Is my bunny in the clear? (Gas)

[Kenny's Mama]

So this morning I woke up at 9am, which was fantastic. But I should’ve known something was up just then, because Kenny (my 2 year old Polish dwarf rescue, from a local shelter) usually wakes me up at 730am from incessant cage rattling and noise making. When I looked over at Kenny, he was laying all sprawled out and I dismissed it as him just being super content. It was beautiful outside, there was a nice breeze coming in from my window, why wouldn’t be be? Flash forward a couple hours, he’s still laying sprawled out – often getting up and repositioning himself. Then he hopped into his litter box, and instead of leaving ploppings amongst the hay filled box, he plopped himself inside instead. Huge red flags went off – he never lies down there! I give him some romain lettuce and he takes no nibbles. Red flag. I give him a raisin, no bite. Not even a nibble! Red flag. I finally resort to dry pellets… This bunny treats dry pellets like I treat chocolate teddy bear shaped crackers and banana smoothies. (Like an addict that needs intervention). Not. Even. A sniff. Full alarm mode here – I do some googling and run off to rite aid for some baby gas drops, carrot baby food, a syringe, and a heating pad. He HATES the syringe, but after some struggling and lots of pets, I pretty much forced a dose of the gas drops into his lil mouth, and topped it off with a water-babyfood-pellet-mush that I created and syringed to him. I held him for an hour, massaging his belly, and keeping him warm. Then – he started biting the blanket. Biting! So I though that maybe he wanted to chew something, and gave him some lettuce. He ate it up, and then ate tons of pellets, and was practically giddy for a raisin. To be safe, I gave him a second dose of baby gas drops and then turned him lose to his cage. He ate a bit more and is now resting (normally now, thank goodness). But now I wonder – is it over? Is there more to be worried about? Is there more I am, or should do? I lost a bunny to gas when I was younger because the vet didn’t know what it was, and I wasn’t near a bunny expert. Later I was told that baby gas droplets could have saved him (which was heart wrenching knowing that a misdiagnosis killed him), and am terrified of gas in my bunny. I don’t want to make any wrong moves! The issue is that I live in a fairly rural area and the bunny Doctor won’t be back until Monday, 3 days away. Any input would be appreciated, thanks!

[Mikey]

You did great! I would continue to watch him on and off and see if you can figure what caused the gas to start. Maybe he ate too much one day, ate too little, or had a little too many treats. Sometimes, gas ‘just happens’ as well. But everything you did was great and he seemed to bounce back pretty fast considering. I would just watch him a little closer for a day or two to make sure it doesnt happen again. If it does, he might have a small blockage or something causing the gas

[Kenny's Mama]

Thank you for your response! I honestly don’t know what caused it, as he only eats about 2 tbsp of pellets a day (2 lb bunny), 1 leaf of lettuce, and one treat a day which usually is either a carrot stick or a raisin. Most of his food is fresh Timothy hay (pellets are Timothy too). I’ll keep an eye on him and hopefully it won’t happen again!

[Author]

Messages