Please help – very unwell bun with GI stasis unexplained cause

[LyraTheBun]

Hi there, I’ve referred to this forum a good few times but hoped there wouldn’t be any reason to post, sadly there is, our little bun Lyra has been ill for a few days now and despite her being in the vet for two nights we don’t know for sure what is wrong with her. It started on Boxing Day as she was being looked after, while we were away, by a very trustworthy friend who has had rabbits in the past, when I picked her up she seemed her usual self but when she got home she wasn’t eating as regular as she generally does, I put this down to the stress of the car journey for her, she did eventually finish the bowl I put down for her but her evening meal she started eating that evening but she didn’t finish by the next morning (she ate about 1/3 of the food), at this point we noticed that her dropping with very small and dark so we panicked and took her to the vets. The vet advised she had gut sounds but they were very quiet and advised they take her in for observation and medicating, below is a list of what she has had and what she is on:

Tests performed: 

• Blood Glucose (low suggesting no blockage in the guts), sedation and x-ray (nothing suggestion any issues, no blockage found etc.).

Medication used in hospital:

• Metoclopramine – Prokinetic
• Ranitidine – Prokinetic
• Buprenorphine – Analgesia
• Loxicom – Analgesia
• Subcutaneous Fluid Theropy

Medicines dispensed at home

• Ranitidine – Zantac – 0.5ml 3 times daily
• Metoclopramine – 1.5ml 3 times daily
• Recovery sachet formula

After two days in the vets they suggested bring her home to see how she adapts to her general environment, at home we have encouraged her with lot of things (cucumber, apple, tomato, parsley and kale), which she will take from time to time in very small doses but will not try to find (same goes with hay) and given her lots of space to run around (normally she gets around half our living room but we’ve given her the whole run of the room at the moment to try and get her moving). However she is generally sitting still in her usual favourite locations and only eating when being hand fed.

What has been slightly encouraging is that during her time in the vets she did not pass anything, however since coming home she has passed a fair bit (they are much wetter, smaller and darker than usual and the first one she passed much larger that usual) but generally only on being moved into her litter tray. At the moment she’s still only taking little bits of food when being handed them, puts up a struggle when being syringe fed and given her medicine, will explore very occasionally but generally will sit still and not be her usually self at all, she’s usually very inquisitive and sociable (sometimes downright mischievous) but at the moment seems very unresponsive. 

Just to note she’s a very small harlequin rabbit (might have been crossed with a dwarf) weighs about 1.4kg and is only 7 months old. Normally she’s very keen on her food, getting just under to small eggcups of Beaphar Care + Rabbit a day, unlimited hay (meadow is her favourite) and a large handful of mix greens. She is drinking fine should you give her water to drink. (again she is not actively seeking it herself)

If anyone can offer any advise or give us anything that we should know that would be very helpful, it’s very upsetting to see her like this and anything would be more than appreciated.

[Deleted User]

It’s concerning that she’s still not eating anything really. You need to force feed her either critical care or pellets mashed with water in a syringe. I know it sounds mean to force feed, but at this point you have to do it to ensure that she doesn’t lose weight and so that she survives.

[Bam]

The medicins she has and has had are all good and rabbit-safe and standard treatment for GI stasis with no blockage.

If she has gas pain, baby gas drops (simethicone) might help. Bun owners use simethicone drops quite a lot, especially as a first aid, but not all vets approve. Some vets say it doesn’t work with rabbits because rabbits can’t burp. And that is true that buns can’t burp, but they can fart, and that’s what we hope for when we give simethicone. Gas pain can be very uncomfortable for a rabbit and cause inappetence and unwillingness to move around. A bit of physical exercise is good when a bun has gas (rather like with a horse that has colic), so you should encourage her to move. For example by putting her on the floor and let her hop off to her favorite place when you’ve given her the meds/recovery.

The poop you describe does sound like a good sign. There is often a big splurt-ish poop at first when the gut starts moving again. Oddly shaped poop, wet poop, very dark poop is more or less standard and to be expected after a bout of stasis, because the gut needs time to get back in order.

Did the vet say anything about her temperature?

ETA: Recovery sachets are used in the same way as Oxbow Critical Care (CC), it’s just a different brand. 

[Wick & Fable]

Unless one of those veggies entice her more than others, I’d go to offering just one, safe veggie until her gut is back to normal. The less you can do to rock the boat at this point, the better. I know personally Wick cannot eat cucumber and parsley because it gives him runny poop and makes him pee uncontrollably, respectively.

Force feeding critical care if she’s not eating is necessary. Although she may not like it, it will help her in the long run.

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.

