GI stasis again - how not to break down.

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 6sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 7 months ago by Nutmeg.

Viewing 6 reply threads

Author

Messages
- 08/01/2018 at 7:40 AM
  Tanya
  Participant
  8 posts
  Hello everyone. I decided to write here, to get some advice and maybe even some moral support.
  
  Half a year ago we adopted two bunnies from the shelter – 1,5 and 1 year old ( or something like that). They are two adorable bunnies, who live outside in a hutch and a large pen connected to it and use our terrace/backyard/ first floor of the house to play and run – I probably should mention that in the Netherlands it’s pretty common to keep bunnies outside and they were given to us as “outside” bunnies and they do hate to be inside.
  
  A few months after adoption I noticed one of the bunnies started to eat less and did no binkies. After checking at the vet, they said it was a molar issue, bunny got the tooth cut and was on anti-bio and pain relief medication for 2 weeks. during next check, turned out it didn’t help and we were refereed to a special “bunny surgeon” in another city who is specialised in rabbit dental issues. 2 teeth were extracted and poor bunny had to go with 2 weeks of medication plus 4 weeks on cleaning the absсess wound – 2 times a day, painful and really really difficult ( the wound was healing well, then it got worse, then well again).
  
  He got better and then a month later he had a GI stasis. I caught the beginning of the process, we cured it but I am really in doubt what was the reason. I thought that cotton bedding for the toilet might be something that bunny ate. Meanwhile I tried to give bunny cardboard to have his teeth worn out. And ofc plenty of hay. Could it be cardboard? Something else?
  
  A few days after his stasis was discovered, the other bunny got sick – bloated, not responding to me much, almost went into a “coma” just within 10 hours. It was a nightmare, I found her on the floor when I came back from work. Emergency vet visit, GI stasis, but in a worse state, sleepless night with medicine.
  
  2-3 weeks passed, everything was ok, although I was still scared to go home to see the same thing again. So this morning I found out that the bunny who went through dental surgery is sitting in a corner and not eating again, although he is not bloated. I gave him force feeding, painkiller and stomach medication and after a few hours he became way more active and even ate some wet pellets. Of course will check on him tonight, if anything suspicious – we will have to go to the vet again ( I think counting wound cleaning, this bunny visited vets at least 20 times in 3 months).
  
  Long story short: what am I doing wrong? vet couldn’t propose anything much, when I asked for the reason. I changed bedding type, hay brand, I use the most expensive vet approved pellets, bunnies spend 2-4 hours a day running, the total pen space is 4 m2, I limit the veggies, I clean the cage every day and yet.. here we are.
  
  I feel very sorry for them and guilty and I think I am going crazy myself as well – cancelled my vacations, skipped trips because I am just scared to leave them with a pet sitter. Any ideas, feedback, sharing similar experiences is welcome. I think I came here more for moral support, because my usual action is “problem?” – “go to the vet”.
  
  Sorry for a long read, will appreciate any feedback.
- 08/01/2018 at 11:10 AM
  Sirius&Luna
  Participant
  2320 posts
  What a stressful situation!
  
  Some bunnies are just genetically prone to GI stasis – I’m going to list all the possible causes I can think of below, but obviously not all of these may apply.
  
  – cardboard – bunnies don’t need cardboard to wear down their teeth – hay alone is responsible for wearing down teeth, but willow and apple twigs can be fun toys that also help with teeth to an extent. that said, it’s unlikely that cardboard would be the cause
  – His teeth could still be causing him pain, making him not want to eat, and then triggering stasis
  – pellets – some bunnies just don’t tolerate pellets well. How much do they get?
  – veggies – same as above, some bunnies just don’t tolerate veg and have to have a veg free diet. It might be worth (checking with your vet too!) cutting them back to a hay only diet for a couple of weeks, and slowly reintroducing a tiny amount of pellets and veg
  – grass – some bunnies can get GI stasis from eating too much grass
  – E Cuniculi – a parasite that many bunnies are born with, and can show up as all sorts of symptoms, from head tilt and paralysis to kidney problems or repeated GI stasis. It can be treated with a 28 day course of panacur, but can reoccur.
  – antiobiotics – these could have upset the balance of his GI tract – you could try a probiotic
  
  Another thing you can try when you first see them looking uncomfortable is give them baby gas medication – simethicone. This is perfectly safe to give to rabbits, and doesn’t interact with any other medications, so you can give it just on the suspicion of them having gas. I’ve given it to my bunny when she’s looked uncomfortable, and she was totally back to normal within half an hour. Of course, this doesn’t get to the root of why they’re getting gas, but it’s a good medicine to have on hand and it’s worth trying before a vet visit. You can give 0.5-1ml, wait an hour and then try another dose, but if that doesn’t make a difference, you then need to go to the vet anyway.
- 08/01/2018 at 11:12 AM
  Nutmeg
  Participant
  594 posts
  Hey! I am by no means a bunny expert – but I can tell you from my last bunny and from things I’ve read on here – some bunnys are more prone to GI Statsus and sometimes its not anything you do or didn’t do.
  Baby gas drops are my go to at the first sign of gas.
  
