6 yr. old Doe hiding, not eating, pooping nor peeing?

[Toffeegirl]

My 6 yr. old doe Toffee is not eating nor peeing/pooping. Since 2:00 pm today. She suddenly started acting strange - hiding in a corner of her cage that she rarely frequents, in strange places around the house, now she won't even come out of her cage.... She is drinking a fair bit ... practically sticking her entire face and front paws in her water dish. I've tried giving her some mineral oil in a syringe (also put a few drops in her water), tried giving her any of her treats, she's not interested at all. Thinking it might be gas (although I hear no 'girgling' from her stomach) ... I tried massaging her tummy and felt her all over and she doesn't appear to be in pain ... although she has tightenend up her body a few times, but basically hasn't moved at all for the last few hours?

I'm really worried about her. It was a holiday here today - and tomorrow morning if her litter box is still clear of pee or poop, I will most definitely take her to the vet. Sounds like it might be a blockage? Sure hope not ... has this happened to anyone? How long can a rabbit go without food/pooping/peeing?

Desperately waiting for some litter action!

 

[Haley]

It does sound like gas, although its weird to me that you cant hear gurgling and shes drinking a lot of water.

When you touch her tummy how does it feel? Does it feel Hard, firm, distended, doughy? Try massaging in a sort of gentle backwards motion, lifting up gently as you near her hind legs- do you hear any gurgling when you do that?

Do you have any simethicone on hand? Iwould get her to the vets first thing if shes not eating/pooping by tomorrow morning, but simethicone (I think its ovral or something in Canada) wont hurt and it definitely will help if its gas.

 

[Haley]

Im almost wondering if it could be her teeth. The thing that confuses me is the water-usually they wont eat or drink when theyre having a gas attack or stasis.

Can you feel around her jaw and check her teeth as much as you can? Try offering her something soft like pumpkin or baby food. Does she appear to be in pain?

It could also be a urinary tract infection causing her pain. This would also explain drinking and not eating. Have you seen her pee? Is she straining?

Check out this article- its by far the best on stasis: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

 

[Bunny Mum]

This is terible for your bun.ray:Am thinking of you.

Can someone explain to me what the mineral oil can do?

 

[ellissian]

Bunny Mum wrote:

This is terible for your bun.ray:Am thinking of you.

Can someone explain to me what the mineral oil can do?

It's used when giving an enema, which I would'nt try unlessI'd been shown how to do it by a vet.

Good luck at the vets.

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

From my experience I go by the rule - if they haven't eaten in 6 hours it's time to syringe feed.

Try and syringe her some baby gas meds and keep giving her gentle belly rubs, if it is gas it should help.

I don't know what is the best syringe feed over there (maybe critical care?) but for now I'd just take some of her pellets and add some warm water and mush them up until they are in liquid form, then give her a little bit in a syringe. I wouldn't give too much, just a couple of mls every 2 hours should do it just to make sure she is getting food into her so her guts keep working.

Also keep her moving,try to makeher to run about as much as possible (without stressing her out)as that will help, and put hay everywhere as that will hopefully encourage her to eat some. Good luck, I'll be keeping little Toffee in my thoughts.ray:

 

[Pipp]

Dill and Sherry will both do the heavy drinking and paws in the water thing when they have gas. I assume its a pain reaction.

Don't worry about food, just make sure she's drinkingwater (or pedialyte) at this point. I'd give hergas meds (even for adults if that's what you have) and ridiculously long tummy rubs.And keep her warm.

I been usinga vibrating toothbrush. Once they get over the initial surprise, they're very appreciative. (If they appear to tolerate the tummy rubs, and especially enjoy them, it's likely gas. If it appears to cause them pain or discomfort, stop the massage in case there's another internal problem).

The tummy rubs, medsandvibrationsbreak up the bubles but I suspect they come back pretty quick, because my guys do betterright after the treatments, but get worse again. I usually go three or even four rounds with them.

With gas, it's can be good tokeep themmoving around.

Sherry had a bad attack the other night. She's moulting, which seems to be when it usually happens most often. (Or when they eat something they shouldn't have). The hair either messed with her system and gave her gas or she was having stasis issues and the stasisgave her gas.

I believe mineral oil (definitely petromalt) is used to move hair through the system, usually as a preventative stasis measure for moulting bunnies.

Good luck with Tofee. :clover:



sas

 

[pamnock]

Administering mineral oil orally with a syringe can be very dangerous. The rabbit can aspirate and suffocate to death (I saw it happen once - it was a horrible thing to witness).

I use Nutri Cal. It not only provides nutrients, but helps to keep the rabbit hydrated. You only need to give a very small amount, so there is much less stress involved than when attempting to syringe large amounts of messy supplements. Nutri Cal also contains vitamin E, which helps to relieve inflammation in the intestines.

1/2 of a baby aspirin will help to relieve pain.

Pam

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

Just have a couple of comments regarding your situation. It does sound like gas....but gas can have different root causes. I am relieved you are going to a vet. She does need a full physical....including a detailed exam (sedated if necessary) of those molars. I am assuming the picture you are using is her...and if so, she appears to have a slightly flat face and that canlead to some dental issues. Plus, at that age, the molars may become loose and malocclude resulting in spurs. It is also possible to have something going on with the gums...maybe a piece of hay stuck between teeth and causing some discomfort. I would not even rule out the possibility of an abscess at this point. It is also quite possible that intestinal parasites are doing this.

