What's wrong with him?

So, after Aki (who is just fine now), Tybalt is acting up. And I can't figure out for the life of me what's wrong with him. Two days ago he woke up and ate his pellets as usual. I saw him poop in the afternoon. He looked a bit weird doing it but I found cecotrophs on the pile so I supposed I just bothered him at a wrong time. At 8 pm, I found him not moving in his litterbox, looking really bad. I gave him Metacam and syringe fed him water before massaging his belly supposing it was gas.
I went to bed after giving vegetables. In the morning there were no vegetables left so I supposed he ate some (Aki wouldn't eat 200g by herself, I think). Tybalt run away seeing me so I thought he probably felt better. I gave pellets and he didn't come to eat them. He settled on his little comforter and didn't move.
I syringe fed water, Metacam and massaged him before calling the vet.
We went to the vet and NOTHING was found. He actually perked up quite a bit while at the vet. His weight / temperature were normal. Nothing seemed broken or hurt. The pododermatitis he had last year is completely healed. No discharge from the nose. I asked for an x-ray and there was no gas, no bloat, no kidney stones, his spine looked good. There was actually a bit of food in his belly and some poops. All normal.
I asked if it could be an infection like a UTI but the vet said nope, no blood in the urine and no urine burn.
He looked at his teeth and said everything looked fine. I asked if there could be a spike or something somewhere, vet said nope, nothing and you would have noticed him having trouble picking up food or chewing before. I didn't. He come asking for pellets when I put some into the bowl in the morning and never had any trouble grabbing and eating them from my hand.

Went home and gave some Emeprid and critical care to be on the safe side. He moved around a bit more after that. I didn't see him eating hay. In the evening, I called for vegetables. At first he stayed where he was as if he hadn't heard me but then he suddenly rushed to the cage. He looked like he hesitated but then began to eat a leaf of lettuce. I left him alone. This morning, he acted a bit more normal but when I called for the pellets he went to the bowl before leaving (I don't think he ate any). I still think he looks somewhat uncomfortable. He just made five or six ugly poops with hair in them so I gave Emeprid again. He is now on his comforter again.

What's wrong with him? My first guess would have been teeth but the vet was adamant it wasn't it.
I'm so tired of this. Aki had stasis just 3 weeks ago (she recovered great, luckily), before that the dog hurt his eye... Did someone curse me or something ? ^^'

Nope- you just have pets. In my experience one or all of my pets are always having problems (to be fair mine do all come off of euthanasia lists, so it's more expected with mine).

Honestly it sounds to me like mild stasis/GI pain due to too much hair in the GI (my female sometimes has this problem). Even now my female is having tiny ileus-like poops just because she keeps swallowing hair (I do groom her, but it only helps so much apparently ). I would keep an eye on him and give lots of Critical Care and pellets (and hay if you can get it in him of course). Good luck!

Hi!

I personally would insist on X-rays. I've been dismissed by 2 very good exotics vets that "everything was fine" however at my insistence, both times there were very painful conditions - we found bladder sludge in one rabbit, and calcific tendonitis in he knees another. These both explained the up and down eating, looking miserable on occasion, etc. And both are totally manageable.

I'd probably get labs too, just to make sure liver and kidneys are functioning well.

Hello,
an x-ray was done. I had to insist as the vet said he couldn't feel anything wrong with his stomach, but we did it. The bladder was clear and there was no blockage. The spine looked good too.
No blood work was done though.

He still looks spacey and kinda weird (to be fair, he tends to be 'in his bubble' and sometimes act like he doesn't notice what happens around him even when he is normal, he's always done this - his ears and eyes work just fine when I'm giving pellets though ^^). But he made a few small misshapen poops again this evening and he groomed himself a bit after I gave him his meds. He ate a few leaves on his own and Aki cuddled with him a lot during the afternoon. So, I think he should be fine. I hope it's just a case of too much hair and not enough fibers (it's true that Tybalt does have a lot of fine hair and he is moulting a bit).

RavenousDragon, I admire you. I just had a case of one hurt eye and allergy from the dog, plus 3 cases of stasis with the rabbits during the past 2 months and I feel like I'm getting ulcers from all the worrying I've done. Some days, I feel like I'm too much of a worrywart to be a bunny owner ^^'

Aki- every time one of my pets sneezes I go into panic mode. The good and bad of being a vet student is that I know a LOT about diseases- what to watch for, how to treat. But I also know too much- and therefore worry about too much.

