My bunny is sick should I put her in a cage?

[GreenApple]

My bunny has GI stasis. Right now she is given full freedom in the living room area, aka her kingdom. However, since she is sick, should I place her in a cage? does she need rest? she is very lethargic right now, and hiding behind furniture, she also refuses to eat (I am syringe feeding her) would it help her appetite if she is in a cage surrounded with food with nothing to do but eat?
it seems cruel, but I am desperate for her to start eating again.

 

[Blue eyes]

Having the ability to move around is a good thing. Even encouraging some movement can help her digestion too. Wherever she is, you want her to have easy access to food/hay/water.

 

[Imbrium]

:yeahthat:

 

[labyrinth001]

My rabbit was just going through the same thing this past week--he'd stopped eating and was only interested in sitting in his litterbox doing nothing. After syringe feeding him and giving him meds to get his gut moving again, he slowly started eating on his own. But it was only when he came out of his cage and started moving around/bunny flopping in his usual spots that I knew he was feeling more like himself. So maybe you could put her in her cage so she's close to her food/water and you have easy access to her, but just leave the cage open. And as was already said, encouraging movement is a good thing

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

Agree with all of the above but also try some pure canned pumpkin to help push things threw. If your feeding him and nothing is happening then that is not good. What breed is your bunny? There could be hair in the intestine that is keeping things from passing. Pumpkin will help push the hair out.

 

[JBun]

Keeping your rabbit in her cage can help you keep an eye on her to make sure she's pooping, and she'll be closer to her food and maybe more likely to start nibbling, but you also don't want it to overly stress her out to be in there cause that's not good either. If she does ok with being in there then you could just give her some time to come out when you're home.

 

[tamsin]

If you leave her out and about (and exercise does help with gut movement), then I'd suggest putting some extra food near where she's choosing to rest, a bowl of hay/pellets or her favourite nibbled. Proximity can make eating seem less work but you can bring the food to the bunny instead of the bunny to the food

Hope she feels better soon!

 

[GreenApple]

thank you for your advise. She is moving a bit more, she actually came to say good mornign to me, but ran away as soon as she saw me prepare the critical care food. She is still hiding, but I think for now I will just surround her with food and keep an eye on her. I got her when she was 3 months old and she spent only two weeks in a cage, now she is almost 2 yrs and she is not used to being in a cage. She is also not used to being handled or picked up. I think I gave her too much independence.she does love to be petted =D
I will try the canned pumpkin, is it better to use canned pumpkin or should I cut a slice of pumpkin and offer her that? do you syringe feed the can pumpkin? how much should she eat? she is a dwarf mix, about 4lbs (a bit chubby).

 

[GreenApple]

labyrinth001 wrote:

My rabbit was just going through the same thing this past week--he'd stopped eating and was only interested in sitting in his litterbox doing nothing.  After syringe feeding him and giving him meds to get his gut moving again, he slowly started eating on his own.  But it was only when he came out of his cage and started moving around/bunny flopping in his usual spots that I knew he was feeling more like himself.  So maybe you could put her in her cage so she's close to her food/water and you have easy access to her, but just leave the cage open.  And as was already said, encouraging movement is a good thing

how do you know when to stop syringe feeding your rabbit? my rabbit refuses to eat that way, she would just let the food fall off her mouth. She refuses to chew and swallow the critical care food that i put in her mouth. She is eating a bit of hay and some seeds on her own (she refuses to eat the pellets). How do you get your rabbit to swallow the food?
Thanks~

 

[labyrinth001]

GreenApple wrote:

labyrinth001 wrote:

My rabbit was just going through the same thing this past week--he'd stopped eating and was only interested in sitting in his litterbox doing nothing. After syringe feeding him and giving him meds to get his gut moving again, he slowly started eating on his own. But it was only when he came out of his cage and started moving around/bunny flopping in his usual spots that I knew he was feeling more like himself. So maybe you could put her in her cage so she's close to her food/water and you have easy access to her, but just leave the cage open. And as was already said, encouraging movement is a good thing

how do you know when to stop syringe feeding your rabbit? my rabbit refuses to eat that way, she would just let the food fall off her mouth. She refuses to chew and swallow the critical care food that i put in her mouth. She is eating a bit of hay and some seeds on her own (she refuses to eat the pellets). How do you get your rabbit to swallow the food?
Thanks~

I was having the same issue with Honey--he would fight like hell to not get the food in his mouth. And he would grunt at me as soon as he saw me with the bowl and syringe of food Instead of trying to get him to eat a bunch at once I would do small amounts spaced out through the day. He still was able to spit quite a bit out, but since I was doing it so much I knew he was at least swallowing some. I would have to sit kneeling on the floor with him between my knees and my feet behind him so he couldn't back out. Don't be afraid to be a little bit rough, not to hurt him, but to hold his head still and get the syringe behind his teeth. Someone on this forum also posted this video for me to show where you should be putting the syringe in the mouth:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGZVYVm5Bg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGZVYVm5Bg[/ame]

I also constantly provided him with fresh hay and vegetables to tempt him. Once he started being interested in those I knew he was getting better, but I didn't stop the syringe feeding until he was excited about his pellets and eating regularly again. Are there any leafy vegetables you know your rabbit is interested in? That's good she's eating hay, though, since the fiber is so important. I wouldn't feed her seeds, though.

