LoveCrumb
Well-Known Member
I posted this thread several months ago: http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=87152 and you guys helped me so much, and I'm hoping for some more advice. My bunny no longer gets any veggies or fruits (as they were the suspected cause of his gas attacks). His diet is unlimited 50/50 timothy and orchard grass, and he gets 2 tablespoons of Oxbow essentials adult rabbit food every day. He's middle aged and around 5 1/2 pounds.
To be clear, he is my therapy pet and I am with him all day- I don't work and I am very in tune with any shifts in his personality or behaviour. He's been doing excellent these past few months. He has even more energy and personality, he's eating more hay, he's pooping even more, doing more binky's, doing more flops, is more curious and playful, etc. I've been giving him a lot more exercise too now that his energy has increased and overall, I though he was doing great and I was starting to believe that he might never get sick again. I did notice yesterday that he had pooped a bit less than normal, but there is the odd day where he does poop a bit less where he seems fine, so I didn't worry too much.
Last night, he had another gas episode. He got his dinner, gobbled up his timothy pellets, and suddenly, within a minute or two, he was having another attack. An attack always looks like this:
-very sudden onset, from 0 to 10 very quickly
-breaths rapidly
-keeps moving and shifting every few seconds, trying to find relief, presses his stomach to the floor
-his stomach feels like really soft pizza dough and is really malleable- on a normal day, it's firmer.
-sometimes he grinds his teeth
-after the worst of it passes, his ears feel a bit cold and I give him something warm to lie on (probably from the shock)
In the past, without any medicine and just me massaging his belly (which seemed to help him a little), an episode took about 4 hours to pass fully, before his breathing slowed to normal and he could get comfortable again. Sometime I would hear him pass a bit of gas, he would start to nibble on his hay, and a little later, he would become VERY interested in the critical care I would offer him- gobbling it up voluntarily. His poops would be very small for a couple of days after, and wouldn't be up to his regular volume for several days. He would start eating hay again only a few hours after feeling better, and would work back up to his normal hay eating after 1-3 days.
This time, I gave him 0.5 ml of metacam right away, and then about 15 minutes later I gave him .5ml of simethicone (it was a 25 mg suspension, so I opted to give him less at first). Within about 5 minutes of giving him the simethicone, he started to look better, and after 10 minutes, he miraculously seemed back to normal. I believe I heard him pass a bit of gas. the whole episode from beginning to end was maybe about 30 minutes. He almost immediately resumed eating his hay and drinking his water, and he had a small bowel movement shortly thereafter (with small pellets) so I opted not to use critical care. I just gave him his breakfast pellets and he ate them no problem. I'm so glad I had these tools on hand to make him feel better so quickly, but at the same time, I'm so torn about what to do with his treatment in the future.
I think cutting the veg out has been very beneficial and has him eating more hay, but now I'm wondering whether the veg did contribute to his previous attacks (all of which happened shortly after eating veg), or if there's something scarier going on. This time, it happened after he ate his oxbow pellets. Maybe he wolfs them down so quickly, he swallows air? Maybe there's an ingredient in the pellets that doesn't agree with him? I know there are a lot of rabbit owners who don't like soy in their rabbit's feed because it can cause foul urine. I did do some research on the internet, and found a lot of articles that suggested that soy is not fully digestible for dogs and cats and other pets and can cause a lot of digestive problems, some of the same problems we seen in humans with soy sensitivity, and gas is the major side effect. Oxbow essential's has soybean hulls and soybean meal and the 2nd and 3rd ingredient.
This is where I'm so conflicted. These are my options right now:
-try altering his diet again to see if it helps. Oxbow organic has rabbit pellets that contain more hay and no soy and they are available locally.
-get him on a daily dose of rantadine to see if it helps. I am aware of the benefits of rantadine for a rabbit that is chronically suffering, but my rabbit seems in top shape between episodes, and he recovers so fast. Right now I see this as a good option in case he gets worse
-get him an x-ray, urine test and/ or ultrasound. The vet will have to sedate him and that really scares me. It will also be incredibly costly.
-take him for a second opinion with another vet. I recently found another vet in the next city who works only with small pets and has a great reputation. My current vet has small animal experience but runs a vet for all pets and he wasn't familiar with Teddy's condition. He kept saying it could be treated like GI stasis, but I have cared for rabbits with GI stasis, and this is not even close to the same, even though it might be causing trouble in the same area. He's the expert, but he didn't leave me feeling confident.
A note: my bunny is terrible at being handled. He gets incredibly stressed and I limit his handling as much as possible. After I take him to the vet or to get his nails trimmed, he puts on a bit of a protest after and likes to refuse his hay and food for several hours. I am always worried about the benefits of handling him over the toll it may take on him.
Right now, I'm leaning towards altering his diet, which is undoubtedly the most simple least-anxiety inducing option, and then setting a consultation with the new vet I found once I feel my bunny is fully recovered.
at the last vet visit a few months ago:
-his teeth looked good
-his weight looked good
-his coat looked good (I groom him daily)
-his stomach felt good, he was a normal temperature and his anus was clean
-his diet was okayed for having enough fiber
Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Do you disagree with me? Does anyone else have a rabbit that experiences something similar, and if so, what have you done? Thank you, guys.
