advice for pre-stasis?

FORUM

What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 12sd replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 2 months ago by Meg.

Viewing 12 reply threads

Author

Messages
- 01/03/2011 at 6:57 PM
  Meg
  Participant
  560 posts
  Hey all!  My poor bunny boy, Teddy, is having his first bout of pre-stasis and as a relatively new bunny parent I’m all worried. I’ve talked to the vet and we’re coming in first thing in the morning (11 hours from now), but I’d love any extra advice or tricks you might be able to share.
  
  Teddy is a 20-month-old very fluffy Lionhead mix whom I adopted in August ’09 and is bonded to my bunny girl, Athena (2 years old). I’ve only had bunnies since that summer, so I’ve never seen stasis or pre-stasis before and I’m all nervous.
  
  Teddy’s always been a picky eater, and not as enthusiastic about food as Athena, so I didn’t worry when he didn’t dig into the lettuce last night — sometimes he eats it later. But I don’t know if he did end up having any. He did take his goodnight treats like usual, and I saw him drinking water.
  
  Today, though, he wouldn’t eat anything, not even when I tried his favorite treats!  I also noticed a lot of very, very small poops (1/4 to 1/2 the normal size) — not cecotropes. He acts more or less normally (hopping around, grooming himself, chilling), but there are times when I feel like Athena is babysitting him more than usual, sticking by him, grooming him even more than usual, and that worries me. I haven’t seen him drinking any water, although I think he peed an hour ago. I was alarmed when I noticed all this (around noon), of course, so I called the vet, but since she wasn’t able to get back to me until tonight we have to wait till tomorrow morning to bring him in.
  
  Since then, he has started to nibble a little this afternoon/evening — tiny amounts of treats, pellets, or hay. He also pooped just a few tiny pellets. A few hours ago I was first able to successfully give him about a teaspoon of a pumpkin/water/Critter-Be-Better solution by oral syringe, and about .03 ml of simethicone. I’m about to repeat that. The vet said I should do so about every 2 hours through the night until she can see him. I’m also going to start giving about 10ml per feeding of Pedialyte and water — do you use the full strength suggested on the package, or a weaker solution?
  
  Any thoughts?  Since he is eating a little bit on his own I feel bad traumatizing him by picking him up and force-feeding him so much, especially since reducing stress is so important now, and he does have a car ride coming up tomorrow. But I know I have to suck it up and give him the medicine he needs even though I hate putting him through this.
  
  Do you have any tricks that are helpful with a pre-static bunny?  I’ve tried coaxing him with all his favorite foods but he just nibbles a little if he eats them at all. I just want to give him the best care I possibly can, but I have no experience with this.
  
  Thank you so much,
  
  Meg
- 01/03/2011 at 7:25 PM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  Does he love his hay and has he been groomed lately? I don’t have experience with statis as much as the other members do. I know Lionheads require a lot more grooming than other rabbits do.
  
  I would be very concerned if he is just pooping little bits I hope he can be seen tomorrow!
- 01/03/2011 at 8:13 PM
  Meg
  Participant
  560 posts
  Thanks, Brittany!
  
  Teddy is a pretty good hay eater, although he’s always a little less into food in general than Athena is. He was just groomed this weekend. It’s not usually an issue; I just keep an eye out for stringy poops and give papaya tablets when needed. I did see that someone took a little nibble of one of the cord covers we have, so he may have eaten a little bit of plastic!! (though that would not be the first time!) Yes, we have an 8:45am appointment with the vet tomorrow.
  
  So far tonight his appetite continues to improve! He even ate some hay steadily for a good 5-10 minutes, and took a nibble of lettuce. If he is eating normal food, especially hay, I let him finish before picking him up for the simethicone and Critter-Be-Better (which is like Critical Care, a probiotic powder feed) syringe feeding… but I’m starting to wonder if I should be keeping on with it now or not, and if so how often. I never usually pick him up, and I don’t want to stress him out unnecessarily, especially if he is eating some on his own. Of course, I don’t want to be doing too little to intervene, either! Does anyone have any thoughts on how aggressive I should be at this point, how often I should be giving him the simethicone/probiotic feed?
- 01/04/2011 at 2:50 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  What you are doing is super. If he is eating some on his own, absolutely encourage that and give wet greens. If you are seeing some improvement in him after simethicone/fluids get him eating on his own. If he lapses some I would be giving it again. Another thing you can do is gently massage his abdomen. If he’s moving about a bit on his own, this is good also.
  
  Stasis can be secondary, the result of some other issue. Like dental pain, pain from injury or stress. It might be an idea for the vet to check out his teeth thoroughly when you go for the appt.
  
  I remember your pair. Poor Teddy! Wellness (((vibes))) for him.
- 01/04/2011 at 5:44 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  Ditto what Jersey said. You are doing great. Stasis is always secondary to some other issue – it’s a condition not an actual illness. Let us know what the vet says.
- 01/04/2011 at 6:54 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Let us know how it goes. (I think the time stamp if off on the forum, so I don’t actually know what time this was posted.)
- 01/04/2011 at 10:19 AM
  Meg
  Participant
  560 posts
  Thank you so much, everyone! Teddy has continued to eat a little and poop about a dozen half-sized poops every couple hours. He acts more or less normal, hopping around, grooming himself, and sitting with his legs tucked under. But the vet said it’s touch and go with him. :/ She said it sounds like his stasis is gastric rather than cecal, which is harder to treat, and that it’s impossible to tell with stasis how it will turn out, even though he seems to be doing pretty well right now. He was a little cold (97.5) and a little dehydrated, so she gave him sub-Q fluids, and also an injection of Reglan and one of a 24-hour pain medication. She also gave me some oral Reglan and SMZ (antibiotic) to give him at home. The plan is to continue syringe feeding the Critter-Be-Better and water every 3-6 hours, simethicone every 6 hours, finish the course of oral antibiotics, and keep up the Reglan as needed until he’s eating and pooping completely normally again.
  
