Sick bummy?!?

[EmmaG]

I recently adopted a wonderful 9 month old male rabbit named Dasher. When I say recently I mean about 3 weeks ago. Everything has been going great but today he stopped eating and pooping. He has plenty of hay and fresh veggies but he won’t touch them. All he does is sit there and sleep. The first thing that came to mind was maybe he’s sick. But I did an external exam and I couldn’t find anything. The second thing was maybe the room is too cold or too hot; so I played around with the temperature but his condition hasn’t changed.

I’m planning on taking him to the vet in a few hours when they open, bunt until then does anyone have any advise?

[jerseygirl]

Hi Emma, I’m glad you’re taking him to the vet and have hopefully been by now…

Is Dasher laying stretched out? Listless? Or hunched up? any grinding of teeth?

I’m currently in mid winter but if you’re in northern hemi, I assume your experiencing summer. Rabbits are more susceptible to heat than cooler weather. If you suspect it’s the heat, try cooling his ears down and putting ice bottles in with him or a fan on him. Also, I thought he may be experiencing a gas episode. With this, they often lay with tummy pressing to floor and keep reajusting their postion. You can help relieve gas but a tummy massage or giving a liquid baby’s gas medicine containing simethicone. 1-2 mls (0.3% solution).

If he is hunched up and refusing food then he may be suffering discomfort from gut slow down (GI stasis) and it is best he be seen. Try get fluids into him, if he won’t eat you can syringe some water or pedilyte into the side of his mouth. Rabbits ears are generally cool to touch but if they feel really, really cold – you will need to wrap him up and get him warm as he may go into shock. At the vet, maybe get his teeth checked also as a probblem there may cause pain and lead to his refusal to eat also.

Hope he comes good. Keep us posted

[RabbitPam]

Hi, Emma,
You’re doing the right thing getting him to the vet. They try to hide illness, so watching the food and poops is the biggest clue to a problem.
Just make sure he has cool (not ice cold) water available before you go.

Have you been by now? It’s been a few hours since you wrote. What did the vet say?
Feel better Dasher.

[EmmaG]

Thank you both for your help.

Yes I took him to the vet this morning and the vet said it was gas.

They gave him fluids and some gas x.

I just feel so bad! He looks so unhappy. He’s curled up in his corner hidding under some blankets sleeping. I wish there was more I could do.

I have to give him some more gas x later and some bene bac (I think that’s what it’s called). I really hope he feels better soon. I feel like such a bad mommy but my mother even told me not to be so hard on myself.

I’m going to spend the rest of the day at home with him massaging his tummy from time to time and hopefully he’ll get better soon.

Thanks again for the encouragement and advice.

[RabbitPam]

Good, I was going to suggest gentle tummy massage. The good news about gas is that it is very treatable, like when we have it, and when it is relieved, the bunny will seem relieved. You will find a pile of poopies soon, and probably a bunny who looks like he has a new lease on life.

Now I would examine your food to see if anything you’ve been giving him is one of the more gas producing greens. Some buns just can’t tolerate certain families of greens.

[EmmaG]

Gas producing greens…. is spinach one? I gave him that yesterday morning and soon after all this happened. Either way no more spinach for him.

He’s still not eating but he has been drinking a lot and he allowed me to give him the bene bac so I’m happy about that. Hopefully tomorrow he’ll be better.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[jerseygirl]

Go Dasher! Glad he’s coming good Emma. I don’t know if spinach is a “known culprit” often it’s broccoli or cabbage…but then some have gotten gas from just romaine. So at the end of the day it really depends on the bunny. If he’s still not eating later but taking med by mouth, you could try give him a pellet slurry. (ie, pellets mixed with water, juice or baby food). Is the Gas X the infant formula? The good thing about this is you cannot over dose, so you can continue to give it. I’ve read recommendations of 1ml every hr for the 1st 3 hours, then 1ml every 3-8 hrs as needed.  (sorry…you may already know this…)

[EmmaG]

The Gas X is the regular 125mg. The vet said he could swallow the softgel but he refused. So i softened it up and squeezed out the liquid, mixed it with some water and he took it. Then i gave him some more water. I heard his stomach making gurggling gas noises I wonder if that’s good? I didn’t hear anything all day till now so maybe the Gas X is working.

Oh well. I’m goign to keep giving him water every hour and hopefully that will help flush out his body.

Cross your fingers!

[jerseygirl]

Fingers crossed. Tummy noises are good.
Usually with rabbits, I’ve only heard of the infant formulas used for home administering (65mg simethicone per ml). So the one you have is stronger, but just follow your vets advice. If you would like to have similar on hand for future gas episodes, I’d suggest the infant formula because it has less additives.

[EmmaG]

ok great I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks!

[EmmaG]

Thank god he just started eating!

[Deb'sBuns]

Thank god that is good news.

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