There have been no changes to her diet, environment etc…we give her pellets with a high fibre content and loads of good quality hay, greens etc. We did suspect a different brand of hay to be responsible last time as our local pet store closed down and we had to use another brand for a few days (which got quickly thrown out!) but she has been on the same brand for a while now. I’m not sure if the vet has checked her teeth; I will ask tomorrow. She has had three lots of motility and painkiller jabs, and we are force feeding her Fibreplex for rabbits, a special paste in a syringe containing lots of fibre. We think she is slowly getting better and the vet seems to agree which is good news.

It’s just weird cos last time she got better really quick, this time she is up and down like a yo-yo, one minute she’s eating hay/greens and you wouldn’t think there is anything wrong with her, the next she’s sitting in a corner being all miserable on her own (most uncharacteristic). Our other rabbit Hazel is absolutely fine.

She’s been back to the vet who says she doesn’t have gas any more, the vet also checked her teeth, and while they aren’t perfect they shouldn’t be causing her any pain.

So the vet has given her another dose of motility drugs but no painkillers this time – she says that with no gas and if she is eating a little then she shouldn’t be in pain – the vet wants to see if she IS still in pain to see if there is an underlying condition we haven’t spotted. She says bring her back in a couple of days, unless she starts to get worse in which case bring her straight back (she’s been at the vet 4 times in 4 days!).

She is back home with us and acting really weird – hopping around in short bursts, nibbling occasionally but not really interested in food, and she is doing a lot of ‘bunny shakes’ – you know, like when a dog shakes its coat dry (she does this normally now and again when she is in a bit of a playful/frisky mood normally but not this much). Sometimes she just sits and stares at the wall for a while which is really worrying – it’s like she’s losing her mental abilities, or stoned or something!

Is this normal behaviour when recovering from GI stasis, or does anyone think there is something else wrong – please help, my wife is due to go into labour anytime now and this is stress we really don’t need!

She is pooping and has been for a couple of days, really small ones though. She is nibbling at hay and kale and is obviously taking some stuff in, but has no real interest in food.

She is now throwing her food dish around in a playful/grumpy kind of way as I am typing, now she’s eating a bit of kale. Then a couple of bunny shakes and now she’s back to staring into space. Really strange behaviour.

No, vet said that if things don’t improve she will recommend giving her a general anesthetic, filing her teeth down a bit and giving her an x-ray.

She just ate some kale/rocket and hay that I had left for her, then when I put a plate with some more on in front of her, she picked the plate up and threw it across the room. It’s almost like she’s telling me to go away and stop fussing over her!

Thanks Sarita. The vet said that they were slightly uneven and beginning to ‘spike’ and that if they got much worse they could cause her discomfort by rubbing on her tongue/cheeks, however she doesn’t think that they are anything to do with her illness just now.

Thanks everyone. Clarissa seems to be on the mend again today, she has been acting more like herself and has done a couple of big happy flops.

I am starting to wonder if her weird behaviour last night was either due to her going ‘cold turkey’ off the painkillers she had been getting for three days, or if she was just fed up of going to the vet/being force fed etc.

Will keep you updated.

Man, this just gets weirder. Clarissa seems to have gotten over the worst of her illness, eating pretty normally, in fact she is especially active tonight, but now her and Hazel are fighting!

It’s Clarissa who is starting it but Hazel is sticking up for herself, we’re going to have to separate them tonight. They are best friends and never fight normally, Clarissa is top bunny in the hierarchy in our house but never really enforces it. I think it must be something to do with her getting over her illness, is this normal?

By the way, Hazel is spayed but Clarissa isn’t (we found Clarissa on the street in a box and have no idea how old she is and the vet thought it might be riskier to spay her).

Clarissa is fine now, she’s well over her stasis and she has also stopped acting like a psycho which is nice. We think she was acting so crazy cos she was trying to re-establish herself as top bunny over Hazel although there was no need really – Hazel is quite submissive.

We will get her teeth done in the next few weeks on the vets recommendations, the vet would rather give her a while longer to recover from her stasis before she administers a general anaesthetic as Clarissa is at least 5 years old.

Still no baby though, one week overdue now and getting impatient!