Please help, feeling lost

[BunBunofjoy]

Hi, my bunny had turned 6 this March and the last few months has been a really stressful period for him. He is currently diagnosed with G.I Stasis and is having his subcut fluid injections every day, along with critical care (every 3 hours) metoclopramide, ranitidine, cisapride and polysilic II suspension. He seems to be getting better, especially last night when he was looking for the critical care, munching some hay on his own and pooping some of the rounder stools. He was also laying down outside of his hide-out (at his usual spot). However, this morning I realized that he has been loafing n his hideout sometimes again (he always does this whenever he feels discomfort). And he has been pooping a lot of soft stools as well as rejecting critical care so I had to forcefeed him. I am feeling really lost and conflicted because it has been 5 days since he was given the fluids and meds, yet he is not back to his normal self.

 

(Left: soft stools) (Middle:soft stools) (Right: Some hard ones from last night with soft stools)

He also have a long medical history. He had a surgery on 19 may 2020 to remove a partial hairball obstruction in his small intestine. Moreover, since he was 6 months old, his liver values were high and he has been on Hepavite and vitamin b supplement. He also had a tumor growth remove from his testicle in march 2020. Not forgetting, he was found with half of his left front paw gone as a baby before I adopted him.  (Yes, he has been through a lot and he’s a fighter)

However, after the surgery on 19 may 2020 and vet review, where the vet say he do not need the metoclopramide and cisapride anymore, his appetite for hay and water is kinda weird. It was two weeks of decrease in hay and water intake, followed by a week of normal hay and water intake. There were also occasional soft stools that has a foul odour. So, we went back to the vet again ( I made sure that the vets seeing him are always reputable bunny-savy vets) and they gave him ranitidine. It helped with his soft stools but his hay and water intake went down again. From his post-op on 19 may 2020 till now, I have also been giving him critical care.

On 4th July 2020 Saturday afternoon, I noticed that he was loafing in his hideout. His poopies were small and the quantity were less too. So i bought him to the vet immediately. The vet ruled out obstruction as his tummy feels doughy and not hard. They injected meloxicam and subcut fluid, as well as providing metoclopramide, cisapride and polysilic II suspension for him. When he got home, he didnt eat, poop, drink nor pee. By 3am, he looks pretty flat so I brought him to the emergency vet and they administered similar medications and fluid as well. I was devastated as they said the he was at risk and the next 12 hours would be very critical. After force-feeding him every 2 hours , he started to poop really small stools around sunday evening. And since then, he has gone back to the vet every day for the subcut fluid.  Which bring us back to now and the situation I described in the first paragraph (he is back to loafing in his hideout while I’m typing this). I’m really conflicted on what I should do and is there any other ways I could help him? Are the soft stools a concern as well? I appreciate any advice and would love to hear your experiences with G.I Stasis as well.

Thank you!

 

[Asriel and Bombur]

I think with GI issues a lot of it is potentially diet related. Even if you’re feeding him a good standard rabbit diet, some buns just can’t handle it. My Bombur is one of them. What do you feed him? How much and how often? I’m not sure your bun fits the description, but have you looked into the condition megacolon?

[DanaNM]

Man, so stressful for both of you. He has been through a lot. 🙁

His soft stools look like he is experiencing cecal dysbiosis. I cared for a foster bunny that had alternating stasis and extreme gas with these big splats of soft stools that look exactly like the photos you posted. It may have been related to megacolon or cow pile syndrome in my case as my bunny met the description, but my vet would only go so far as to call it “cecal dysbiosis”. With the bunny I was caring for, he was on cisapride, metacam, and syringe feeding when he wouldn’t eat.

Here is a good description on disorders of the cecum to give you some background: https://rabbit.org/disorders-of-the-cecum/

This site is a good resource for megacolon/cow pile syndrome to see if your bun fits the description: https://www.vgr1.com/megacolon/

True megacolon is linked to genes that cause specific markings in rabbits (“charlie” markings, hotot), but it seems like there can be rabbits with similar symptoms that don’t have those markings. These types of disorders are somewhat on the cutting edge of rabbit medicine.

Given his age and the surgery, I am wondering if the surgery threw off the balance of the cecum or disrupted the function of it some other way. Megacolon bunnies tend to start having problems around age 3-4, and have a very hard time keeping weight on. They also never have normal poops.

You might try giving him a probiotic such as benebac to see if that helps get things back on track. Our vet also had us try feeding cecals from a healthy rabbit to our guy (“poop shakes” lol), mixed into his critical care. But he only suggested his because we had another rabbit living next to him, so the vet assumed that he would have already been exposed to any potential pathogens. Neither of these things really worked in our case, because I suspect the root cause was genetic (cow pile syndrome). But in your case, if this was brought on by the surgery, something like that might work. But please don’t try the poop shake thing without consulting with your vet first.

. . . 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.  

[LBJ10]

It sounds like something isn’t right in the cecum, as Dana explained. This could be surgery-related, diet-related, or a combination of both. Some bunnies just can’t handle certain foods. Perhaps the surgery pushed him over the edge so to speak?

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