Stasis marathon, help me!

[Felicity0118]

So now day 4/5 stasis, been back and forth from vet for some overnight stays but determined she’ll stay home now and I’ll somehow stop making her poorly!
apparently at vets they say she’s bright and eating drinking, home she’s sluggish and eating little (dry herbs etc but no fresh or pellets, no interest at all!) and syringing water

currently putting her through her paces of:

every hour poke to get some movement even just a few hops

offering syringe water with each poke (sometimes drinking sometimes not, think we’re up to 35ml so far?)

dry food she’s getting on with but not sure to keep trying to get fresh food? She just doesn’t seem interested!

but when she settles to rest she is grinding her teeth a little (doing a tiny bit now and 3hours post paracetamol and metacam)

im just wondering, am I winning? Failing? Should change it?

Struggling to keep  hope and completely exhausted!

she did just get up out of her box to eat on her own and explore a bit (plus soft poo) so I think this is improvement? But to be honest, never done this before so anyone fancy sharing a play by play I would be very keen to hear!
Thankyou all for keeping my spirits up, this forum is amazing!

F

[Bam]

It might very well be that she feels safe enough at home so her instinct to appear fit as a fiddle to deter predators relaxes a little. At the vet, she doesn’t know if there are lurking predators (all this is obv instinctive). I had the same thing happen with one of my buns, he even ate parsley when he was kept for observation at the vet, then back at home, he was out of it.

I had to feed and medicate that bun for 5 weeks until he started to gain back weight and gradually become his happy little self again.

Patience and determination is key with a GI stasis bun. It is exhausting though, both mentally and physically.

It’s great that you make her move around often and give her water. Dry food (i e pellets) should preferably be given sparingly, because they require water to expand like they should in the tummy. Critical Care or other rescue formula is better. Many rabbits dislike it though, so you need to feed it in a syringe. It is however very important, without proper nutrition she wont have the strenght to fight this.

As for fresh food, sometimes a rabbit can be enticed to have a nibble if you offer fresh herbs that you break the stalks of just before serving to release their fragrance. Dandelion leaves, staöks and flowers could work too, they’re in season now if you’re in the northern hemisphere.

Also make sure she keeps warm. A poorly rabbit can become hypothermic rather quickly, pretty much regardless the temperature in the room. You can use a warm waterbottle, hand warmers in a towel, a snuggle safe pet heating pad etc. She must be able to move away from the heat source when/if she doesnt want it.

Here is a good article on stasis by Dana Krempels. Towards the end of the article she stresses the importance of not trying to rush things, recovery can be really slow.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

 

 

 

[Felicity0118]

Thankyou so much for getting back to me! I’ve been feeling like a complete monster today with the new ‘regime’ was going well this morning but then as the day went on slipped into not moving and struggling to motivate

ah thankfully no pellets, just hay and dried leaves…she’s such a weird bun! Never been interested in sugar and now completely off pellets, it’s like she knows

issue is fluid 🙁 got 15ml in her today, just taken her to vet as an hour after pain meds I thought she’d perk up but didn’t

vet gave her 40ml CC and said she was really well behaved!! I got like 5ml in her and it was an epic fight!

not sure I could do 5 weeks of this 🙁 I feel so mean grabbing her (even though I finally got a cheeky cuddle!)

and back at work on Friday, I hope she’ll be ok by then, literally don’t know how to do this on my own 🙁

she seems to be getting there though, it’s just the water…anyone got tips on getting her to drink when she doesn’t care for sugar?😂

[Bam]

Sometimes they’ll drink “hay tea”. You brew it much like you would normal tea, let it cool and sieve off the hay, then serve in a water bowl.

You can also steam some hay or spray some water on it. Serve normal water and hay as well, some rabbits are very suspicious of “new” food.

It does get easier with time. Did the vet show you how to hold her for feeding? (It’s normal that a bun is “well behaved” when being handled by a stranger.)

Has the vet any idea what could be causing this stasis? Teeth problems are a common cause.

