Am I Seriously Cursed?

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Jenk

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Location
, Illinois, USA
What on earth can bring on such sudden pain/stasis symptoms?

We do all the "right" things by our crew: They get 30 minutes' of hard exercise, plentiful hay and water, pellets (not too much); and two of our three buns get greens. Plus, they've been groomed daily for many weeks' now.

Last night, our boy acted 100% fine when he came out of his room for exercise. A little more than an hour later, he was lethargic, shifted his gut repeatedly,had inappetance and rapid breathing.

I treated him with three Simethicone doses and one Metacam dose. I massaged his digestive tract but didn't feel any major gas. He showed no sign of improvement in those three hours'.

I finally fell asleep next to him (he was in his litter box) at 2:30 am. I dragged myself to my own bed at 3:30 am, at which time I heard him slowly starting to munch hay.

This morning, he has a few fecals in his box (some tiny, some normal-sized, some strung with fur). He's still not acting "right," so I made a vet appointment for him today. (Our megacolon girl is going in, as well. Oh, Dear Hubby's going to love the additional vet bills.)

Why must this happen to me/us, especially as our vacation looms even closer? This does not build up my confidence about leaving our crew so that we humans can have some fun. :(

Jenk
 
:( Poor you. I have no words of wisdom, just that I'm very sorry things are rough right now.
 
Flashy wrote:
:( Poor you. I have no words of wisdom, just that I'm very sorry things are rough right now.
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No words of wisdom are needed; they don't seem to apply to me and my crew anyway. ;)

He saw the vet today;she, while thinking aloud, mentioned that the pain could be muscular-skeletal, since three Simethicone doses didn't make any impact. (I also didn't feel much gas in him, which is also telling.) It wasn't until later today that I remembered that, each night, my guy likes to slide on portion of our hallway floor (the one area of itthat has no traction) and"spins out," bumping some part of his body into the closed door at the end of the hallway. I'm now wondering if he hit some part of himself harder than usual, which thengrew increasingly sore until he showed pain symptoms (1.5 hours' later).

He'll be on Metcam for a few days and got sub-Qs today (since he drank no water in nearly 12 hours', and his overnight fecal output was decreased and mostly small in size). X-rays will be considered if he doesn't bounce back to his old self in 24 hours' (or less). Gawd help me, though, if they're indicated; my husband is beyond tired of watching our money go toward high vet bills....:(

BTW: Tonight, I'll add another throw rug with a rubber backing to that slick portion of our hallway floor. No more "spin outs" into the door.
 
A throw rug sounds like a good idea (with a rubber back)
I would think that he'll be back to his old self by maybe tomorrow ( I wish and hope)
"Hugs"

Maureen
 
angieluv wrote:
I would think that he'll be back to his old self by maybe tomorrow (I wish and hope)
"Hugs"
Click to expand...

He's already moving around, eating and drinking more. His leaps into his litter box sound a little odd, as though he must do a special maneuver to get into it. (I've not actually witnessed him getting into it since last night.)

I'm heartened that he's showing more of his regular behavior and hope that he merely bruised/sprained something that'll heal on its own. *fingers crossed*
 
what do you think of a radiogragh??./.this may isolate the problem,,also if it is not environmental factors-,look at the diet-doesnot sound like enough orchard/timothy fiber,-need 70% with a small amount of pellets(1oz.per#)--daily-,.there are two poops-(day and night),the night poops(cepetropes)are like little group of grapes which are ingested directly from the anus--this is mandatory to ensure a good flora-(gi tract),i hope this helps,.sincerely james waller
 
I'm very sorry your boy is having problems, but glad to see he is showing some improvement. Is it possible he could have ingested something when playing? Sometimes it doesn't take much to throw their digestive track out of whack.

Sending good healing vibes your way.
 
AngelnSnuffy wrote:
Keep us posted!:)
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Here's what I "know" after observing him yesterday/last night/this morning: He's not showing classic signs of pain (but that could be the Metacam working). He does seem less active than normal in terms of not hopping as frequently into his litter box. In fact, when I hear him do so, it sounds as if his feet slip a bit from beneath his body.

It seems as if his front feet want to repeatedly slip from beneath him as he rises from a prone position. Whether it's even a muscular/skeletal issue, it's hard to say. All I know is that I was with him when he exercised Sunday night (during which time he didn't ingest anything odd); and 1.5 hours' later, he had pain. This was after his usual rambunctious routine of running/binkying up-and-down the hallway. He did "spin out" and bounce into a door a few times, which was typical of him.

My husband will freak out if more tests are warranted. He was already griping last night about the amount of money spent on rabbit vet bills since 1/09. And, yeah, it's a high amount; I understand his complaints. :(

The vet wants me to bring him in this morning, so that she can observe his behavior throughout the day. (I've asked that she also watch him move on a slick floor, in the hopes that she can observe the foot issue that I believe I'm seeing.)
 
The poops strung together with wool are your indicator. Sounds like a regular case of wool block to me.

I would remove all pellets, greens, everything from the diet except fresh water and unlimited grass hay. If he's not eating on his own, syringe him some yogurt. Get the full fat, fruit on the bottom kind (no low fat, diet kind) with the active ingredients in it. You will want brand name, not the store brand as this contains aspartamine in it. Give him as much yogurt as he'll take, keeping in mind the size of their small stomachs.

