My bun is gassy and not eating pellets

[Emilykatelyn]

Hello everybody

So three days ago when I went to feed my bunny she had only eaten half of her pellets. It was the end of a bag so I refilled her bowl and kept an eye on her. The next morning I went to feed her again and this time the bowl was completely untouched. She hadn’t eaten a single pellet. I changed her potty and gave her plenty of fresh hay and kept an eye on her for the day. I don’t have an emergency vet that’s rabbit savvy near me and it was a Sunday so I decided to just manage things until the next morning when I’d go to my vet. She was eating her hay and drinking water, her behavior was completely normal she was even binkying a little when she was out. I gave her baby gas drops every few hours because she has had boughts of gas before and that usually helped. She pooped maybe 20 times that day. Yesterday I brought her to the vet and they said she felt gassy but she didn’t have the typical signs of stasis. They sent me home with critical care, metacam and benebac and while I was there they gave her buprenorphine and fluids. When I took her home she had pooped a decent amount but was very groggy from the pain meds. She’s continued to nibble her hay, drink her water. She hates the critical care. Her behavior is still very normal, she comes up to the cage when I go to it and she hops around when she’s out, very normal. When she lays down she doesn’t look uncomfortable and she isn’t getting up and sitting down over and over or anything. The vet had me give her 1 tbsp of pellets today, she isn’t interested. And today she is pooping a lot less.

My questions are how do I know the critical, metacam and benebac are working? When should I see a change in her appetite if I’m just giving her critical care every 4-6 hours? What could be causing her gassyness? Has anyone ever had a situation like this where their bunnies behavior was the same and they still ate hay but we’re bloated and wouldn’t eat pellets?

If anyone has any suggestions or input that would be wonderful.

All information and opinions are welcome. Thank you!

I am very worried she will just never eat her pellets again and I will lose her ?

[sarahthegemini]

I’m a bit confused – is it just pellets that she isn’t eating? If so and she’s still eating plenty of hay, I don’t understand why they’d advise you to force feed. If you are force feeding her every 4 to 6 hours then she is naturally going to eat less hay on her own as she’d be full up from the CC. Or was she eating less hay and that’s why they reccommended force feeding?

I would have thought that of she is happy to run around and isn’t looking uncomfortable then the gas isn’t too severe and should be managed with gas drops and encouraging more movement. Possibly tummy rubs too. I’m not an expert, just having some thoughts.

[Emilykatelyn]

She was eating hay but not as much as she normally would. Not eating any pellets and not pooping as much. When I brought her in they said she felt like she had a lot of gas but her abdomen wasn’t hard or anything like it would be if it was full on stasis. Honestly she’s a pretty small bunny, usually only eats 1/3 cup of pellets a day and it takes her a full 24 hours to eat the whole thing. So she doesn’t have a big appetite anyways. I almost feel like me force feeding her is making her MORE bloated. She had pooped on her own yesterday morning before the vet. It wasn’t as much as normal but the poops were more normal sized than they are now. Now she’s pooping but they’re tiny hard pebbles. Do you think it would be safe to take her off the critical care now? I feel at a loss because I don’t want to make the problem worse but forcefeeding her critical care seems torturous and feels like it’s exasperating the problem. Her behavior was very normal, but now she seems bloated and her belly feels more full than it did before.

[Author]

Messages