[LyraTheBun]

Hello Asriel and Bombur! She has been getting syringe feed since she went into the vet and we have continued to do that 3 times days a day – sorry if that wasn’t clear in the original post, she hates it but we know it’s for her own good.

We’ve tried the bunny burrito to try and keep her calm while syringe feeding but it’s still quite a struggle – if you have any tips that would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Lyra

[LyraTheBun]

Hi Bam,

We have been trying our best to get her moving around but it’s hard as we don’t want to stress her out more and she only seems to want to move when she’s running away from us trying to give her her medication – which is typical her so making me feel a bit better. (loves a cuddle but only on her own terms)

Can simethicone do any harm to rabbits if the cause is still unknown? If not that is definitely worth a shot! The vet did say her temperature was normal as well so didn’t bring us any closer to finding out the cause sadly.

I’m glad to know the poop is a good sign though, it has been less today then it was yesterday which is my biggest concern. 

Thanks, Lyra

[LyraTheBun]

Hi Wick,

Apple has been the one enticing her the most – but I cautious of having too much apple because I knew it’s very sugary for them. She’s had a tiny bit of cucumber and tiny bit tomato, hasn’t touched the kale which is surprising as it is usually her favourite and has managed a few leaves of parsley. She has had all this greenery in the past and been fine with it (she can’t have rocket or spinach due to runny poop) but everything else I’ve tried her on has been fine. 

But I do understand trying not to rock the boat at the moment – I might try sticking to parsley and maybe a tiny bit of apple.

Thanks, Lyra

[Bam]

Simethicone is not absorbed by the body, it stays in the GI canal and comes out with the poop. Medirabbit and Dana Krempels say it’s fine to give on suspicion of gas. I have given it to my bun together with Metacam and ranitidine.

As for the syringe feeding, it isn’t easy and quite a bit of the recovery formula ends up on the humans and the furniture. But it’s still super important. I once had to feed my bun CC every day for almost 4 weeks, and he was so crazy angry with me that he bit me hard. But after the ordeal was over, it was like that awful experience had bonded us very closely. I know other people have had similar experiences with their buns. And my vet told me that the stress of syringe-feeding a bun is way less dangerous than letting a bun go with an empty stomach.

That there’s not a lot of poop is because she hasn’t eaten her normal amount of food. But as long as there is poop, stuff is moving along, and that’s great.

Here’s a great article on GI stasis by Dana Krempels. It deals primarily with the acute phase, but it has lots of useful info:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

ETA: More or less whatever she wants to eat now is fine, so if she wants apple, she can have apple. The sugar in the fruit can help perk a poorly bun up, according to Molly Varga, British rabbit vet. Its because glucose goes directly out into the bloodstream, it doesn’t have to be processed in the gut first like other food.  

[LyraTheBun]

Hi Bam,

Thank you – we will try and pick up some Simethicone tomorrow as I don’t think anywhere that sells it is open today unfortunately.

We’ve been trying our best to syringe feed around 3 times a day but we are really struggling with it getting stuck in the syringe and keeping her still for long enough to do it so I have no idea if we’re actually giving her enough food – it’s been easy to give her meds, food and keep an eye on her at the moment because both me and my boyfriend have been off work since the 27th but we both go back on the 3rd and are really worried about how we are going to manage then – even more so as I go away for two weeks on 7th. Any tips or syringe feeding and encouraging her to eat on her own again would be more than welcome.

Yesterday she started picking up a few strands of hay and kale leaves on her own but was also mostly okay with us hand feeding them to her – today she takes the bit of hay in her mouth but just seems to drop it or even actively throw it away. She has been pooping a lot more they are still small and dark but a bit dryer now and this morning we did also find what looks like cecotropes in her litter tray as well – this is the first time we’ve seen anything reflective of cecotropes since she stopped eating on the 27th.

I feel bad leaving her for more than two seconds so have been sleeping on the couch since she came home and letting her have the full run of the room both day and night but I don’t know how I’m going to cope once I go back to work. It’s absolutely breaking my heart to see her like this.

[Sirius&Luna]

I hope she’s doing a bit better today!

Were her teeth checked at any point? The picking hay up then dropping it sounds like she wants to eat but perhaps her teeth are causing her pain.

[Luna]

As for the bits getting stuck in the syringe, I usually increase the temperature of the water I mix it with, and then also use a spoon to crush the bits to slurry it up more. You could also cut a little bit more off the end of the syringe to make the opening bigger – just make sure to depress the plunger slower when you feed her so she doesn’t get an over mouthful. For syringe feeding in general, will she try to eat from the syringe if you hold it while she just sits there? Luna never used to like getting medicine, so I stopped restricting her movement and just let her hop up to the syringe, and luckily it worked .

[Author]

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