To be clear, he is my therapy pet and I am with him all day- I don't work and I am very in tune with any shifts in his personality or behaviour. He's been doing excellent these past few months. He has even more energy and personality, he's eating more hay, he's pooping even more, doing more binky's, doing more flops, is more curious and playful, etc. I've been giving him a lot more exercise too now that his energy has increased and overall, I though he was doing great and I was starting to believe that he might never get sick again. I did notice yesterday that he had pooped a bit less than normal, but there is the odd day where he does poop a bit less where he seems fine, so I didn't worry too much.
Last night, he had another gas episode. He got his dinner, gobbled up his timothy pellets, and suddenly, within a minute or two, he was having another attack. An attack always looks like this:
-very sudden onset, from 0 to 10 very quickly
-breaths rapidly
-keeps moving and shifting every few seconds, trying to find relief, presses his stomach to the floor
-his stomach feels like really soft pizza dough and is really malleable- on a normal day, it's firmer.
-sometimes he grinds his teeth
-after the worst of it passes, his ears feel a bit cold and I give him something warm to lie on (probably from the shock)
In the past, without any medicine and just me massaging his belly (which seemed to help him a little), an episode took about 4 hours to pass fully, before his breathing slowed to normal and he could get comfortable again. Sometime I would hear him pass a bit of gas, he would start to nibble on his hay, and a little later, he would become VERY interested in the critical care I would offer him- gobbling it up voluntarily. His poops would be very small for a couple of days after, and wouldn't be up to his regular volume for several days. He would start eating hay again only a few hours after feeling better, and would work back up to his normal hay eating after 1-3 days.
This time, I gave him 0.5 ml of metacam right away, and then about 15 minutes later I gave him .5ml of simethicone (it was a 25 mg suspension, so I opted to give him less at first). Within about 5 minutes of giving him the simethicone, he started to look better, and after 10 minutes, he miraculously seemed back to normal. I believe I heard him pass a bit of gas. the whole episode from beginning to end was maybe about 30 minutes. He almost immediately resumed eating his hay and drinking his water, and he had a small bowel movement shortly thereafter (with small pellets) so I opted not to use critical care. I just gave him his breakfast pellets and he ate them no problem. I'm so glad I had these tools on hand to make him feel better so quickly, but at the same time, I'm so torn about what to do with his treatment in the future.
I think cutting the veg out has been very beneficial and has him eating more hay, but now I'm wondering whether the veg did contribute to his previous attacks (all of which happened shortly after eating veg), or if there's something scarier going on. This time, it happened after he ate his oxbow pellets. Maybe he wolfs them down so quickly, he swallows air? Maybe there's an ingredient in the pellets that doesn't agree with him? I know there are a lot of rabbit owners who don't like soy in their rabbit's feed because it can cause foul urine. I did do some research on the internet, and found a lot of articles that suggested that soy is not fully digestible for dogs and cats and other pets and can cause a lot of digestive problems, some of the same problems we seen in humans with soy sensitivity, and gas is the major side effect. Oxbow essential's has soybean hulls and soybean meal and the 2nd and 3rd ingredient.
This is where I'm so conflicted. These are my options right now:
-try altering his diet again to see if it helps. Oxbow organic has rabbit pellets that contain more hay and no soy and they are available locally.
-get him on a daily dose of rantadine to see if it helps. I am aware of the benefits of rantadine for a rabbit that is chronically suffering, but my rabbit seems in top shape between episodes, and he recovers so fast. Right now I see this as a good option in case he gets worse
-get him an x-ray, urine test and/ or ultrasound. The vet will have to sedate him and that really scares me. It will also be incredibly costly.
-take him for a second opinion with another vet. I recently found another vet in the next city who works only with small pets and has a great reputation. My current vet has small animal experience but runs a vet for all pets and he wasn't familiar with Teddy's condition. He kept saying it could be treated like GI stasis, but I have cared for rabbits with GI stasis, and this is not even close to the same, even though it might be causing trouble in the same area. He's the expert, but he didn't leave me feeling confident.
A note: my bunny is terrible at being handled. He gets incredibly stressed and I limit his handling as much as possible. After I take him to the vet or to get his nails trimmed, he puts on a bit of a protest after and likes to refuse his hay and food for several hours. I am always worried about the benefits of handling him over the toll it may take on him.
Right now, I'm leaning towards altering his diet, which is undoubtedly the most simple least-anxiety inducing option, and then setting a consultation with the new vet I found once I feel my bunny is fully recovered.
at the last vet visit a few months ago:
-his teeth looked good
-his weight looked good
-his coat looked good (I groom him daily)
-his stomach felt good, he was a normal temperature and his anus was clean
-his diet was okayed for having enough fiber
Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Do you disagree with me? Does anyone else have a rabbit that experiences something similar, and if so, what have you done? Thank you, guys.