New rabbit hasn't passed anything in 36hrs

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Echo

Echo

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Hi, I got a baby lionhead yesterday and she seemed to bein good health. However she has not passed a single dropping since then and i'm very worried.When I was double checking her sexa few hours ago I noticed a very small but tight matt right against her bottom blocking anything from passing outso I clipped it away and hoped she'd be able to gp but nothing so far. She didn't eat a thing the first night and the only thing I can get her to eat today is little pieces of strawberry. She is in really good form, very active and playful so I don't think she is in pain yet but her gut feels quite bloated. Have been massaging it fora while and hoping can relieve some of the gas for now.

What can I do to try get her gut moving? She is drinking water fine and isn't dehydrated. Any fruit/veg/herbs/juices I can give her to help? I am out of pineapple juicetonight but was thinking it'd be good to try that in the morning.

Thanks for any help :)
 
Try a gas medicine with the active ingredient simethicone. Giver her about 1cc and repeat once an hour for about 3 hours.

Getting more water in her won't hurt either.

Is she eating any hay? You can try some alfalfa hay, I have yet to find a bunny that doesn't go nuts for it.

Did you get a pellet food to match the one she was previously eating? She needs to be eating the same pellet to minimize upset stomach.

-Dawn
 
Hi, thanks for the advice, Where could I get gas medicine? vet clinic or is pharmacy with human products ok?

She's nibbling a little bit of hay now and again but not for longer than a minute or so at a time and not nearly as much as she should be eating.

I got a pack of the food she had been fed (suparabbit) but she ignored it completely so I tried my usual food with her today (suparabbit excel) and she had a couple of pellets but mostly ignored it too.

Gave her a bit of water and little bit of apple juice orally but she wasn't too keen on it.

I don't have alfalfa hay but I have various dried plants like parsley, dandelion and camomile so I am going to try a few with her to try encourage her to eat. I will try pick up some alfalfa tomorrow though.

When I massage her gut I can feel what I think is a lot of droppings inside her and there does seem to be a lot of gas but did manage to get a bit of that released.
 
You can buy it over the counter at the pharmacy ..simethicone needs to be the only active ingredient ; it is usally marketed as liquid baby gas medication. you can give 1cc with a repeat after 1 hr and then another repeat 1 hr after this.
Try to get some baby electrolyte drink and put it an a bowl if neccesary. you say she is drinking but you need to get her to drink more. Add a little apple juice to the bowl of water if that will help .
She also needs to be eating but get her really well hydrated first

how old is she ?
how much exposure to green veggies has she had
what was she eating prior to you getting her.
Do you think the anal plug is gone now so she can defecate normally?

getting some pure unseasoned pumpkin in a can and syringing this to her may alsobe a possibility .

 
I don't know how old exactly but i'd estimate 8-10 weeks old. She is fully hydrated, I checked her skin turgor and she has been urinating normally. I have only had her since yesterday so I don't know whether she has ever had any fruit/veg before.

I am hoping that now the matt is gone she will be able to go but its been a few hours now and still nothing.

The food she was on previously was suparabbit. I don't know if it is relevant but one of the other females in the same cage as her had an extremely dirty bottom so maybe the pet shop changed the food from the breeder's food.

Will get gas meds from pharmacy in the morning and try get some pumpkin as well, thanks
 
A rabbit (especially one so young)not eating is a medical emergency ..I do think that you said that she ate a small amount today...

Once the GI system shuts down itis like like a dead engine. It needs to keep moving which makes it extremely important for her to be getting food and fluids ..even if the food is in small amounts.
When the system is not moving gas builds up and gets trapped causing tremendous pain and finally the killer bacteria clostridium
A rabbit that is not eating is at risk of liver damage.

We have a powdered food over here called critical care which is a food for herbivores. You mix it with water and it provides all the nutrients necessary for a rabbit. usually it is fed by syringe. You may be able to find a similar product through an exotics vet in your country. if not you can feed vegetable flavors of baby food through a syringe and/or canned unseasoneded pumpkin
the longer she goes without food the less that she will want to eat and the more serious the problems will become
 
Hi, I have critical care, I was worried about force feeding her though in case it made the blockage worse by filling her up even more. I have pureed baby food as well (I make a bowl of 1 part diluted critical care to 1 part baby food to 1 part pineapple juice for one of my other rabbits every couple of days to encourage him to eat. He's depressed since losing his friend, which is why I got this little baby to keep him company.)


