Just diagnosed with Stasis, now what?

[MayMegan]

I went to the emergency vet clinic today after work, because Toki had not pooped in 4-5 days, minus some small poos yesterday. He also had intense on and off stomach gurgling, but he was running around and eating normally. Took him in, described everything to the incredibly friendly vet. She confirmed my thought, and he does have stasis. She didn’t give him fluids because he’s well hydrated. He just has to take medicine for the next 10 days. She told me to stop with the pellets and just feed him very watered down leafy greens and hay. What’s a good leafy green/herb for stasis? She told me I could give him a large variety, but I don’t want to over do it. Any advice would be great! 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Did he see a rabbit savvy vet? Did they do any X-rays?

4-5 days with no poops is a very serious situation. There could be a blockage which he will def need IV fluids. IMO, he should have been given fluids anyway, because whatever is in his digestive system is probably hard by this point. He really needs to get pooping again asap.

Is he eating at all?

What kind of medicine?

[MayMegan]

Posted By LittlePuffyTail on 4/05/2014 6:19 PM

Did he see a rabbit savvy vet? Did they do any X-rays?

4-5 days with no poops is a very serious situation. There could be a blockage which he will def need IV fluids. IMO, he should have been given fluids anyway, because whatever is in his digestive system is probably hard by this point. He really needs to get pooping again asap.

Is he eating at all?

What kind of medicine?

Yes, he’s eating like normal. He’s also running around like normal too. 

[MK]

Has he pooped? Was the vet a rabbit vet?

[MayMegan]

Posted By MK on 4/05/2014 10:30 PM

Has he pooped? Was the vet a rabbit vet?

He pooped a very tiny bit. I was at the emergency vet clinic (it’s the weekend and my vet, who specializes with rabbits, was closed). She seemed to know quite a bit about rabbits. She told me her own rabbits had gotten stasis before, and the vet tech had dealt with it too with her own pet rabbits. I feel better taking him to the vet, than not taking him. I do have to call her back tomorrow with an update, and if he has not had a better bowel movement by tomorrow then I have to take him back. She said they’ll probably keep him and administer fluids to get things going, if I do need to bring him back in. She thinks the cause of this is his teeth, his back molars need to be filed down. She gave me Meloxicam for the gas pain, and Sulfamethoxazole. I need to give the Meloxicam once every 24hrs, and the Sulfamethoxazole two times a day, 12 hours apart. I think I might need to call back tomorrow. His stomach has started to gurgle again. Would it be okay to give him some Simethicone? 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Any update on your bunny?

[MK]

Filing his teeth? I’m no expert, but in my experience, if a rabbits molars get spurs (little spikes) they CLIP them, not file. The rabbit is also under anesthesia. After the stasis is taken care of, If this vet says otherwise then clipping and anesthesia, you might consider getting a second opinion.
I also think it worth mentioning, that my rabbits vet is extremely good, so I have it on pretty good authority Good luck!

[KytKattin]

Filing can be fine too. It is basically the same procedure they do when they “float” a horse’s teeth. Clipping them can actually be more dangerous as it can crack the whole tooth. Depending on how often they need to be trimmed and how severe the molars are, as well as how mellow the rabbit is, it can be done with anesthesia or not. I have had rabbits undergo it both ways. Rabbits with shorter or pushed in noses/faces are more prone to having molar spurs as well.

[MayMegan]

Hey everyone, I have an update. Looks like I’ll have to take him into my regular vet tomorrow (Monday). His stomach has started rumbling again, and he hasn’t really produced any poop. It baffles me, because he’s running around, eating, and acting totally normal. His stomach only seems to rumble after he’s eaten his leafy greens. He’s been getting red leaf lettuce, mint, and a few other mixed greens. I gave him some baby gas drops to hopefully alliveate the gas gurgling. What’s the next step? x-rays? blood work? will he need to be kept over night at the vet? Or will they send me home with more medicine? 

