Gus is Barely Eating

[Rae]

I cannot take him to the vet.

Every vet near me who sees rabbits is booked for a week out and won’t take emergency walk-ins.

The closest emergency vet is two hours away and I don’t have a car nor can I afford an Uber going two whole hours.

 

Maintenance and Housing

Is your bunny housed indoors or outdoors? Indoors.

Does your bunny live with other bunnies? No.

If yes, are they bonded?

If you rabbit spends time outside, are wild rabbits around? No outside time.

How much exercise does your bunny get per day? Free roam in a bedroom.

How often do you clean the litter box? Bi-weekly or tri-weekly.

 

How often do you groom your bunny? Confession, not frequently enough

 

Spay/Neuter

Is your bunny spayed/neutered? Yes

If so, for how long? Three years

If not, why not?

Are you aware of reproductive cancer risk in females? If not, please read about it here.

 

Pooping and Diet – Very Important

What does your bunny eat normally: Spring mix and pellets with unlimited orchard grass hay.

How much hay and what type? Unlimited, Oxbow Orchard Grass.

How much pellets and what type? A small handful, Selective Science.

How much veggies and what types? Two cups, spring mix.

How many treats and what types? Edible chew toys once a day or two and banana once or twice a week.

Anything else not listed?

When was the last time your bunny ate? (If > 12 hours ago this is an emergency, contact a vet ASAP) Thirty minutes ago.

What was the last thing your bunny ate? Pellets and a bite of banana

When was the last time your bunny pooped? (If > 12 hours ago this is an emergency, contact a vet ASAP) An hour ago to thirty minutes ago.

How did your bunny’s most recent poops look (round and firm, misshapen, small and hard, soft/mushy, runny, etc.) ? Soft, mushy, and clumped.

 

Illness & Symptoms

How long have you had this bunny? Three years

In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Barely eating, refused banana. Butt looks like he’s having trouble in the bathroom.

How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? This morning I thought something may be wrong as he didn’t eat all his veggies, but typically he saves some and munches throughout the day. I didn’t realize something was seriously wrong until thirty minutes ago.

Have you consulted a vet? No.

Have you started any treatment for the symptoms? A little bit of critical care and I tried to give meloxicam but missed his mouth.

Was your bunny physically ill or injured when you got them? No.

How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? A little lethargic, he just wants to loaf in the corner.

 

Explain your situation in detail. (Please explain what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

 

This morning he didn’t finish his breakfast. Now he is refusing pellets and banana, but took a bite of both thirty minutes ago. Other than that, he seems relatively fine.

[Bam]

(As you know, we can’t diagnose rabbits here because we are not vets).

This said, if a vet visit is out of the question, I’d try the following things that I do for gas pain:

Simethicone baby gas drops, if you have that. You can give 0.5-1 ml per hour for two or three hours.

Metacam (meloxicam) is very good, since you seem to have that, because rabbits are very sensitive to pain and gas is very psinful for rabbits.

More important than gas drops: Try to make him move around. Dont chase him, but you can pick him up and put him down some distance away from his favorite spot, so he has to walk/hop back to his spot. Do this every 20 minutes or so. He will be annoyed, but you have to keep annoying him. Physical movement helps the intestines move and can help gas move out.

Keep him warm. A rabbit in pain can become hypo thermic and that is extrenely dangerous. Feel his ears if you cant take a proper temp. Cold ears indicate that he’s colder than he should be.

You can warm him up by sitting him in your knee, with a light fleece blanket on him, and let your own body warmth warm him up. He cant get over-heated with this method.

Having him in your lap also gives you the chance to elevate his butt a little bit, so gas can escape easier. You can give a very light tummy “massage” as in Mary S Cotter’s classic video.  https://www.howcast.com/videos/514701-how-to-help-a-rabbit-with-gas-pain-pet-rabbits

This will enable you to feel if his belly seems distended and/or if he reacts with pain when you touch it. If his belly is really distended or if he reacts with a lot of pain at just a light touch, this is a vet emergency.

If he seems very unwilling to sit in your lap, you can give him a warm water bottle wrapped in a towel, but make sure he can move away from the heat source if he wants to.

You can try and syringe him some water or hay tea (to make hay tea you pour some hot water over some hay, let steep and cool and serve the “tea” in a syringe).

It can take several hours until you see improvement like poop (any kind of poop, sticky and stinky or firm), eating something voluntarily and stops looking sad and uncomfortable. You have to keep at it, especially with the annoying him so he moves around.

This won’t cure anything except an upset, painful, gassy tummy, but it’s pretty much all you can do at home. Almost all rabbit illnesses first present as GI trouble.

 

 

 

[Rae]

Thank you for all the help! I deeply appreciate it.

Thought I’d give a small update: he’s eating more hay and when I push him to move every twenty-ish minutes, he has more of his leftover veggies from earlier in the day. Appetite is nowhere near normal for him, but it’s noticeably improving.

His poops have also gone from soft, mushy, near liquid form and are now back to typical consistency, just smaller and discolored.

I don’t have any gas drops unfortunately, but luckily he seems to slowly be on the mend. His ears have maintained warmth and his stomach seems neither distended or painful to the touch.

Because he has had trouble with abscesses in the past, I gave him a quick glance over and his mouth/jaw area seem completely fine and he had no issue with me touching them.

He’s been getting into a lot of trouble as of late, chewing on things he shouldn’t be and that kind of thing. I’m hoping this is just an upset/gassy tummy caused by some of his earlier mischief and not anything more serious.

Thank you again.

[DanaNM]

It sounds like whatever was going on is working itself through! I’ve been in that situation before concerning the vet and it is awful. Bam gave great advice on supportive care, warmth is very important.

It could be either gas, a partial fur blockage, or cecal dysbiosis (or a combo) given the mushy poops. Cecal dysbiosis can cause gas and be very painful. I would probably not give any banana or treats, and just focus on lots of hay. During molting especially buns can be sensitive to added starches or sugars. For the edible chew toys, if they are mostly fiber (like wood, grass, palm plates, etc.) then they should be safe to keep giving, but if they are compressed timothy or something like that then I would remove them for now.

Has this ever happened before with him? I would discuss the incident with your vet when you can get an appointment. It would be good to have things on hand to syringe feed, possibly pain meds and sub-q fluids as an at-home first aid kit if emergency care is hard to get. Often giving buns supportive care early on will prevent things from progressing to a true emergency, and syringe feeding a tiny bit and giving a small amount of fluids can help a lot if given early.

 

. . . 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.  

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