Rabbit lethargic and unable to eat or pass faeces.

[MellotheDutch]

When i first got my little rex from petsathome, the night after we got her (so vets were all closed) she was unable to eat or pass faecal matter, she was extremely lethargic to the point me and my boyfriend were panicking to try finding out what was wrong or find an emergency vets, when we found nothing, we had accepted she would die and decided to just make her comfortable.

We offered her pellets, veg, water anything we could think of but she showed no interest, we got her out and loosely covered her with a blanket to keep her warm and soothe her. Then she started trying to get to a mint plant on the shelf, at this point we decided she can have it if it makes her happy, She ate two entire mint bushes, roots and all before settling down. Then we got green stinky baby poo shortly after.

We were practically crying with joy as we had been contemplating the cause but this meant her digestive system was booting back up.

She is as strong as ever and 3 years old now, but we never could figure out what it was just hypothesis. 

We know mint is good for digestive system. We’re guessing that either the change in food sent her stomach into shock but we’ve had over 10 rabbits before (separately before we met and since getting together) and its never happened before. but we also remember we didnt see her eat at the shop.

Anyone have any clue what may have caused this?

(Its not vital to learn, but i would appreciate any help or hypothesis)

Thank you

[Dface]

Rabbits don’t deal very well with stress. It sounds very like she went into stasis, where the gut slows down. It’s common for stressed rabbits to stop eating and for their tummies to shut down, so it’s not unreasonable to believe this might have been the cause

[kurottabun]

It does sound like stasis. That would make sense as some rabbits are really prone to stressing out in a new environment. In fact she may have already been stressed from something else at the shop, then worsened when you switched her environment by bringing her back home.

Sometimes bunnies can resolve stasis on their own, but on many occasions it requires immediate vet care and some medication to get the guts going again.

[MellotheDutch]

Ok, thank you guys. its a relief to know what it was after all these years. And by the looks of what iv read, i’m thankful she knew what she needed.
Thank you again <3

[joea64]

I think I’ll have to start giving mint to Panda and Fernando regularly. I’ve been getting it for them every so often as an add-on to their evening greens, but if it’s good for the digestion, they should probably have a little every day just to be safe…(not that they’re having any problems!)

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