Bunny won't eat

[Xaneth]

Or poop. Just noticed two days ago. I feed him in the morning, and he wasn't his ravenous self two days ago, so I went and bought his favorite, Wild Harvest, and he still won't eat this morning. He also isn't his lively self. We've let him out all day and he just hides under the couch. He's normally finding trouble somewhere, never in one place too long. Anyway, contacted the vet and have an appointment for him in the morning, and found your thread on GI stasis, so I'm trying to keep him hydrated as much as possible, but it's hard to get him to drink anything either.

 

[Maureen Las]

If you have a syringe ( if you don't ...I believe that you can tell a pharmacist at any drugs store what you need one for) you can syringe fluid into him

Ibelieve we have a description of how to do this in the library but basically you slip the syringe in the side of the bunny's mouth behind the teeth and slowly push in fluids watching as the bunny swallows and not pushing in too much at once but a little at a time. You can have someone hold the bunny or hold him between your legs on the floor and sort of bend over him

you need to get some baby gas medication which is liquid simethicone. it is called gas x or infant mylicon or any product for infants with the active ingredient being simethicone

you can give 1cc at a time with up to 3 doses. The rabbits tummy produces gas when it is not moving.
Buy some pedialyte at the drugstore( electrolyte drink for children and babies) and syringe him that. many rabbits like the taste.

Afteryou give the gas meds and fluids you can very gently massage his tummy .

Since this has been going on for awhile with your rabbit it is very important to get fluids into him

if you cannot get to the drugstore just give water.
you want to jumpstart his GI tract and get it moving again
If you have any metacam in the house (pain med) you could give him a dose of that ..if not crush up a baby aspirin and give that in liquid.
gas often produces a lot of pain.

let us know how you are doing

 

[pumpkinhead]

^^ yes what Angieluv said XD too quick!

Has he been eating anything at all? Tempt him with anything you can think of, otherwise you will have to start force feeding him just to get some food into him. There are over the counter medications used for babies with gas, and other medicines that can be helpful to get a rabbit's gut moving again, but he really needs a vet to examine him and work out what is causing the problem.

 

[Xaneth]

Thanks for the tips! I'm diabetic, so I have syringes, no problem. I'm going to get started on getting him hydrated. He's going in first thing in the morning as well. I'll keep the thread posted. Please pray for Merlin, I've only had him a year and I miss seeing him getting into trouble and getting into things. Especially fighting with the stuff in my bathroom, what a character! I've got some gas x as well, but it's not the childrens version, and it's in pill form. Should I mix some of it with water to give to him?

 

[Maureen Las]

is the main ingredient simethicone???

if it is go ahead and break it up and mix it in water and just give part of it.
if you can tell me the strenth of the tab i can be more specific

 

[Maureen Las]

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rx/drugcalc.html

if you look at this drug dose calculator you will find simethicone( look carefully)

estimate the wt of your rabbit in lbs and then you get an average dose

generally it is 100mg per kg and can be give every 2 hrs or so x 3 doses.

a kg = about 2.2 lbs.
Don't worry about giving simethicone as it is very safe for rabbits as it is not absorbed into their systems ; with other drugs you need to be exact but simethicone is very safe.

Sometimes this is all the bun will need to help him feel better

 

[Xaneth]

Yeah, simethicone. 125 mg. And he's a good 9 lbs. Big boy. The recommended dose is 408 mg? And it says dosage range is 100 mg? I'm a little confused... 3.5 pills as one dose?

 

[Maureen Las]

just use 1 pill at a time ...

that's correct according to the chart but i wouldn't use that many pills either

repeat 1-2 several times tonight if he doesn't seem to look better
and try to get fluids in him..
also encourage him to runaround as sometimes exercise will break up the gas bubbles and get the GI tract moving...

maybe tomorrow you can get the liquid

 

[aurora369]

Isn't Angieluv wonderful?

I agree with everything she has suggested.

Fluids is a the most important factor with GI slow down.

You can try offering some watered down juice and see if bunny will drink it willingly.

--Dawn

 

[Xaneth]

I think he's feeling a little better. Thanks a lot for your help. He's going in first thing in the morning!

 

[irishlops]

my rabbit would not eat ethier... he passed away sadly and i think he had gi staiss.

i did not find this site then, but i did syrine him and stuff. with water mixed with stuff.

i say find his fav treat and tempt him. i dont know much about this tiopic, just how the bunny would feel...

 

[dquesnel]

That was some great advice. Once you get to the vets, they will probably want to give him sub q fluids and possibly do xrays. The xray may identify if there is a blockage present somewhere in his intestines/stomach. The vet may want to give him motility drugs, and if that is the case make sure that a blockage is ruled out first. Motility drugs are considered controversial, since often hydration is the key to actually getting the rabbit well again. They may also want to give him pain medication and if that is the case, pain meds such as an NSAID (metacam for example) should never be given with motility drugs in case the NSAID causes an ulcer to form, the motility drugs can cause a rupture.

