I have had the most interesting week with a Jersy Wooly , I amhalf crazy trying to figure this little guy out , I have also managed to stumpnot One butThree Vets !.
Cowboy , My Jersy Buck , Is / was/ is in stasis , fur block , or something , He has been to Two Vets both whom deal with Rabbits on a constant basis, And PGG asked her Vet if he has ever come across a situation such as this . Here's how it all started.
Monday Morning I did my usualrounds feeding and watering everyone who needed food and water , gave everyonethe once over checks . Everyone was fine and dandy ,
Monday Night I go down for the Nightly rounds of feeding and watering ,hay and treats . as I am walking byCowboys cage , I get this weirdchill that something wasn't right .He was siting in an odd spot , one hewould never normally sit in . On closer inspectionI noticed he hadn't touched his water nor food frommorning , This is very odd for him, he has a good healthy appetite . I pulled him out and he was like a rag doll, I checked his eyes and they were very dry , not shinyand sparkly as is normal .
I yelled to my husband to finish feeding and watering, I was taking him tothe house , I stuffed him in my coat and ran up , Upon getting in hereI located syringes and pumpkin , warmed water , nutrical and theclippers , in that order . brought him to the desk with everything in tow and proceeded to force water intake , when I felt he couldn't take anymore water I started with the pumpkin .when that was finished and I felt better about this in went the nutrical, and out came the clippers ,Coming from the garage to the house islike coming in from the North Poleto Florida weather on a constant basis ,the Fur had to go .
Tuesday : He wasn't any better but would take the pumpkin , nutrical , water melon juice and a few pieces of melon by him self . nothing major but he was making theeffort. I wasn't satisfied so called an ER vet and ran him in , She agreed he had a wool block but it was high in his stomach as apposed to lower bowel or colon .She then SubQ'd him and sent him home with Baytril tabs , and a very worried Mom and Shadow . I honestly didnt believe for a minute he was going to pull out of this , he was as far as the Vet wasconcerned too far gone . death was imminant,ok so much for that thought , Thankfully,
Cowboy was back to the Vets today , He isnt pooping and it has been 8 days now . I have driven most everyone crazy trying to help me figure this out , The Vet didn't Sub Q this time as she felt he was fully hydrated and it would be unecessary , but his x-rays and Ultra sound on his Lower GI tract , NOTHING there , No wool block , no signs of stasis , he is basically clean as a whistle! I have to mention there was no signs of fecal matter in there also . She has also done fecal sample for parasites and foreign matter , nothing is there ,culture should be back in a week or two .She also drew off blood for a blood work up. again a waiting game .
A little while ago Cassi found 3 small poops I know could only have come from him , I purposly put him on a white rug with his cage tobe able to monitor should he decide to poop. there was nothing previous totonight . He is Peeing up a storm thankfully , so Peeing isn't an issue .
We have explored all options of where the Poop is ,has gone , etc . there is no logicalexplanations, we have managed to come up with some pretty far fetched ideas , such asProjectile pooping , he is reingesting them so on and so forth , nothingmakes sense ,, There is no Cecal matter on his feet Butt or tail , nothing on the wires nothing in his litter tray either .
My Question is does anyone have any ideas as to what can be going on with him, wheres the poop ? what more to do for him ? Its been 8 days with only 3 little poops, How long can this go on , I must mention , he is active, runs all around his cage, the house ,eats every treat type food I give him , including Parsley and Mint water , He hatesPineapple and pineapple water . Heboots the tube when I feedand give water , nips me hard, and is generally all around acting NOT sick , while I know he still is ,.
We did think of that and even double-checked then checked again , surely there would be some evidence , evenone cecal pop somewhere , there is no way I believe nor thevet that he couldconsume every piece , and leave no evidence. Unfortunately there was very little matter onthe probe to even get a goodsample , so sheis working withwhat they have and hoping it is enough .
The vet wouldn't put him on reglan because of where the block was , ( in his stomach on Monday) she was afraid of exploding his stomach, or it moving down and tearing his intestines , Ialso asked about an enema andshe said No it was too high up for it to be effective , and yes theydid ultra sound his stomach ,there is nothing for a block in there now.
I have been giving him 8 in 1 hairball treatment for 3 days now , it isn''t petrolium based, its mineral oil based , so safe to use for rabbits , I did ask theVets opinion on it first , before purchasing it ,just to be safe , It is in fact safe to use on rabbits , and he likes it betterthan Nutrical , and I don't have an allergic reaction to it if I forget my gloves .
I don't think I would ever give a rabbit in stasis a Laxative , I certainly wouldnt want to cause it more pain than it would already be in ,and the chance of severedehydration scares the hell out of me , especially if they are already dehydrated to start with . Laxatives would be a very at the end oflife decision to make , not one for this instance.
Back from yet another trip to the Vets, The new Vet gave him a Gut Mobility shot and he did poop a bit on the carrier on the way home , took us over an hour to get home because of thingsneeded doing . So this is a good sign ,She also gave me a mobility table togive him once a day , The meds begin with an R and I dont have the paper in front of me at the moment .
For the moment he is sitting inhis cage glaring at me and rubbing his Butt , poor baby there isnt much meat backthere at the moment .She also said to go ahead andfeed what ever the little non poop will eat, at this point she isn'tconcerned with sugars because of weight loss , His hydration level was highenough today to again not warrent Sub Q' . She fully expects with a day or few hewill be pooping up a storm and will be out of the woods . But to keep a very close eye to him to be sure he doesnt go into a molt frombeing removed from onetemperature to a different one. I do believe we will avoid all this with another hair clipping .
She still can not explain wherethe mass went to nor if it will return , but to not worry much on it nowthat its gone , she was able tofeel tiny poops in there but high up inthe upper intestines.
Here a question was asked if the medication was reglan , to which the reply was :
YesAngie that's what she sent him home with but the Injection was the one that Starlight suggested, she wanted him to motivatequickly , She asked if I wanted injectibles or Pills , I opted for pills because he is so darned tiny , Injections on bigger rabbits I reallydont squeem over and I have injected many horses and cows but a 2lb rabbit scared me to death even thinking about injecting . I was terrified should he move that there wasnt enough rabbit between the needle andsomething vital . nopedefinitely Pills for him wasthe way to go .
I don't know that it would be such a good idea to do that to an animal that is not experiencing any problems,as it could bring onan upset stomach and/or diarrhea. There is also a fine balance to taking probiotics;people areusuallytold to take them for no more than 8-10 weeks, at which point their bodies should be regulated again.