I'm the same, Aki. I'm only 5 years in as far as bunny ownership, and my first three rabbits all died before the age of 2 of congenital conditions, the first one - sludge that led to EC, the second one (who was my heart bunny) - I lost to bloat, and the third had a massive thymoma. All 3 rabbits got very prompt attention from one of the best rabbit vets in New England. I had asked my vet if this was just a normal part of having rabbits, and she basically said "...generally rabbits are really hardy animals. In your case, it's just really, really sh*tty luck."

Anyhow, no one's died in almost 2 years now and I feel blessed but I swear half the time I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. And I'm absolutely neurotic when someone declines treats or is hesitant with greens.

One quick question, has your bun gotten an EC titer? Sometimes these weird, vague symptoms can be a sign of an active infection.

If that's negative, I'd probably chalk it up to too much ingested hair like you and ravenousdragon mentioned, or even a sprain/strain. I have a young 3-legged bunny that is wild with energy, at least once a month he pulls something - a ligament or muscle. He'll get quiet and decline food, just eating minimally. After 2-3 days of metacam he's just fine.

Sending good thoughts to you and your bun, hopefully we can both start relaxing at some point, lol!

DKaralunas1969 said:

I'm the same, Aki. I'm only 5 years in as far as bunny ownership, and my first three rabbits all died before the age of 2 of congenital conditions, the first one - sludge that led to EC, the second one (who was my heart bunny) - I lost to bloat, and the third had a massive thymoma. All 3 rabbits got very prompt attention from one of the best rabbit vets in New England. I had asked my vet if this was just a normal part of having rabbits, and she basically said "...generally rabbits are really hardy animals. In your case, it's just really, really sh*tty luck."

Anyhow, no one's died in almost 2 years now and I feel blessed but I swear half the time I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. And I'm absolutely neurotic when someone declines treats or is hesitant with greens.

One quick question, has your bun gotten an EC titer? Sometimes these weird, vague symptoms can be a sign of an active infection.

If that's negative, I'd probably chalk it up to too much ingested hair like you and ravenousdragon mentioned, or even a sprain/strain. I have a young 3-legged bunny that is wild with energy, at least once a month he pulls something - a ligament or muscle. He'll get quiet and decline food, just eating minimally. After 2-3 days of metacam he's just fine.

Sending good thoughts to you and your bun, hopefully we can both start relaxing at some point, lol!

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Wow, that's definitely some ****ty luck. I'm sorry, that's awful. It's true rabbits can live long lives but when they get ill, they're not that sturdy anymore. And it's so hard to tell something is wrong.

Anyway, I don't know what was wrong with Tybalt but he's definitely doing better. He ate a few lettuce and apple tree leaves and a some hay strands yesterday and I saw him eat three pellets this morning - he hadn't touched his pellets since Sunday. He's also washing himself again and doesn't look as spaced out. So, color me relieved - I was really afraid of a dental problem as I don't think any vet in my town is qualified to do a dental under anesthesia... I guess he just took a lot longer to go back to normal than Aki generally does (but she's a tough cookie ^^)

Good thing Tybalt is better now. It is really sad sometimes that you dont have any idea is there's something wrong with pets.

Yes, that's really frustrating and stressful. Sometimes I'm there looking at my dog or one of my rabbits and I'm like 'Tell me what's wrong? I promise I'll do my best to fix it, but you have to tell me what's your problem because I just don't know!'
... and they just look at me like 'that crazy woman is talking to me again - let's stare at her until she stops!' ^^'

I know what you mean. It's so frustrating when you know something is wrong, but you have no idea what. Like you said, I too really wish they could talk.

Yes, it would save us a lot of grief. I just spent the past week examining Tybalt, worrying sick about his teeth and his ears and everything, not talking about the 100 euros spent at the vet doing an x-ray. And I understood yesterday that the little terror's ailment was that he likes the pricey hay I've been giving as a supplement for a few weeks (to AKI because she has a weaker stomach now that she's getting older) better than the regular one and was thus refusing to eat the normal one (which is a brand he had been eating for 4 years with no problem). He was in stasis for 5 days over this and I spent a night without sleeping convinced he was going to die ^^'. Well, on the bright side, he's fine, now! Still, I was like 'really? That was your problem?'