Diarrhea after GI stasis, now in pain?

[Alice]

Hi! I have a 7 month old female rabbit who up until yesterday hasn’t eaten or pooped for 5 days. On the 3rd day her belly also got swollen. I treated her at the vet’s recommendation with antibiotics, metoclopramide, Symethicone, liquid paraffin and subcutaneous glucose, vitamins and hydratation. I also syringe fed her a variant of Critical Care.

Yesterday evening, after some tummy massage, she pooped all over me. It was fairly runny, there were also some formed poops with gray mucus attached to them. She has “pooped” some more the rest of the evening, but it was only water. Her belly got noticeably smaller.

Today she only produced a few drops of watery poo. She seems in constant pain though, she whimpers and sits crouched with her tail up, like she wants to poop but is unable to. She has no appetite, and I have trouble feeding her even the Critical Care.

I gave her some peppermint tea instead of water and tummy massages, some supportive subcutaneous hydration, and also syringe fed her some probiotics. I don’t know what else to do, and the vet has no idea either.

Is she still in GI stasis? Is this some sort of bacteria? I’m not sure what I should do and she is so sad, just sits in a corner and won’t move except to whimper.

Please help

[Bam]

The 2nd paragraph in this article is about true diarrhea in rabbits: https://rabbit.org/intermittent-soft-cecotropes-in-rabbits/

It’s often caused by overgrowth of harmful bacteria. This can happen for reasons unknown or follow upon antibiotic treatment, when the good gut bacteria has been killed off and left the field open to bad bacteria.

I’m assuming you can’t get her to a vet or you would have taken her? It sounds like she needs supportive vet care and proper pain relief. Keep her warm. Contact your vet.

[Alice]

I keep in contact with my vet and he didn’t tell me to bring her in, probably because he can’t do much more that I already do at home. I already give her subcutaneous hydration and vitamins, only difference would be that at the vet it would be i.v. But since the office is an hour drive away from where I live, it is really stressful for the bun and I try to avoid it as much as possible

He suggested some antispastic medicine this afternoon, and after I gave her that she seems to be a little bit better. Still a long way to go though. I am just worried because she is already so thin and weak after a week of not eating and I don’t know to to help her through this

[Bunny House]

Hi, you need to get her to a vet ASAP, even an emergency exotic vet or she can die. They need to to X-rays on her to make sure there isn’t clog in her stomach or bowels. With her not eating and pooping for a while, she’s in critical condition. She needs to stay at the vets and they can force feed her critical care, fluids and give her medicine. You need to see a different vet if they don’t know what else to do, is your vet an exotic vet or a regular vet?

[Bam]

I hope the anti-spastic will do the trick. Is it loperamide? I’m glad you’re in contact with your vet. If they say you can treat her at home and that an hours drive would do more harm than good, that’s the sensible thing to do.

Keep her warm, as I mentioned earlier. Buns can easily go hypothermic when they’re poorly. Hypothermia is (of course) dangerous for them.

I have no other advice for you, you seem to have a good vet contact. At some point it’s a waiting game. Some time ago I listened to a webinar by British rabbit vet Molly Varga where she suggested that a bit of fruit could help perk a poorly bun up. Sugar is not otherwise recommended for buns, as you no doubt know, but glucose goes straight out into the blood stream without having to be processed by the intestines, and thus it can give the bun some fighting energy. There might be a bit of glucose in the recovery formula you’ve been given her though, so check the ingredients list before adding anything.

[Author]

Messages