Has anyone elses rabbits taken a long time to recover from stasis/gas?

[Honeybunny07]

Hi everyone. I’ve been reading every post I can find on his topic but just created an account to ask for experiences. Long post ahead..

My rabbit has taken 2.5 weeks to fully recover from stasis and still going. We have been to the vet 4 times, and I’m exhausted, stressed and extremely anxious. She actually started to eat and poop on night 1 but hasn’t further progressed really for a while.

The weird thing is it’s so up and down. In the evenings and night, she looks cured. She is eating everything (grass, herbs, pellets, hay), she is pooping, even doing zoomies, hopping around the house curiously.

But then every morning like clockwork she doesn’t want to eat again. Every morning.

Then she starts to nibble mid morning, and slowly picks up throughout the day until she seems better, and then again the next morning it’s back a square.

It’s weird. I first thought her pain relief is wearing off but the thing is we give it to her twice a day (morning and evening) and we don’t find this in the evening?

She is a 2.4 kilo mini lop, she is on 0.8ml of metacam twice a day, 0.5 of 2.5mg of cisapride 3 times a day but transitioning to twice a day as per vet advice (she is pooping). We are also critical caring her every few hours, making it more watery when I’ve seen her eat in the evening.

The ver has done x-rays, blood test and a visual check for anything else underlying and can’t see anything obvious. She checked her teeth without anaesthesia, and said they seem good (seem aligned, movings side to side prooerly, etc). I guess if it doesn’t get better we may look at going under anaesthesia to check her teeth fully.

We saw the vet at the 2 week mark and she gave her fluids and said to continue meds. She thinks its possible she’s just taking a long time to recover. We have another appointment booked in a few days for a follow up.

Has anyone had a long recovery like this over 2.5 weeks? Has anyone else had it be very up and down? Any other bunny seem to get better in the evening , and backwards in the mornings?

I’m so exhausted and anxious about this, appreciate any experiences or any ideas I can ask my vet..

[Honeybunny07]

I forgot to add, her last xray showed gas, just not sure why it isn’t going away!

The vet also thinks it’s possible it hurts more in the morning after not moving for a few hours

[LBJ10]

What is her diet like? Perhaps it’s something she is eating that is causing the distress.

[Bam]

I would suspect a dental problem.  As you say, they molars can often not be properly seen unless the bun is sedated, although a good rabbit vet can often get an idea by looking with an otoscope when the bun is burritoed. Dental x-rays are the only way to see  the tooth roots.  Overgrown teeth are a very common thing with rabbits.

I have a dental bun who took a very long time to recover from stasis last fall, more than a month. It was exhausting! My bun typically seemed to feel better late in the evening, he too got metacam twice per day.

We have another member whose bun didn’t tolerate cisapride. It is a drug which isn’t used very much these days. You could perhaps ask your vet to try metaclopramide (Reglan) instead?

Gas will always occur in the bunny gut when there’s an eating-problem. To help with gas you can give simethicone baby gas drops. Some vets say gas drops won’t help because a bun can’t burp, but buns absolutely can fart. Gas is painful for rabbits. She may feel more of that in the mornings, after a night of physical rest. Body movement (physical “exercise”) helps the intestines move so gas and poop can come out, there could perhaps be some gas build-up that happen overnight.

[PFPbunbun]

My bun (2 years old, male) is currently in recovery, according to our vet, even though he has these recurring GI symptoms for about 6 weeks already. He is very energetic at night, he shows no sign of pain or stress, but he just refused to eat and rarely drinks, and really inactive in the daytime. It breaks my heart that I need to force-feed him every day. My other rabbits were all on the same diet, and they never have this problem before. (The diet is 1/4 cup of pellets, 2 cups of veggies per day, unlimited hay and water). At the moment I only offer him hay and water, to make sure pellets and veggies not causing this.

I already took him to 2 vets, full-body check-up, x-ray, and CT scan. There was no obstruction, problematic gas, his GI tract seems to work normally, and the vets couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Then, again he just doesn’t eat or drink enough.

During these 6 weeks, my bun condition has been going up and down. On week 4, he seems to start eating normally, and then at week 5, he stopped eating again. I do hope your bunny recover in a mere day or second because I do feel your stress and anxiety. Even, my bun still not fully recover, but he still here and seems to be happy. So, I would like to encourage you to don’t lose hope and keep going. Some bunnies are born with this chronic health problem, which is unlucky for the bun and the caring owner. But just do your best, and know that your bun is not alone in this fight. If your vet rules out a GI problem, maybe ask for a dental check, blood work, or urinary analysis. I hope you find the root of the problem soon.

[Author]

Messages