In Desperate need of help

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This is a little bit of a long story but I have a dwarf bunny named Bon that is having a lot of issues lately and I have taken him to 2 different vets and they haven't really helped. This has been going on for awhile off and on the first time he stopped eating and his poop gets really tiny like hes in GI stasis. So we took him to the vet and she said no he wasn't in stasis and she couldn't see anything wrong. We took him home and I ordered
Sherwood Pet Health Digestive Support, Papaya and he seemed to get better so we added that to his diet he gets 2 a day according to his weight. he has been to see his vet now 3 times for this and we also have had to take him to the emergency vet and they can not figure out what it is. The emergency vet said it was his teeth but when we took him to his vet she said his teeth are good.

I make sure I feed him the best he gets Sherwood pellets because he doesn't like to eat hay. He gets timothy hay. I also have
Small Pet Select Orchard Grass Hay Pet Food that I sprinkle in with his hay to get him to eat it. So he was good for awhile this has happened now 3 or 4 times. But this time is worse and I don't know what to do I'm so scared hes going to die hes not even 2 years old. He hasn't eaten since yesterday. He hasn't even touched his digestive treat and he loves those. This morning he was soaked because he was half in his water dish, so I picked him up and gave him Nutri-Recovery (long term support for recovering animals). I don't know what to do I'm so worried about him.
 
Nicole, I just went through something similar with Chloe last week, including buying Sherwood because she stopped eating hay. Her pellets were small, then she stopped eating, even drinking - no treats either. I used Oxbow Critical Care, a little sugar water and she would attempt but not enough to sustain her. The vet couldn't get a look at her teeth so we had to sedate (anesthesia) and found she had a dead tooth and two spurs cutting into her tongue, causing her not to eat/drink. Did your vet, who told you the teeth were fine, show you the teeth (may have to use a tool - inserting fingers is dangerous). If buns aren't grinding their teeth by eating hay, they will develop tooth issues because the teeth continuously grow. My vet explained buns can also have an abscess that doesn't always show without x-ray of the root. I would get your bun back to the vet immediately - sounds like the emergency vet may be best at this point with the lethargy you described (bun half in water?). The House Rabbit Society site is also an excellent well-respected site for resource information, incl. qualified bunny vets in your area (see "vets" at the top) and health issues. https://rabbit.org/ Chloe took a few days to recover w/a dose of antibiotics, but was eating normally within a day of having the tooth removed and the spurs ground down. She still isn't fully back to eating hay, but is eating hay cubes. I hope this helps.
 
Nicole, I just went through something similar with Chloe last week, including buying Sherwood because she stopped eating hay. Her pellets were small, then she stopped eating, even drinking - no treats either. I used Oxbow Critical Care, a little sugar water and she would attempt but not enough to sustain her. The vet couldn't get a look at her teeth so we had to sedate (anesthesia) and found she had a dead tooth and two spurs cutting into her tongue, causing her not to eat/drink. Did your vet, who told you the teeth were fine, show you the teeth (may have to use a tool - inserting fingers is dangerous). If buns aren't grinding their teeth by eating hay, they will develop tooth issues because the teeth continuously grow. My vet explained buns can also have an abscess that doesn't always show without x-ray of the root. I would get your bun back to the vet immediately - sounds like the emergency vet may be best at this point with the lethargy you described (bun half in water?). The House Rabbit Society site is also an excellent well-respected site for resource information, incl. qualified bunny vets in your area (see "vets" at the top) and health issues. https://rabbit.org/ Chloe took a few days to recover w/a dose of antibiotics, but was eating normally within a day of having the tooth removed and the spurs ground down. She still isn't fully back to eating hay, but is eating hay cubes. I hope this helps.


Yeah I called and made an appointment with a new vet for today at 4 pm. What really sucks is it would take 2 hours to get to a rabbit savvy vet. No they didn't show me the teeth when they looked at them. I'm really hoping that the new vet can help I'm honestly not going to leave the office until I have an answer and he has something that's going to help him get better I'm very good at being a mamma bear . Thank you so much for your answer I'm going to ask them to look for spurs and a dead tooth
 
I don’t have lots of experiences but have they tried to give him a scan? That’s what my vet recommended once. It allows them to see things they normally wouldn’t see with a naked eye.
Also you talk about hay and pellets, how’s your bunny doing with green vegetables? Great source of vitamins and if he has teeth problems I would think it’s easier to eat than Pellets...
 
