Constant, Reoccurring GI Stasis?

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This topic has 8sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 7 months ago by DanaNM.

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- 09/02/2020 at 6:19 PM
  shayminshaming
  Participant
  4 posts
  Hi, I’m sorry if this is in the wrong place and that it’s really long but I’ve had no acknowledgement on other sites and am looking for any sort of help.
  
  TL;DR: I was wondering if anyone has experience with a rabbit that had issues with reoccurring GI stasis.
  
  My rabbit, Fuji, is 5 years old and started having digestive issues around January of last year. It seemed that about every three months, she’d start displaying the symptoms of stasis (suddenly eating and pooping less, hunched up, hiding, lethargic, cold ears, occasional tooth grinding) and I’d take her in to the vet, she’d stay a while, get meds and syringe fed, and come home. Since then, the time between stasis flare-ups has gotten smaller and smaller.
  
  When these flare-ups started happening once a month, I went to another rabbit vet for a second opinion. She suggested I add a digestive supplement to Fuji’s food, switch to soy-free pellets, and that I give her a dose of metaclopromide whenever I saw the indication of a flare-up. At some point last year, Fuji had bloodwork and it all came back fine.
  
  I saw the second specialty vet three months ago. I have fully changed Fuji’s food over as suggested. She gets no treats and minimal salad greens as I was told by the vet that that might be contributing to her digestive issues. Her hay is unlimited, she has a huge bowl of fresh water, I change her litterbox daily, and she free roams 100% of the time. Despite this, Fuji continued to have stasis flare-ups that were remedied with one-to-two doses of metaclopromide except until these last few weeks.
  
  Fuji does have dental issues and needed her teeth trimmed mid-August. Afterwards, she had a bout of stasis that took a week and a half to get back to normal. We got about 7 days of normalcy before the current round of stasis hit. She doesn’t seem to be improving, even after a 7-day vet stay and now at-home medicine and force feeding Critical Care.
  
  I’m so distraught and distressed, I don’t know what more to do to help her or stave off these episodes. I’m so afraid this is shortening her life or that this is going to kill her soon or that I’m going to have to put her down because what kind of life is one where you’re sick and suffering every other week? It certainly isn’t making her life any better or happier to constantly be going to the vet, taking medication, being held and prodded, getting force fed, etc. I adore her so much, she’s the most expressive loving bun and I just want to make her healthy again and have her stay healthy.
  
  TL;DR Does anyone have any similar experience with or advice regarding a rabbit that has frequent, reoccurring GI stasis issues?
- 09/05/2020 at 5:09 PM
  DanaNM
  Moderator
  9064 posts
  Sorry you are going through this, so stressful. 🙁
  
  My suspicion is that her dental issues are related to the stasis troubles. Pain from dental issues can prevent proper eating, and also trigger stasis. Is she able to eat a lot of hay?
  
  And does she get pain meds after her dental treatments?
  
  Also wondering if the vet has done any x-rays?
  
  What meds is she currently on? Sometimes different motility drugs are needed (or a combo) to get things moving again.
  
  Sorry for all the additional questions.
  
  . . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
  - 10/06/2020 at 7:12 PM
    shayminshaming
    Participant
    4 posts
    Hi and thank you so much for responding. I’m very sorry to take to long to reply; I marked this thread to send me emails when someone comments but that didn’t happen until today. :C
    
    To answer your questions:
    
    -Fuji does eat a lot of hay when she isn’t having a flare-up. When she is having teeth issues, she tries to eat but stops after a few careful bites as opposed to a stasis flare where she suddenly won’t eat or poop at all. Her appetite is healthy otherwise.
    
    -I believe she does get pain meds when her teeth are trimmed but she is not usually sent home with any additional medication. Should I ask for some going forward? She does seem to struggle with a stasis episode after trims, but I usually help her through with force feeding and metaclopromide. (With the exception being the August episode that I couldn’t turn around and had to bring her back to the vet for another week’s stay.)
    
    -X-rays have not yet been done but they are now on the list. I saw a third vet last week and he suggested that I get radiography the next time she has a flare-up, just to rule out any large hair blockages in the stomach itself. Do you recommend I ask that they look at both the body and the mouth/teeth?
    
    -Her current medication is metaclopromide. I give it to her when I notice any of her telltale stasis symptoms coming on; I’ve gotten pretty good at noticing the small signs. Both of my vets have said it is ok to give frequently and that some bunnies are on it “chronically.” When I notice the signs of a flare, I give her two doses for five days. She usually turns around within 24 hours but I was told not to stop early, even if she’s acting better. She also takes a daily digestive supplement that Vet #2 recommended. I don’t think it’s hurting so I haven’t stopped.
    
    Also, the third vet (a board certified exotic small mammal specialist) said that the fact that she turns around within 24 hours of being given metaclopromide is a strong indicator, to him, that it’s a chronic/genetic motility condition. Which, he said is common with rabbits and horses, though I can’t find anything anywhere on the net about other owners having this sort of extreme stasis frequency. It’s not a very satisfying answer but, with everything coming back fine, I might have to accept it. I wish Fuji didn’t have to go through this so frequently and I wonder if it’s cruel to make her….
    
