Posted By Luna on 5/06/2017 7:04 PM

Oh Buttercup! She hasn’t had new veggies, but maybe she’s become sensitive to one that she was ok with before? Maybe it really is the pellets, but is there any possibility at all that she is somehow getting into something she shouldn’t and is eating it? I know it feels frustrating trying to determine the cause. I did the same thing with rotating veggies and other variables when Luna had a wet nose and nothing happened. Try not to worry too much, Peanut is there to help her get through this. Luna sends tummy vibes ((((Buttercup)))).

Yeah i’m wondering if her stasis last week has made her super sensitive to things she’s previously been okay with. We’re going to go back to basics, stick with romaine for a couple weeks, then add one more, say watercress for example, trial it for a couple of weeks etc. I just feel like I’ve failed her because it’s got to be something I’m feeding her. I don’t think she’s getting into anything she shouldn’t, at least not when I’m around? I’m wondering if hair ingestion is causing it or at least contributing. Neither her nor Peanut tolerate grooming. And Peanut is constantly moulting,  and Buttercup grooms him so much bless her. I’ve just ordered a hand mit grooming glove thing so hopefully they’ll be okay with that. Can’t hurt to try. She’s only 8 months old I’m glad Peanut is there to comfort her, it’s nice that they’ve got each other. She’s such a good bunny – when I was shoving hay in her face I fully expected her to bite or nip (being in pain and having someone try and shove food in your face can’t be fun!) But she didn’t. She’s got a great temperament. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did nip. I feel lost without them here 

Thank you for your support everybody 

Luna, I don’t have a garden so neither bun has ever been outside. It feels very weird waking up and not being able to feed them and clean up poop. House feels empty, quiet even (even tho they are very quiet animals anyway!)

Vanessa, hay and water intake has been completely normal. She’s a hay fiend. She eats more hay than Peanut. She was absolutely fine all day yesterday until the sudden (and I do mean sudden, it came on so quick) discomfort. 

Jersey, it’s incredibly worrisome as she had stasis a couple of months back (I wanna say February?)  so in total she’s needed emergency vet care for stasis three times She’s not even 9 months old yet. She was spayed back in the beginning of December, on the 2nd I think. Thankfully after her spay she was fine in terms of eating and pooping! 

The good news is we called the vets and they are very happy with her progress. She is eating a little and pooping. They think we bought her in just as a blockage was starting and they’re going to keep her til at least midday as they don’t want her discharged til the blockage has righted itself. I’m not sure what treatments they’ve given overnight. She might have been put on a drip. Just can’t wait to have them both home! They’ve got giant lego to play with 

Bought Buttercup home a few hours ago. They syringe fed her a few times, the most recent they couldn’t get too much in as she was quite feisty  They gave her strong pain killers last night which sedated her a little so now they’ve given her a milder pain relief which she seems okay on. No signs of discomfort that I can see. She was quite inquisitive when she came home (as was Peanut) We had extra boxes in the living room due to the monthly hay delivery so they wanted to check them out. She’s eaten some plantain but was more focused on exploring. She was enthusiastic tho. She’s done two poops and not eaten any hay yet but I’m hoping in the next couple of hours she will.  

She’s not done any more poops and she’s only nibbled hay. Going to see how she responds to veggies. She might need to go back

Thanks for the advice guys. I’ve just got back from the vets and Buttercup has made some progress – the vet that saw her is the one that admitted her last night. She said he’d tummy is moving more but it’s still not quite normal so she had another round of injections. We’ve been told to syringe feed her some Recovery in a couple of hours if she doesn’t eat on her own. That’ll be interesting – I’m so nervous about that. I’ll have to try the bunny burrito. I just want her to be okay

I’m definitely keeping her off pellets for a while – possibly long term depending how she responds. Do you really suggest no veggies then? I worry that she’ll get poorly from mack of nutrients. How long do you suggest no veggies?

