Bunny not eating, drinking or pooping, but peed

[mpp]

Hi! My partner and I are having a bit of a scare today. It’s currently 1:29am. We woke up this morning around 9:00 and noticed that our bun hadn’t eaten his nightly hay. It’s hard to tell if he pooped overnight because his litter box wasn’t totally clean. We called the vet and took him in at 1:30 pm for an emergency examination. The vet examined him and her hunch is that his teeth are cutting his gums a bit since they’ve grown so big. We’ve gotten them filed down in the past a few times, they grow quickly so we’re aware of this problem.
The vet prescribed cisapride, meloxicam, and an antibiotic and told us to force feed critical care every 8 hours which we did around 9pm. We’ve been giving him water through a syringe as he’s uninterested in hay, basil, mint, or his water bowl. We’ve also been massaging his tummy frequently. We also gave him gas drops once per hour starting at 9:15, then 10:15, then 11:15.
He’s been pressing his stomach to the ground a bit in his litter box, and otherwise is just sitting for the most part.
Does anyone have any recommendations for what to do currently? I’m also kind of looking for some ears to listen since this has been so stressful, but we’ll do anything possible at this point.
Thanks so much!

 

[mpp]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I haven’t been here in a while.

 

[Preitler]

Hi,

I would feed and massage more often, like at least every 2-3 hours, 8 hours is a very, very long time to go without food. Can't remember exactly, but I think I fed about 10-20ml each time (10lbs rabbit)
Even if gas is not the cause of the problem, I would mix some Simethicone (infant colic relief, about 20mg 2-3x per day)into the critical care, to prevent it to add to the problem. Gas can be a byproduct of slow gut motion.

My rabbits love the fine stuff that gathers at the bottom of the hay (simple farm hay bales), you can try to offer that or cut hay realk fine.

There are also some safe greens you can offer, like narrowleaf plantain, leaves of apple trees, roses, blackberrys and other rosea plants.

I also tried to make them move a little, just to keep things going.

Good luck

 

[mpp]

Hi,

I would feed and massage more often, like at least every 2-3 hours, 8 hours is a very, very long time to go without food. Can't remember exactly, but I think I fed about 10-20ml each time (10lbs rabbit)
Even if gas is not the cause of the problem, I would mix some Simethicone (infant colic relief, about 20mg 2-3x per day)into the critical care, to prevent it to add to the problem. Gas can be a byproduct of slow gut motion.

My rabbits love the fine stuff that gathers at the bottom of the hay (simple farm hay bales), you can try to offer that or cut hay realk fine.

There are also some safe greens you can offer, like narrowleaf plantain, leaves of apple trees, roses, blackberrys and other rosea plants.

I also tried to make them move a little, just to keep things going.

Good luck

thank you!! I appreciate your kind words. Do you think the bun needs time between massages? We’ve been massaging pretty frequently and we weren’t sure if that’s better for his gut than massaging and letting him be for a while. Super tired too.

thanks again!

 

[Dagny]

thank you!! I appreciate your kind words. Do you think the bun needs time between massages? We’ve been massaging pretty frequently and we weren’t sure if that’s better for his gut than massaging and letting him be for a while. Super tired too.

thanks again!

Did your vet take x-rays to rule out a blockage? i am still a relatively new rabbit owner, but I recently had a bad GI scare. The vet explained how important it was to rule out a blockage before force feeding and giving gut motility drugs.

 

[mpp]

Did your vet take x-rays to rule out a blockage? i am still a relatively new rabbit owner, but I recently had a bad GI scare. The vet explained how important it was to rule out a blockage before force feeding and giving gut motility drugs.

she didn’t take xrays, which looking back we probably should have asked for. However, we have major progress! It took until 4am, but he’s pooping (smaller poops but consistent) and is interested in eating a bit! Hes eating some of his softer hay and a couple greens. I’m so happy and relieved. Thank you!!