  As far as the cause, it could be stress or teeth. The vet did look at his teeth and said his little tooth spur (which she had said we should just watch) has worsened since his June checkup — not awful, but I’m going to take him to the local bunny dentist once he’s out of the woods with this stasis. He is still eating hay sometimes, though, and doesn’t seem to prefer soft foods over others.
  
  But also, I’d been out of town from Thursday to Sunday night, and for a 5-day stretch over last weekend too. We have the great fortune of having a bunny medical worker from the local rabbit sanctuary as our visiting bunnysitter, so they were in great hands; and he said he didn’t notice anything amiss. Do you think that could be it, though? I rarely go out of town, and when I’m home I’m usually at home with them almost all day, so it must be a change for them to just have a sitter come by twice a day. Or that plus the tooth spur? What else can trigger stasis? I want to make sure I’m doing *all* I can to prevent it!!!!
  
  Thank you so much for your advice and support. I cried in the vet’s office when she told me how serious this is. I love Teddy so much, and Athena loves him so much!!! He has to stay with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I work at home so luckily I can nurse him around the clock… please send along any other tips/advice you might have for what I can be doing to help the little bun.
  
  Thank you again,
  
  Meg
- 01/04/2011 at 10:23 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  I would definitely get that spur taken care of – even a small one can cause discomfort.
- 01/04/2011 at 10:34 AM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  I agree with Sarita!!
  
  Do they do teeth shavings at your vet?
- 01/04/2011 at 12:32 PM
  Meg
  Participant
  560 posts
  She refers to the one real bunny dental specialist in our town, so I will definitely take Teddy there as soon as he’s out of the woods. His appetite comes and goes, and he’s willing to eat hay, pellets and greens when he does eat, so I’m hoping this means he can recover enough to at least stabilize before we need to take him to the bunny dentist. Or do you think I should consider taking him right away, not waiting for him to recover? I’m concerned about the stress; but then, if it is an underlying cause… ?
  
  Thanks again!
  
  Meg
- 01/04/2011 at 12:44 PM
  Brad T
  Participant
  19 posts
  I hope that everything is continuing to look up for the little guy and that it’s just a mild discomfort from the spur that will be taken care of (or anything better than that ). Unfortunately for you (fortunately for us), I’m not experienced with stasis or any teeth problems, but we wish you the best of luck and send healing vibes your way.
  
  Honestly, I didn’t even know that there were bunny dentists so hopefully that’s a huge plus for you and Teddy.
- 01/04/2011 at 8:46 PM
  KatnipCrzy
  Participant
  2981 posts
  Brad T- bunny teeth are so different than dog or cat teeth- that unless a vet sees a lot of exotics they probably won’t have the equipment or experience to file the teeth. Dog and cat teeth are like ours- permanent and they occasionally need cleaning and possibly extractions. Rabbit teeth constantly grow- so they can need to be trimmed or filed- and rabbit mouths are so narrow even compared to a cats- you need special equipement to get their mouth propped open while you work on the teeth, special files that won’t injure the other parts of their mouth, and the experience to do the work.
  
  I think that any bunny who is “off” and not eating completely normally- it IS beneficial to syringe feed Critical Care (or equivalant) and also fluids (Pedialyte/water- I personally use a 50/50 mix to not add too much sugar to their gut). Staying hydrated and keeping the gut moving helps a lot. And in cases of GI stasis, dehydration will only make it worse as the gut is not as moist- and it is believed that giving plenty of fluids if the rabbit is not eating/drinking normally on their own will help keep anything in the GI tract hydrated and hopefully keep it moving.
  
  So even though it feels awful to have to syringe feed and syringe water/pedialyte into a bunny that is eating some (but not normally)- it is still important. I have had to do it- and I usually by the time they are 100% normal again they absolutely don’t want it done anymore- but I take that as a good sign.
- 01/04/2011 at 9:09 PM
  Meg
  Participant
  560 posts
  Thanks for the good wishes, Brad! And thank you so much for the advice, KatnipCrzy! That’s really helpful. Thankfully, Teddy is a lot better so far this evening… I’d say his appetite is back to normal or at least 75%: he’s been eating lots of greens, some hay and pellets, etc. without much prompting. He acts pretty normal, too. And there have been a lot more poops, and now they’re like 3/4 the normal size instead of 1/2 or smaller (several strings with hair, but I take that as a good sign that it’s clearing out). Tonight he took his medicine well, but when it came to syringe feeding the watered-down Critical Care equivalent he was really not into it. He took about 4ccs and then he put his foot down and started squirming like crazy, even after taking rests to calm him down. So I did take it as a good sign too and let him go after a few unsuccessful attempts to give him more.
  
  Thanks again! I’m so grateful for your help and would be glad to hear any further thoughts anyone has.
Author

Messages

Viewing 12 reply threads

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.