GI Stasis Treatment?

[kelilindsey]

My nearly two year old mini lop Boots has had stasis earlier this year, so my vet prescribed metoclopramide to get his gut moving (.5 ml/cc every 8 hours for a week) and instructed I only offer strictly his normal hay- no treats, greens, or pellets. He got over it fine because he kept eating his hay and drinking water.

I went back four days ago because I believe he had it again. Dr. Barrett said it wasn't as bad as last time and gave me the same instructions as before, so I wasn't very worried. However, I'm really nervous now. He only eats maybe three strands of hay a day and poops very few tiny, dark, dry, hard pellets. The last time I saw him drink anything was yesterday morning. I'm extremely worried now. He still begs for pellets and treats, so I know he WANTS to eat- he's just being picky. I picked up some fresh timothy and mixed it with orchard grass today to entice him, but he turned his nose up at it.

I called Dr. Barrett this morning and asked him about it, and he told me I needed to start force feeding him a liquid mixture of his pellets and water. I only got maybe a half a cc/ml in him an hour ago. I'm really worried that if he doesn't start getting his much needed fiber, he will starve himself to death via stasis! Please, I want to know what I should do. Should I continue the syringe feeding? If so, how much and how often for a 3.3lb rabbit? Should I offer him greens just to make sure he gets water and nourishment? If I do, will he begin to eat normally or will I just be making things worse? Any help is greatly appreciated, but I'm definitely in need of some advice from someone with long-term bunny experience who knows how to nurse through GI stasis. Thank you!!

 

[Watermelons]

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11931&forum_id=10

 

[Ape337]

If you are able to get some oxbow critical care to syringe feed it's a great nutrient boost, and will keep energy into him. It's also high in fiber. My bunny Freckles has had a roller coaster ride of digestive issues and critical care is what sustains him. I get apple banana flavor and he just eats it from a bowl, no syringe needed. He hates anise flavor though.

If your bun has gas issues it's good to have baby gas drops on hand too. I can't remember the dosage but hopefully someone will stop by and give it. Hope your bun feels better soon!

 

[JBun]

Sometimes stasis issues can be caused by tooth problems. Have his back teeth ever been checked for sharp points? I'm just wondering cause usually when they won't eat their hay, they also won't eat pellets, but when they have sharp points on their teeth, a lot of times they will stop eating hay because it hurts to eat.

As for the stasis problems, didn't your vet give you any powdered critical care food mix? That's a common thing to be given when you have a rabbit with stasis problems. It's easier to feed to them then the mashed up pellets, but you can do the pellets. You could probably get some from your vet if you asked. Are you giving him any other meds like metacam, simethicone? Is he still acting like he's in pain from gas or the blockage, or is the issue now just making sure he's eating? I don't know why your vet wouldn't want you giving him greens with the stasis issues. I've found leafy greens to be one of the best things for my rabbit when he had stasis problems. Leafy greens were one of the first things my rabbit would eat when he wasn't feeling well, plus they give added moisture in their digestive system, which is something the rabbit really needs. If it were my rabbit and I was over the crisis stage of no pooping and no eating, but he just isn't eating or drinking enough, I would be feeding as many leafy greens as he would eat, and syringe feeding critical care food( or mashed pellets in your case). If your rabbit puts up a fuss about eating it, you just have to be insistant. I would get a firm hold on him, some people will do a bunny burrito, and slowly squirt little amounts into the side of his mouth, giving him a chance to chew and swallow each little amount. If he's not drinking enough then you have to syringe water too, but do it slowly and carefully so he doesn't aspirate the water. I would just mix extra water into my rabbits food mix instead. I found it easier then syringing water to him. I have a 3 lb rabbit and I was syringe feeding him 12-15cc of food mix with extra water added to it or 6-9cc without extra water in it, every 3-4 hours. As he started eating more on his own, I started syringe feeding less. If he was drinking on his own then I just didn't add extra water to the food mix. I would recommend the critical care though, if you don't have it and can get some.

Your rabbit needs food and water though, or he will most likely develop stasis again. If he doesn't start eating on his own in the next couple days, you may want to think about getting his teeth checked if it's not something that you have already done.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Several things you could try:

1. Make a pellet/water slurry (gorund up and mixed)
2. Oxbow Critical Care also is really really helpful for stasis
3. Syringe lots of water in by mouth.
4. Sub-Q fluids. Give Sub-q's and if you can't yourself, call the vet first thing tomorrow and have them do it for you. It has made a HUGE difference with my bunnies who have had stasis.
5. Greens wet with water. This gets extra water if you rince them first but also the veggies really help. I put shredded carrot on top to entice them all the more. I gave unlimited to get things moving and after a cup or so of greens my bunny (temporarily at least) started pooping (though she did go back into stasis again a time or two after)
6. Exercise. Do anything you can to encourage the bunny to hop around. The more moving around the better for the tummy
7. Simethicone. (i.e. baby gas-x drops). Some people find this to really help though other debate how much it does. I've found it to seem to help mine so it's definitely worth a shot.

