My rabbit is recovering from stasis but not very active. Help please

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Blaise

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Hello Everyone,

My name is Rishi and I am new to this site. My mom and I have a 5 1/2 year old netherland dwarf named Blaise who weighs 2 1/2 pounds. 3 weeks ago he suffered from stasis where I noticed that he was just sitting in a corner, not eating at all, and of course not himself. We took him to the vet that day and they took his temperature which was 99 degrees. They took an xray that showed a distended stomach and a little bit of gas. The vet asked me to give cisapride, metoclopromide, and critical care for a week. After I started giving Blaise these medicines/food, he started eating the next day. The following week we took him for a follow up where he had a urinalysis and blood test done. The urinalysis came back normal but I am still waiting for the blood test results. I also asked for simethicone to relieve any gas that Blaise may be having. I have been giving Blaise about 3 cc of it twice for a couple of days. My concern is that Blaise has not been playful or active for a couple of weeks now. He has been eating a lot of timothy hay, a little bit of fresh greens (cilantro, endive), few carrots, and some oxbow pellets. He also have been drinking more water than usual. I don't know if that could be due to him eating more dry foods (hay) or possible kidney or dental issues. I am worried that he may be in some kind of pain but I am not sure what could be the underlying cause. The vet said that his teeth looked fine, but I do not know whether he may have developed some kind of molar spurs in the back of his mouth. I do hear him grinding his teeth sometimes. In the past, my mom and I used to feed Blaise more of the mixed variety of pellets and more fruit (apple, banana) than was probably good for him. He used to have bouts of diarrhea off and on while eating such foods. However, after the stasis, we have cut back on the fruits and pellets (providing only pellets alone, not mixed variety) and have been providing more hay which he is eating. His droppings have been looking normal and his urine ranges from completely clear to a little yellowish color although he sometimes urinates outside his cage or litterbox. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts, advice, or insight that anyone may be able to provide regarding Blaise. I am worried that something may be bothering him as he does not run up and down stairs in our house or play with his toys the way he used to and mostly sits in his bed and only gets up when he wants to eat or drink. I apologize for the long post but I just wanted to include all the information.

Thank you again!
 
Did the vet not prescribe pain relief as well, such as meloxicam/metacam? Pain relief is extremely important in cases of stasis as it is pain that causes a rabbit to stop eating in the first place, and it is getting the pain under control that helps get a rabbit eating again.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=500

Of course it's also important to determine if there is an underlying health condition that lead to the stasis occurring in the first place. With him still not being back to normal after 3 weeks, it's very possible there is a painful ongoing health problem that is causing his decreased activity and change of behavior. Knowing the results of the blood test would be helpful to make sure liver and kidney function is normal and not the cause of his continued ill health. I would give the vets a call asap to check on the results of the blood test.

Have you noticed any times where he does seem to feel better and act more like his usual self?
 
Hi Jenny!

Thank you for your reply. We took Blaise to a small animal hospital and he was seen by two different vets, but neither prescribed any pain medication. I called the hospital again today but the blood results are not in yet. The only time Blaise seems active is when he is eating or looking for food. He follows my mom and I around the kitchen a lot looking to get other foods in addition to his timothy hay and pellets. He is drinking a lot of water. He poop mostly looks round with a few that are long. Initially, when we started feeding him more hay, his poops were larger. Now with the small amount of pellets and greens added the poops are more normal size. Lately I have noticed that a few of his poops are squashed/broken up but dry. I have made an appointment with another vet in 2 days who can hopefully do a more thorough check of his teeth and body and by then his blood results should be back as well. Would you most recommend meloxicam/metacam to give to rabbits for pain/stasis and are there any side effects that may be present? I will mention the meloxicam and pain relief medicine when I take him to the vet. Thank you!
 
I can sympathize with your bunny, because I suffered an intestinal blockage about three weeks ago. I ended up spending a few days in the hospital. I was told that I was lucky - I could have died.