On the plus side, SHE HAS JUST DONE POOPS!!!! 20 OF THEM!

She’s done about 25 ish poops now and one giant slimy one, sort of looks like a giant cecal but not quite?

Posted By bam on 5/07/2017 3:17 PM

That’s normal after a bout of stasis, a “turd” like that. It’s not a cause for concern, it often marks the “end” of a bad bout of gas or stasis. It means the gut isn’t in balance, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for diarrhea. With diarrhea there are no round hard poops.

25 poops is lovely

Phew!  She’s done more (small) poops 

She’s a fussy little mare, I tried about 10 different hays before I found one she likes 

Just syringe fed her some Recovery – very watered down as she seemed to prefer it that way. Got to do it every 4 hours til she’s eating normally. Gunna be a long night!

I’m not sure whether she’s still recovering albeit slowly or whether she needs intervention again. She’s still not eating on her own, she had a tantrum earlier when I tried to hand feed her some hay altho she has just nibbled one strand. Not sure how quickly she should be recovering. She’s been syringe fed Recovery 3 x and we’re about to do it again. She’s had her morning dose of Ranitidine.

Just syringe fed her again. We’re having to water it down a lot as she’s not drinking. Heard a gurgle so also gave her some gas drops. Poor little thing. She’s so sweet. She kicks her legs in disgust once we put her back on the floor but she doesn’t try to scratch or bite us whilst we’re attending to her. I want my Butter Bean back

Boyfriend spoke to a vet nurse from our normal vet to query whether we should be seeing more progress and I feel like she knew nothing to be honest. She said firstly we need to give timothy hay as well as our usual oat grass because apparently oat grass can cause a blockage? Then she said our diet for her us ‘too commercialised’ because we give dried dandelion :-/ She also said we need to make the recovery mix thicker because us watering it down is stopping her from drinking. We made it watery because she wasn’t drinking….

I’ve no idea what to do. I’ll try a thicker mix just to see if she starts pooping more. Last time we know for sure she pooed was 3 am. There’s plenty of poops in the litter boxes but they could be all Peanuts.

I just feel helpless. How do I know she’s making progress. I don’t want to assume she’s recovering slowly only to realise she’s actually gotten into a much worse situation. She bounced back so quickly before. Do I take her back for more gut stimulants? I just don’t feel confident with how she is at all. The vet nurse also said because we’re syringe feeding, she’s starting to rely on it?

Posted By vanessa on 5/08/2017 7:00 AM

Im sudpect of your vet… lancelot gets this occasionally too. Iv honestly never taken him to the vet for stasid. I syringefeed/benebac him thru it. Progress is sliw, but i keep going untill he is eating and drinking and pioping normally. If that means feeding him fluid, so b it. Id b afraid to stop incase his gut isnt ready to keep going. When lancelot is teady to eat:drink on his own, he’ll do it.

It wasn’t our usual veterinary surgeon that we spoke to, it was a vet nurse from the same practice but I’m not convinced by her advice! I’m happy to continue syringe feeding but I don’t want to overlook something and then realise she needed more medicated treatment. How do I know whether to keep going or when to take her back 

Posted By vanessa on 5/08/2017 7:09 AM

When does your usual vet get back?

I’m not sure whether he was there and just busy hence the chat from the vet nurse. I think I’m going to syringe feed her again and then call them back and say she needs to be seen. 

Posted By Luna on 5/08/2017 7:11 AM

I agree with you on questioning the nurse opinion. Though when she said watering down the mix is stopping Buttercup from drinking, I think she probably meant to say that Buttercup might not be drinking as much because she’s getting more water from the watery mix – but I don’t see anything wrong with syringing your bun water if she’s not drinking. You know your bun better than anyone, so if you don’t feel right about things then I think you should trust your gut and go back. Plus, I feel like they should have given you some motility meds to take home with you, so if you go back you could also ask for some to take home with you. ((((Buttercup))))

I’ve got 3 days of oral Ranitidine that the emergency vets gave us. I’m so torn. She isn’t shifting and looking uncomfortable but she hasn’t flopped in 2 days. 

