The treatment he was prescribed is very unusual for stasis. Your bun is definitely a fighter! Normally the recommended treatment for stasis is pain medication (very important), and sometimes fluids, sometimes a motility aid, and almost always syringe feeding if the rabbit isn’t eating. Syringe feeding and pain meds alone can often bring a rabbit through a stasis episode if it’s not too severe. Mineral oil is also not a normal treatment for rabbits. Sadly non-rabbit savvy vets can often do more harm than good by prescribing treatments that would be standard for a dog or a cat.

Antibiotics are not usually prescribed for stasis. Baytril is a fairly safe antibiotic for rabbits, but unless there is a sign of infection it usually isn’t prescribed by rabbit savvy vets.

All of the antibiotics and mineral oil may have given him what’s known as cecal dybiosis, essentially an imbalance in the microbes in the cecum, leading him to produce all those excess mushy poops.

In my opinion (and remember I’m a stranger on the internet) what he needs now is fiber, hydration, and supportive care. Pain meds (meloxicam is standard) would be very helpful but it sounds like your vet is hard to get a hold of. Gentle tummy rubs are OK, but don’t be too aggressive with them as the condition he’s in is painful. Encouraging gentle movement is also helpful.

It is important that he eats, so keep offering him whatever he will eat, even if it’s greens, but it would be good to get some more substantial food into him. Can you find critical care or another recovery food in your area? If not, you can make a pellet mash by grinding up pellets and mixing with water. You can try offering the pellet mash as is, and if he wont eat it, you can syringe feed it. You can also try offering fresh grass in small amounts if you have it in your area and it is from an area without sprays or pollution from roads.

The real question is the cause of the initial slow down. At his age and breed, he could have a dental problem that made him eat less hay. Or it could have been due to poor care by your relatives. Does he normally eat his hay well?

They sell “pet grass” at pet supply stores. It’s usually just wheat grass.

Meloxicam/metacam are sold as a liquid for animals. Usually the vet will add flavoring to it to make it palatable. For bunnies, it’s usually a sweet flavor.

It does sound like he’s improving! It sounds wise to feed him pellet mush because he needs sunbstantial food to regain his strenght. You can mix pellet mush with unsweetened canned pumpkin (plain, not pie filling) or small amounts of unsweetened baby fruit- or berry puree and see if he will eat the mix voluntarily. Dont give too much sugar since dugar encourages the growth of undesirable gut microbes.

Cat grass is not a specific type of grass, its often wheat, barley or oat or a mix of those grasses. It’s fine for bunnies.

If your vet is very much against anti-inflammatory pain meds, there are a few other painkillers that rabbits can have, one is maropitant (one brand name is Cerenia) and another is metamizol (one brand name is Novalgin). These drugs might not be available in all countries and regulations regarding them also varies between countries. There are also the various opioids.

You will probably see weird-looking poop for quite some time.

Yes, cat grass if often wheat grass, but can also be oat or barley. Nothing wrong with any of those grasses. They are safe to feed to a bunny. Fresh grass will “feel” like veggies, but it will have more fiber.

Ample amounts of gel like poop can/will lead to dehydration, so its very important that he keeps hydrated. In a very young bun this would be a veterinary emergency. I’m very sorry you cant reach a vet during the weekend, I’m in a similar situation where I am.

The gel is probably due to irritation of the large intestine, which in turn is a result of  the dysbiosis, but in my opinion it shouldnt be clear if he has been eating. It should be more like poop covered in mucus, not just clear mucus.

Keep a close eye on activity level. If he becomes less active he might need warming up (a warm water bottle wrapped in a towel will do great). Rabbits can get hypothermic when they’re poorly, and that’s extremely dangerous for them.

Im sorry you and your floof are going through this.

I also go through frequent bouts of statis with my girl Nellie so I can relate to how stressful these situations can be. Your post has encouraged me to do a little reading regarding the mucus in poops and the concensus online seems to be anything ranging from GI irritation from statis or a possible GI infection to cases such as dysbiosis as bam mentioned and another condition called mucoid entersis also came up when searching for causes of excessive mucus – although you may have already scoured through the net yourself.