 

[MarilynBUNNroe]

I have dwarf bunnies who are prone to stasis. In the beginning they would get it every 2 or 3 months. One didn't go to the bathroom for 9 days!! She would nibble on greens. But, that was about it. I gave her subq fluids twice a day, childrens gasx by syringe, and tried to syringe feed critical care mixed with applesauce.

I quickly realized it was the pellets. My bunnies problem wasn't mobility. It was dehydration. I stopped the pellets and not one of my bunnies has had stasis since. That was over 5 years ago. Many bunny owners do not feed their bunz pellets. I'm not saying it's for everyone. But, it was the answer for my bunz.

My vet wanted me to bring my bunny who didn't poop for 9 days in. He felt that the only thing to do was put her down. I was devastated. My friend is a rabbit savvy vet tech and as a last resort, we gave her a baby glycerin enema. Can you believe it worked!! She was pooping within 2 hours.

Please keep us updated on your sweet bunny.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

MarilynBUNNroe wrote:

I have dwarf bunnies who are prone to stasis. In the beginning they would get it every 2 or 3 months. One didn't go to the bathroom for 9 days!! She would nibble on greens. But, that was about it. I gave her subq fluids twice a day, childrens gasx by syringe,  and tried to syringe feed critical care mixed with applesauce.

I quickly realized it was the pellets. My bunnies problem wasn't mobility. It was dehydration. I stopped the pellets and not one of my bunnies has had stasis since. That was over 5 years ago. Many bunny owners do not feed their bunz pellets. I'm not saying it's for everyone. But, it was the answer for my bunz.

My vet wanted me to bring my bunny who didn't poop for 9 days in. He felt that the only thing to do was put her down. I was devastated. My friend is a rabbit savvy vet tech and as a last resort, we gave her a baby glycerin enema. Can you believe it worked!! She was pooping within 2 hours.

Please keep us updated on your sweet bunny.

Good thought; that brings me to something-if your bunny doens't already have a water dish vs. a water bottle, I'd put one in there. Many bunnies like it so much more (from my experience) and drink much more out of it.

 

[kelilindsey]

Thanks for all the advice!

I had my vet check his teeth really thoroughly a couple of weeks ago. He said the front teeth were the right length and well-aligned, and the back teeth didn't have any spurs on them. I had him check because he wasn't eating as much hay as usual (he normally goes crazy when I put fresh stuff down morning and night). He said he had a slight ear infection and gave me drops to put in his ear, also saying that the discomfort could have discouraged him from eating much. He'd lost some weight since the last time I brought him in, so I had increased his pellets from 1/8 to 1/4 cup. I think that might have been why his gut slowed down. Also, on Thanksgiving, my family fed him a couple cups of dandelion greens. It all seemed to slow down from there. Can dandelions bloat my bunny and make him not want to eat, or am I just too paranoid?

I have simethicone on hand. I've been giving him some to make sure he's not gassy.

My vet didn't offer me any Critical Care either times I've been there for stasis. When I called him earlier today to explain his refusal to eat hay, he mentioned it but said pellets and water were just as good (I seriously doubt that, though- will be looking for some tomorrow). Every couple of hours, I have my sister hold him steady in a bunny burrito while I let him swallow as much as he will allow of the mashed mixture (which is only about 2ml). I also try to give him extra water.

Also, to get more liquids in him, my vet suggested a small bowl of fresh pineapple juice. My bun laps at this once in a long while (about twice a day). I juiced an apple to try to encourage him to drink something, and he gulped up the whole thing pretty quickly. I want him to take the sugar in moderation, though (don't want any long-term problems after this).

My vet said not to give him any greens to encourage consumption of hay, but I've given him a few leaves soaked in water... and Boots eats them up with no problem! I honestly don't know why he's rejecting the hay. When I open the hall closet that contains his food, he still runs up and begs for the pellets- but I don't give him any because I don't want to worsen any impaction.

He has a water bottle he loves, or used to. He's not using it at all anymore since the stasis, but I've caught him drinking some from the bowls I have out.