We tried making the mix a little thicker and she wasn’t particularly receptive to it. Only managed 5ml. Tried watering it down and got another 10mls in before she started getting a bit worked up. 

I think the balance is what I’m struggling with – are we filling her up? She has had 1 strand of hay all day. Nothing in between syringe feedings aside from plantain which she was enthusiastic about. But if I stop the Recovery, she could get worse? Saying that I don’t know if we are filling her up and that’s the cause for her not eating because behaviour wise she’s not acting normal either. She’s not moving around very much altho it is prime sleeping time. She’s laying next to Peanut more rather than keeping herself to herself so that’s something I guess. Still no poops. I’m going to get her looked at if she doesn’t poop in the next two hours. 

Posted By Theodorusrex on 5/08/2017 5:57 AM

Sorry to hear that you’re having this trouble with Buttercup. My bun Theo suffers something very similar and has had stasis needing emergency vet care several times in the space of a few months. We tried everything, switching up his hay (he won’t touch timothy, and now will only eat oxbow orchard hay), switching up his food etc. Even the vet is stumped. We believe that he is just very sensitive to fur ingestion, especially during moulting (he is a real groomer). He didn’t use to tolerate grooming whatsoever but with persistence we have got to a point that if we put him on a towel on a high surface he’s not familiar with e.g. table he will sit there for short periods while we pluck him/brush him etc. It’s essential we do this at least once a day during a heavy moult or Theo will stop eating.

Bam also very helpfully suggested Protexin Pro-fibre for rabbits pro-biotic pellets during one of Theo’s worst stasis episodes. We feed them daily and have definitely seen an improvement. In fact we ran out for a week once and the shipping of the new pack was delayed etc and he had a bad stasis episode during that time (could be an coincidence but I still felt terrible). So they might help you if you can get access to them where you live. Also we feed Theo an oxbow papaya fruit plus table once a day – I know its controversial whether these help but I figure there’s no harm in it – every little helps and all that.

We also switched Theo to the highest fibre content food we could find (we use Science selective fibafirst sticks) which have a fibre content of ~ 30% and this seems to have improved things also (he also loves them).

I also keep a super tight eye on Theo’s poop size and keep a special eye out for any poops strung together with hair. If his poops decrease in size or are strung together I give him a small amount of preventative critical care – this seems to stimulate his appetite and improve his poop size etc in these cases.

Hope some of this was helpful – I know how worrying and frustrating it is to have a bun with recurring stasis problems. Everytime I think I have it under control he gets sick again – just this week I was talking about how he hadn’t had any problems since January and then yesterday he stopped eating/pooping, although thankfully we got it under control with critical care and simethicone at home.

Good vibes for little Buttercup – keep eating and pooping!!

Thank you for your support. Those fibafirst sticks sound great, I’ll have to try them out. And I’ll look into that pro-fibre thing too. I’ve been interested in the Oxbow supplements. I am willing to try anything at the moment! 

I’ve also just bought a grooming mit/glove in the hopes that they’ll tolerate that but if not we’ll have to fight them against it. Maybe try putting them on a high surface so they can’t wriggle away.

How do you cope with little Theo? Glad he’s okay at the moment, and that it’s somewhatunder control 

 I’m on edge right now thinking the worse

Posted By Q8bunny on 5/08/2017 9:41 AM

(((((((((Buttercup))))))))) It’s hard to say. Keeping in mind that buns can go for hours without nibbling (for instance while snoozing during the day), she might just be full from the Recovery… but you know your little one best so if you still feel like something’s off, nuts to what others say – be a pushy parent and demand the knowledgeable doctor.

I have nothing to lose by being over cautious I guess! 

