My doe stopped eating/drinking/pooping ten days ago - Please reply if you can help!

My crossbred 1.5 year old 6lb doe stopped eating ten days ago, hasn't drank on her own in 8 days, and has been rarely going to the bathroom (about 6 hard small turds a day) and has only urinated after we have force-watered her with an eyedropper.

She has a "rabbit condo" home built, two floors with a stair to get up. Tile flooring, she was slipping so we put a slab of carpet on her top floor which is where she sleeps. She would nibble at the carpet here and there and I would "SHHHHH" her to stop, and she would, but eventually devoured a 18" x 4" part of the carpet over a week.

Her stomach went hard the first 5 days, and I gave her continuous massages and lots of exercise and leafy veggies to entice her to eat but she wouldn't. She was hunched over in the corner for those 5 days, and visibally uncomfortable.

Since then she has shown little signs of improvement. She has gone to the bathroom 5 or 6 times in the past 5 days, a few turds every morning. However I cannot let her roam the living room under supervision like we usually do, I can only let her outside, because she is ONLY hungry for carpet.

It's as if she's developed PICA! Only eating un natural foods! She lost probably a pound and a half in those first days, and could feel her spine and hip bones through her thick layer of fat fur. Now all she wants to eat is carpet so I ONLY let her outside to get exercise.

In the past two days now she will only eat small amounts of broccoli, and is eating all of the wood that makes up her condo (2x4s).

The vet is financially not an option. I was much more worried a few days ago, but these signs of improvement are not as great as I was hoping for. She seems to be very hungry but will not touch her usual very nutritious oxbow hay, or her pellets, or her vitatreats, or her organic quick oats that she LOVED two weeks ago!

If I can provide any more info please ask! I am desperate.
I like to think I am doing things right, daily stomach massage, 3CC of water mixed with oats a day, and 1 hour of exercise.

Thank you all!:dunno:

GET HER TO THE VET. She obviously has GI Statis and if you don't get her there quickly you are not going to have a bunny. She needs sub-Q fluids and moblilty drugs and probably antibiotics. Sounds like you have don every think possible at home.

It sounds like she has GI stasis due to ingesting carpet fibers. (It would have been a good idea to remove the carpet when you noticed she was ingesting it.) I'm unsure about the wisdom of feeding oats. Here is a list of options (scroll down to page 15).
But, honestly, it sounds like she's way beyond home treatment. I agree that she desperately needs to be seen by a vet. Maybe they will agree to a payment plan. Just be sure that it's a rabbit savvy vet so you don't waste your money.

Thanks for the replies. I have looked up online and done all I can do at home, I agree. Some say it takes weeks for your rabbit to get back to normal routine when they have GI stasis or are recovering. The fact that she's pooping a bit more now is a relief and I think I am going to have to tough it out with her, sometimes vets can charge over one hundred dollars just to look at and diagnose the problem nevermind Xrays. I'm sure payment plans are possible but I am in no financial place to pay for the bills.

If I cannot do more at home, then we will just have to stay positive and keep offering different veggies and letting her get exercise outside until she stops with the self-destructive eating.

I agree I should have taken it out sooner, in the end it is my fault, I can only hope for the best now and learn from my mistakes and hopefully not the hardest way possible. :/

I'm pretty much going through the same thing with one of my buns. I know how the $ situation is but I would get her to a vet asap. They will probably give fluids which you can do at home they will show how to. They will probably prescribe some gut motility drugs and pain meds because gi stasis can be painful and rabbits don't handle pain very well. Also they will probably get you to force feed critical care as long as there isn't a blockage. It's a little scary how identical your situation is to mine. I hope for the both of us that things get better. My bun first stopped eating almost 3 weeks ago and I've been syringe feeding him 3x/day for over a week.

