Pointers please! GI STASIS

[Oliviasmum]

Hi all,
This is my first post on this forum, and I’m a newbie to owning a bunny, I am just hoping that you seasoned bunny owners could give me any pointers on how to help my bunny though this. Last night I got home from work to find my bunny a little out of sorts. She was not excited to see me, nor did she run to great me like she usually does… I also noticed she hadn’t eaten any of her treat , I didn’t think too much of it though cause after some convincing, she did come out and hop about a little bit and I also witnessed her drink some water, so I thoroughly cleaned her cage, put her to bed and hoped she would be better this morning. This morning though I woke up early to check on her only to find she had not drank any more water, eaten anything also most alarmingly has not pooped at all…I called the emergency vet and brought her right in. Luckily, after the nurse listened to her belly, took her vitals ( all normal ) and waiting for the vet, she was able to produce two little poops in the room… they told me they were giving her a few shots to get her back on track ( one to keep her hydrated, one to move along her digestive system, and an anti inflammatory), gave me some critical care, some literature on proper bunny diet and sent us on our way. They honestly made it seem like not too big of a deal so I left feeling very confident that she was totally fine. I then read her discharge paperwork and saw the official diagnosis of GI STASIS…. I stupidly googled it to try and find pointers on how to help her, now I am seriously worried.
The good news is that she had pooped, like a lot of poops but only on one occasion and then one other time with much less than the first, but still multiple poops. I have been consistently giving her little bits of the critical care with a syringe, and also trying to give her a little more water with the syringe as well… at all times hay and water is available to her but she is not interested…I am feeling okay that she is likely getting the nutrients she needs from the critical care but I am still so worried… can anyone give me insight on when I should expect her to eat or drink on her own? Please any insight or additional pointers would be so appreciated.

So worried about my little love ?

[12345ABCDE]

Stasis is very scary. My Buttercup has dealt with it on three occasions. The first two she only needed a few injections and oral medication and she began eating very quickly but the 3rd it took her a little longer and so we had to syringe feed her. If your bun is already pooping, that’s a fantastic sign! And it’s good that you’re adding extra water to her CC mix as that will help things move along. As for when your bun will eat on his own, it’s tricky because you want to make sure she has something in her tummy but of course feeding her the CC is going to make her full and not want or need to eat on her own. It’s sort of a judgement call really. How often are you syringe feeding? If I recall,  I was syringe feeding every 4 hours. I would continue to syringe feed regularly until she starts to look a little perkier and be a bit more active, then you can try and delay one of the feedings to give her the opportunity to eat on her own. It’s difficult because every case of stasis is so different. 

Is she moving about at all? 

[ThorBunny]

Agreed that it is good she is pooping some! I went through this recently with my girl as well. When Thor was sick, the only thing she would eat willingly was kale. Have you tried giving her some favorite veggies? It can help to wet them down extra to add to her water intake.

How are her energy levels? If she is lethargic I would also keep an eye on her body temperature. You can check her ears, if they are cold try to warm her up some with blankets or moving her to a warm area.

[kirstyol]

we go through GI slowdown with Bramble regularly, and he has been in full stasis twice. What we do is fully syringe feed him the first day (obviously we have food/hay/water available for him but we give him his full days worth syringe feeding is what I mean) the second day, before every syringe feed we spend 10-15 mins trying to encourage him to eat a little on his own, if he eats a little we cut down the syringe feed a little. Usually leafy greens are the first thing they go back to after stasis and it can take a day or two for them to eat their nuggets again. My vet always says that even if all he will eat is stuff you would normally limit like sugary treats, to give those as its more important he eats something than what he eats and a day or so of too much sugar is nowhere near as bad for him as a day or two of not eating enough.

getting your bun moving helps a lot, when bramble is sick all he wants to do is lie in the litter box (which he never does any other time so we are alerted as soon as he is unwell which is a good thing) so we pick him up and put him in the other side of the room regularly – he then has to hop the length of the room to get back. Sure it annoys him a little but better he is moving about.

Once he starts eating reasonably regularly we start giving extra portions of leafy greens (which his brother Ron appreciates very much too!) then cut back to our normal feeding over a few days.

[Oliviasmum]

Thank you all for your pointers and replies!!! I am so happy to report she seems to be doing pretty good today!!! she seems to be perkier and more energetic this evening! I was so stressed and sad about the fact I had to go to work today, but I did see her start to eat some of the spinach I had out for her this morning… luckily I am also across the street from my parents so asked my mom to check on her a few times today… I came home and she ate almost a handful of spinach! ( which I also wet down a bit to help her get more water since I still haven’t seen her go to water on her own yet)… Something I don’t understand is that she is trying to pull up parts of the rug, which she hasn’t done since she was very little! Every time o see her do it though I put down hay or lettuce there to try and trick her… she’s grtting a little annoyed with me but at the very least it’s helping keeping her moving a little bit lol. Phew. I know she’s not one hundred percent out of the woods yet but I feel a lot better about the situation than I did last night!

[ThorBunny]

Glad to hear she is making some progress! I would guess that the rug digging is a sign that she is frustrated or uncomfortable because of her illness. Has she seemed off at all in the days leading up to when she stopped eating?

How is she today?

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