Preventative measures

[Saudade]

So this afternoon I went out to pick lucy out of her run, I checked her water bottle on the run which I've been meaning to do and it is still unchanged. This isn't odd for her though so I checked in the run. Other than what little is stuck to the bottom of the cage there wasn't much there.
A little worried then...
Sat around this entire afternoon watching her take little bites at her weet bix. Not much has been eaten. usually she'll eat a weetbix and a handful of food if she's not very hungry. Last night I gave her 3 weetbix and half a carrot, the half a carrot was hone but the three weetbix remained, slightly nibbled. Checked again now after watching her all night, noticed she'd drunken maybe 25ml in the last 2 days, began getting worried. My little poop and pee machine looks like she's going in to stasis. I checked her belly it's a little swollen (I think, it's not all soft and squishy) I'm hoping it's not bloat because she's gotten a lot of clover lately.
Grabbed her and put her in my lap and grabbed her water bottle because i don't have any syringes. I managed to get her to drink atleast 25ml before i gave up because i'd lost a good 10ml all over me and her. Cleaned her off and put her in the cage, now i'm watching her closely. She doesn't seem to be in pain, though she's been going on and off between periods of activity to periods where she is just hunching over.

Her belly is firm but gives a little, it doesn't feel like there are any hard blockages it's more like the entire thing is like the side of a matress, you can push on it a little but it's got resistance. Normally her belly you could move your fingers all over her intestines and feel them.

What should I do?
I'd feel so stupid if she wasn't sick and I was just being a hypochondriac.

*edit*
Since I changed her food on her she has lost her appetite. The first time I gave her she ate it happily because i mixed the old one in with it, second time she just let it sit there for days so i had to feed her other stuff. Tried putting weetbix in with it but she ate around the food.

 

[Saudade]

checked her tummy noises, tummy is silent...

 

[PepnFluff]

Hmm by no means am I an expert but for me weetbix cause's me to bloat if I eat to much, same with having to much bread, would this be the samefor rabbits? I didn't think you were supposed to eat weetbix anyway? If she hasn't got much fluid's in her get some pedialyte ( from your pharmacy, kids get it when they have diarrhoea ) And you could also get her some simethicone, if you suspect stasis.Easiest form would be baby gas drops, In the UK its called infacol.

 

[Pipp]

Trust your instincts.

Keep her moving around, whether it's gas or an imbalance or stasis, she should be moving.

It's unlikely to be true bloat, but if she gets even a bit of diarrhea I'd be concerned given the clover.

So you have human gas meds with simethicone on hand? Gentle tummy massages can also work wonders.


sas :expressionless

 

[Saudade]

No gas stuff that I know of around here. But living with a pharmacists does wonders. I'll check in with him in a minute.
Tummy massages are abounding and she's playing being fairly active as it is now, once i get her moving she plays around by herself. I got another 25mls in her and yet again another 10ml on my pants. She's done binkys both times that I've given her water.

She seems active for a little while but then goes straight back to either grooming herself (which she's been doing a ridiculous amount lately) or sitting hunched up.

 

[Pipp]

They can feel better after moving around or getting a massage but the gas bubbles reform and they feel poorly again.

I'm concerned about the excessive grooming. It's likely a sign of stress but can also signal illness. If it's not a parasite, some liver and/or kidney issues can cause itchy skin, and so can mycotoxins from moldy hay or pellets.

But the diet switch or the clover may have caused an imbalance which caused gas, and the grooming is stress-related.

I'm also not a fan of feeding rabbits carbs, but that's more likely to cause excess cecals or cecal dysbiosis which I believe is more often signaled by what looks to be bad diarrhea.

How are her poops? When did she last poop and pee? What foods did you switch from and to?


sas :expressionless

 

[Saudade]

I switched her from a stud mix to a thing called Barastoc Completo, it has:
Barley
Oats
Lucerne Chaff
Vitamins/Trace Minerals
Oaten Chaff
Vegetable Oils
Lupins
Molasses
Salt

It is pretty much the same in texture and to my eyes as what we were feeding her before but it smells more molassesy.