If I feed it to her will it get her gut moving or add to the problem? It's just there is no stir at all on the other end.

Anyways I have made a vet appointment for this afternoon because there was still nothing this morning even though she ate a bit of both dried and fresh parsley last night.
I'm not sure what I expect the vet to do but maybe fluid under the skin or something will help.
 
it still is important to get the simethicone

If you think that she is actually impacted in the anal area then you are right it would be problematic to feed a lot
the simethicone is very important.

you could feed a very small amount of watery CC and baby food ..not a large amount ..just enough so that she has strength.
Please let us know if the vet can help
this is not a good situation.
Also get a probiotic if you can like benebac or a probiotic for horses will do
She should have access to hay ..maybe alfalfa . it is really better if she chooses to eat on her own.
Good Luck !
let us know
 
She has lots of green hay in with her but she has only nibbled it. I gave her 1ml of infacol and a few mls of watery critical care. Will give her more in a few hours. Vet suspects an obstruction so x-ray and possibly surgery tomorrow :(
 
surgery should be the last option
most rabbits do not survive this type of surgery

Is this an exotics vet....?
the x-ray hould have been done today.
What kind of obstruction does she suspect ( mechanical like a piece of rug or cloth ) or posssibly an accumulation of hair and feces or does she suspect a birth defect?

How is your rabbit now..
 
Its an exotics clinic, vet gave fluids and wants to see if fluids + CC will help before xray, if there is nothing passed by tomorrow morning she is going in for the xray. Depends on xray what is done next. She is still doing ok right now, no signs of pain or discomfort and is taking critical care very well.
 
Sounds like your doing everything for her and going to see the vet was a very good idea at this point. The CC does wonders for my bunny and still give water to her and let us know how she is doing. Sending good thoughts your way
 
How are things today? I agree that surgery should be an absolute last option. Try some gut motility drugs if the x-ray shows an obstruction but normal GI tract (ie, not an intestinal deformity) before a surgery. It's very common for rabbits to not survive GI surgery or to not recover. There are a lot of bacteria there, and it's hard to get the tract to heal correctly. I'd even try an enema before surgery.

I think if she were totally blocked off, she wouldn't let you put anything in her mouth.
 
She's much better today, I got her to pass a small amount after the 2nd dose of infacol, and the xrays showed no obstruction. She got gut motility injections and am continuing the feedings and she has passed a few more soft pellets since. Appetite seems a bit better. Fingers crossed :)
 
Gut motility drugs are never appropriate for a rabbit. I consider vets that use them behind the times. Those drugs induce very strong and painful contractions in the GI. We all know howrabbits respond to pain. And gut motility drugs are especially dangerous with a blockage. And honestly, most vets have never seen radiology of a rabbit GI enoughto know what they are looking at.....blockage or not. In a stasis/ileus situation, the die off of bacteria and the changing pH will many times lead to gastric ulcers. The GI walls are very thin. If an ulcer forms and there is a drug inducedcontraction, it can perforate the ulcer and that is very bad. An enema should be avoided if at all possible....and if done, it should be done by a very skilled doctor. I would have reservations even if I were doing an enema. Surgery should be a last resort. Any vet that has any understanding of a rabbit gut knows the proper response to stasis is always hydration.......not stimulating drugs....as well as finding and correcting the underlying cause of the condition.

Randy
 
I'm glad she's doing better. Although gut motility drugs are quite controversial, they are less potentially harmful in my opinion than surgery.

It can take a little while for a bunny to recover from a stasis event. She may need continued doses of infacol and force-feeding if she's not doing that on your own.

Like Randy said, it's important to figure out what caused the event in the first place. I would think that in her situation it was the stress of being moved to a new home, but you can assess how much stress she was under yourself best. Other possible causes include pain from another ailment, tooth issues, or bacterial imbalance in the gut. It would be good if you could get some probiotic--I believe in the UK it is called Fibre-Plex (are you in the UK? usually infacol is the brand for simethicone there, I think).
 
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