It sounds like you are doing a great job and the simethicone may be helping him. You can actually give one tablet every couple hours, since simethicone is considered harmless to the rabbit.

Keep us posted on how the vet visit goes!

 

[Xaneth]

So he was running a fever of about 103, so the vet did not prescribe stimulants. He did diagnose GI stasis, and this is what was prescribed:

Fluids - They gave him an IV of fluids today and he's currently drinking water now!
Metacam 15 ml / day
Benebac 1 gram / day
Penecillin .25 cc injected once / day
Laxatone 3 cc orally once / day
Pineapple juice concentrate 5 cc twice / day

They want progress reports over the next two days and if there's no improvement, they will recommend a pet hospital where they will perform x-rays and further treatment if necessary.

Really hate that this is my first post out here. Better ones to come as soon as we get through this.

 

[Maureen Las]

According to kathy Smith's and Lucille Moore's book "When you rabbit needs special care" a rabbits temp may vary several degrees depending upon the time of year, environment and stress, but usually will between 101 degrees F- 104 degrees F ( 38 degrees C- 40 degrees C) if it is lower than 100 degrees F or higher than 105 degrees F you should contact your vet immediately

also quoted in this article

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00398.htm

that means that your rabbit has a normal temperature
I am concerned that your vet is not aware that rabbit's have a normal high temp

Did your vet do gut x-rays?

this would rule out whether there is an actual blockage and also show whether the rabbit is in stasis based on food in stomach,, gas showing up in areas , distention of the stomach or intestines. it is good that he did not prescribe motility drugs but why pencillin.
Your vet apparently either wants to treat the possibility of an overgrowth of clostridium in the gut of your rabbit or he has mistakenly thought that your bunny has an infection?
on this forum we feel that laxatone is an outdated treatment that is an old fashoined treatment for stasis. The goopy hairball remedy often just collects in the already obstructed gut and adds to the slowdown
If you do use laxatone make sure that plenty of fluids continue to be administered to your rabbit

benebac, pineapple juice, metacam and plenty of fluids are good...

and if I were youI would concentrate on getting fluids in as we said last night (without unduly stressing the rabbit)

if you can talk to the vet iIdefinitely would call and discuss the treatment options or
get a second opinion making sure that the vet is rabbit knowledgeable

The treatment protocol prescribed for your rabbit is a scenario I deal with here in southwest Wi.; the vets know a few things well and are clueless about others.

the key to this is to educate yourself

but right now it is important to get a lot of fluids into your bunny

maureen

 

[Xaneth]

Thanks for your insight. He's a mobile vet, and I'm not sure what his specialty is. He saw my fiance's bird, so I'm not sure if he sees a lot of rabbits or not. I'll take note about the laxatone, however, he's drinking lots of water, like he used to, guzzling it down now. And he's peeing. All over the place.

The vet asked what I feed him, and I told him his favorite is Wild Harvest, which has timothy hay and a mix of seeds, pumpkin and sunflower to name a couple. He said he didn't like feed with seed in it, and told me I should be feeding him pelleted foods like alfalfa, straight timothy hay and the like, seedless. I'll have to say I'm new at this, so I'm open to doing the right thing, I just want to know what the right thing to do is before I lose one of my best friends.

 

[Maureen Las]

he's right about the pellets with the seeds in it ....it's not good for rabbits

the plain pellets are what you should have
a good alfalfa pellet if he is a very young rabbit and a a timothy pellet if he's older
it sounds as if your vet has some knowledge of rabbits

is your rabbit pooping yet...?
if not you can buy pure canned unseasoned ( make sure no seasoning) pumpkin in a can and syringe feed him that ..it has a lot of fiber in it and is easy to feed
also give him lots of good fresh timothy or grass hay

if he is not eating hay that may be one reason his gut slowed down.
I hope that he's getting better

 

[Xaneth]

Well, there's no easy way to say it. He shat! And he's back to his old self, except he needs to drink more and he's eating grass and timothy hay only at the moment. Still not out of the woods I imagine, but he seems to be doing better and responding to the meds.

 

[Maureen Las]

that's great
very happy to hear that

just continue to do what you are doing now until everything in his GI tract reestablishes itself

:goodjob


Maureen

 

[aurora369]

Hay is super good for scrubbing out the digestive system. So him eating hay is super good news.

Hopefully he will start eating a wider variety of food as he feels better. Make sure he keeps up with his water in take too.

--Dawn

 

[jcl_24]

Wishing Merlin a full recovery . Yes the poop is very good news because its shows his system is digesting food.

Jo xx