, me and the kitchen and desperately tried to hide from me whenever it was feeding time, he seems to have gotten over it completely. In fact, he’s cuddlier than ever and never skittish when I approach him. He seemed to forget all about his ordeal when he got his health back (he had molar spurs that gave him pain even 10 days after they were removed.) He doesn’t resent me, that’s very clear. I don’t think your bun will resent you either.

But it was stressful while it lasted, so I see how you wouldn’t want to keep up the syringe-feeding a minute longer than necessary.

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