Rabbit only eating hay, being treated for stasis

[Jessica6829]

Hi all! I’m just looking for some input or what others have experienced. My 11 month old holland lop Rue is about 10 days post spay and went into GI Stasis as a result of inadequate pain relief (there was a meds mix up). It was a long, sometimes bumpy, road, but she seems to be doing better. She is eating on her own and pooping mostly regularly with  mostly normal sized poops. She is still on cisapride (3x a day), meloxicam (1x a day), and metoclopramide (2x a day) but we are hopefully on our way to weaning her off meds soon.

My concern is that while she is eating a ton of hay, she is also chewing a lot of wood and not really eating much else. She will eat romaine lettuce, but no other greens even though she was eating cilantro and arugula when she first started to eat on her own again and regularly previous to this episode. She also used to eat Critical Care off a spoon as a treat and now turns up her nose at it although she has started to at least sniff at it with a bit of interest. She is not really interested in pellets and will only occasionally munch one here and there if at all. She has also developed an affinity for 1st cut timothy hay when she is usually a staunchly 2nd cut hay bun.

She has recently started to zoomie and binky a bit again and has been full bunny flopping. She is learning to retrust my husband and I as this whole ordeal has caused us to have to handle her a lot and bring her back and forth to the vet which cause her a significant amount of stress.

My vet doesn’t seem too concerned as long as she is eating hay and pooping. I am just a bit nervous to take her off meds when she’s still not “back to normal” eating wise.  I’m thinking I might just need to wait a bit and keep plugging along with the meds since I know stasis can take awhile to recover from, but I just wanted to see what others thought. I’m wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience or any thoughts on if something might be going?

[Bam]

I do think that if she is eating a ton of hay and drinking water, you dont need to worry a huge lot. Baby buns needs extra nutrients (pellets, alfalfa) and so does pregnant/lactating does, poorly buns and some elderbuns, but healthy young adult buns do excellently on hay only. Its the same with horses, its becoming more and more common for horse owners to keep healthy young horses on a hay only diet. 1st cut hay has more fiber and less protein than later cuts, which is excellent for buns.

You can taper down the meds if you like. Keep a diary of how much of the meds you give and when, and keep a close eye on your bun’s appetite, fecal- and urinal output and energy level. It’s great if you can also weigh her weekly, its difficult to see with the nsked eye if a bun has gained or lost weight.

Stasis absolutely can take a while to recover from, so as long as she is eating hay and produces poops, its normal under the circumstances.

[Wick & Fable]

I agree w/ @Bam — unless this becomes an abnormally long span of time of being hay-only, I would just monitor for now, as hay is ultimately the best regulator for health as it is! Make sure to continue offering the veggies and pellets so her curiosity can be satisfied whenever she’s ready!

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.

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