Not eating or drinking much, lots of gas Please HELP!!!

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dianerae

dianerae

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Joined
Jan 29, 2010
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Location
Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, USA
Hello everyone, I am really hoping someone out there can help us. I have a 6 year old male english lop who is neutured. He has the run of the house, he is litter trained, he eats a large variety of fresh greens, timothy hay, and oxbow BBT pellets. He takes a daily papaya tablet along with an oxbows joint support tablet. He has never been sick except for an ear infection about 2 years ago. This is the problem--we took him for a general check up because he has been loosing weight slowly and we were worried about cancer or worms. He ate continually but still was getting thinner over a slow period of time. We make a 6 hr. round trip to take him to his vet because she is rabbit savvy. They did a complete exam, fecal smears and full blood panel. Everything came back fine. She kept him there for 6 hrs. to observe him. She stated he did have a bit of a wheeze at times even though upon initial exam his lungs were clear. She said worms dont always show up so she went ahead and dewormed him with 0.8 cc's of Panacur. She also started him on 0.8 cc's of Baytril x 10 days.. We made the 3.5 hr. drive home after spending the night in a hotel with him and since he has been home he will not eat, drink and his stomach is "gurgling" like crazy!!!! He has nibbled on a small stick of oregano and a few peices of hay but no pellets and no other greens. He isn't drinking either. I also have not found any poops i the box( but it is hard to tell because his sister also goes in the box). I gave him 1 gram of probios (couldnt get bene-bac), and 0.4mls of simethicone (for gas) today. Still no improvements. He is lying with his back legs spread out behind him (i am guessing this means no pain?) I know the entire trip has caused a lot of STRESS. he seems to want to be left alone but he is usually begging for all the attention he can get he is the KING of the house!!!! Any ideas on what to do? I do have critical care on hand but only want to use it as a last resort. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!! Thank. PS sorry so long. wanted to give the complete story.
 
Do you have a vet nearby that you can take hime to? They could also prescribe some gut motility drugs. He may also need an x ray.

I would reccommend getting him to a vet right away, but if you can't, you can keep giving simethicone. The dosage is 1-2cc every hour for 3 hours, then 1cc every 3-8 hours as needed. Don't hold off on the critical care. It's essential in helping break up the blockage. And also making sure he gets water as well. If he's not drinking then you'll have to use a syringe. If you find it difficult to syringe water to him, you can mix extra in with the critical care. If he'll eat leafy greens, give those as well. There is a risk with feeding him though, if he happens to have a complete blockage, so if you can get him to the vet, that would be the best thing.

If he did have worms, then this could possibly be related to getting the panacur and having the parasites die off.
 
:yeahthat:
So sorry you and your bunny are having to go through this. I think you're right, stress may be a factor and I wonder about the effect of medications given by vet. Have you called the vet to see what she thinks may be going on?

Best to get him to a vet if it's possible. So frustrating when you don't have a vet that knows rabbits close by. Sending love and prayers!!!
 
Thanks for your replies. Thanks Katherine for your prayers!!!! Bunnies are gifts from heaven!! I have called the vet that treats him, i am still waiting to get a call back. The simethicone is working, I do not hear the gas bubbles anymore. I would take him back to the vet but it is just too dramatic for him. There are vets around us but they just dont know much about house rabbits and I have experienced it first hand when he was younger!!! I did give him some Nutri-cal earlier and will start the critical care. I am sure the stress of the 6.5 hr. car ride and the vet visit and the blood work along with the meds could have caused all the problems. We just want him well. My hubby is so upset, our big beautiful bunny is our baby and we feel so sad to see him sick :-( I really dont want to see him have to make the 6.5 hr. trip back to the vet. I keep thinking it was a mistake to have taken him to the vet at all for the check-up because before he was at least eating, drinking, urinating and had reg. poops. We brought this up on him by a simple vet visit. We were just so worried about his slow weight loss--but at least he was happy and doing well. :-(
 
The Baytril is probably upsetting his stomach, happens a lot around here. Panacur is unlikely to do that. Did they give you a probiotic to take two or three hours after the Baytril? If not, I'd go get some benebac or florentero or acidophilus or something.

A tummy massage might help, but it's more than just gas.

Hope he's okay.


sas :clover:
 
Hey PIP, glad to hear from you, you gave me wonderful advice about 2 yrs ago for my female bunny. Nice to know you r still around!!!! I gave him 1 gm of probios yesturday and 1 gram today. Couldn't get the bene-bac(I checked 3 different places and i could only find the probios. I think it is the same. maybe not as many colonies though as the bene-bac but in a pinch it is better than nothing. I think it has 10 mill. /gr Do you think i should hold off on the Baytril until he starts to eat and poop? I forgot to mention that i did give him a pea size of Nutra-cal this morning cuz he didnt eat yesturday. We r so worried about him. We he lay all spread out if he were in pain????? I thought they sat in a ball if they were hurting or had gas.
 
