Need help, potential stasis!

[Carmie]

Hello all! I’m having some concerns with my bun right now. He’s a four and a half month old lionhead, and I’m noticing some potentially worrying signs. I keep a very close eye on how much he eats, poops, drinks every day. I change his food, water, and litter twice a day and play with him for a couple hours during that time. The rest of the time, whenever I’m awake and at home, he gets an entire room to himself which I’ve rabbit proofed. 

However, over the last few days, I’ve noticed his poops have been smaller during certain parts of the day, with the occasional bout of misshapen or compacted doubles/triples. Yesterday, his pills were a little soft in the morning. For reference, his diet is currently 1/8th cup of pellets twice a day, unlimited alfalfa hay(which I’ve been mixing in bits of orchard grass, meadow, and timothy hay to give him variety and to prepare to wean him off alfalfa), and obviously unlimited water. While I know for his age unlimited pellet is the norm, my vet recommended portioning his pellets because if he has unlimited pellets, he never eats his hay. He also hasn’t been introduced to fresh veggies yet as his vet suggested to wait until 6 months. Though I’m considering starting veggie introduction as soon as he stabilizes.

The big concern is was yesterday when I noticed he wasn’t eating or drinking quite as much. It wasn’t a huge difference, so I waited to see how it would play out. In the mean time, I took him to see the vet. She did a quick physical on him and said he seemed healthy other than what I was mentioning and a tiny bit of gas. So she prescribed him Reglan and Metacam to ward off any potential stasis. When I got home, he seemed very stressed but was starting to eat and drink normally, so I opted to wait until the morning to start his medication. I was also hesitant because she diagnosed him only by using her hands and not doing an xray. She assured me there was no obstruction, but I’ve been nervous since I’ve heard Reglan and a bowel obstruction can be a bad combination.

Unfortunately this morning, I noticed the trend continuing. He is eating and drinking a good bit less than he normally does, probably a little over half of his normal intake. He is still playful and doing binkies, as well as still pooping relatively normal amounts. The poops do vary from healthy looking, to dark and moist, to small, to some even a little misshapen and compacted. But for the most part they are either normal, or on the small size. It hasn’t been consistent in any case. I think I’m going to start the medication, but I was curious if anyone had any recommendations. The vet is currently closed until Monday, and there are no rabbit savvy emergency vets around here, so I want to consider my options right now.

[Mikey]

I would start the medication and wait till monday. If his poops are still all over the board in shape, size, and color, then i would call the vet again to ask for advice. If its not too bad, sometimes you can lightly massage little circles on your bunnys tummy to help get their body moving correctly and help pop the little gas bubbles

[Carmie]

Yeah that’s what I was thinking. It doesn’t seem to be an emergency at this point, but definitely some concern. I’ll give him the medication and some belly massages and see where it goes from there! Thanks for the advice!

[Bam]

Also try and make him move around. Exercise is very good for getting the intestines moving. And hydration is very important too for food to be able to pass along the length of the intestine.
If there is poop and your vet carefully felt his tum, it’s pretty certain there’s no blockage. There might still be gas though, but hopefully a very light massage repeated every 2 hours or so + moving around will make him pass the gas.

[Carmie]

Fortunately he has been acting normal as far as the activity department goes. Every morning I get up and play with him for an hour, and then he roams around until about noon. Then he likes the sleep or relax until 5 or 6, and then gets a huge burst of energy that lasts until bedtime. As far as that goes, he’s been pretty normal. We played for an hour this morning and he’s been getting up and moving around a fair bit since then. But I’ll try and encourage as much as possible. 

Hydration will be tricky. He’s definitely still drinking a good amount, but also less than he typically does. I’ll do what I can to encourage drinking. Usually after he runs a lot he drinks a lot, so those two might go hand in hand. 

Anyway, thanks for reassuring me on the blockage! I feel more comfortable continuing his medication. And I’ll keep up the massages.

[tobyluv]

You can also give him some baby simethicone in case he has gas. It’s available in drug stores, grocery stores, big discount stores, etc. The brand that I got at the store was (Infant’s) Mylicon. It’s a harmless medication.

[Bam]

It sounds very good, that he has the energy to play! It’s a lot more worrisome when the bunny withdraws and just wants to lie down, it can get a vicious circle of lowered metabolism leading to lower body-temp leading to even lower metabolism going. But if a bunny wants to play mornings and evenings, it’s quite normal for him to rest during the day.
Some buns will drink more if you add a tiny bit of unsweetened Apple-juice to their water. But a bunny that eats less will drink less.

