Joey . 9 yr old neutered mini-rex X . Very active rabbit that doesn't seem his age . No prior health issues other than several bouts of stasis that resolved without issue.
Normally eats timothy hay, small amount of timothy pellets and veggies
OK so some of you know what is going on with him because of FB but I will go over it. Last Tues he left some of his pellets, wasn't eating his hay and was quieter and I knew I had to keep an eye on him. Then I noticed that he was having momentary episodes of losing his balance. I looked him over carefully and saw no nystagmus nor tilt in any direction .. no sign of external ear infection.
To the vet the next day and she put him on the floor to see how he maneuvered. He looked almost normal in her office ( I think that he was able to pull himself together in a strange place.) She could find nothing at all obviously wrong with him ..checked his eyes for postional nystagmus , no external ear condition etc etc.
I brought up EC but she thinks that he may have a a beginning inner ear infection . We are treating him with 2 antibiotics and if he doesn't improve she will treat for EC
Ok so today is the end of the third day of meds and last night his behavior was markedly improved. He was humping his stuffed rabbit and way more active, drinking water etc. and I was very optimistic .
The first 2 days he would eat greens , a few oats, a small amount of alfalfa hay but had absolutely no interest in timothy hay or either alfalfa or timothy pellets ( this is abnormal) so I attemtpted to force feed him all kinds of combos of canned pumpkin , critical care with pineapple juice etc. and got small amounts into him with a fight
This rabbit has a history of being difficult to force feed . During periods of stasis the force feeding has actually prolonged his episodes due to stress.
When his behavior looked better last night I decided to not try to force feed. ;he is way more animated and active but he still has balance issues . Today he is not pooping
Normally if a rabbit is eating at all we would recommend not forcing it but what if he is not pooping ??? I am afraid we are going to add stasis to the already existing problem
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Maureen