So Bramble was due for his check up after his last bout of Gi Slow-down/molar spurs. Our vets have just moved into a brand new purpose built vet hospital just ten minutes away from us so we were maybe a week late with his check up.
He has been great since recovering from the last time and I had called yesterday to make him an appointment for this afternoon.
Almost as if he sensed it was time for the vets, last night I noticed the tell tale signs of his tummy troubles. Whenever he gets ill he lies down in the litter box and stays there, he never does that any other time. I grabbed some veggies instantly and offered him them and he refused. So we spent the rest of the night between trying to encourage him to eat and syringe feeding him and I called the vet first thing to move our appointment forward to this morning.
The vet says he is not in full stasis but his gut has slowed down a good bit. This is the exact same thing that happens every time. The last time the vet we seen (who we had never seen before) told us it was his teeth because his spurs were starting to come back but I wasn’t convinced since he had been eating fine then just stopped all together but his teeth were done and after a long week or so of syringe feeding and daily vet visits he was fine.
This time the vet says the teeth are almost certainly not the problem, but he doesn’t know what is. I am at my wits end with this, we cannot find a reason why this keeps happening. Sometimes its only for a few hours he is like this and I assume its gas, other times he can go days without eating or drinking of his own accord. He always bounces back eventually but I am worried that this wont always be the case as he gets older, he is two at the end of the month so still a young bun at the moment. Can he really carry on like this when he is 8 or 9 years old?
The vets haven’t ran any tests or anything at this point because they have always been convinced its either gas or his teeth. But they did say if it carries on happening they will need to do x-rays and bloods. I would do anything to make him better and he is insured so the money is not a problem so what else can I do? I know sometimes a rabbit’s diet is to blame but the two of them get the absolute best of everything, the best nuggets and the freshest veggies, they are better fed than we are! Their diet is always the same (I rotate things to prevent boredom but they don’t get anything they haven’t had before) and I have never noticed a pattern with him getting like this after eating particular things. I am going to reduce their nuggets even more, our other rabbit still has a bit more weight to lose so it will maybe be good for both of them. I don’t know what else to try though? Has anyone had a similar experience and has any ideas what I can do to try and help him? He is only going a matter of six to eight weeks between bouts of illness these days and I just feel so bad for him.
The only good thing is that he does tolerate syringe feeding, its almost as if he is getting used to it because he is getting better with it every time we need to do it, hardly fights us at all these days.
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