http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

Have you read this from Dana Krempels?

I think when you read it you will realize that this is not a disease but a sympton of something which she states.

To be honest, your rabbit may never stop eating and have problems – I have 9 rabbits now and few of mine have these problems.

When they have it’s been due to dental, blockage or urinary tract infection – there’s always been an underlying cause and that’s what you need to find out about.

It’s great that you are establishing a relationship with a vet right away – I encourage you to discuss this with the vet at the examination as well as a possible concern.

Ailments are going to be individual to each rabbit. There’s no way to say that yes, this will happen or no it won’t. You’re doing good by getting prepared just in case. You will be establishing a relationship with a good vet which is very important as well. Another question to ask when you go… do THEY have ER hours (evening/overnight/weekend) or who do they recommend as an emergency ***RABBIT*** vet? ER vets are oftentimes great for cats and dogs and don’t know squat about buns! Make sure you find an ER vet that has knowledgable doctors for rabbit health. It’s also a good idea to have info for an additional regular hours exotic vet in case you want a second opinion, or your vet is booked and you need to be seen by someone same day.

Yes, do find out about an emergency vet for rabbits – great point Beka!

I have three rabbits and they’ve all had it at least once, ranging from very mild to life threatening, despite the fact that I feed them very carefully to meet vet recommendations. But I think I’m just unlucky with it because I know of many rabbits who have never suffered an episode of statis.

I’ve had fairly frequent cases of stasis/ near stasis in the past, but ONLY because I was unknowingly on the wrond diet plan! Here’s what I’ve learned the hard way, but am glad to have learned it!:

-LIMITED pellets
-LOTS of fresh hay ALL the time
-Variety of fresh veg, but not too much (not more than 2 cups for mine) or they will be full and not want to eat their hay.
-Hay
-Groom excess fur
-HAY
-HAY HAY HAY HAY

Also, even though it’s not completely nescesary, I clean her litterbox every day so I know exactly what is going on inside her GI tract.

For some bunnies, GI issues are fairly common, for others, not so much.  I have had to get one of my bunnies (Curly Sue) treated for stasis because she ate part of a plastic rug and got plugged up.  Another one of mine, DJ, has a tendency to get gas and refuse to eat until it passes.  I have learned to watch him carefully, and be ready with the gas medicine and tummy massage when it starts.  The biggest thing with GI issues is noticing them early, before they get out of control.  Hay and fur control are the two most important things you can do.

Oh, and the Dana Krempels article is one of the best around.  (Dana Krempels is my hero)

WOW! What a great article…….I am dealing with GI stasis right now with my Jester bun. Ugh, I feel bad as I feel like there is something I either should have done or neglected to do that caused it. He seems to be doing really well today. No going back now…..just gotta take good care of him

Just found another great article on GI Stasis from the HRS site. 

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-7/gi.html

I think that my previous rabbit died of it and may have suffered from it most of his life (I was an unknowledgeable rabbit owner at the time ). When I first got Hubble I forgot to ask for some of his food and a few weeks afterward he had some mild gas that I massaged out. Nova has never obviously had it, and something makes me think that she wouldn’t. She loves hay, and keeps herself active. Even if she did have it I would easily be able to catch it. Hubble on the other hand has moods and possible depression at times that give me false alarms until I pull out some food. I think it really depends on the rabbit and the care it’s received up to that point. Though as I say that, I want to stress that it is subject to the rabbit first and even the most cared for rabbit can have it happen to them.

Definitely LBNF !!! Some bunnies are just more suceptable

GI Stasis is just like colic in horses-the mechanisms, causes, prognosis etc etc. and anyone who’s been around horses know that some are just prone to colic and colic and some can eat garbage and be fine -just depends. In my vets’ words “It’s those darned cecums!” hehe

Well you have to remember that stasis is a condition not an actual disease too – you need to find an underlying cause why the rabbit stops eating and these are numerous – not just gas.

Sarita, that is so true…….

My Jester is having issues again.  We must find the cause.  I am thinking it’s gotta be the veggies!

We have been in contact with a man at the local bunny rescue who has like 16 buns at his house sometimes!  He said I should cut out all veggies for now and just feed the basics- hay/papaya tablets/pellets/water.

Lily has been on the same diet as Jester- she must have a tougher tummy!

We are going to make some changes, to keep them both healthy though.

Is that the diet that Jester was on before you adopted him? That probably would be a good place to start and see what happens and then slowly introduce veggies again.