I agree that she needs to go to the vet, when Bandit had stasis they were able to diagnose and give him subcutaneous fluids and metamide and it cost me $100, they will be able to give her metamide to stimulate the gut movement and also a painkiller to help her feel like eating. Also, at this point, broccoli is not the best thing for her, being a cruciferous vegetable it has a tendency to cause gas which wouldn't be helping. If you have any simethicone, it may help to start giving her some of that because it will help ease any gas that she may have. But otherwise, just encourage eating hay as much as you can, hand feed it to her piece by piece if you have to as the fiber will be good, otherwise syringing some critical care in will at least help her to get nutrients etc.

hi,
have you tried offering kale and dandelion leaves? Also willow bark and leaves are wonderful painkillers for sick buns to eat. When mine was sick, willow and dandelion was all she would eat. Also, I found that powdered acidophilus and other tummy probiotics help. I rubbed some on a small slice of apple and she would eat that! It seems to help with the gi stasis. The reason your bun is eating all the wood is that they are trying to get fiber to get their intestines going again. Apple wood is good as well. I hope your bunny gets better soon!

Andrea
BunnyRabbitShop.com

Bkeenan89 said:

I'm pretty much going through the same thing with one of my buns. I know how the $ situation is but I would get her to a vet asap. They will probably give fluids which you can do at home they will show how to. They will probably prescribe some gut motility drugs and pain meds because gi stasis can be painful and rabbits don't handle pain very well. Also they will probably get you to force feed critical care as long as there isn't a blockage. It's a little scary how identical your situation is to mine. I hope for the both of us that things get better. My bun first stopped eating almost 3 weeks ago and I've been syringe feeding him 3x/day for over a week.

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I hope both of our buns get better too :/ It's such a crappy feeling and when I opened the paper the other morning (when she was at her worst) there was a random pet grieving article that I read and just wanted to sob!

Everyone saying that I should at least bring her so that they will give her these fluids and prescribe anything else for me to give her - I am considering now that I am getting input from other more rabbit experienced owners.

Her life is priceless to me, and I should be able to figure out a way to afford this quickly and find a good vet if things don't dramatically increase by morning.

It would be best to get her these supplements to help her getting her digestive flow back, and appetite.

Thank you for all the support! Great tips and I will update on Aloe if things turn for the better or the worse (Hope for the better!)

BunnyRabbitShop.com said:

hi,
have you tried offering kale and dandelion leaves? Also willow bark and leaves are wonderful painkillers for sick buns to eat. When mine was sick, willow and dandelion was all she would eat. Also, I found that powdered acidophilus and other tummy probiotics help. I rubbed some on a small slice of apple and she would eat that! It seems to help with the gi stasis. The reason your bun is eating all the wood is that they are trying to get fiber to get their intestines going again. Apple wood is good as well. I hope your bunny gets better soon!

Andrea
BunnyRabbitShop.com

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I haven't tried Kale but there was a few dandelions in the yard that popped up randomly and she loves those, and ate them willingly at her worst. Can I find willow bark at your average pet store? Also Dandelion leaves are sold at the supermarket in the fresh section correct?

I would agree that the wood chewing, and maybe even the obsessive carpet chewing, is your bun trying to get fiber into her digestive tract to help get her gut moving. Fiber(usually from hay) and moisture(from water and leafy veggies) are things essential in a rabbits recovery from stasis. If you are feeding a softer grass hay, you could try something more mature with thicker stems and maybe she'll eat that better. It will have more fiber than the softer hay. I would suggest holding off on feeding anything sugary or starchy, including the oats, as sugar and carbs slow down the digestive system and will contribute to the growth of bad bacteria which can make the stasis worse. Leafy veggies like parsley, cilantro, and dark leafy lettuce, are good, but it might be best to hold off on feeding any cruciferous veggies like the broccoli, as Azerane mentioned. If she isn't eating enough on her own and you need to supplement with syringe feeding, plain canned pumpkin(not the spiced pie filling) is sometimes good to use as it is high in fiber, or if you see the vet they will give you Critical Care Recovery Food. Just be aware that if your bun develops a complete blockage, syringe feeding can make the situation much worse. A complete blockage is something a vet would need to determine. You will also need to syringe water if she isn't drinking well on her own, as water and moisture are essential in hydrating the gut contents, to help break up the blockage. Just be careful and do it slowly so she doesn't aspirate any of the liquid.

Gi stasis is a critical situation for a rabbit. Things can go downhill quickly, so if at all possible, taking her to the vet is the best thing. If there isn't a complete blockage, they can prescribe motility meds to help get the gut moving, and also pain meds that can help get your rabbit eating better on it's own. It's the pain that usually causes rabbits to stop eating. It's also possible that an underlying health issue is the cause of the stasis and not the carpet chewing, which may be why it is continuing to go on so long, and this is something only a vet could address.