  How much pellets are you giving?
  You could also try taking out all veggie and slowly introduce them back in one at a time, watching for any reaction to them as you go.
  
  Could anything have scared them outside? I had my bunny outside in an out door cage to get some sun and eat some grass and the neighbours dog came over sniffing – this dog is a big softy and was just curious and could not get to the rabbit, but SHE didn’t know that and started stomping away. She started the first signs of stasis that evening.
  (I always gave my neighbour a heads up when I took her out after that so that he kept the dog in for a bit lol)
  
  So just trying to think outside the box as it sounds like you are doing everything right. Just wondering if a an outdoor cat could have been nosing around or something.
  
  Sending big hugs your way! I know how stressful taking care of a sick bunny can be!
  You are not alone!!
- 08/01/2018 at 8:36 PM
  kurottabun
  Participant
  908 posts
  I don’t have anything to add, but just wanna say that there are a lot of similar people here who have dealt with horrible cases of sick bunnies. It’s indeed very stressful so sending good vibes your way! xx
- 08/01/2018 at 8:48 PM
  Bunny House
  Participant
  1241 posts
  Hi, I’m sorry you’re going through this. I am too for the past couple of months and you can read some of my topics I’ve started on my page and maybe that can give you some other ideas. I agree with the others advice. It’s freaking hard, mentally, emotionally and physically having to take care of sick bunnies.
  
  Often times if a bunny goes through a bad stasis, the colon can loose some of its function and turn into megacolon( interesting topic to research) so it means his whole tract shuts down or slows down and produces limited amount of huge poops.
  
  For the 2nd bun going into stasis, it could be from the first bun going into it and it caused the second to get sad and therefore go inso stasis.
  
  It’s a long road but don’t give up, cry when you need to but make sure to keep your spirit up around them so they won’t feel anxiety being around you.
  
  I hope this helps
- 08/02/2018 at 4:02 AM
  Tanya
  Participant
  8 posts
  Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for your messages, made me feel better but what is most important Foxy (bunny who refused to eat yesterday) is feeling better too, 1 time medication and change of diet made him eat in the evening/morning. He even did 1 binky and ran in crazy circles on a terrace.
  I read through your advices and came up with a plan:
  – cardboard, I agree with @SiriusandLuna – cardboard is not really needed for teeth, but X-ray showed that my bunnies, if they were human, would wear braces – their teeth are not growing perfectly, so extra work for them would be logical BUT indeed, I will try to skip cardboard games now (although they love it) or limit it to minimum.
  – the fact that my bunnies, just before first stasis, started chewing on everything, might suggest they look for more fiber. I indeed gave them 50 grams of Science (vet. approved feeding) a day but I think it’s too much, although it’s a recommended portion. “Science” brand here, in Holland, also sells completely wheat free pellets, for now I will limit pellets to just a small amount or none. For past day I made bunnies stay on hay (2 types of hay + straw) diet and looks like poop has improved.
  – greens, after first stasis I cut on vegetables, maybe it was a wrong decision, I will try to introduce a bit more parsley and basil (they eat both during the winter and had no problems)
  – Water: I give them a bit extra water through the syringe dipping the end of the syringe in banana. It was quite warm recently and I have a feeling they just forgot to drink enough from their bowls.
  – Foxy chews everything he can which he is not supposed to – from trench walls to plastic slippers. He never succeeded to properly eat any ofc, but I will limit his access to the room and re-check whole place again to make sure he has no access to plastic or cotton.
  
  Long story short: hay diet, less cardboard, water, trying greens little by little.
  
  As for the stress – there are indeed many cats around, but our whole terrace is protected by the net above and proper wooden wals on the sides, so cat’s can’t come in. In winter when we were still putting on the net, bunnies befriended a neighbour’s cat, they were sniffing each other through the pen and sitting next to each other (but i blocked terrace from that cat anyway), I also noticed when cats can be heard fighting, bunnies keep on washing themselves and show no stress. My bunnies get stressed only by new humans, sadly, it started to happen after all those vet visits
  
  So I will keep a close eye on a diet. Thanks everyone for the support, it’s great to know you are not alone.@Bynny house – I will definitely read through your posts here. Big hug to everyone who goes through the same and hello from my 2 bunnies
- 08/02/2018 at 10:56 AM
  Nutmeg
  Participant
  594 posts
  YAY So glad to hear that things are getting better!!
  So sounds like some of it was from stress… just from the human vets and not other animals lol.
  Keep us posted & all the best!
Author

Messages

Viewing 6 reply threads

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.