URGENT

Almost 5 year old male, has has a bout of Stasis and a couple of bouts of gas before so I know what it looks like. He appears to be in extreme discomfort, lying in the "sphinx" position. I've been at work for the last thirteen hours so I'm not 100% on what he's eaten all day.

His stomach is VERY distended. When he's flat on his belly he allows me to stretch him out do I can feel his belly, and on his left side it almost feels like there's a fold in his stomach. He doesn't seem to want to move at all, and almost seems unbalanced.

Oh! Very important: his little sister, Gracie, is EC positive and has been for a year. I've been operating under the assumption that he contracted it from her, but he never displayed symptoms like she did.

I don't know if my vet got hit hard by the hurricane, or if they're open. The only emergency animal hospital I know is rabbit savvy is in manhattan, and I don't have a third person to sit in the car with us so we can get into the city.

I meant to post in the infirmary!!!!!!!

I moved your post to the infirmary for you.

My concern with what you're describing is that he may have bloat rather than stasis which can be caused by a twisting of a portion of the GI tract that would need to be corrected surgically and is definitely an emergency. Bloat is usually indicated if the stomach feels very hard. Rabbits cannot burp or vomit so any ingesta or air in the stomach can't move down the line if there's a twist. I strongly suggest calling any vets near you.

If you absolutely cannot get him to a vet, I would treat him with pain meds (metacam if you have it; if not, baby aspirin can be dosed for rabbits, I'll go check the dosage and edit it in here).
I would also offer him a heat source (try microwaving a sock full of rice) and simethicone if you have it on hand as well (1 cc per hour for the first 3 hours and then 1 cc 3 hours later).

The aspirin doses listed in my exotic animal formulary are as follows:
Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin)
10–100 mg/kg PO q8–12h
100 mg/kg PO q8–24h
100 mg/kg PO q48h

PO= orally, the q is how often (e.g. q8h = every 8 hours)

If you suspect he may undergo surgery, do not give aspirin as it is a blood thinner.
Any vet should carry meloxicam (metacam) as it is commonly used in dogs and should be able to give you some even if they don't regularly see rabbits.

Acetominophen (tylenol) can also be dosed for rabbits, but I have never used it personally.

ray: I'm so sorry your rabbit is sick... and at a time when it's nearly impossible to get him any sort of expert care, at that!

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm has info for other pain meds for rabbits

the simethicone that missycove mentioned is any brand of over-the-counter baby gas drops... may or may not help depending on what the problem is, but it's incredibly safe for rabbits so at the very least, it can't hurt.

I would get him to a vet if at all possible... bribe a neighbor to sit in the car if you've gotta... (pity a sick rabbit can't count towards the three person minimum!)

best of luck - I really hope you can get him some help!

I dosed him with simethicone, and he drank about an ounce of water. He also showed interest at a rattling treat bag, even though he doesn't want to eat anything. He appears to be a little less uncomfortable too. My boyfriend, who sees him as much as I do, says he doesn't think his belly looks that swollen, and I think it looks a little better than before. He has a big bowl of water with 3ccs of simethicone in it, and hopefully I can get another dose in him before I have to go to sleep. Oh, I have work at 10:00 am, too.

ray:

Well, he drank an entire bottle of water last night, and ate a nice amount of hay. He looks a hundred percent better, but he also passed a fecal mass that was about an inch long and 3/4 of an inch wide, so I'm thinking this monster poo that appears to be four or five poos in one was what was bothering him. His tummy is nice and squishable again. I am concerned about why he suddenly had difficulty pooping, so I'm trying to figure out how to get him to Dr. Stanzione for a checkup. Unfortunately, me and my boyfriend spent an hour in line to try to get gas last night only to have them run out when we were almost four cars away, so the car probably wouldn't even make it from where we are to his clinic.

I'm so glad to hear he's feeling better! I was worrying about him. When you do get to see your vet, ask them about either getting some metacam to have on hand or about dosages of over the counter human pain meds you can use for your rabbit. I'd also recommend getting some critical care and a feeding syringe to keep on hand for these sorts of just in case moments.

I'm so glad he made it through and is doing better!!