[unknownphoenix]

Try to limit the amount of greens. Overfeeding when his digestive system isn’t working properly can make things worse. Try to stick to one or two leaves of romaine and a sprig of mint.

Did the vet prescribe Reglan or Cisapride? I would assume the vet gave you one of those? I would be shocked if she didn’t, its basic protocol of treating stasis. I also think you need to get him sub-q fluids to hydrate anything that’s probably hardened up. I think you need to get him back in or at least call and see what your regular vet recommends. Chances are, if the emergency vet didn’t give you a gut motility drug, your regular vet will, and will also give sub-q fluids. They may recommend x-rays, most likely they wont want to keep him overnight since he is eating and is active and overall doing fine.

Also is he eating hay properly? He should be eating hay quite a bit to help keep his gut moving.

[MayMegan]

Posted By unknownphoenix on 4/06/2014 10:56 PM

Try to limit the amount of greens. Overfeeding when his digestive system isn’t working properly can make things worse. Try to stick to one or two leaves of romaine and a sprig of mint.

Did the vet prescribe Reglan or Cisapride? I would assume the vet gave you one of those? I would be shocked if she didn’t, its basic protocol of treating stasis. I also think you need to get him sub-q fluids to hydrate anything that’s probably hardened up. I think you need to get him back in or at least call and see what your regular vet recommends. Chances are, if the emergency vet didn’t give you a gut motility drug, your regular vet will, and will also give sub-q fluids. They may recommend x-rays, most likely they wont want to keep him overnight since he is eating and is active and overall doing fine.

Also is he eating hay properly? He should be eating hay quite a bit to help keep his gut moving.

I don’t think the medicine she gave me is Reglan or Cisapride. One is called Meloxicam, and I can’t remember what the other one is. Toki has never been one who liked eating hay. I’ve tried oat hay, but he sticks his nose up to that, too. I’ve also tried Botanical hay. However, I always have a ton of hay out for him to eat. I just syringe fed him some water since I hadn’t seem him drink tonight. I also put a bowl of water out in his running area. When I was holding him, and massaging his belly, I got a faint smell similar to the stinky caecotrophs. Could this be gas coming out? 

[unknownphoenix]

Yeah, he probably needs reglan or cisapride. He may not be eating hay due to his teeth problems. I am not sure about the smell, when my bunny Kern got stasis (and is currently battling another bout of it right now ) when we would do stomach rubs we would just hear a lot of popping. Most likely though its just gas you are smelling.

I think a vet visit is definitely in order. Once he is all recovered I would get his teeth done as soon as possible. I think I read somewhere else that you said he has had this before? Its either a type of greens that isn’t sitting well on his stomach or possibly even from lack of hay consumptions which is probably once again due to his teeth Some rabbits are super sensitive to certain greens or treats containing any sugar. He looks like a Hotot breed? I think I read somewhere that they are prone to sensitive stomachs.

[Sarita]

Molars are filed with a dremel like tool, not clipped – hopefully if it’s his teeth, getting them filed will help alot. Dental problems are definitely a cause for stasis.

[MayMegan]

Hey everyone, just wanted to give an update: Toki has been doing A LOT better. The tummy rumbles stopped, but the poop he was producing was still very small. I checked on him this evening and there was normal size poop in his cage! He’s much more energetic now, too!  The funny thing is I stopped giving him his medication 2 days ago, just to see how he would be without it..and surprisingly I think he did a lot better without the medicine. I’ve just been giving him a lot of timothy hay, very wet Romaine Lettuce, and mint leaves. I even heard him eating some pellets this morning. 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Very glad to hear it

[LongEaredLions]

Yay! I hope he continues to recover and this never happens again!

[MayMegan]

Posted By LongEaredLions on 4/10/2014 6:35 PM
Yay! I hope he continues to recover and this never happens again!

I hope it never happens again but he is prone to stasis. He’s had it 3 times before, but I was normally able to treat it within a day., this time nothing I did for him worked. But I’m very glad to be seeing lots of poop now hehe

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