Constipation? hairball ?

[Debbie Medina]

So my 1 year old rabbit "cosin" suddenly stopped popping as usual only a few droppings now and she doesnt want to eat much wont touch the pellets or hay just a tinny bit of lettuce. I tried giving her papaya, cucumber and nothing she souldnt even touch them. Shes's still moving but not as much as usual no happy jumps or lighting bolts around the patio.....
I feed her oxbow timothy hay and cunipic adult pellets (she loooooves the tiny colorful treats in it)
Im thinking she may or may not be constipated but COVID has got everything closed, so i cant really get her to the vet any advise on how to help her ?? How can i make her poop again

My other rabbit "cosita" is just fine she even ate cosin's leftovers willingly

Cosita is spanish for "little" like in a cute way
Cosin is basically something my mom made up just because when they were babies she was tinier than Cosita

Ignore my messy living room heres a pic of cosin


also ive been feeding some birds with rice in my backyard for the last 2 or 3 weeks and ive been catching her eating the rice more than a few time could this be the cause of her constipation ?

 

[Blue eyes]

She is in GI stress and this is quite serious. A rabbit that stops pooping altogether is in full GI stasis and will die without medical intervention. 12 hours without eating is considered a medical emergency for a rabbit. A rabbit's gut must be in constant motion.

Give her simethicone (baby gas drops) right away to see if that will alleviate her pain and get her eating hay. Hay is the best thing to get her gut moving. If the simethicone doesn't work in a couple hours, then she needs to go the emergency vet -- possibly for gut motility meds. They may also x-ray and check for actual blockage, in which case they may be more aggressive with treatment recommendations.

Yes, the rice could have caused the issue. The Cunipic pellets are also not a good idea. Anything that has mixed in it the dehydrated (sugary) carrots and treats is not a good idea because you can't regulate how much is being eaten. The extra sugar can cause GI issues in itself. Add the rice and it's a recipe for GI stasis.

On a side note, rice is also bad for the birds as it swells up in their gut (just like what probably has happened with your rabbit). [This is why many weddings have stopped the tradition of throwing rice and have replaced the rice with actual bird seed. ]

Be careful about your other rabbit eating "leftovers" as the extra pellets can get that one's gut messed up as well.

Dosage for the baby gas drops:
Simethicone 1cc (20mg/ml suspension) can be given orally as often as every hour for 3 hours and then 1cc every 3-8 hours.

 

[Debbie Medina]

Holy gracious, i cant really get anything more quality than cunipic overhere , i didnt know the little rings in her food were so bad for the rings are supposedly made of fruits ... they been having these brand for over 9 months now. So i went to the pharmacy and got simethicone they only had 100mg/ml version and gave her 0.2cc measured it with a diabetic needle but first I chopped of the needle carefully to end up with a graduated syringe of sorts, then i tried feeding the meds... as usual she was angry at me trying to give her meds, stompping all over ... So since i know she has a soft spot for basil I put the suspension onto the leaves and tricked her by giving her some real basil and then some basil with the med.. She ate it, ill be giving more on the next hour

Thanks for the help, i texted her vet but they are still closed for COVID and I had to break curfew to get to the pharmacy...

The thing is here in panama we have this thing were girls go out one day (monday, wednesday and friday) then boys go out (tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays) and youve only got 2 godamn hours to run you errands, so since im out of my hours I cant go out, but the goverment is getting rid of this "regulations" next week hopefully the vet would be open by then and she will improve over the next few days

Vet said to give her pineapple how much pineapple is too much since its so sweet ?