[Carmie]

Yeah the vet mentioned some simethicone might be worth it depending on how he’s doing. So there’s absolutely no harm to giving him that, even if he doesn’t need it? If so, I’ll go grab some and add it into the mix. Do you happen to know if there are guidelines for how much/how often to give that to rabbits? He’s 3.3lbs/1.5kgs. 

And yeah, I’m happy other than the food, he’s been otherwise stable. I’m gonna do my best to keep him active and eating/drinking for the time being. I noticed him starting to grind his teeth a bit more just about an hour ago, so I hope the metacam helps with what I believe is some pain. Fortunately today is about over, then we need to get through tomorrow. And if there are any other issues that last, then the vet is open Monday. 

Also, side note, are there any signs or points that I should consider giving him critical care? I have some on hand, if it does come to that.

[tobyluv]

There is no harm in giving him simethicone even if he doesn’t need it. He may not like being syringe fed, but the solution itself is harmless.

The dosage is 1 – 2 ml every hour for 3 hours. Since he is a smaller bunny, the 1 ml per dose would probably be enough.  You can continue giving 1 ml every 3 to 8 hours afterwards, but if the first 3 doses didn’t help, then gas probably isn’t the problem, so you may not want to bother giving any more after those first 3 doses. I recently gave some to my bunny when she was evidently having some tummy distress for the first time. I could see that the first dose helped, then after the second dose, she was so much better and we decided that she didn’t need any more.

[Bam]

Yep, I second Tobyluv. Simethicone is not absorbed by the body, it stays in the GI canal and comes out with the poop, and according to Medirabbit and Dana Krempels, you can give it on suspicion of gas. I find it to be very useful. If you’re lucky, you might soon hear (and smell!) bunny farts.

Pain relief is important, I’m glad you have some Metacam to give him. 

[Carmie]

Yep, I went ahead and picked up some Simethicone. I started his medication and he seems to be taking it relatively well. I mean, he hates actually taking it, but otherwise there haven’t been any issues! 

Overall he seems to be doing fairly well. Last night I was in there every hour or two giving him tummy massages and playing with him. He ate all of his pellets, ate around the same amount of hay as he normally does, maybe a little bit less, and drank almost twice as much as he normally does! He also ran more than I think I’ve ever seen him run. He was super playful despite the gas. 

Though this morning I woke up and checked on him and he had barely touched his food or water. Fortunately as soon as I walked into the room he perked up and started running laps and eating and drinking right away. I gave him another does of medication and gave him a tummy massage, and while I was doing that, I heard a little bunny fart! So I was somewhat oddly happy about that. He’s now sitting in his hidey hut resting like he always does around this time. I’ll keep checking on him, but so far so good!

[Bam]

Sounds like he’s perked up considerably! Gas can be very painful for a bun if it gets trapped, so farting often brings improvement.
You can give Critical Care if you think he’s still not eating enough. Some buns will eat it voluntarily from a spoon or your finger if you mix it with sth yummy, like canned plain pumpkin or baby fruit or veg purée.

[Carmie]

Hey guys, just a quick update and another concern. Ziggy seems to be doing significantly better as far as I can tell. I’ve been giving him regular doses of Metacam, Reglan, and Simethicone, and he’s been playful and eating normal amounts in a day. His poops have also normalized in size, color, and shape. 

However, I have a little concern. For the last two or three nights, I’ve noticed he doesn’t really touch his food or water over night. As in, for 8 hours, he drinks tiny amounts, only has a small portion of pellets, and maybe nibbles at his hay. He also poops a decent bit less than he normally would overnight. Around 35-40 pills versus his normal 50-60. That has been happening for a couple of nights as I mentioned, but I got a little concerned because I saw him ripping up carpet last night. I’m not sure if he ingested any, but I was concerned about a blockage considering he still didn’t eat or drink overnight again. I took him to the vet this morning to get an x-ray, and they said there is either no blockage or it’s too early to tell. To be fair, they also mentioned that they aren’t necessarily bunny experts, and our normal vet was booked for the day. 

Anyway, the redeeming factor is that once he wakes up, he immediately starts drinking, eating, pooping, and playing again. And throughout the day, he eats about enough to bring him back mostly normal intake, maybe some less but not a huge amount. This morning he was a little slower to start drinking/eating/pooping, hence the vet visit. But he has since then picked back up. The vet recommended keeping an eye on him and continuing his medication, but insisted there were no immediate problems.

So my question is whether or not this change in habit to not eating overnight but eating entirely during the day is normal or safe, or if I should be concerned. And also I’m curious on your thoughts about continuing Reglan, considering the potential blockage from the carpet. The vet didn’t believe there was any concerns, but I always like extra opinions.

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