[Felicity0118]

Oo Thankyou I’ll give that a go now!

haha yeah she looked at me like I was so stupid and was like, have you tried kale…she like it here? (Of course I did I delivered it, don’t you think I’ve tried that!?😂😂🙄)

but today left the house for four hours and I’ve come back to a very bright eyed bun! Who is now eating kale near me 🥳

not drinking still so will try the tea

Also have a jelly poo, I’m taking that as a good sign?🤔😂

[Felicity0118]

Oo sorry missed the bottom question

nope and doesn’t seem hugely concerned with checking, teeth are fine…I’m worried about kidneys heard there may be a sludge thing that could cause it?

 

she was in epic mault just before and potentially but not sure! I got her a giant egg box (the open ones which hold like 24?) she was tearing bits off that and I do wonder if that may have cause a bit of a slow down? And finally…I was a tiny bit naughty gave her a floret of brocolli each day for like two weeks, my local shop doesn’t have much in the way of veg so thought if I gave her small amounts it may be ok?

basically I have no idea 😂

 

[Bam]

Om I’m glad she’s eating kale near you! (Both good things, eating and being social). Jelly poop is better than no poop, but obviously not ideal. Sometimes the jelly-like mucus means the colon is irritated, in some cases (more often in very young buns) it means there’s overgrowth of the wrong gut bacteria. Keep a close eye, if she starts having runny or watery poop without any shaped poop at all, it can be true diarrhea.

Any kind of pain/discomfort can manifest as inappetence and GI trouble, leading to stasis. So it’s difficult to guess. A big molt can set off stasis and ingesting a lot of fur can cause a gut slowdown.

[DanaNM]

All I have to add is just keep at it! Keep getting that recovery food into her, even if it’s a little at a time. Stasis recovery can be like “trying to jump start a train”, so patience with the supportive care is key!

A tip I got from another member for syringing fluids and CC is to use the 1 mL syringes. It sounds crazy, but the buns really seem to swallow more of it when you use the little syringe. I use a larger syringe to load up 4-5 individual 1 mL syringes at a time (helps to have a helper do this as you feed as well), and make the CC pretty watery, like pancake batter. Same goes for syringing fluids, use the 1 mL ones and they spit far less out.

If she’s getting recovery food and greens, she may not drink much water, as usually eating hay triggers water drinking.

Keep offering favorite herbs as well. Basil, cilantro, fennel, dandelion, and carrot tops are my go-to’s when a bun is poorly. Fresh grass can also be a winner if you can find it!

. . . 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.  

[Felicity0118]

Oh Thankyou so much! You’re so so right, literally like trying to jump a train!
but today…we have poops! I’ve never been so happy to see this much poop 😂

she’s starting to broaden what she eats too and seems (touch allll the wood) back to normal, it’s just this water thing, but still inhaling a lot of veg, no cc as she really hated it 🙁 but will see how she gets on tomorrow… if no self watering I guess it’s another vet call?

Thankyou all again, my goodness this forum has kept me sane! I’ve never been so scared in my life, poor little bun 🙁

[DanaNM]

Yay for poops!!!

If she’s eating tons of veg and not a lot of hay, she may not be that thirsty. You can try feeding her salads dripping wet to get her even more moisture.

. . . 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.  

[Bam]

Poop is like, yaaay!

As Dana says, vegetables contain a lot of water, so a bun that eats a lot fof fresh greens and vegs won’t drink much. It gets what it needs in the way of fluifs from the vegs.

[Felicity0118]

Hi all!
just to close the loop, I can official say (touch wood!) she is firmly out of stasis, lord of poop, drinking and eating like she’s starved for days..which is true I guess 😂

so in total Monday night went off dinner and then back to normal today (a week on Wednesday) have added a timeline below of her movements, hope it helps someone out there! As I was in full panic and didn’t know exactly what to do!

But ultimately; catch it early if you can, grab a vet, don’t panic about picking them up (I’ve never put a towel over a bunny before but in situations like this, good lord it works! They just sit there!), 1ml syringes and critical care is just genius (didn’t consider it myself! Tried 20ml, ended up spraying it everywhere!), wet parsley seemed to do the trick and as much dry grub as you can find like dehumidified flower snacks…she seemed to gravitate towards it! I panicked about the lack of drinking but for like 5 days she barely went above 40ml apart from the early days at the vets where they did subQ (maybe she lost thirst after that?)

and finally, they WILL forgive you! I’ve always been very timid around my bunny fearing she’ll hate me for the barely noticeable bonding/improvement we’ve made after lord of tiptoeing around her to like me(!)… after this she has been even more close with me and seems to trust me even more which was odd!