Could she have eaten something new that disagreed with her...or maybe eat something she shouldn't have? Like carpet for example?

Also at that age, a bladder issue....maybe an infection or even sludge/stones are a real possibility especially if the water in your area has lots of minerals.

I see an enema was mentioned. That is something that should be used only as a last resort in an ileus presentation....and if used, done by only the highest qualified rabbit vet. The intestinal walls are very thin and can rupture easily. I am not at all fond of mineral oil or the cat type "hairball" remedies. Thing is....what a rabbit has is not a true hairball in most cases. There is some evidence that the use of the paste type products will actually compress the impaction into a more dense form and be more difficult to pass. That does make some sense since if lubricant were to be effective, it would have to come from the back end...it can't pass thru a blockage. It's kinda a "Catch 22" here. And at this point, we aren't sure we have an impaction.

I wouldn't worry too much about food at this point. We have had rabbits refuse food for over a week and come thru it. I think the "legend" about being panicked if a bun refuses to eat in 12 hours is based on inaccurate information. Obviously, you have noticed this early on. I hear so many that say their rabbit stopped eating in the afternoon and died that night. Upon further questioning, I found that most just piled food into one of the hopper bins and just didn't check on anything. The bun had actually been sick for days. Remember that these guys hide pain until it becomes unbearable. That is where many people on this forum have learned to notice little things that just don't seem right...they are clues. And I think you saw and reacted to those clues early on. That is a verygood thing.

It seems we have many more questions right now that answers. A physcial exam at a doctor should be able to put more focus on the issue. If this bunny were here....this is what I would do. Offer simethicone and tummy massages. Allow her to move around as much as possible. As the simethicone acts on the bubbles, the movement will allow it to pass....and if there is an impaction, maybe it will pass too. I know this is controversial....but we do offer fresh squeezed pineapple juice....hand squeezed from a real fruit....not the canned stuff. I would offer a buffet of favorite greens...dandelion greens have pulled many of our rabbits thru. I would make every effort to keep her hydrated. As much water as she will drink, the pineapple juice, greens are hydrating, unflavored Pedialyte...or even better, sub-q fluids. And a heating pad underneath her (on lowest setting)....covered by a towel....will help if the gut is painful. I would not push any pellets at this time. Allow her to eat on her own. If it is an impaction, it is important to know where it is and what it is (most likely if your doctor suspects an impaction he/she will order some rads). Force feeding food in some situations will create too much pressure in the gut resulting in bad things.

Above all....don't panic. Keep her stress level as low as possible. If you are in a panic, she will sense that. As I have told others that I have worked with....a sick bunny is like a ship going thru a storm at sea. The idea is to "steady the ship". By doing too much, you may get an overcorrection and walk into a problem in the other direction. Keep things simple and bunny safe. And let us know what the vet has to say about her condition. Our thoughts are with Toffee for a quick recovery...any a thumb's up to you for seeing her situation so quickly.

Randy

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

How is Toffee doing?

 

[Toffeegirl]

Hi Everyone!

Toffee is doing fine. Back to her old self! What a relief! Last night, I used a syringe with a few drops of mineral oil in her mouth and put a couple of drops in her drinking water. I rubbed her tummy every couple of hours and kept her moving often, before I finally went to bed (with the 24-hour animal emergency clinic numbers by my phone), reluctantly leaving her on the floor of her cage. (She has a 2nd level, which I call her loft that she normally spends most her time in - and sleeps). For some reasonI awoke at 4:30 am - and checked on her - was relieved to see her in her second level - and looked in her cage to find a stinky golf-ball size dropping and a few other rather large ones in and around herlitter box. She must have eaten something that she shouldn't have?The only thing that I can think of that she may have had the night before or earlier that day was a raspberry? One dropped on the floor and when offered to her, she initially turned her nose up at it, and instead of throwing it out, I put it in her dish ... she must have eventually ate it. She's never had them before. I learned my lesson ... she isn't getting any food that she hasn't had before!

A couple of hours later, while I was getting ready for work, she was back to her self hopping around my place and I think I even saw her do a little 'binky', out of the corner of my eye?!. She's probably so relieved herself!

Thanks so much for your quick responses, suggestionsand concerns! This forum is a great place to get valuable advise from other caring rabbit owners!

Toffee xoxo

 

[Haley]

Wow, Im so relieved to hear shes ok!

It sounds like it was a gas attack. They come on sudden and sometimes we dont know why. So shes pooping and eating ok now?

You should probably get some baby gas meds (simethicone) to keep on hand just in case.

Im just so happy it wasnt anything serious!

 

[Toffeegirl]

Thank you!She's back to normal litter activity and eating pellets & hay. Good idea about the babygas medicine! I will still take her to her vet for a checkup, since it has been awhile since she's been for one and I'll ask the Vet what I should have on hand in case of emergencies like this? What a scare she gave me! I'm soglad she is okay and that it was short-lived!

Lots of bunny snuggles tonight!