Okay I don’t want to get too excited but we put down a pile of dandelion which she started munching…then she stopped to eat some hay! And she did 5 poops!!!!

There’s a pile out for her We’re going to hold off on the syringe feeding til my boyfriend gets back from work tonight just to see if she’ll eat when not full of Recovery.

Hi guys, wow all I can say is what a transformation! Since 4pm, Buttercup has come leaps and bounds  She’s eating hay, some romaine, dandelion and plantain. She’s been pooping well, and peeing. She seems much more perky and vibrant too. Hopping about, being inquisitive and looking happy. She’s also spent more time out in the middle of the floor rather than tucked away away nd she’s spent more time with Peanut rather than keeping herself to herself. She even started playing/chewing on her new Willow dumbell 

So because of all that, we didn’t feel the need to take her back to the vets. I did ask for some advice tho, I wanted to know if I should syringe feed her during the night just to ensure there’s something in her and the vet thinks that’s a good idea so she will be fed at around 3 am. Then at a more social hour (I. E.6 am!) she’ll be given her medicine and we’ll change out litter trays as normal and see what happens from there.

I’m feeling much more positive. I don’t think we’re quite out of the woods yet but we’re getting there. 

My baby is almost back to herself and I couldn’t be happier!

Syringe fed her at 3am and she was quite feisty. Managed one syringe of watered down mix. Woke up this morning at 6 am and saw Buttercup drinking water She’s been hopping about and has done 16 poops! She took her medicine well 

She’s done another 12 poops, has eaten more hay and drank from her bowl again. I can’t describe how happy I am!

I’m elated! Going to keep a very close eye but I can relax a little.

Just wanting to query whether I should stick with simple veggies for Buttercup (romaine and coriander) or should I stay off veggies completely for a week or two?

After thinking about it I have decided to keep them both (sorry Peanut!) on just hay* with some dried dandelion for a week or two. Then I’m going to introduce veggies from scratch – a little at a time and gradually build back up. Hopefully that’ll allow Butter’s tummy to balance and not be thrown out of wack

*and plenty of water obviously! 

Gosh a few weeks? Righteo. Hopefully they won’t be too mad about it. No pellets and no veggies now! At least the veggies is only temporary tho.

Posted By vanessa on 5/09/2017 2:42 PM

Yeah…if you think about it, it takes a while for the bacteria/microflora balance to be right again. It doesn’t happen overnight. It gets better enough overnight that they feel like eating again, but if you move to soon on the veggies and the balance isn’t quite right yet – you risk a relapse. Now the next question – how long is long enough… ?!?
I do think there is some merit (risk versus benefit) to simplifying a bunny’s diet for the rest of its life, if it constantly displays sensitivities. If every second bite of veggies sends her into stasis, I might want to cut out veggies for ever – if I can’t find the few that don’t send her into stasis. Same goes for pellets. If she is that sensitive that hay is best, then I’d just focus on variety of hay.
She might not be happy about that – but neither is any allergic kid happy about his/her diet restrictions!

That’s a very good point and if she runs into issues again when back on veggies it’s something I’ll need to consider if I can’t narrow it down. I’m hoping just cutting out pellets and helping her not ingest so much fur will help massively but obviously I can’t predict. I hope she can handle veggies but we’ll have to see. Right now tho, I’ll focus on hay and get her tummy in top condition. I’m considering a daily Probiotic too as suggested a couple pages back but ill need to do a little more research on it.

Thanks for the tips guys

Took Buttercup to my normal vets today to get her teeth looked at as recommended by the emergency vet when I spoke to them on the phone on Monday. The vet checked them out (not the vet nurse that gave terrible advice btw!) and said they look fine. I didn’t expect her teeth to be bad anyway as she’s eating hay like a monster now but at least we can definitely rule that out.

And Peanut can tell she’s feeling better because he’s very interested in her bum again  Frisky little boy, although to his credit he didn’t bug her when she was really poorly!