    Thank you again for your time and help.
- 09/26/2020 at 5:47 PM
  kanin
  Participant
  139 posts
  Sorry to post this a few weeks late, but I wanted to chime in on my experience with this, although it won’t be very helpful at all. I had my Desmond James for 6 years and he went through the same exact thing, for the first few years he’d get GI stasis every few months or so, maybe 3 or 4 times a year and it was always pretty easy to treat. During his last year-ish though, he had occurrences a lot more frequently and they were a lot more severe. I had x-rays done and blood tests ran multiple times through those years and everything looked normal. During his very last episode when he stopped eating I had his teeth trimmed to see if that would help (which, according to the vet, his teeth didn’t even look bad and shouldn’t have been causing him enough pain to not eat), but if anything it made it a million times worse and I lost him a few days after. There may have been something else going on in addition to his bout of stasis, like a URI or e. cuniculi, but I will never know. Unfortunately my vet didn’t seem to take those possibilities into account.
  
  Anyway, regarding the recurring stasis, I think people assume there must always be some explanation and solution, but in my opinion based on my own experience and the experience of others that I have read, sometimes bunnies are just born with these chronic issues and all we can do is try our best to nurse them back to health during every bout. I’m really sorry you and your bun are going through this because I know how stressful it is. I hope you’re able to find something that works for her to make it less frequent and that you have many more happy years together. Something I didn’t try myself that I’m wondering would help is giving her probiotics (like Bene-Bac) regularly? Maybe it’s worth a shot.
  - 10/06/2020 at 7:27 PM
    shayminshaming
    Participant
    4 posts
    Hi and thank you so much for responding. I’m very sorry to take to long to reply; I marked this thread to send me emails when someone comments but that didn’t happen until today. :C
    
    I’m so terribly sorry to hear about Desmond and that he passed so soon. It’s a huge fear of mine that this will impact Fuji’s quality of life or that I won’t catch or help her in time. I’m stressed and scared all the time and my fear gets completely out of control when she’s having a flare. Which probably doesn’t help her, as she’s a very emotionally sensitive bunny…
    
    Anyway, what you mentioned about chronic issues is almost exactly what my third vet told me last week. This vet (a board certified exotic small mammal specialist) said that the fact that she turns around within 24 hours of being given metaclopromide is a strong indicator, to him, that it’s a chronic/genetic motility condition. Which, he said is common with rabbits and horses, though your story is the first I’ve seen on any forum or discussion board that even mentions anything close to what’s going on with Fuji. You’re also right in that it’s not the answer I want; I want to cure her so she doesn’t have to endure this so often. Is it cruel to make her?
    
    Actually, Fuji was on Bene-Bac for quite a while and it was the first thing we tried when the issues were less frequent. She now takes a digestive chew each day. Sherwood Pet brand. Maybe I’ll re-incorporate the Bene-Bac in addition to the chew….I stopped putting it on her food because we switched to soy-free pellets (another change made to see if she’d get sick less frequently, which had no affect that I could see) and I didn’t want anything to discourage her from eating the new stuff.
    
    Thank you again for your time and help.
- 10/02/2020 at 10:54 PM
  Brianna
  Participant
  2 posts
  I was wondering if I was the only one! My bunny has a very sensitive stomach. I can’t give her any greens or fruit or Timothy hay without her getting a stomach ache, bloat, and so on. She does this weird grunt thing that sounds like she is pushing. I usually keep some simethicone drops from the baby aisle in case of emergency for her. I have to feed her only orchard grass hay. I hope your bun is okay but it sounds like we have a similar situation!
- 10/03/2020 at 8:47 AM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5820 posts
  @Brianna – I encourage you to start a new topic if you’d like recommendations and ideas to help your bun. I don’t think it’s possible for timothy hay to be a cause for gastric distress, with exception that perhaps the rabbit doesn’t like it very much and therefore isn’t eating a lot, leading to bad outcomes since it’s not eating as much hay as it should. Rabbits absolutely need to eat hay to maintain their health in many areas.
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 10/03/2020 at 2:21 PM
  Brianna
  Participant
  2 posts
  @Wick Absolutely! Not necessarily looking for recommendations, but it is interesting that other owners have a similar experience! She has an appointment with her vet to go over her condition and make sure things are okay. She is constantly eating hay, just not timothy. She has a flare up if I change her hay to timothy opposed to orchard grass which I find odd, but her last check up they just said to keep feeding her the food that don’t cause any distress and give her simethicone drops! Thank you for following up!
- 10/06/2020 at 9:23 PM
  DanaNM
  Moderator
  9064 posts
  @shayminshaming
  
  It’s great she has a good hay appetite normally. I think it’s good to have pain meds on hand if you also have motility meds on hand. Stasis is quite painful, and the motility meds can sometimes cause cramping which can make it even more so. Pain can cause things to actually slow down more, so it can be therapeutic in addition to helping bun feel better.
  
  I think x-rays are a good idea. Since she does have a history of dental issues, I think I would have her teeth imaged in addition to her abdomen. I heard very recently (like a week ago via the HRS bunny-fest virtual event), of a rabbit with recurring stasis that had an undiagnosed partial blockage.
  
  It sounds like you have a good treatment plan for when she has an episode, the only think I would add is some pain management. Hopefully you can get some answers soon!
  
  . . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 03/08/2021 at 7:20 PM
  HarryMila
  Participant
  5 posts
  I have the same issue with Mila. She has had a few episodes and each time it’s more frequent. We have spent well over 5k dollars only on emergency vet bills. She is now on simethicone, metaclopramide and another medicine daily for life and she still gets the go stasis issue.
  
  indeed she is sick right now and it’s very hard for me to keep spending the money financially or not knowing if she will make it past this episode. We are very attacihed to each other and it is emotionally draining.
  
  Did the soy free pellets help? How much does he get everyday?
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