Hello! I'm new here and have a medical related question.
Those of you who have experience with older rabbits and gi-stasis. What sort of time frame are we looking at in terms of recovery? Our 9 year old lop has been very poorly for 3 days now. We love him and we want to give him a chance to recover, but at the same time we don't want him to suffer indefinitely, just because we can't let go.
We have taken him to the vet and the rabbit specialist was very concerned that he has lost a lot of weight since he last was there, in april. He's lost 500 grams, which for him at 2 kg is 20% weightloss. They checked his teeth, took an mr, they didn't find anything wrong other than dehydration, he had an empty stomach (not blocked). He's just not eating and they couldn't get enough blood to run a diagnosis/test, so there wasn't much they could do, she said. She was concerned it was his kidneys or liver which would have shown on the blood control. They kept him for the day and gave him fluid and cc. For some reason she didn't mention gi-stasis which I personally find most likely after reading about it.
We picked him up after a whole day at the vet's, he was very apathetic, we gave him critical care porridge, and the day after he seemed a bit more alert, he sort of accepted the porridge and tried to eat a bit himself. At one point (yesterday) when I went to have a look, he was visibly more alert. He was sitting normally upright, not hunched over as the day before and seemed to be chewing on something (either hay or poop I guess, both would be a good sign) and he seemed to be trying to clean himself. I gave him a dandelion leaf which he grumpily accepted and started eating. Which felt like a huge step in the right direction. He still has very soft stools so if you have any tips to share for cleaning a soiled and furry bottom, please tell me. I've tried to just use a wet towel, but it's difficult with all the (white) fur.
We've continued feeding him cc porridge and I've gotten him to drink a few sips of water after every feeding as well. He also eats a little bit of dandelion leaf when offered. I opened their pen to let his partner out and then he came out too. He was visibly weak though and looks very tired.
I wonder if this whole predicament and the weight loss started when it was unusually warm here in june. I noticed they didn't seem to have much appetite for anything other than greens and maybe he just never got back to eating enough pellets/hay. Then he got soft stools (I suspect it is my fault, I gave them a bit of banana as a treat and while he's tolerated it well before, he's getting older and often seems to react to food he could eat without problems before, his partner was/is fine) so I stopped giving them anything but hay for a few days and perhaps he just didn't eat that either, he was very unhappy about only getting hay, but instead of getting better he got worse
In any case, there seems to be some development in the right direction. Of course he is getting older too, I've noticed (over time) that he is not as strong and steady as he used to be, but he has been acting quite sprightly lately (until the last few days) so we're clinging onto the hope that he just needs some time.
If anyone has experience with this, I'd very much appreciate any advice you can come with.
Those of you who have experience with older rabbits and gi-stasis. What sort of time frame are we looking at in terms of recovery? Our 9 year old lop has been very poorly for 3 days now. We love him and we want to give him a chance to recover, but at the same time we don't want him to suffer indefinitely, just because we can't let go.
We have taken him to the vet and the rabbit specialist was very concerned that he has lost a lot of weight since he last was there, in april. He's lost 500 grams, which for him at 2 kg is 20% weightloss. They checked his teeth, took an mr, they didn't find anything wrong other than dehydration, he had an empty stomach (not blocked). He's just not eating and they couldn't get enough blood to run a diagnosis/test, so there wasn't much they could do, she said. She was concerned it was his kidneys or liver which would have shown on the blood control. They kept him for the day and gave him fluid and cc. For some reason she didn't mention gi-stasis which I personally find most likely after reading about it.
We picked him up after a whole day at the vet's, he was very apathetic, we gave him critical care porridge, and the day after he seemed a bit more alert, he sort of accepted the porridge and tried to eat a bit himself. At one point (yesterday) when I went to have a look, he was visibly more alert. He was sitting normally upright, not hunched over as the day before and seemed to be chewing on something (either hay or poop I guess, both would be a good sign) and he seemed to be trying to clean himself. I gave him a dandelion leaf which he grumpily accepted and started eating. Which felt like a huge step in the right direction. He still has very soft stools so if you have any tips to share for cleaning a soiled and furry bottom, please tell me. I've tried to just use a wet towel, but it's difficult with all the (white) fur.
We've continued feeding him cc porridge and I've gotten him to drink a few sips of water after every feeding as well. He also eats a little bit of dandelion leaf when offered. I opened their pen to let his partner out and then he came out too. He was visibly weak though and looks very tired.
I wonder if this whole predicament and the weight loss started when it was unusually warm here in june. I noticed they didn't seem to have much appetite for anything other than greens and maybe he just never got back to eating enough pellets/hay. Then he got soft stools (I suspect it is my fault, I gave them a bit of banana as a treat and while he's tolerated it well before, he's getting older and often seems to react to food he could eat without problems before, his partner was/is fine) so I stopped giving them anything but hay for a few days and perhaps he just didn't eat that either, he was very unhappy about only getting hay, but instead of getting better he got worse
In any case, there seems to be some development in the right direction. Of course he is getting older too, I've noticed (over time) that he is not as strong and steady as he used to be, but he has been acting quite sprightly lately (until the last few days) so we're clinging onto the hope that he just needs some time.
If anyone has experience with this, I'd very much appreciate any advice you can come with.