I can tell you that I am still not 100% better, three weeks later. I had many of the same symptoms as your bunny did, including the fever. A blockage takes a LOT of energy out of you! It's also very painful and stressful. Your bunny was probably dehydrated (as I was) and that's why he started drinking a lot. Don't be surprised if he takes a long time to get back to his old self. He's been through a lot. He may sleep more than normal or not be as active as usual, he's just gathering strength to get better.

As long as he's slowly getting better, that's the main thing. If he suddenly takes a turn for the worse, rush him to an emergency vet! He may just need more tests, or he might be suffering damage to his intestine. I've read that papaya fruit is good for rabbits' digestion. You may want to ask your vet if this would be ok to give to your bunny. Another thing to ask about is probiotics. There are supplements for pets, and sources like organic apple cider vinegar. Again - ask your vet before giving any of these things.

Good luck, and keep us posted!
 
OK, so not giving metacam (or any pain med) to the rabbit would be a major warning sign against the vet for me. Pain management is critical when it comes to rabbits and should always come first - whenever one of my rabbits is under the weather and in case of stasis (had two stasis scares this year with my 7 year old nethie), metacam is the thing I give immediately, before even calling the vet. Metacam is well tolerated by rabbits. It is not completely without potential side-effects of course (it can slow down the full-recovery from GI stasis as, like all medecines, it can affect the stomach). But it's considered to be pretty safe.

Putting that aside, I agree with Black rabbits : a complete recovery from stasis can take some time, Aki had stasis in May and even if she began pooping and eating quite soon after taking her medecine, it took almost 3 weeks for her poops to be kinda normal sized again. The small poops stopped completely after about a month. I was a nervous wreck for weeks, watching her like an hawk ^^.

If you have doubts about molar spurs, it is indeed a good idea to check with your new vet. It can't hurt. But I don't really think there is anything alarming in your rabbit's state from what you've wrote. About his diet, it might be good to take it from the beginning and to check what you are giving (maybe I missed it, but I don't think you've said exactly what his current diet is). Unlimited hay, a few pellets (like 10g for a nethie), 8% of your rabbit's weight in vegetables (2/3 leafy greens, 1/3 roots, as much variety as possible staying in the list of rabbit friendly vegetables and after, of course, introducing each one over the course of 3-4 days) everyday and a piece of fruit as a treat very occasionnally (but you can stop that completely too - nethies tend to get fat easily, they really don't need the sugar). As a treat, I'm myself more partial to safe tree branches (like hazelnut tree or apple tree) that occupy rabbits for a while, help to wear the teeth down and are not fattening at all.
The house rabbit society explains the diet things better than I do and their vegetable list is reliable :
http://rabbit.org/category/care/diet/
 
do you have a supply of metacam?

You can order it from online pet pharmacies like Foster & Smith and others. You should also check into meloxicam with your vet. It's a LOT cheaper than Metacam and is very similar in what it does.
 
You can order it from online pet pharmacies like Foster & Smith and others. You should also check into meloxicam with your vet. It's a LOT cheaper than Metacam and is very similar in what it does.
but any online pharmacy would need a prescription, correct?
 
but any online pharmacy would need a prescription, correct?

Some vets will agree to write you a prescription on a slip that you can take to a human pharmacy. This is a lot cheaper than getting it from the vet or even online. I'm not sure about needing a scrip for an online vet pharmacy, but they'd probably want one.

Check Amazon, just today I was looking at Ivermectin cream for mites on rats (it's actually horse wormer) and no prescription was needed. I noticed several other worm medications like Droncit and Strongid, which I've had to get via vet prescription in the past for cats or dogs. The meds you're looking for are anti-inflammatories. Those are usually (but not always) easier to get without a prescription than a lot of other meds.
 
Some vets will agree to write you a prescription on a slip that you can take to a human pharmacy. This is a lot cheaper than getting it from the vet or even online. I'm not sure about needing a scrip for an online vet pharmacy, but they'd probably want one.

