Chronic GI Stasis/Gas Keeps coming back every few days

[HarryMila]

Hello everyone,

Im hoping to hear your experience on the following topic. One of my bunnies, Mila has has a very sensitive stomach. This is to the point that she has had gi stasis episodes before and a total of 5 episodes in the las 8 weeks. With 2 of them being critical and almost fatal (each one costed $2k+ in Vet Bills).
she was put on medication for life after the second episode because she has had these episodes a few times in the last 8 months as well. Each episode takes around a week to get her back to normal, she suffers for a day or two or goes to the hospital for 2 days and comes back feeling better after sessions of IV fluids.

However, even with all the daily extra care, this has become a very financially and emotionally stressful situation.

We only give her hay, water and romaine lettuce, a few adult o box pellets which I think have to do with her stasis. She roams free with her brother Harry and no other pets or children at home.

Any light you can shed is appreciated. I really want to make sure she is ok without having to run through all my life savings 🙁

 

[DanaNM]

Oh goodness, how stressful. I wonder if it is rather a case of not fully recovering, rather than recurring episodes? Sometimes stasis can take weeks to fully recover.

Can the vet set you up with everything you need at home (sub-cutaneous fluids, motility meds, pain meds, etc.)?

Has the vet tried to identify any possible causes of this? Such as dental issues, etc? Does she eat a lot of hay normally? You can try putting her on a hay-only diet (assuming she eats hay) and see if that helps.

Also how old is she, and how long have you had her? Just wondering if this is a sudden issue or it’s been like this the whole time you’ve had her.

. . . 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.  

[Wick & Fable]

I am curious about how you perceive her hay diet. Do her poops seem healthy generally? Poop can be very telling of what the status of the gut is.

It’s very much from me reading anecdotal evidence, but some rabbits seem to do much much better when switching hay and pellet brands. For example, comparatively, Sherwood can be more agreeable than Oxbow (though nothing against Oxbow; I feel Oxbow) for some rabbits, I’ve heard. Also, different hay brands grow their hay in different areas, thus there is different pollen and things generally in contact with the hay which impacts its composition. Whether it is significant, I’m unsure, but I know personally my rabbits enjoy Small Pet Select hay much more than Oxbow hay.

This is something I would definitely discuss with your vet, but I’m wondering if a very gradual and very small introduction of veggies/herb variety may help? A healthy gut biome needs to develop, and I feel like that necessitates actual exposure to diversity, which you will not get only feeding hay, pellets, and romaine. This is an uneducated stream of thought, so definitely something to discuss with your vet.

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.

[HarryMila]

Hi!

Thanks for your reply. She is actually doing much better now, and have reintroduced pellets (we don’t have Sherwood in Canadá and although we only live one hour away from the boarder, I will need to wait to do the switch), her vet said we can try switching her diet slowly, I think the ox ox hay is just fine (luckily), and in the meantime we have shattered giving them a smaller amount of pellets, as they both started to lose weight and seemed hungry not most but all the time (LOL), and we now started re introducing cilantro. Her belly is feeling consistently more tender this week but we have to monito daily.
Her poops are looking much healthier but we can tell she does not drink as much water as his brother as his look more up…. hydrated, and hers much greener and dryer.

the only treats that we give her is one of the oxbow digestive tablets every other day and she loves it. I wish we could give her a little more because she especially loves food but we can’t risk it. Oh and she has her medicine daily doses as well. Luckily she is amazingly good with her medicines (unlike the first weeks) and she fully and happily cooperates so we don’t have to feel like she thinks we are awful bunny parents.

if everything keeps going this good, we are looking at re introducing another green this weekend to give her a variety of food and nutrients, but her recovery has definitively been taking months.
Also since we are always home due to the pandemic, we left for 10 hours straight just to find out a few smaller poops, which confirmed my suspicions over her anxiety when we leave home. This used to happen before when we would leave them alone overnight with enough food and water (that odd ocasión we would go to a party and stay there), so I guess we just have an anxious bunny that can be left alone at home for long without the proper transition.

I’ll update you later on but I’m hoping not to see a relapse on GI stasis anytime soon. Fingers crossed

 

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