I have a rabbit who went through several bouts of stasis which we think was gas and we also did fecal floats – did your vet check his fecals as well? I ended up doing what you are doing. Now though I don’t give him pellets at all. We did the stasis thing for awhile and then he has been fine since.

I think being vigilant like you are is important.

Unfortunately, I don’t know what his diet was before.  He was found in a parking lot with two other bunnies this past January.  We adopted him in the beginning of March.  Should I see what the shelter feeds all the buns?

No, I don’t think our vet did that.  What does that entail?

For now, I think we will start back at the basics until we get his digestive system back in order.

My husband gave him a dose of metoclopramide (sp) again this morning.  Do you think it is pointless to give the simethicone drops in addition? 

Maybe I should take him to another vet to get their opinion?

We’ve been to two different ones.  I was more pleased with the second one but I am still thinking there’s an even better one out there!

You could just bring a fecal to the vet and they will test for parasites that way – many times rabbits from shelters and/or in the wild (parking lot) may contract parasites or have coccidia from poor conditions. The test is not usually very expensive – maybe around $20 or so and based on what your telling me it’s not a bad idea to do this just in case.

I don’t think it’s necessary to do both metroclopramide and simethicone. The metroclopramide is going to help stimulate the gut and it should have the same effect as simethicone.

I talked to the guy at the rescue shelter.  He’s the one who actually rounded up Jester in the parking lot back in January.  He didn’t think it was a bad idea to get the fecal test done some day.  He said parasites will cause the poop to be really stinky.  He didn’t think that was to blame for the latest tummy upset.

What we’ve done is eliminate the fresh veggies to let Jester’s system get back to normal.

Last night, we gave him more metoclopramide and then also a syringe full of mushed up pellets/water to get some fluids in him.  That seems to do wonders for him!!!  He is soooo good about taking it too- maybe he knows we are trying to help him?! lol

After about a half hour, he’s more active, eating on his own again, running around, and going potty like normal.  (we have been cleaning his litterbox out daily so we can monitor what’s coming out)

I did introduce some new veggies (there were recommended by HRS’ site).  I think I was to blame this time. 

I feel like we now know how to better handle it when he stops eating like he normally does/going potty like normal.

I don’t think parasites will always cause the poop to be real stinky though. At least that has not been my experience.

Hopefully you will discover the cause because if it continues then you might need to visit the vet again.

We will keep searching until we find the cause.

Our best guess right now is the veggies- I’ve tried to do well by picking HRS recommended veggies but I don’t think Jester’s digestive system has approved of them all!

After the meto or even just the gas drops and a syringe full of pellet/water mixture, we seem to be able to stimulate his appetite again.  He was out running around with Lily shortly after we did this last night.

No veggies for him until we get his system back in good order. 

He ate his pellets like normal this morning and his litterbox had regular looking poops from overnight.

One really good way to tell how he’s feeling- we offer a favorite treat of his- if he doesn’t come over to get it, we know he’s not feeling good.

I *think* we’ve found the cause.

Thank you for the good info, Sarita.

If this persists, we will take a fecal into the vet to have tested.

Regarding the fecal test, they don’t just have to test for parasites. With Bailey’s fecal test, they could tell if there was an imbalance in the bacteria and could help pinpoint it to being diet related.

Oh wow, that would all be good information to have on Jester.

Ok, now for the silly questions- do I just take one fecal in?  Does it need to be a fresh one? 

(the stuff you just don’t know unless you ask) hehe

You will want a fresh fecal (not cecal) maybe change the litter box that morning and get one from there. Or sometimes you can put them in their carrier too after they eat that morning and hopefully he will poop in there and you can get it that way as well.

Put it in a plastic baggy – one that is new and not used to take the the vet. I would take a few just in case.

You should be able to just walk in and drop it off.

Thanks, Sarita!

I will call my vet and let them know that we want to do that.

The more info we have about Jester, the better!

I am happy to report that he’s been doing really well since we’ve stopped feeding him fresh veggies.

When we do start him back slowly on veggies, are there any that are known to be more gentle on their systems or does it all have to do with the specific bunny?

I know you said you were using the HRS list of veggies, but there are a ton – so which ones have you been feeding?

HI,
A small suggestion. Make a list of the veggies you tried previously, and then try to slowly introduce the gentlest ones from a different family. That is, if you were giving romaine lettuce, try a simple green leaf or red leaf that is less like the cabbage types. If you had given mint, try dill or cilantro instead. Basically, start over with mild ones that are not the same as before.