Do you have any metacam pain med? That might help as well. I get Probios from my vet, and it's what I used for my bun that has had GI stasis issues. I think bene bac and probios are pretty similar, maybe slight differences. I found the critical care and simethicone was very important with helping my bun. I would give the critical care every three hours. The baytril could cause problems, but in some cases it also helps with the overgrowth of bad bacteria. I had to use it with my bun, but I used it in conjunction with the Probios.

My bun would sit hunched up, but I've also heard of buns laying down, like they are pressing their bellies to the ground.
 
I have metcam but it is expired. I will start the critical care tonight if he doesnt start eating. I hate forcing that down his throat. He hates it. I have tried mixing it in with juice, pumpkin, baby food ect. Only way is to syringe it in. I hate causing him more stress with force feeding but if i have to well so be it. I hope he doesnt hate for it. So far I have given 3 doses of the simethicone. 1 grams of probios ad some nutr-cal. what else can i do??????
 
This is just a suggestion, but if after giving the simethicone, if he hasn't started eating a little bit on his own now, I would start the critical care right away. Rabbits need to keep eating food to keep the digestion moving, plus he needs that extra moisture to help break up the blockage. It really is important. The longer you wait, the less moisture he's injesting, the worse it can get. Mine would never take the critical care on his own. I always had to syringe feed it to him, but it was necessary for his own good. But your bun really needs that critical care started.

If the metacam isn't too old and nothing else seems to be helping, you may want to consider using it. Sometimes being past expiration just means it won't be as effective. You could always bring it up when you talk to your vet. Pain relief helps them want to start eating again on their own. If he's still in pain, he probably won't start eating.

And water, he needs water. Syringe it by itself or mix extra into the critical care, but either way the water is essential.
 
Thanks for everyones advice. I took him outside to get exercise. He did run around a bit and munched on some twigs. I am about to get the critical care into him, just letting it sit for about 10 mins with extra water. His belly is still making a lot of noise even with the simethicone on board. The vet said Take him to a local vet if he wont eat or drink. I have to say I do not feel comfortable about that. The reason we travel 6 hrs to our vet is because the local vet gave him a very dangerous antibioitc in the wrong dosage to boot so I do not have any faith in them. I will do the critical care, syringe water, bene-bac, simethicone, belly massage, and nutra-cal until I feel he must be seen for an iv or reglan. Please pray for him!!!!!
 
I hope your little guy pulls through. I know how hard it is to go through this with them.
 
Thanks JBun. I just gave him 15 cc's of critical care followed by 10 ml's of water. He is sitting in his litterbox with his back to us, looking at us with disgust in his eyes!!!! I pray to God he will be fine.
:pray::pray::pray::pray::pray:
 
My bun didn't care for the critical care either, but after several feeding sessions for several days, he eventually got used to it. He never loved it, but in the end he would eat it without too much fuss. He did however love the simethicone and probiotic. I figure the critical care saved his life, so I was willing to put up with him being upset about eating it.

Keep up with it. It took my bun til the third day of syringe feeding, before he really started eating and pooping
 
:pray:
You're doing all the right things. I know how hard it is. The exercise can really make a difference along with the critical care, simethecone, etc. You feel terrible making them move around when they're not feeling well but it works. My heart goes out to you and your bunny tonight.
 
Thank you everyone for all your prayers and thoughts. Today he started eating small amounts o fresh sage and hay. He has also nibbled on a few pellets. He also pooped, they were very irregular shaped and small but at least he did it. He even did a bunny flip for me today when I was telling him what a good boy he was:D He is not drinking very well, I even put juice in the water. I will continue to syringe him water until he starts to drink on his own. My question is do I keep forcing the critical care down him?
 
With my bun, I started to cut back the critical care, and the amount I cut back depended on how much he seemed to be eating. If he was just nibbling on things, I didn't cut back that much. Your bun needs to keep getting food in him, so if he's not eating enough on his own, then he'll need to keep getting critical care.

So glad to hear your bun is feeling a little better. I know what a big relief it is to see those first poops.
 
Hi everyone. Just wanted to say my bun is back to him ol' self, he is eating like there's no tomorrow, he was even running around and doing bunny jumps :biggrin2: :pinkelepht: We are so relieved. Thanks to everyone for all the advice and words of encouragement!!!!!!
 
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