My bunny is acting weird... Scratching, Not Hungry, Sitting in one place... Help?

[scmed27]

Hello,

I have a bunny named Harley he is 1-1.5 years old Angora Lionhead. He is usually very spunky and loves running around being very curious. He is not neutered. He runs around our bedroom full time but has access to the rest of the house at certain times. His usual day starts with a 2-4AM thump and so we put some pelts into his food dish. This morning at 3AM he started eating them like usual. When we wake up normally we give him a mix of romaine, arugula, carrots, celery, ect... He really likes these yogurt treats (the girl who we got him from fed them) we only give him about 1/4th of one every now and then if we cut his nails or something and he is a good sport about it.

I brought the food in this AM and he was sitting in the corner laying down then getting up scratching a lot, having zero interest in his food - this is very odd... usually when we bring food in, in the morning he acts like he hasn't seen food in weeks... I also tried to give him his favorite treats and he only ate a small amount. But a few hours ago he was eating his pelts, so I am not sure what could have happen between these times... He does love to eat paper and maybe he had some christmas wrapping paper or something? But this is pretty normal he eats anything he can find and is always fine.

Were concerned with him - our last bunny broke his leg and died in surgery so we gave him a thorough search for anything to appear broken and nothing does; he isn't walking a lot but it don't seem to be pain in that sense. Just lots of laying scratching, ect...

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JBun]

Has he been pooping this morning at all? If he's not eating and pooping, then he probably has GI stasis. The gut slows down and the rabbit gets a blockage and will have gas which causes pain, so the rabbit stops eating. Various things can cause it, but the most common reason is too many carbs and sugars in the rabbits diet causes an imbalance in the digestion. You could try giving him simethicone infant gas drops, 1cc every hour for 3 hours, then every 3-8 hours afterward. Make sure he has a water dish to drink out of too. Do you feed grass hay? Make sure he has hay to eat. I would hold off on any carbs and sugars, and only give a few pellets, if any. You should get him into a good rabbit vet. They can give pain meds and gut motility meds, also get some oxbow critical care so you will be able to syringe feed him. This is something that can kill your rabbit so you need to make sure to do something right away.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f28/finding-vet-13366/
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

 

[scmed27]

Okay, thank you. Were trying to get him into the vet. We haven't had any call us back since it's Christmas Eve I guess - were going to keep calling them. I am not sure if he has pooped or not, he uses his liter box and I haven't been able to tell if he's got any fresh poops or not in there. I will keep monitoring and calling vets - thank you much.

 

[Imbrium]

is the bunny still pooping? if so, is it the regular amount and do the poops look normal? not eating or pooping for 12+ hours is a medical emergency and means it's time for the vet. not sure what would be causing the scratching, but laying down and then getting up repeatedly is one of the symptoms of GI stasis - his tummy is hurting, so he doesn't want to eat and can't get comfortable when lying down. if you can convince him to eat some hay, that's the best thing by far for an upset tummy.

as far as at-home care until you can get to the vet...

you can buy a syringe at any grocery store. if you have critical care food (comes from vets), you can syringe feed that. if you don't, you can make a pellet slurry - take some pellets and add water or pedialyte; microwave. let sit for 5-10 mins so the pellets can "fluff", then mix together (breaking up the pellets as much as possible); add more liquid if needed to get it to a good pudding-like consistency for syringe feeding. if you have a mortar and pestle or a food processor, chopping up the pellets before you start helps. critical care will work with a syringe as-is but with the DIY slurry, you may find it necessary to cut the tip of the syringe off to make the opening larger.

you can also offer a little bit of canned pumpkin (PLAIN stuff, not the pie filling kind) and/or some fruit or squash flavored baby food... not a whole lot, as these foods are sugary - maybe 2 tsp or so. if he won't eat the pumpkin on his own, you'll need to water it down with water or pedialyte in order to easily syringe feed it. these things could also be mixed into the pellet slurry or critical care to make it tastier.

if he's been molting (shedding a lot), it could be a hair ball... if that's a possibility, you can give him some papaya tablets if you have them - the enzymes can help with digestion. they're also in fresh pineapple and papaya, but I wouldn't feed those since all the sugar in them can make stasis worse.

you should syringe water or pedialite if you're worried he might not be drinking enough and/or if you're feeding pellet slurry/critical care.

when you syringe feed a rabbit food or liquids, you want to aim for the gap between his front incisors and back molars and always squirt the food/liquid in sideways - never straight back - to make sure he won't accidentally inhale it. remember to give him time to chew/swallow. I find it easier (especially with liquids) to have the bunny wrapped in a towel, as things can get pretty messy.

here's a great video showing how to syringe feed - [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGZVYVm5Bg[/ame]

you can also offer pain meds to make your bunny more comfortable - metacam/meloxicam if you have it (bunny painkillers); baby aspirin, low-dose aspirin or baby ibuprofen if you don't. this website has dosing info for pain meds - http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

simethicone (any brand of over the counter baby gas medicine) can also be given. it may or may not help depending on the cause of the GI stasis, but it's *incredibly* safe for rabbits so it definitely can't hurt. you can give 1-2 cc every hour for 3h, then 1 cc every 3-8h as needed if it seems to be helping.

if your bunny regains (and maintains after pain meds have worn off) his normal appetite within half a day to a day, you can skip the vet trip but if you continue having to force-feed him, a vet is a must.

if you're having trouble finding a vet, you might call animal shelters in your area - there's a chance someone might pick up the phone since the animals have to be fed and such even on a holiday, and if you can get someone to answer, they'd probably be able to direct you to an emergency vet.