He's nibbled at the fresh timothy hay I have in various places, but not a lot.

 

[JBun]

The critical care is something you have to get from a vet or order online. Pretty much no stores carry it.

Ok, this is where me and a lot of other people differ when it comes to digestive problems. Others, when their rabbit is having a problem and not eating will give pineapple or other sugary things, for enzymes or to encourage eating. I personally don't like to give anything sugary, if at all possible. The reason why is because of what I've read about GI stasis, and also my experience with it with my own rabbits. I used to feed my rabbits a little bit of fruit for a treat, until one of my rabbits died from stasis. I know the fruit helped bring it on, and I didn't understand what stasis was to know to recognize the early symptoms. Then I got a new rabbit that developed it from the stress of being in a new place. He got better, but kept having problems until I took him off pellets completely. He wasnn't used to hay and wouldn't really eat it, so I ended up finding a plain hay pellet that I could feed him, that he would eat. I figured it was the sugars and grains in his regular pellets that kept giving him problems. So I'm very leary of adding any sugars to a rabbits diet when it is experiencing digestive problems.

If you are just giving him mashed pellets and he's willing to eat the dry ones, I would just let him eat the dry pellets on his own. Probably don't let him have too much, but no sense in you trying to squirt it into his mouth when he's willing to eat it himself.

I can't think of why he wouldn't eat his hay if he doesn't have tooth problems. You didn't recently change hay or by a new bag of it, or anything like that? You could try getting a new bag of hay or a different kind, see if that works. If he won't eat hay, I would think it would be much better for him to be at least getting leafy greens than nothing at all. I don't know about the dandelion leaves. I've heard of turnip greens causing digestive upset with some buns, but I guess it's possible the dandelion might not agree with your buns stomach.

But definitely try a different hay and see if that helps.

Here's a good article on GI stasis if you're interested.

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

 

[kelilindsey]

I think my feed store carries some Critical Care, but if they don't I'll pick it up from my vet.

What you said about the pellets makes sense. I just want to make sure he's getting enough water.

I'll go out and buy some fresh, leafy greens in the morning. I'll update tomorrow!

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Another quenstion/idea:

What type(s) of hay do you have? One thing our vet does is he always recomends people buy several different types (Timothy, Orchard Grass, Botanical, Oat hay etc. as this tends to interest the bunny more and sometimes really helps tempt them.

 

[kelilindsey]

All right. So Boots is still showing little interest in his hay, which I have timothy and orchard grass. I bought some Critical Care in apple and banana flavor and have been feeding it to him today. He still has tiny poops, but he made just over 20 today.

I also went to a feed store and brought home some alfa alfa to see if he'd be tempted by that. He ate a couple of pieces this morning, nothing more. I'm really worried that he'll never get back on hay.

 

[JBun]

I have a couple thoughts. First is that with him being hungry but won't eat his hay, there's got to be something more going on here. He used to eat his hay before all of this, right? I know you said that the vet checked his teeth, but what about an xray? With the ear infection present already, maybe there's something else going on in there too, like an abcess or something like that, that causes him pain when he tries to eat hay. If he still won't drink much, my other thought is maybe a UTI. Has he had any pee accidents or other urine issues?

If he'll eat pellets, but you don't want him eating too many and getting sick again, you can try and do what I had to do for my bun after he got sick and I had to take him off pellets. My bun was new and wasn't used to eating hay at all at his previous home, but I had to take him off pellets because they kept making him sick, but he absolutely wouldn't eat hay. So I found a pelleted feed for horses that was made from just plain timothy hay and alfalfa hay, and it didn't have supplements or vitamins added to it. It's worked really well for my bun. You could see if your feed store has something like that. They may even have a bag of it that is just timothy hay pellets. Just make sure it is made from only hay with nothing else added to it. The pellets are a bit bigger then normal rabbit food, but my rabbit doesn't have any problems eating it.

 

[kelilindsey]

He didn't take any x-rays, and I'm not sure if it could be a UTI. I'll see about scheduling an appointment for that today.

I'll go back to my feed store to have a look for those pellets.

I noticed he's still pooping, but it's small and some are stung with fur. I've got him drinking lots of water, but I have to spike it with fresh apple juice. I'm still feeding the Critical Care. He really likes the flavor now. I wrap him up in a towel, and squeeze out little by little while he laps it up.

 

[kelilindsey]

All right. I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Barrett for tomorrow at 2:00 PST. I'll have him look for any more "hairballs" for sure. However, Boots isn't eating hay, and I haven't seen any signs of fresh urination in much too long (but he's drinking plenty). What should I ask him to check for or do?