Check Amazon, just today I was looking at Ivermectin cream for mites on rats (it's actually horse wormer) and no prescription was needed. I noticed several other worm medications like Droncit and Strongid, which I've had to get via vet prescription in the past for cats or dogs. The meds you're looking for are anti-inflammatories. Those are usually (but not always) easier to get without a prescription than a lot of other meds.
not long ago we discussed this, and people said that vet must provide you with written prescription upon request. But I never had it to work.
Those who shop online (Dr Foster and Smith specifically) - what is the procedure?
 
not long ago we discussed this, and people said that vet must provide you with written prescription upon request. But I never had it to work.
Those who shop online (Dr Foster and Smith specifically) - what is the procedure?

Re Foster and Smith, I looked up their prescription ordering policy. You do need a vet prescription, but they will call your vet to confirm it, or the vet can send them the prescription. Details: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/rx_questions.cfm
 
thanks.
I wonder if something like this plan would work.
I don't ask my vet anything (but I visited him and medication was prescribed). Then I go ahead and order it on the web site. Then they contact my vet as they said they would.
Would vet just authorize the prescription over the phone? Or would a receptionist say "we don't give over the phone authorization" ?

In other words, what is the sequence of my actions if the vet I see isn't a big fan of me getting meds other than in his office?
 
Most vets would authorize it over the phone so long as they deemed it a high quality provider (e.g. the vet for which I work absolutely refuses to give prescriptions through 1-800 Pet Med because of quality issues in the past) but will definitely give prescriptions via fax, email, etc. to many other pharmacies- particularly if it is cheaper to get the meds through that pharmacy. In my experience, I've never had a veterinarian completely deny a prescription to a reputable company. However, I would actually call/speak to your veterinarian to let him/her know that you want to get x medication from another source (so they don't just get a random call out of the blue). This makes the receptionist/technician/doctor's live all easier and they will be grateful for that.
 
Hello all,

Thank you for your replies. Blaise's bloodwork came back. His cholesterol was quite elevated. The normal range said 35-53 and his came back 92. Total bilirubin should be between .25-.75 and his was 0.1. And his ALT was 24 while the normal range is 48-79. Also, his calcium was just slightly elevated. I took Blaise to see a new vet today and she reviewed the blood test results and she did not seem too concerned. She said the high cholesterol could be due to him not eating that much. However, I took him for the blood test a week after his stasis when he had started to eat again. So, the high cholesterol could be a problem. I am going to call a couple of vets to ask about the cholesterol.

BlackRabbits, I am sorry to hear that your bunny suffered through a similar ordeal. It is definitely very stressful and upsetting to see them go through something like that. I plan to give Blaise some papaya and fresh pineapple juice to help aid in his digestion. Hopefully, he will tolerate it ok. I hope your bunny gets better soon!

Hi Aki. I just took Blaise to see another vet today. She gave me some meloxicam to give to Blaise for pain relief. I was told to give him 0.4 ml once a day for three days and then 0.4 ml every other day for the next 10 days as needed. She also gave him a vitamin b12 injection for his energy and to keep his GI tract moving. Can you please give me some ideas of what I can give Blaise to chew so he can keep his teeth worn down? I bought him a pack of apple tree twigs but he did not like them. The vet looked at his teeth and she said on one side of his mouth he may have something in the back but she did not go into detail. I will call her back to clarify that.

I am still not sure I have been able to get to the bottom of what exactly caused Blaise's stasis. I plan to give him metacam as directed so he can hopefully feel some relief from pain since he has not been himself. My mom and I will also continue to provide Blaise with unlimited timothy hay, incorporate more variety of fresh greens, give limited pellets, and try to get him to move around. Right now the only way we seem to get him to move is to have him chase pellets or greens in our hands. Whatever it takes I guess! I am really glad that I have come across this wonderful website. It is great to able to read and share experiences and information with fellow bunny lovers. Thank you all again for your input and advice!
 

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