I put together a first-aid kit for my bunnies a while back that's handy to have around... here's the thread about it - http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=75235&forum_id=48

I don't know what you feed your rabbit, but some very common reasons for GI stasis issues is a rabbits' diet or a stressful event happening. Did your rabbit experience something stressful a day or two before, or was there some sort of sudden diet change, like being given a new food or his regular food not being given? If neither of these things happened then it may be that he needs his diet changed to prevent these things from reoccurring. What type of diet does your rabbit get? If you want to prevent this from reoccuring you could try a few things. Some veggies can cause gas problems so eliminate any cruciferous veggies. A diet with too many sugars and carbs can cause stasis problems. If you feed your rabbit fruit, sugary treats, starchy veggies(carrots), grains and carbohydrates, you will need to eliminate these things from his diet. If you've already done all these things and stasis is still a problem, it may be that he is getting too many pellets. You may need to decrease the amount of pellets your rabbit is getting, so that he will eat more hay, which is the best thing to help keep a rabbits digestion moving well, so he would also need unlimited hay. I have a rabbit that developed stasis due to stress, but as a result of this he started having continuous problems with reoccuring bouts of stasis, so I actually had to put him on a hay and green veggie only diet, to keep it from happening again. He gets no pellets and no treats, but he also hasn't gotten sick again since I did this. Removing pellets completely isn't always necessary. Only if your rabbit keeps getting sick after you've removed all the other things that could cause stasis, but reducing the pellets for your bun might be a good idea.

Something else that can cause stomach problems is parasites or a bacterial infection. You would need to talk to your vet to find out if one of these is the cause. They can do a fecal test to check for parasite eggs, to see if parasites are the problem.

I didn't really explain his history too well last night. He's had pretty severe bouts of gas before, and Gracie is E.C. positive. She's never had a tummy issue, but she's been pretty sick too. I have a big first aid kit for them with syringes, critical care, their own thermometer, their own Vaseline, simethicone, reglan....they actually even have their own emergency I've setup. You could say I've had a few scares with them. They also have a strict diet of oxbow pellets and papaya pills, and due to Gracie's kidney problems they also have the same greens all the time, so as not to aggravate either her kidneys or his sensitive tummy. The stress of dealing with sickness after sickness is starting to catch up to me and I get a little paranoid about them sometimes. Oh, bunnies.....

I know how you feel, I'm totally paranoid about my rabbits now too, because of the stasis problems I've had to deal with. With my rabbit that had stasis problems, I had to eliminate the oxbow pellets completely because he was still getting sick with eating them. You may want to try cutting the pellets out of your rabbits diet and just feed hay and his greens, or at least restricting the amount of pellets quite a bit, and see if it helps stop the stasis and gas problems.

FYI- Often with GI issues, if a rabbit is not prone to eat its usual food it will go for rather aromatic herbs like parsley and cilantro and they are great at getting that gut moving again. . . .

I need help please! I have a rabbit named Poohbear, he is about 5 years old. He was fine one morning and I went to check on him later and he crawled to the back of his cage. He can't move his back left leg! I have taken him to three different vets! They all say it is something different. I don't know how to treat him! Can I get some help!

You might get better responses if you start your own new thread in the Infirmary, casey. We also need to know more details, like his weight, age, and what you feed him, and what the diagnoses were. Good luck

He is 4.0 pounds, he was 4.7 pounds when he was about 8 weeks old, he eats timothy hay to keep he teeth healthy. They haven't given any yet. Thanks Holy, I appreciate it! :big wink:

Ok, well, Kashi seemed to have gotten over his illness, but last night he was gassy again. So I gave him some simethicone, and today I looked at his litterbox carefully and found that he's not pooping as much as usual, and there's a large clump of mushy poos that fused together with some hay, so it must've been pretty liquid on the way out. I also found a couple of poops that were stuck in a "necklace" with a large clump of fur stuck in it.

How does one go about relieving a bun with a hairball? I have baby aspirin on hand just in case he looks really uncomfortable, but I've never given him aspirin before so I'd like to try to not resort to that just yet. I'm pretty sure it's baby ibuprofen, but it might be acetaminophen. Are both safe for rabbits?

I don't see tylenol on the list that has dosing info for bunny pain meds - http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm (baby ibuprofen or low-dose aspirin would both be safe though)

papaya tablets or a little bit of fresh (not canned) pineapple or papaya could help as they have enzymes that can help get the hair to pass... the tablets are best, as they have concentrated enzymes and therefore a healthier enzyme to sugar ratio.

lots and lots of hay is also important with hairballs; cut back on pellets and veggies if need be to encourage more hay eating.

also, make sure to groom him frequently to minimize the amount of hair he continues to ingest - brushing, using a furminator, using a lint roller after brushing/furminating, dampening your hands and running them over the bunny, etc.

You need to get some canned pumpkin. Don't get the pumpkin pie mix it has to be the pure pumpkin. That should help pass the hair. You can also use FRESH SQUEEZED pineapple juice. It will help break down the hair.