 

[LakeCondo]

I hope things work out for the little guy. Christmas wrapping paper isn't the same as regular paper, so I'd keep it away from rabbits. Besides all the dyes, it probably contains plastic.

And note that tylenol [acetaminophen] is not to be given to rabbits.

 

[JBun]

You'll want to clean out the litter box so that you will be able to tell when he poops, because that will help you know that he is starting to do better. If you can't get him into a vet then here are a few things you can try. Give the simethicone, if he's not drinking on his own syringe feed him some water, slowly giving him time to swallow so he doesn't aspirate it. If you have metacam and you know the dosage, give him some. If not, you may be able to give half to a whole baby aspirin, but I've never given it myself, so I'm not sure. Some people have given fresh pineapple juice and it's helped, but I've never used it. Keep trying to get him to eat leafy greens but no other veggies. If he still won't eat on his own by tonight, and you haven't gotten him into the vet, you may need to start hand feeding him. If you don't have critical care food mix, then you could get a can of plain canned pumpkin(not pie filling) and syringe feed that to him. Also, does he seem bloated at all?

Here's info on GI stasis in the library section.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f22/gi-stasis-what-everyone-should-know-23808/

 

[scmed27]

All of these posts are fantastic; thank you so much. I flipped him on his back in my belly (he typically falls asleep when we do this) and we massaged his belly for a good 20 minutes. We put him down and he did a bit of running around like ti gave him some energy. He laid down again for about 10 minutes then came out to sniff us and ran over to his food dish and started eating!! Woohoo. He didn't eat much but he did indeed eat and is now running around being curious like normal... Since it's so safe I am going to buy simethicone and the food suggested. Liter box is cleaned out we will look for fresh poops and continue to monitor; thank you!!

 

[scmed27]

He is now also going to town on his water... this seems good!

 

[Imbrium]

that's good news! encourage him to run around more if you can - exercise helps the digestive system move along. keep pushing the hay... he's too old to be fed alfalfa on a regular basis, but you could buy a little bag from walmart or something if you wanted, since most bunnies find it tastier than regular hay and it might make him eat more. (anything he doesn't finish before he gets better could be given in small amounts as a treat a couple times a week until the bag is gone)

you can probably hold off on syringe-feeding critical care/pellet slurry for now, since he's eating some on his own... a little canned pumpkin would still be good, though.

 

[scmed27]

He just hopped in his liter box and pooped two little pebbles into the clean box... Also we always have fresh hay for him to eat when he is pooping. He's even back into jumping up on my chair to sit with me. A full morning a worrying now getting much better!

 

[Imbrium]

whee, poop!! he's not totally out of the clear yet, but since you caught this really early, there's a good chance the at-home remedies will be enough to get him back to normal.

oh! I knew I was forgetting something... probiotics might help as well if you can find them (benebac and probios are a couple of the brands)... pet stores and/or feed stores sometimes sell them. human ones should be ok as well, just not the stuff that's sold as yogurt since bunnies are lactose intolerant.

 

[scmed27]

merry christmas to all thanks for caring and taking your time to help us

 

[Imbrium]

no problem, we're always happy to help a bunny in need however we can!

 

[JBun]

As long as he's starting to feel better, you may want to hold off on giving him any pumpkin, probiotics, etc, except maybe the simethicone, unless he starts feeling unwell again. I've had probiotics cause problems with some of my rabbits. Don't give him any carrots or sugary treats, and limit the pellets and push the hay and green leafy veggies as those will help get things moving again the best. You may want to consider changing his diet so you don't have to go through this again. I would stop the yogurt treats and reduce his pellets a bit. If you ever see tiny poops then it means he is still having a problem, and you will need to adjust his diet again. I'm so glad he's doing better. I'm sure it's a big relief.

 

[sugarbunnies]

As JB said, I would definitely stop feeding him the yogurt treats. They are equivalent to fast food for bunnies. There are WAY healthier, safer treats to feed him -- like fruit! -- that would not put his gut in danger of statis.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

If it's near the holidays, I never wait on a call back very long--if they don't call, I show up and am very hard to ignore when I'm staring at you from across the counter. Last Xmas eve, a crown came off my tooth. I called the dentist about 15 times before they answered and said "NO WAY"! I drove down there and demanded to talk to the man in charge, my dentist as it were. I made enough racket that he came out and when I told him how many messages I left and was finally told "too bad" by one of his staff, he made me look like a slacker. Fifteen minutes later, my crown back in place, I was on my way home. I don't fool around with the health of my babies either and my vet's staff know me now, too.

 

[JBun]

Though a small amount of fruit is better than yogurt treats for a healthy rabbit, that's not true that fruit can't set off a bout of GI stasis. I gave one of my rabbits a half of a grape and it was the only sugary thing she got that day. The next day she had stopped eating and pooping, the day after that she was dead. So ANY sugary food or carb can most definitely cause stasis if a particular rabbit is sensitive to it and starting to have digestive issues. I have a rabbit now that had stasis repeatly. It wasn't until I took him off pellets and gave him no treats, and only hay and leafy greens in his diet, that he stopped getting sick. It's not the form of sugars and carbs that a rabbit is getting, that determines if they will get stasis, it's the amount and how sensitive they are to it. Here's a good article on GI stasis that helped me understand it better when I was going through this with my rabbit.

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