Unfortunately, some bunnies are just prone to gas episodes. It can be triggered by certain foods, stress, molting, you name it. And sometimes the owner is never able to pinpoint exactly what the cause is. I do remember you talking about Nellie’s gas episodes and I don’t remember you ever finding the exact cause. As for her stomach increasing in size at the vet… that sounds more like gas building rather than a blockage simply because nothing was going in (unless the vet was force feeding her). True bloat though is rare and almost always fatal. Few rabbits actually survive it, so I doubt that is what Nellie had.

Have you tried any kind of supplements with Nellie? Probiotics? Some people have had luck with those reducing the number of episodes. If it’s stress, then my vet suggested melatonin… although it was difficult to find 1mg tablets. It helped calm my bunny down, but he was suffering from self-mutilation/fur pulling every time he was stressed.

It does sound like a partial blockage near where the stomach connects to the intestine. That’s the most common location for a partial blockage. (One of my buns had that. Vet treated with spasmolytics and iv fluids and pain meds. He had to stay over at the animal hospital).

With a partial blockage like that, the body will pull fluids into the stomach, making it fill up even if you dont feed. This is why syringe feeding even with only water is not recommended, it just stays in the stomach and adds to the distension. And even if you give water, the bun becomes dehydrated bc the fluids from the body are drawn into the stomach. IV fluids are needed to get the fluid balance right.

As LBJ says, some buns are prone to GI trouble. The reason why is rarely clear. Stress changes the pH in the gut, so that is a likely cause,

I have never used plug-in herbal remedies. The scent of herbs is generally thought to be calming for rabbits, but it doesnt take a lot of herbs. Maybe you could make a  potpourri bowl and place it where the buns cant reach it (they’d eat it), then you could go and stir the leaves now and then to release the scent. Rabbits pick up on mere molecules of scents.

I have only made potpourri with flowers and leaves from my garden. It’s too late in the year for roses now, and store bought roses are not really grown for fragrance, just for looks.

I think any herbs would do great. Rosemary, mint, lavender, chamomille, sage, lemon balm, herb fennel. Some herbs dont have much of a lasting fragrance when they’re dry though, that goes for cilantro and parsley and basil.

Sometimes they sell little plastic pots with herbs in the produce aisle in food stores. Just touching a basil or mint plant releases lots of fragrance.

That’s a good idea Bam! And you actually reminded me of something. Do they still make those potpourri crock pots? They were meant to melt wax potpourri. Anyway, I had one many years ago that had a decent sized bowl (i.e. it was shaped like a mini crock pot). I was able to add water and dried potpourri to it. The warmer heated it up enough to help give off more fragrance than potpourri normally would. So depending on how strong of a scent would be needed to have a calming effect, maybe something like that could be tried with herbs too.