Close Call- Info to help save your bunny’s life!

[Doreen Pepers]

Precious is our 4 year old mini lop. He is very active and enjoys life. We know his behavior like the back of our hands. To make a long story short this is what happened and how we saved his life.

Saturday evening in March Precious was eating and behaving normal. Sunday morning he would not eat his salad or move around. He would not poop either. We gave him some space in the event it was a temporary thing. Nothing changed. I quickly got on the phone to find an ER vet. Since his vet is closed on Sunday. We could not find one that had  bunny specialist on staff. Panic struck the both of us. I tried to offer him his favorite flowers, herbs, water, pellets, salad, fruit. ANYTHING JUST EAT! He had no interest. We stayed up with him all night making sure he stayed alive. We took him to his vet first thing in the morning and she ran emergency tests on him. The vet ran an x-ray on him and did blood tests. She said the x-ray showed “intestinal blockage”. She believes it was gas. She said he was extremely dehydrated as well. She gave him a medicine called Regulin. That cleared up the intestinal blockage. She also gave him fluids under his skin. and started feeding him. He responded immediatley to the Regulin and fluids. She took care of him for the day and said we needed to continue regulin for a few days and the fluid shots as well.

We bought some more Regulin and keep it in the medicine chest “In case” this was ever to happen again. If he does not eat or poop we will be feeding him Regulin with the syringe. .

We have 2 bunnies, Angel and Precious. They always are fed fresh veggies, fruit, water, Oxbow Adult Rabbit pellets (small amounts) they get plenty of love and excersise. We play with them and talk to them. They are free never locked in a cage. They go play in the backyard supervised and are free to roam the living room (bunny proofed)

We have no idea how this happened. Precious would never have eaten anything to make him sick. We keep a watchful eye and know exactly what he is doing and eating. This was unexpected and scary. Just when you think you are doing everything right…following all the rules and loving your rabbit. Something goes horribly wrong.

I hope this information helps and offers some insight on rabbit sensitivities. If you can buy the Regulin get it and keep it in your house. It may save your bunny’s life if there is some kind of blockage in the intestinal area.

 

[Sarita]

I’m so glad your bunny is better – you certainly saved his life.

While I do think that Reglan is certainly a good rabbit gut motility medicine, it really should not be given unless your rabbit vet advises it. Not every illness in a rabbit is a blockage which is why we always recommend that you take your rabbit to the vet for a physical exam.

Also usually reglan is usually given in conjunction with other treatments like the sub-q fluids and pain meds to help get the gut moving – that being said though, it’s always best to seek the advice of your vet before you give your rabbit any medication.

[Cupcakesmom]

The same thing just happened to my Cupcake! She was always such a good eater (veggies, hay and pellets), but all of a sudden she just stopped eating, drinking and pooing. I was so worried! My vet said they dont really know WHY is happens, but sometimes it just does. The medicine they gave me for her helped and she is feeling a lot better! Try getting Oxbow Critical Care powder. Its a really fiberous “powder” that you mix with water…to me its the consistency of baby cereal. Its a “natural” way to get things moving too..

[FluffyBunny]

One of my rabbits had a similar problem about a year ago. One day, when I went to wake her up in the morning, she didn’t want her daily carrot and was obviously in pain. I treated her for gas (simethicone, force fed Pedialyte, belly rubs, exercise, etc.), but she was only eating a little after a day, so I took her to the vet. The vet was surprised by how “good” she looked for a bunny with GI stasis, and she said that the treatments I gave her at home definitely kept the stasis from getting bad. We never figured out what caused the stasis, but the vet and I suspected that she developed unusually painful gas from some broccoli I had given her the day before and it led to full-blown stasis.

There’s lots of things that can cause GI stasis and blockages…pain from an injury or tooth problems, stress, new foods, too many treats, not eating enough hay, and dozens of other problems. You’ll probably never know exactly why your bunny got it.

Reglan is a great medicine, but it’s not effective in all bunnies. The best thing you can do for a bunny who isn’t eating is to get them to a vet.

[mocha200]

Lulu has had GI stasis 3 times in tye past year. this past time was the worst. We got her to the vet that night after hours of simethicon and belly rubs ( which I just learned how to do it the right way). She got SQ fluids and some pain meds and gut mover meds along wity crittical care. took her awhile to get better but after a fewdays she started eating. We do not know what caused her 3 gass episodes bu I hope this is over with.

[mocha200]

Posted By FluffyBunny on 06/01/2012 12:30 PM
One of my rabbits had a similar problem about a year ago. One day, when I went to wake her up in the morning, she didn’t want her daily carrot and was obviously in pain. I treated her for gas (simethicone, force fed Pedialyte, belly rubs, exercise, etc.),

Is Pedialyte something I should keep on hand?

[FluffyBunny]

Posted By mocha200 on 06/01/2012 07:10 PM

Posted By FluffyBunny on 06/01/2012 12:30 PM
One of my rabbits had a similar problem about a year ago. One day, when I went to wake her up in the morning, she didn’t want her daily carrot and was obviously in pain. I treated her for gas (simethicone, force fed Pedialyte, belly rubs, exercise, etc.),

Is Pedialyte something I should keep on hand?

Personally, I think so…especially with a bunny who’s prone to have stasis/gas episodes. I asked my vet about it when Ms. Rabbit was sick, and she said that it’s not needed, but it certainly helps.

As you may know, Pedialyte is a flavored electrolyte solution (similar to Gatorade) made for children with vomiting and/or diarrhea. It’s a good way to keep a bunny who isn’t drinking or has wet poop from getting dehydrated. I’ve found that it’s also good for mixing up Critical Care. But of course, Pedialyte is just a way to help them out…it won’t fix the underlying problem, and a bunny with bad dehydration needs emergency vet care.

My bunnies prefer the sweetened grape flavor, but they make orange, strawberry and unsweetened versions as well.

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