Long-term gas issue suggestions

[cushfuddled]

Hi, everyone! I’m a shy person online, so I struggle to reply to comments, but your feedback has been so incredibly valuable to Leila and I in the past. I’m hoping one of you may have some advice for me again!

Leila (code name The Goose) recently turned 4-and-a-half. She’s an English Spot with no history of medical problems besides hock callouses (luckily not sore hocks; I made sure to double check with the vet) and what might’ve been some kind of stress- or allergy-induced over-grooming (she seemed to be scratching or nipping the fur off the tips of her ears somehow. The vet didn’t find any mites. This behavior lasted for a couple weeks, and may have been quelled by allergy medication. It definitely hasn’t recurred since we moved into our new apartment in 2023). Leila is litter box trained and has full reign of the apartment at all times. She also has 24/7 access to Timothy hay (formerly sourced from Small Pet Select, but now from Oxbow as I try to root out the cause of her upset stomach).

Back in September, Leila went through GI stasis. I wish I knew the trigger. She seemed to have been molting LESS around that time, but maybe I missed some fluff. In any case, I noticed her struggling to sit up. She’d shoulder her way halfway to an upright position, only to sort of give up and loaf back down onto the carpet. She’d hold her back half like a bean bag and slump around, unable to get comfortable. I raced her to the nearest open vet. I’m attaching the vet’s subsequent assessment re: Leila’s X-rays and blood tests.

TLDR: No blockage, no discernible injuries, with mild gastric stasis.

After another couple days of Simethicone, Metacam, a few wet greens, and some subcutaneous fluids, The Goose started drinking and eating again. I got her back on Oxbow digestive supplements, which I’d run out of maybe two months prior to her stasis episode. I was instructed to cut out pellets entirely (+ greens from outside and fruit) to encourage Leila to eat more hay. Leila really seemed to go back to normal.

Then suddenly three weeks ago she started to slump around again. She was obviously in pain, grimacing in a tight loaf with her fur fluffed up and her ears flat against her head. I ran to the vet again, but the vets couldn’t seem to figure out what was wrong. This time Leila was drinking less but eating normally. Since that second vet appointment I’ve seen two other vets, and they’re also at a loss. Leila doesn’t look like she’s in pain all the time; there are days when she seems totally fine. But then there are nights like tonight, when she’ll start to slump again. Most days I can hear her stomach gurgling on and off (despite 2-3 doses of Simethicone a day), so I know it’s still gas pain. I just don’t understand what could be causing it when Leila only has access to her greens (some Romaine, plus a few shoots of cilantro and parsley), her Timothy hay, her Oxbow digestive supplements, and the occasional sprinkle of Oxbow pellets as a treat.

This past week and a half or so, Leila’s been drinking and eating normally. She’s urinating normally as well, but all of a sudden her poops are extra large and ovular (there’s no mucus sheen as far as I can tell, and the pellets seem to be full of hay). Until a few days ago I’d chalked the size up to her increased fiber intake, but I think her poops have been larger than normal for a week or so now. I’m terrified this is Megacolon—but then I don’t understand why her X-ray didn’t pick up on a distention of her colon and cecum, or why Leila still eats and drinks and urinates like her normal self. The vet visit last week revealed she’d GAINED weight. She DID just finish molting this time around, so I’m hoping her poops are this shape because of excess hair, or because the gas slowed down her digestive tract.

In short: My rabbit has been super gassy on and off for about two months now. She suffered a stasis episode back in September, but has since regained her appetite and thirst. I know this is a huge wall of text, and I completely understand if no one has the time or spoons to read through and reply, but I’m honestly at a loss here. I’ve seen four different vets now, and none of them seem to know what to do.

To make matters worse, The Goose is an Olympic squirm-er. I tried to warn the third vet about it before she gave Leila her medicine…The vet gave me a knowing smile and said something to the effect of, “Oh, I know how rabbits are,” and took Leila away to the exam room. She came back looking shell-shocked. Like, she’d never met a rabbit THAT squirmy.

And that’s Leila at the VET, where the fear makes most bunnies more compliant. I can’t stress enough how IMPOSSIBLE it is to feed this rabbit anything via syringe outside a veterinary clinic, no matter how secure the bunny burrito or how many friends I recruit to help. The time before the last time, she punched me in the face with her paw so hard she gave me a bloody nose. It’s so much more dangerous for her than for me, though! I’m terrified she’ll hurt herself, or I’ll hurt her on accident. I wish I could feed this bunny her gosh darn Metoclopramide, Cisapride, and Critical Care, but she’d rather fling herself off the table (even when dosed up on Gabapentin). Thank god Leila tolerates Metacam and Simethicone as a kind of salad dressing on top of her Oxbow digestive supplements. She can also (sometimes) be persuaded to eat Gabapentin when it’s tucked far enough inside a strawberry. The other medications she sniffs out right away, no matter how much pellet powder/banana/other treats we use to try and disguise the scent. We even went to a vet-recommended apothecary of some kind, who added fruity compounds to her medicine. No dice!

It’s all very maddening and I’m so scared for her all the time. Any thoughts???

Things I’ve tried thus far:

-Changed the litter I use (I used to combine Oxbow Eco-Straw Litter with Uber paper bedding, and now I just use the Oxbow litter)
-Cut out fruit (except for when I have to try and feed her medication)
-Started giving her Oxbow pellets again (as of last week, per the most recent vet's advice)
-Changed out all her hay
-Lots of gentle stomach massages
-Searched for something in the apartment she could be eating (I haven't found anything yet)

[Bam]

As it says in the vet statement, it could perhaps be about pain from the kidney/urinary tract. Pain anywhere in the body of a rabbit can become apparent as GI trouble. It doesnt take a lot, gas will form if the gut slows, the bun gets gas pain and will often lose its appetite when the gas builds up. Kidney stones can be extremely painful for humans, and most likely for rabbits too. (You can ask a human to pee in a small tea sieve to see if there are shards of kidney stones in the pee, but that’s more difficult with a rabbit.  Maybe if you could get her too pee in an empty litter box?) Small kidney “stones” that she is capable of passing could perhaps explain why the pain comes and goes. I dont suppose you’ve noticed blood in her urine, or you would’ve said -that would be a rather telltale sign. Have you seen her straining to pee?

Was she ever put on any antibiotic? There seems to be some signs of infection (the white blood counts and globulines).

The oval poops are probably oval bc of gut slowdown. Megacolon is called cow pile syndrom because the poop look like cow poop. The Goose has the coloring but there seems to be a decent amount of dark spots, it’s better the more spots there are.

It’s great that she’s on a hay-heavy diet now. It’s a bit weird though that she’s gained weight and that she’s drinking less rather than more.

 

[LBJ10]

I think Bam might be on to something. WBCs are a little high. I also notice creatinine is a little high. This is one measure of kidney function. I would suggest exploring this further. Yes, GI stasis can cause elevated numbers on blood tests. But the gas and stasis episodes could also be a secondary symptom of something else.

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