The yogurt and fruit gives the rabbit a boost in blood sugar that is often enough to save them and make them noticeably better overnight. :)I know many people who saved rabbits this way who otherwise would have been goners. Good luck!
 
I respect that the yogurt has saved rabbits in the past , however, it is not necessary to give them a dairy product (which they cannot digest) when products like probios and benebac have been developed to target the correct microorgansism for a rabbit GI tract. I know Jen has benebac

We would never recommend the use of fruit yogurt for stasis. We would recommend the use of benebac and possibly pineapple juice, gas meds with simethicone , exercise, heat and pedialyte





 
angieluv wrote:
I know Jen has benebac.
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I do, but I now also have something called Pro-Bi (not to be confused with Probios). It's both a pre- and probiotic. My vet recommends it because it's also used for horses (same as with Probios, of course).
We would never recommend the use of fruit yogurt for stasis. We would recommend the use of benebac and possibly pineapple juice, gas meds with simethicone, exercise, heat and pedialyte.
Click to expand...
Treatmentfor digestive issues almost seems moot, as I suspect that his digestive issues stemmed from paincaused by his rough play. I could be wrong, but usually if it'sgas, Simethicone (much less three doses' worth)has an affect by the second dose.

I let Biggers(yeah, another nickname) out this morning to observe his activity level when he was on more traction (i.e., hallway rugs and the bathroom floor). He seemed his usual snoopy self; so I called the vet's office to say that I'm holding off on bringing him in for observation, lest I be jumping the gun and stress him out unnecessarily. Of course, if he's still showing odd behavior by, say, Thurs. morning, I'd bring him back for sure.

 
angieluv wrote:
Wow his leg is probably improving on its own naturally which is great...
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I'm not letting myself admit as much thus far, because it still seems that he has less sure-footedness than normal on his laminate flooring. But he has entered his box many times already today to eat/poop/pee/yada-yada, he showed enthusiasm for his pellets early this morning, and he wasn't limping (far as I could tell) when out with me.

If it is muscular in nature, though, I don't know what else the vet could do for him, besides prescribe Metacam (which she has and which he's been taking since Sunday night).
 
JimD wrote:
:pray:
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Thank you for the extra prayers, Jim. :)

So far, he's acting more of his normal self; I'm trying not to wig out prematurely (although his symptoms last Sunday were not imagined and were troubling to me).

Dear Hubby and I leave crazy early next Friday morning, and I'm already worried about my crew. I can't help myself. But I've learned that we should have constant cell-phone access, which allieves me of some worry. Plus, two generous people (one being an RO member) have provided their contact info., should the pet sitter have trouble reaching me.
 
angieluv wrote:
I respect that the yogurt has saved rabbits in the past , however, it is not necessary to give them a dairy product (which they cannot digest) when products like probios and benebac have been developed to target the correct microorgansism for a rabbit GI tract. I know Jen has benebac

We would never recommend the use of fruit yogurt for stasis. We would recommend the use of benebac and possibly pineapple juice, gas meds with simethicone , exercise, heat and pedialyte
Click to expand...

You don't have to recommend it, but I do. It is recommended by many breeders because it gives a boost in blood sugar and has brought back rabbits who otherwise would not have been saved. It's a simple, quick fix that does work when you're caught in an emergency situation. And I would much rather feed something more natural than medicine.

I had a buck go off his feed once and I syringed him some yogurt. By morning, he was perfectly fine. So I highly, highly recommend it. I don't know anyone who has had negative results.;)
 
OakRidgeRabbits wrote:
angieluv wrote:
I respect that the yogurt has saved rabbits in the past , however, it is not necessary to give them a dairy product (which they cannot digest) when products like probios and benebac have been developed to target the correct microorgansism for a rabbit GI tract. I know Jen has benebac

We would never recommend the use of fruit yogurt for stasis. We would recommend the use of benebac and possibly pineapple juice, gas meds with simethicone , exercise, heat and pedialyte
Click to expand...

You don't have to recommend it, but I do. It is recommended by many breeders because it gives a boost in blood sugar and has brought back rabbits who otherwise would not have been saved. It's a simple, quick fix that does work when you're caught in an emergency situation. And I would much rather feed something more natural than medicine.

I had a buck go off his feed once and I syringed him some yogurt. By morning, he was perfectly fine. So I highly, highly recommend it. I don't know anyone who has had negative results.;)
Click to expand...

I cannot recommend fruit yogurt to others members (as an infirmary mod) nor encourage other members to use it.

rabbit cannot digest dairy products and a spike in blood sugar is not what a rabbit needs ; I can recommend a probiotic specifically containing lactobacillus casei and without the dairy (Probios and/ or benebac)

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/2008/2/Rabbit-GI-Problems-2.htm

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

The first article was answered by Randy


ifI could not get a true pure probiotic and had nothing else I might use yogurt rather than nothing , however I cannot advocate it.
I have no issues with what you do with your own rabbits and I do believe that you stated that yogurt has worked for you :)
 
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