Edit: I also brought up to the vet that he had been sneezing lately, but he didn't really seem concerned about that.

 

[GreenApple]

your bun needs pain medication.
I had the same problem and my vet said that pain is what stops bunnies from eating. Ask your vet for some pain medication and force feed until your bun starts eating on its own and you see a change in the pellets. I was also told to give my bun some laxatives to help her eat but again, ask your vet. The pain medicine is a must!

 

[JBun]

Well, ask about him having possible problems urinating, about his poops not being normal, about how he will eat pellets and veggies (right?) but won't touch his hay that he used to eat just fine before this. Ask about his teeth and if there could be an abcess causing the eating problems, possible xray, ask about the ear infection and if that is causing the eating problems. If your bun still has the ear infection, you should probably have oral antibiotics, maybe pain meds(metacam), and probiotics.

Sorry if this is too late. I just noticed the time and didn't see your post before now.

 

[kelilindsey]

I had tried to see another rabbit doctor in the area, but he wasn't in when the receptionist told me to come the first time and the second appointment he cancelled. So I just went back to Dr. Barrett yesterday at 2pm PST. He rechecked his mouth and said the teeth were perfect, and there was no chance of an oral abscess. He felt his stomach and said it didn't feel perfect yet, but it was definitely over 50% gone. He told me to keep doing what I was doing and to offer him a wider selection of fresh hays for another week. He wants me to come back in if he's not back to normal by the end of the week.

I asked him about pain medication, but he said the dosage of metochlopramide was too small to give him any cramps. I asked about x-rays, and he said since he seems to be getting better to just keep going and we can always do all the tests next week if he's still not eating hay.

He also told me to stop putting apple juice in his water because of high sugar content, but he's also the one who suggested I offer him straight pineapple juice. I think I'm going to offer him water with a significantly smaller amount of juice in a smaller dish several times during the day since he seems to be storing a large amount of urine when I offer him a normal bowl. Dr. Barrett said he wasn't running a fever, so a UTI was unlikely. In fact, I suspected it was because his littler boxes were filled with hay (due to my multiple attempts to entice him with new piles). So I cleaned everything out, and he hasn't had any accidents since. He's also pooping a LOT (they're even bigger and more uniform in shape and size), so I'm super happy about that. After I cleaned it out, he hopped into the litter box and dropped about 11 poops! I checked again and hour later, and there were 23 in there. There were also 8+ in his cage litter box (I keep the cage open to allow free roaming).

I went to my feed store, and they'd just run out of timothy pellets and will be getting more tonight. I'm going to go back and grab some of that along with some more fresh alfa alfa.

He does seem to be laying stretched out and flat, though. Is there a generic pain medication I can find at the pharmacy that would be safe for him? Also, I feed him Critical Care every two hours (2-3 tsp) with some water to chase it (1/2 tsp). Am I giving him too much? I don't want him to have a tummy ache.

 

[wee willie]

My rabbit developed gas statis yesterday and I took him to the vet immediately. I am wondering if it is the pellets. I have been giving him Pfau pellets and he eats them up. The vet said his poop was full of bacteria. I read on one of the forums that Pfau had a problem with their pellets a few years ago and a lot of rabbits died. I have removed all Pfau pellets. Anyone else have problems with Pfau?

 

[JBun]

I had hoped you would be able to get a second opinion from a different vet as I'm not entirely sure of some of the things this vet is saying, but oh well, you tried. The pain meds has nothing to do with cramps from the other med, but would be for stomach pain from gas from having stasis problems, which is why they stop eating. But as long as your bun keeps eating then you should be ok without them, but they are pretty nice to have on hand, in case this kind of thing happens again. But metacam is really the best pain med for rabbits, and you have to get that from the vet.

The xray would have been nice to be able to see if maybe there might be a problem with any of the teeth roots growing up into the nasal cavity or some other area it's not supposed to be growing. If you are still having problems and have to take your rabbit back in, if it were me, I would definitely be going to a different vet.

The vet is right about the apple juice though, but recommending pineapple juice doesn't make sense either. Continually giving sugar isn't good, but him not drinking also isn't good. You could try to just add extra water to his critical care food. And if he's not eating really on his own, then you do need to keep feeding the critical care.

The timothy pellets would be if he still won't eat hay on his own. If you do get that bag of timothy pellets, just make sure it's made from plain hay with no added vitamins in it.

I'm really glad his poops are getting to be more normal and more frequent. That's a good sign.