Now Rogan has Gas! :(

[LittleFir]

Some of you may remember me posting about Nephy getting GI Stasis a couple of weeks back, well now Rogan is really poorly with gas

He went to the vet this morning and she gave him the bunny cocktail of jabs (appetite kick-starter, antibiotic and pain killer). The pain killer worn off very quickly, or was never strong enough in the first place, and the appetite kick-starter hasn’t kick-started anything.

The vet wasn’t as good as last time, she seemed more concerned with checking his teeth than running the other tests the last vet did for Nephy. I know the teeth thing is important but I also know my Rogan, and he would eat through his nose if his mouth fell off!!! The last vet did a blood sugar test and felt for blockages. No such thing this time. Just the injections.

I even tried to tell her that I had heard alarmingly loud and continuous gurgling from his tummy and she just said it was a good thing! I didn’t know better then to argue back, but since being home with him I’ve read up that it is definitely NOT a good sound.

I know what I’m supposed to do to help him, water through a syringe, a paste made from watery mushed pellets and fruit/veg baby food, infacol, warm water bottles, gentle exercise and tummy rubs.

But he won’t let me do anything to him!

Out of my 4 bunnies, Rogan hates to be picked up or manhandled the most and has fought me, kicked, wriggled and squirmed every time I’ve tried to administer any of the above.

It’s not just a case of softly. slowly or gently does it, he simply WILL NOT allow me anywhere near his mouth with the syringes and has kicked so much when I was trying to give him a very gentle tummy rub that I could see that it physically exhausted and stressed him.

It was difficult with Nephy, it’s impossible with Rogan. Also because he’s so much bigger than her, I’m finding it much harder to hold him securely or stop him from hurting himself when I try and syringe feed him or do anything else.

I’ve managed to set up a sort of tent with an old jumper to keep him warm, with a warm water bottle at the other side. Any time I try to cover him directly he gets up and digs it away.

So the situation is that he’s lying with his eyes closed under the jumper tent in a low-sided tub of hay (which he has pushed away to make a space to lie with his belly to the plastic) near to a warm water bottle, occasionally grinding his teeth or shifting a little but doing nothing else. Chia, his bonded girlfriend, occasionally goes over to snuggle him or groom away some of the sticky, wet stuff that’s dribbled down his front in the chaotic attempts to feed/medicate/water him.

If this doesn’t change I’ll be going straight to the vet again in the morning.

I think the culprit is some kale I fed them last night, he devoured all of his then ate Chias portion too because she left it. This being so, I still can’t rule out a blockage because he chewed a rug not long ago, and although he’s normally a very resilient rabbit, he’s getting older and his naughty behaviours might be catching up with him.

What should I get the vet to do if he isn’t better tomorrow? I really feel I need to stand my ground and get him treated properly! I don’t want anything to happen because this vet wasn’t clued up enough to do the right thing…

[Luna]

I hope he gets better! It’s good that he has enough strength to put up a fight when you try to syringe feed him, though I know it can be frustrating. Is there a non-Kale veggie that you could drizzle the gas drops on and feed it to him that way? If he doesn’t improve, then when you go to the vet I would at a minimum demand an x-ray and sub-q’s. Then, I would hope that the vet would give an injection of a gut motility drug (ie. reglan) and send home some of the drug as well.

Sending recovery vibes ((((Rogan))))

[Author]

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