 

[Blue eyes]

GreenApple wrote:

how do you know when to stop syringe feeding your rabbit? my rabbit refuses to eat that way, she would just let the food fall off her mouth. She refuses to chew and swallow the critical care food that i put in her mouth. She is eating a bit of hay and some seeds on her own (she refuses to eat the pellets). How do you get your rabbit to swallow the food?
Thanks~

No seeds. Be sure that the pellets you offer have the junk picked out. The following is from http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

"Remember: a rabbit is a lagomorph, not a rodent or a primate. The rabbit digestive tract is physiologically more similar to that of a horse than to that of a rodent or primate, and the intestine and related organs can suffer from an overindulgence in starchy, fatty foods.

"NEVER feed your rabbit commercial "gourmet" or "treat" mixes filled with dried fruit, nuts and seeds. These may be safe for a bird or hamster--BUT THEY ARE NOT PROPER FOOD FOR A RABBIT. The sole function of "rabbit gourmet treats" is to lighten your wallet. If the manufacturers of "gourmet rabbit treats" truly cared about your rabbit's health and longevity, they would not market such products.

"Don't feed your rabbit cookies, crackers, nuts, seeds, breakfast cereals (including oatmeal) or "high fiber" cereals. They may be high fiber for you, but not for your herbivorous rabbit, who's far better able to completely digest celluose ("dietary fiber") than you are. Fed to a rabbit, the high fat and simple carbohydrate content of "naughty foods" may contribute to fatty liver disease, cecal dysbiosis, obesity, and otherwise cause health problems.

"Some types of seeds (especially things like "Canadian peas" and corn kernels) have hulls that are indigestible to a rabbit, and can cause life-threatening intestinal impactions/blockages.

"Corn, fresh or dried, is NOT safe for rabbits. The hull of corn kernels is composed of a complex polysaccharide (not cellulose and pectin, of which plant cell walls are more commonly composed, and which a rabbit can digest) which rabbits cannot digest. We know of more than one rabbit who suffered intestinal impactions because of the indigestible corn hulls. After emergency medical treatment, when the poor rabbits finally passed the corn, their fecal pellets were nearly solid corn hulls! Those rabbits were lucky."

labyrinth has good suggestions on being persistent with the critical care knowing that she's getting some of it anyway, and also frequently offering hay and greens.

 

[Imbrium]

GreenApple wrote:

thank you for your advise. She is moving a bit more, she actually came to say good mornign to me, but ran away as soon as she saw me prepare the critical care food. She is still hiding, but I think for now I will just surround her with food and keep an eye on her. I got her when she was 3 months old and she spent only two weeks in a cage, now she is almost 2 yrs and she is not used to being in a cage. She is also not used to being handled or picked up. I think I gave her too much independence.she does love to be petted =D
I will try the canned pumpkin, is it better to use canned pumpkin or should I cut a slice of pumpkin and offer her that? do you syringe feed the can pumpkin? how much should she eat? she is a dwarf mix, about 4lbs (a bit chubby).

canned pumpkin works fine, but if you have fresh pumpkin you could use that instead. I'd recommend 2-3 tsp of it per day until she feels better. you can syringe feed it (probably need to water it down a little first) if she won't eat it on her own, but if she'll eat it without the syringe, that's easier on both of you. when I feed it to mine as their daily nibble of fruit, I just get a spoonful of it and hold it out... they'll push and shove sometimes; both eating from the spoon at once, lol.

[flash=425,344]http://www.youtube.com/v/XU5mgjxon_g&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]

 

[GreenApple]

labyrinth001 wrote:

GreenApple wrote:

labyrinth001 wrote:

My rabbit was just going through the same thing this past week--he'd stopped eating and was only interested in sitting in his litterbox doing nothing.  After syringe feeding him and giving him meds to get his gut moving again, he slowly started eating on his own.  But it was only when he came out of his cage and started moving around/bunny flopping in his usual spots that I knew he was feeling more like himself.  So maybe you could put her in her cage so she's close to her food/water and you have easy access to her, but just leave the cage open.  And as was already said, encouraging movement is a good thing

how do you know when to stop syringe feeding your rabbit? my rabbit refuses to eat that way, she would just let the food fall off her mouth. She refuses to chew and swallow the critical care food that i put in her mouth. She is eating a bit of hay and some seeds on her own (she refuses to eat the pellets). How do you get your rabbit to swallow the food?
Thanks~

I was having the same issue with Honey--he would fight like hell to not get the food in his mouth.  And he would grunt at me as soon as he saw me with the bowl and syringe of food   Instead of trying to get him to eat a bunch at once I would do small amounts spaced out through the day.  He still was able to spit quite a bit out, but since I was doing it so much I knew he was at least swallowing some.  I would have to sit kneeling on the floor with him between my knees and my feet behind him so he couldn't back out.  Don't be afraid to be a little bit rough, not to hurt him, but to hold his head still and get the syringe behind his teeth.  Someone on this forum also posted this video for me to show where you should be putting the syringe in the mouth:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGZVYVm5Bg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGZVYVm5Bg[/ame]

I also constantly provided him with fresh hay and vegetables to tempt him.  Once he started being interested in those I knew he was getting better, but I didn't stop the syringe feeding until he was excited about his pellets and eating regularly again.  Are there any leafy vegetables you know your rabbit is interested in?  That's good she's eating hay, though, since the fiber is so important.  I wouldn't feed her seeds, though.

I stopped syringe feeding Lady Pil. She made whining noises and it freaked me out. Did Honey ever whine? Pil has biten me, given me the back paw, kicked, scratched, and grunted but she has never whined. I read that bunnies only make distress noises under the direst of circunstances. Her poop is back to its normal size and consistency. Her appetite is low, she refuses to eat pellets, only hay and cilandro will do for her. Do you have any experience with whining? also she started trembling... that just cannot be good...