Note: Im suspecting she has ear mites again she's had them before and they keep coming, her nose goes big because of it i think

They give her ivermectin shots to cosita too, but every 2 months or so the "nonstop ear scratching" come back again
Tried cleaning with both alcohol and clorox their boxes then washed thorughly, tried desinfecting their living areas but it keeps happening any tips ? I know theres topical selamectin but they dont seem to sell it over here, vets doesnt have it either

 

[Debbie Medina]

The leftovers where a mix of veggies so its fine , I started growing basil for the sole purpose of giving them now its become my carrier of meds ... My other bunny is currently distroying my backyard by making a maze of tunnels so I couldnt take a pic of her

 

[Blue eyes]

I grow basil too for my rabbit(s). I'm glad yo were able to trick her into taking it. For future reference (and so you can see just how much she's actually getting) the following video (I made it recently) shows how to syringe feed meds.


Pineapple used to be recommended but is now discouraged. There is simply no proof of any benefit (but indication that the sugar does more harm). The following article is detailed and informative regarding options for GI stress:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
Hopefully the gas drops will start giving her some relief soon.

Your lockdown orders sound unbearable! Sure hope that ends soon.

As for the mites, I've not had any experience with that. Our health moderator @JBun is a wealth of health info. Hopefully she will see this and advise further.

 

[zuppa]

You can also try belly massage rabbits love it usually. As for food I adopted a rabbit in December and was given a bag of his food, he loved it but he actually was bloating when they brought him to me, they also fed him grain balls he also loved them but they actually made with dairy and grain and seeds, so I have no idea how he survived on that food for over a year but he had GI stasis and our first week together was horrible, he had no poos first few hours and then like 6-8 poos a day and all very small and irregular shape. Then he also had large pasty stinky poos those were undeveloped cecals. I fed him wet vegetables, celery leaves and cilantro (coriander) mainly and tried feeding hay as well. I didn't have gas drops at hand so I brewed some fennel tea (no sugar or sweeteners) it worked same as baby gas drops. I did belly massage every few hours. I've tried feed him a few plain pellets but he won't eat them and wanted his old pellets with fruity loops and grain and shredded grass in them. So he only had hay and wet soaked greens every few hours I fed small amount, he ate greens well. His poos became bigger after a few days, but first 3 days there were 8-10 small deformed berries. Only after 5 days he started eating plain pellets (I gave 10 pellets first, next day 15 pellets, next day 20 pellets and so on) so after 6 days his poos were much better and I knew he will be alright now. That was in December, since then he only has plain pellets, greens and lots of hay. He never had any problem with his stomach since December, very healthy rabbit and his poos are perfect and a lot.

I think if you can't get proper plain pellets with high fibre min 19% and low protein 13% and low calcium under 1%, without any grain, muesli type flakes or dairy product in them, you better just stop feeding those pellets at all, keep him on hay, greens and water for a week at least, then try to get pellets maybe you can buy online.

The pellets they gave me were exactly same as you feed them. You better stop feeding them, they can live on hay and water and some greens. Pellets are only complementary food, their main food 80% grass hay, 10% leafy greens 5% plain pellets and 5 % treats, one thumb-sized piece of carrot once or twice a day is enough, or 1/4 of an apple once a week. No yogurt drops or other treats containing sugar or dairy. Keep it simple and when they have lots of hay their tummies will be alright all the time.

 

[Debbie Medina]

These are the nutrition fact of the pellets i was giving them
and the snacks that come mixed inside are these
https://www.cunipic.com/en/producto/premium-line-en/snacks-crukiss-dehydrated-fruits/
So theres a version of this cunipic line which doesnt bring any snacks just plain pellets, should i switch to those ? i believe the nutrition facts are very similar

Also could i continue to feed them this bag if i take off the treats so that i can have better control over the sugar in their diets?

She's pooping just very little i found 6 new poops like an hour ago when i went to give her a belly massage, her belly does feel bloated

 

[Debbie Medina]

I'll remove the pineapple pieces inmmediately thanks
Ive tried syringe feeding but she moves like hell she truly hates it
Ill be trying again with the syringe on a couple hours when her next dose is due

Yet ive been sucessful in the past syringe feeding my other bunny, smoothly no problem whatsoever
Its like ying and yang