One year old frequent stasis possible kidney problem?

[MMmm]

Zimba is my 1 year old male rabbit. He had his first stasis in Feb. After giving him some leftover gut motility meds I had on hands, he was back to normal.

We still went to see our exotic vet. X ray showed that his lungs were a bit hazy (he did have some occasional sneezes) and blood work showed his kidney values were border line high (him at 1.4 while normal range 0.7-1.4). Antibiotics cleared his sneezing problem but kidney value remained the same when we did the recheck two weeks later.

Since that first stasis episode, he’s had three more with two of them being pretty minor which he bounced back within an hour. The third one in late May was pretty bad. So we went back to the vet. Everything looked normal except for the kidney value which again was at that borderline.

The vet suspected some infection in the kidney or UTI and suggested urine test first. she also recommended abdominal ultrasound. I don’t mind too much about the cost since he’s insured but hate to put him through all the stress as he’s easily stressed.  I want to pause for now since he’s doing fine. If the persistent stasis shows up again we will definitely go for the urine test.

by the way he’s a little picky about his hay but in general eats enough for his size. He’s also been in molting stage nonstop since February. He had had very tiny amount of dill for 3 days before the May stasis episode. Since it was so little amount of a new veggie, I doubted it was the cause.

My vet said he’s a difficult case in terms of ruling out the root cause. I’m not ready for another special need bun this soon. He’s only one! What do you guys think?

 

[Wick & Fable]

Can you provide information on the care he’s receiving? This would include daily routine, what his set-up is like, what are the components and quantities of his diet, etc…? Kidney issue aside, it would be good to know if there is anything directly related to these items that may be facilitating stasis.

Also, can you explain what you are observing when you say “stasis”? Stasis is the actual state when a rabbit’s GI has stopped/halted. This is distinct from a rabbit who is potentially just going through a minor bout of gas that can be self-resolving or easily treated with some informed at-home interventions. Gas can be normal, but full-blown stasis is not.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[MMmm]

Zimba is on primarily orchard grass and some Timothy. I’d say he eats 1.5-2x of his body size of hay per day. His staple veggies are romaine lettuce and cilantro about a cup in total per day. He gets no more than 20 pellets of oxbow adult rabbit food. He lives in my living room (attached). Due to his tummy problem he doesn’t get any fruits. His only treats are Sherwood digestive pellet and BinkyBunny store dried leaves (no more than two per day).

I think what he had during the two minor episodes was gas. He didn’t come running for his treats but still took them somewhat reluctantly when I offered them right up to his face. This was not normal. But he was back to normal within an hour: begging for treats and being active.

during a true stasis, he would stop eating completely including his favorites and pressed his tummy to floor. Both times it took several hours for him to start eating again even with intervention of medication. He would not slowly start to eat less and produce small droppings a few days before stasis. He would be munching hay a minute ago and all of suddenly refuse his treats.

[hophophop]

Zimba, mine is going through something right now with a loss of appetite but mine has a slightly elevated liver number which the vet still thinks it’s not high enough to warrant an ultrasound. I’m seeking second opinion and hopefully can get to the bottom of it. So I hope yours too will snap out of it or you can get a clarification on the kidney issue.

I just want to chime in about dill though. While everywhere says it’s safe, my bun has weird poop when she takes dill. Usually soft stool. Not sure if yours may respond poorly to dill which may have trigger some GI problem?

[MMmm]

Thank you for your insights. I’m glad to hear that I was being too paranoid about new items. I also suspected similar things happened during his first stasis: had something new (in tiny amount) for a few days before.

[LBJ10]

I don’t think a urinalysis will hurt anything. Although you would have thought if he was on an antibiotic before, it would have taken care of any UTI.

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