My brother is chucking a temper tantrum so I can't find out if his pharmacy stocks anything with simethicone. I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Her poops are much darker than usual almost black, No signs of fur caught in them, odorless, the few I just inspected were still slightly sticky. Her poops are usually quite sticky when they come out, but dry up quickly and become good little pellets. They're regularly shaped. Definitely hair in them though, light sort of greeny brown inside, they are firm and don't crumble when squished, it kind of cracked and moved apart. Fair few hairs inside of it, but not like it was made of it. No hay or any other food actually visible inside of them or sticking out of them.

I've had decaffeinated green tea in her water bottle the last 2 nights, however her appetite has lessened way before that. I'm going to switch back to regular water for the next couple of nights.

She's alert and active while I'm around but if I'm not watching she goes in to 'rabbitloaf' mode. Seemed more relaxed after I gave her the water and instead of just being loafed up lay out properly.

There are no coecal pellets in the cage but she seems to be popping them out regularly but just as soon as she does she eats them. Urination is low if not absent, however she tends to prefer not to urinate in her cage but instead go outside.

 

[Saudade]

Scratch that, urination heavily in one corner of the cage, however this is unlike her, she usually marks all four corners and within a couple of days they are soaked. Cage was cleaned on saturday, and there are as little as 34 pellets in the cage. However she may be going outside more and I haven't seen it in the grass.

 

[Saudade]

Just got 40ml in to her with her physically seeking out the water. Tummy feels a bit less tight. Half an hour of belly rubs seem to have done the trick. However she still seems to be overcleaning herself.

 

[Pipp]

If you're seeing a lot of hair in her poops, it could just be that she's molting and thus the obsession with grooming. Might be a chicken or the egg scenario though -- is she stressed because she's molting or molting because she's stressed?

You may want to get a bowl of warm water and some paper towels and try the 'wet hands' grooming method. Petting her with wet hands will get a lot of the hair off of her if this is a molt. I just keep rinsing my hands in the bowl to get the hair off.

The poops don't sound too bad, small, dark and misshapen is more of a concern than hairy. You might want to increase her hay and veggies and decrease pellets.

I also try and get mine to drink willingly by spiking a crock of water with a little apple juice or whatever. But always keep a crock or bottle of fresh water around as well (ditto when you give her tea), and don't let the juiced up stuff sit for too long.


sas :bunnydance:

 

[Saudade]

Just gave her a big handful of hay and she's munching in to it, she seems to be using hay up more at the moment, I'm guessing that's because she's molting. She started molting around the same time she stopped eating the pellets. I'm removing all food from her cage tonight and will try her again on the food.
She'll drink up to 100ml in one sitting if someone is there with her squeezing the bottle. If not she just gets frustrated with it all and gives up drinking.

*cough* okay there is a horrible smell and I recognize it!
EUREKA! Bunny farts!

 

[tonyshuman]

Good thing you've got some gut movement. You are doing good with getting lots of fluids into her--that's the best way to deal with stasis/bloat. Sometimes grass can cause gas, especially spring grass, but I would assume you're going into fall, not spring, right?

I don't like the sound of that pellet you've been giving her. To me, it has too many carbs. Carbs can cause the gut to slow down and get gassy/bloat/stasis. Ideally, a rabbit food should not contain molasses. The first ingredient should be Alfalfa or Timothy hay, and things like barley and oats should be much farther down the ingredient list, if they're in it at all.

I think in the UK simethicone is sold under the name Oval, and pedialyte is sold as dioralyte. The brands might be the same in Australia, no? I bet some simethicone would help her out with all that gas. You can give adult simethicone pills if you get them to eat the pill (cut it up to approximate the correct dose) or grind the pill up and put it in water.

 

[DazyDaizee]

You should give her a water bowl if she doesn't drink as much from the bottle. I had this issue with a bunny with urinary problems.. the bowl encouraged her to drink more.. I've never used bottles since. Just get a heavy ceramic dish that can't be tipped. You can keep both the dish and water bottle available so she can choose whichever she likes. Make sure to clean the water dish at least once daily, though, as they can get dirty easily.