Here's some info on GI stasis.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.pdf

Thanks JBun, that was a lot of helpful info.
I have read all about the blockages and how force feeding will only make it worse no matter the good intentions. What gives me hope that she doesn't have a blockage is the spiratic droppings I find in her cage. Not many but some, small and hard, while some are larger and wet.

I have parsley in my garden at my relatives house, I will grab some of that and purchase some cilantro. I have been feeding her a more coarse hay then the last ox bow bag we bought a couple weeks ago. She won't touch her hay, so I offer her fresh untreated grass from outside and she nibbles here and there.

Thank you to everyone for the advice, I will be acting accordingly.

Keep Aloe in your bunny prayers!

you can't afford a vet so need to make do with what you can manage at home.

She may have ingested carpet fibres in such a way to give her a blockage.

she hasn't eaten anything for a good length of time and is now boney.
She's eating the wood of her condo.

I"d be moving that rabbit to a place OTHER THAN her condo. Put her an all wire cage or a plastic rubbermaid container that she cannot get an edge on and eat.

things that can help:
Meat tenderizer can break up a blockage.
Administering fluids by hand helps.
If she's willing to eat wood can get get her well moistened apple branches
papaya, fresh pineapple is better than giving broccoli.

Rabbits can be brought out of stasis without vet assistance.

BUT I don't know that she has stasis so much as she has a desire to eat items that aren't food. Carpet and wood do not a good bunny diet make, so you'll need to figure out how to stop both behaviours. Hay, parsley, good quality pellets, oatmeal etc. Provide those in copious amounts.

Have you tried the new science digestive support (oxbow). You can get it at most larger pet stores or online. Has long strand timothy grass in little cookies with no preservatives, additives or dyes. Contains chicory root to support the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut, ginger root that helps with mobility of the GI tract and slippery elm for general digestive support. Another thing you can try is benebac - probiotics for animals - pet or farm feed store. You could syringe feed her some pumpkin, high is fiber and help get the gut doing.

please take her to the vet! its hurts too much to lose a beloved bun bun

aguyandagirl said:

My crossbred 1.5 year old 6lb doe stopped eating ten days ago, hasn't drank on her own in 8 days, and has been rarely going to the bathroom (about 6 hard small turds a day) and has only urinated after we have force-watered her with an eyedropper.

She has a "rabbit condo" home built, two floors with a stair to get up. Tile flooring, she was slipping so we put a slab of carpet on her top floor which is where she sleeps. She would nibble at the carpet here and there and I would "SHHHHH" her to stop, and she would, but eventually devoured a 18" x 4" part of the carpet over a week.

Her stomach went hard the first 5 days, and I gave her continuous massages and lots of exercise and leafy veggies to entice her to eat but she wouldn't. She was hunched over in the corner for those 5 days, and visibally uncomfortable.

Since then she has shown little signs of improvement. She has gone to the bathroom 5 or 6 times in the past 5 days, a few turds every morning. However I cannot let her roam the living room under supervision like we usually do, I can only let her outside, because she is ONLY hungry for carpet.

It's as if she's developed PICA! Only eating un natural foods! She lost probably a pound and a half in those first days, and could feel her spine and hip bones through her thick layer of fat fur. Now all she wants to eat is carpet so I ONLY let her outside to get exercise.

In the past two days now she will only eat small amounts of broccoli, and is eating all of the wood that makes up her condo (2x4s).

The vet is financially not an option. I was much more worried a few days ago, but these signs of improvement are not as great as I was hoping for. She seems to be very hungry but will not touch her usual very nutritious oxbow hay, or her pellets, or her vitatreats, or her organic quick oats that she LOVED two weeks ago!

If I can provide any more info please ask! I am desperate.
I like to think I am doing things right, daily stomach massage, 3CC of water mixed with oats a day, and 1 hour of exercise.

Thank you all!:dunno:

Click to expand...

I would stop the broccoli straight away, it causes bloat . If she has a hard tummy and you think its gas a few drops of Infacol ( baby gas drops from the drug store ) will help . You may need to statt Critical Care straight away . You can purchase this from internet of vets . Give her plenty of fresh washed grass if you can find some, cos lettuce. A little bok choy , chicory , chopped celery tops or stalks and a tiny treat such as apple of carrot .


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