I think ultimately don’t panic but don’t also leave it for you to kick yourself later, so in the morning I’d give drugs, the whole stress of picking her up and giving drugs, I felt like I shouldn’t force CC/water on her…but by lunch I’d be worrying she was in a bad way when the poor thing was just tired..so keep em warm and get CC on board..it covers the water and the food (life a lot easier!)

mans I’m going to be hugely controversial in saying this! But I panicked with her tooth grinding thinking she’s in absolute pain, so I kept taking her back to vets whenever she was half asleep and grinding…but she’d do this then get up, stretch and eat…so in my case I wonder if tooth grinding was a ‘I’m uncomfortable’ rather than I’m in agony…I may be off mark, but I think taking her to the vets the last time was potentially not required and she was more stressed for that?

but yay for happy bunny! I can finally leave the house!!
——————

Didn’t track before the 1/5/22 but outline below:
25th noticed no dinner and no breakfast on the 26th, vets that evening but not overnight (deep cleaned and reorganised her cage…don’t do this! Was not a good idea!) following morning (27th) very bad, no movement food/poop/drink, vets AM, lost 20g overnight, picked her up in the evening. 28th munch nothing but very dry food, by lunch looking off colour (but I fear it may be that with hindsight she was sleepy and needed to rest?), back to vets 28th pm for two overnight stays, picked her back up 30th pm where I kept her up with offering food, movement and syringe water.
1/5/22
11.33am gooey small poop

11.33am got up to eat on own/still dry food
11:33am small drops of water
12:00 gurgling and teeth grind, poked her and more dry food
14:24 5ml and literal bite of hay
15:55 5ml and literal bite of hay .2metacam, small dry poop ?10
16:49 3 strands hay, refused water/flop
17:35 whole dandelion stick and some foraging refused water
18:15 movement, grooming, tiny food, no water
19:02 watery cc followed by light forage
8pm got up on own to forage
8.30 drugs, slight forage
23:21 back from vets post 40ml cc (this is where I panicked due to tooth grind and potentially didn’t need to take her)
2/5
9:15 5ml cc
14:11 came home to jelly poo, some kale missing and bunny moving around
Then fed half bowl wet kale
15:21 offered hay tea, no interest
17:25 15ml cc/water, slightly swollen belly?
17:52 teeth grinding, less interest in food
18:00 quiet not eating/drinking
20:05 woke up stretched, jumped on the kale!
20:27 nibbled dry leaves,20-30 smallish poop, small wee and ate more kale
20:34 slight tooth grinding after grooming offered wood sticks and ate
3/5
8:15 203-30 normal poops, snacking on naughty treats (was refusing previously)  ate half bowl parsley in night
9:26 stretch and general forage for more naughty snacks
9:31 eat pellets from ball and poop dry and normal but smaller than normal
9:37 zoomies
11:06 forage and ate wet parsley like normal, still no water, have added water bottle
11:25 poop (pearls with ?diarrhoea?) and ate wet parsley
11:40 pellet ball, much brighter and wet parsley
15:14 not watched but between 11:40 and now: pellet ball, half bowl wet parsley and wet kale, poo pearls, slightly misshapen but dry again, dark wee, no indication of water drinking
18:10 not watched again but 2x poo, general forage and half bowl wet parsley, sip of water when offered
4/5 bright, eating everything, first sip around 10am and lots of poop! 

[DanaNM]

Thank you so much for the update! It really does help other members to know how everything went!

And credit to @Moonlightbunny66 for the 1 mL syringe tip! It seems like it wouldn’t be efficient but it really works so well!

I also tend to agree with you that once you have initiated treatment with the vet, it’s very important to minimize stress and not make too many trips back and forth to the vets. (that point is also highlighted in this article, which I refer to often: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html)

Of course it’s really important to go if things really change, but once you are on the road to recovery, patience and supportive care are key!

Great job with her! Stasis is soooo stressful!

. . . 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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