I don’t have lots of experiences but have they tried to give him a scan? That’s what my vet recommended once. It allows them to see things they normally wouldn’t see with a naked eye.
Also you talk about hay and pellets, how’s your bunny doing with green vegetables? Great source of vitamins and if he has teeth problems I would think it’s easier to eat than Pellets...


Yeah we make all my bunnies a salad of romaine, bok choy, collard greens, kale and parsley every day. I'm really hoping that the vet hes going to see can give him a scan
 
Have you been giving him simethicone (baby gas drops)? When signs of stasis appear, it's a go-to medication for pretty much all of us who have been through this before, because it often helps and it's very safe so it won't hurt them even if they don't need it at the time. In rabbits with reoccurring stasis that gets resolved but then comes back, the most common cause tends to be gas. Rabbits have a lot of trouble getting gas bubbles out of their systems.

Simethicone dosage: Pediatric Simethicone 1cc (20mg/ml suspension) can be given orally as often as every hour for 3 hours and then 1cc every 3-8 hours. (Link is to the source, which is also a good article on gas-related stasis.) House Rabbit Society also has a very good (and more in-depth) article on stasis that addresses all of the main potential causes. I would definitely administer simethicone between now and the vet visit if at all possible.

The most important thing now is to get him eating/drinking/pooping normally again... but once he is, I recommend eliminating ALL cruciferous veggies from his diet. The most common cruciferous leafy greens include kale, collard/turnip/mustard greens, bok choy, arugula and watercress (many of which aren't nearly as obvious as the broccoli/cauliflower/cabbage most people associate with being cruciferous). Some rabbits can tolerate them in small to moderate doses while others are especially sensitive to them.

Give him some nose-rubs for me! My little warren and I will be hoping that things go well for you at the vet today and he makes a full recovery.
 
Have you been giving him simethicone (baby gas drops)? When signs of stasis appear, it's a go-to medication for pretty much all of us who have been through this before, because it often helps and it's very safe so it won't hurt them even if they don't need it at the time. In rabbits with reoccurring stasis that gets resolved but then comes back, the most common cause tends to be gas. Rabbits have a lot of trouble getting gas bubbles out of their systems.

Simethicone dosage: Pediatric Simethicone 1cc (20mg/ml suspension) can be given orally as often as every hour for 3 hours and then 1cc every 3-8 hours. (Link is to the source, which is also a good article on gas-related stasis.) House Rabbit Society also has a very good (and more in-depth) article on stasis that addresses all of the main potential causes. I would definitely administer simethicone between now and the vet visit if at all possible.

The most important thing now is to get him eating/drinking/pooping normally again... but once he is, I recommend eliminating ALL cruciferous veggies from his diet. The most common cruciferous leafy greens include kale, collard/turnip/mustard greens, bok choy, arugula and watercress (many of which aren't nearly as obvious as the broccoli/cauliflower/cabbage most people associate with being cruciferous). Some rabbits can tolerate them in small to moderate doses while others are especially sensitive to them.

Give him some nose-rubs for me! My little warren and I will be hoping that things go well for you at the vet today and he makes a full recovery.


Thank you ,Ill have my daughter give him some see if that helps him. I didnt know that bok choy and collard greens were not good for them. I read somewhere that it could be part of their diet so I have been giving all my rabbits that food
 
It can be, and for most rabbits it's no big deal. I don't normally get bok choy but I feed kale and turnip/collard greens to our four quite often. I previously had a rabbit who was quite prone to gas-induced stasis, though, and I avoided all the cruciferous stuff with her which did help reduce the frequency of her stasis quite a bit.
 
Yeah I called and made an appointment with a new vet for today at 4 pm. What really sucks is it would take 2 hours to get to a rabbit savvy vet. No they didn't show me the teeth when they looked at them. I'm really hoping that the new vet can help I'm honestly not going to leave the office until I have an answer and he has something that's going to help him get better I'm very good at being a mamma bear . Thank you so much for your answer I'm going to ask them to look for spurs and a dead tooth
With a rabbit savvy vet, hopefully you won't have to bring out the "mamma bear" ;) and instead can find relief. Two hours is rough... maybe the vet list on House Rabbit Society for NY has something closer to you(?), if you need another appt. I hope all goes well. Feels like you're on the right track.
 
My daughter took him to the vet and they changed the pain meds that were given to him before and now he seems to be a lot better so fingers crossed that he says that way. Thank you guys so much I was so scared we were going to lose him.
 

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