I too have experienced issues with limited access to vets and my rabbit vet being located further away – are there any other rabbit vets around you could try contact for a phone consultation, even if they aren’t necessarily accessible they might be happy to advise over phone and could provide some better insight?

Im terms of hydration, gently syringe feeding a few ml of water might help to keep him hydrated – I usually do this during stasis but use the little 1ml syringes when feeding water to reduce the aspiration risk, or alternatively watery critical care / pellet mush could be helpful to keep him both hydrated and nourished.

It can be difficult to advise on the right course of action but in my personal (non expert) opinion, if the mucus has continued for several days I would likely keep the appointment on Monday despite the 40 minute drive to be on the safe side and rule out/identify other causes of the persistent mucus.

Good luck and please keep us updated!

It’s really, really great that there is actual poop as well, not just the clear gel! It means it’s not true diarrhoea, and that there’s not a (full) blockage

How is he doing now?

It isn’t unusual for there to be mucus as they recover from a bad stasis episode. I guess I wouldn’t be too alarmed yet as long as he is still pooping and things seem to be progressing.

It’s normal for poop production to slow during the day when bunnies are mostly sleeping. So I wouldn’t take him not pooping for a couple of hours as a bad sign. Just keep monitoring him. If he stops pooping altogether, then you will know there is a problem. If he is gassy, you could try some simethicone.

Do you have simethicone baby gas drops? They wont harm but they could help with the gas. (There’s little scientific evidence for its use with rabbits, since simethicone is designed for human babies, who can burp. Rabbits cant burp, but they certainly can pass gas from their other end).

Getting him to move around would probably be the best thing in order to get the excess gas out. Exercise is very important for peristalsis (movement of the intestines). Its a lot less hard on the body than massages or motility drugs.

The English spot markings (esp if the marks on their back are very few) can indicate megacolon. A bun needs a double copy of the gene (ie one from each parent) to be affecred from a very young age, but its highly reasonable to think that one copy is enough to make the bun susceptible. Megacolon can be acquired i e develop during the bun’s lifetime. It has to do with the innervation of the gut, as I’m sure you’ve already read up on.

I wouldnt suspect megacolon just yet though. The root cause of your bun’s problem doesnt seem altogether clear, but I feel that your vet’s intervention was a bit unusual. Vet practices and guidelines differ greatly between countries and regions though. Anyway, this could still be about dysbiosis ie a radical disruption of your bun’s GI microbiota. This can happen v v fast but take a loong time to mend itself. The best remedy is hay, but if he wont eat hsy, there are some probiotics (benebac for example) that might help.

It is completely lovely that he’s eating a lot of hay!! The importance of hay for rabbit GI health (incl teeth, they are an important part of the GI system) cannot be exaggerated.

Simethicone is as a rule given once per hour for a few hours when s bun first presents with inappetence. Then you can give it every 2 hours. Simethicone is not absorbed into the body, it cant penetrate the gut lining, it stays in the GI canal and gets pooped out in its entirety. Some recent findings indicate that it can actually have a lubricating effect in the intestine.

How is he doing now? He does seem to need a vet now. The gurgling sounds means things are moving, but there is gas. The gas has to come out. This is my favorite bunny massage video, at around 4 minutes Mary S Cotter demonstates how to very gently elevate the bunny butt to help gas escape:

https://youtu.be/JnuxGLa2reg

The rabbit in the video is very well behaved, when I’ve had to do this type of thing I’ve had the rabbit in my lap, not on a table.

We’d be very happy for updates! Fingers crossed that he’s on his way to recovery now!

Wonderful news! As his appetite continues to stay normal his poops will likely return to normal. That was a very bad bout of stasis so I wouldn’t be surprised if it took some time. Being in pain can cause buns to lose box habits as well.

That’s great! Glad to hear he is doing better. Keep in mind he is also 7 years old. Perhaps the stasis triggered other pains in his body, like arthritis pain. Does he have a litter box with a cut out side?