Rabbit eating only greens for days after stasis

[happypoo]

Hi there! I'm new here (and quite possibly temporary). I am caring for a friend's bun who, after 12 years of perfect health, came down with an ill-timed case of GI stasis just days before my friend left three weeks on vacation. D'oh! She's been eating a lot of greens on her own (manages to get through whatever cilantro, parsley, lettuce, and kale that I set down) but no hay or pellets at all, and hasn't been drinking water as far as I can see. I got her to nibble on some pumpkin puree and a few baby carrots as well.

She really hates being force fed, and neither my friend nor I want to subject her to the stress anymore. I tried smearing some chopped parsley with Critical Care and she does eventually get around to eating it, although she much prefers the untainted veggies.

I've had her since Sunday, and in that time all she's really eaten is the greens. Her course of motility meds just ended and I am continuing to give her Metacam. Her poops are frequent but small and dark/wet. Occasionally she will leave a cecotrope uneaten. She pees fairly regularly as well.

For those with experience with GI stasis, how long until your buns ate hay again? I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow but I just want to hear other peoples' accounts of their own buns' recoveries.

Thank you!!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We had a 12 year old just go thru the same thing and all she ate for 4 days was veggies but is now back to normal. You might try a little bit of alfalfa or ask the vet that normally treats the bunny for any suggestions.

 

[JBun]

Did the vet check her teeth? GI stasis is often a result of another underlying problem such as dental problems(molar spurs, loose teeth, infection, elongated tooth roots), bladder issues, kidney disease, etc. With your friends rabbit opting to eat soft leafy foods and not hard pellets or hay, selective eating such as this can be a common symptom of dental disease. I would want dental problems to be thoroughly checked by the vet.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/AcquiredMolarAbnRabbits.htm

 

[Azerane]

The eating of all the greens probably means she's getting enough fluids without drinking. The preference for eating them and not resuming eating hay could be as mentioned be the result of an underlying problem such as with teeth. As hay is a lot coarser it may hurt to eat, whereas greens are nice and soft and may not cause pain.

The good thing is that she's eating, as long as things are going in and coming out it's good, but if she doesn't start eating hay again it's worth looking into why.

 

[happypoo]

We had a 12 year old just go thru the same thing and all she ate for 4 days was veggies but is now back to normal. You might try a little bit of alfalfa or ask the vet that normally treats the bunny for any suggestions.

Oh that's good to hear! Glad your bun is doing better! Did you assist feed her in the interim? If so, do you think that helped? I think I will try that (and try to make it as least traumatic as possible!)

 

[happypoo]

Did the vet check her teeth? GI stasis is often a result of another underlying problem such as dental problems(molar spurs, loose teeth, infection, elongated tooth roots), bladder issues, kidney disease, etc. With your friends rabbit opting to eat soft leafy foods and not hard pellets or hay, selective eating such as this can be a common symptom of dental disease. I would want dental problems to be thoroughly checked by the vet.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/AcquiredMolarAbnRabbits.htm

The vet checked her teeth out and said they look okay. She wants to do an x-ray to look for masses etc. but that's too extreme of a procedure for me to agree to without the owner's consent.

 

[happypoo]

The eating of all the greens probably means she's getting enough fluids without drinking. The preference for eating them and not resuming eating hay could be as mentioned be the result of an underlying problem such as with teeth. As hay is a lot coarser it may hurt to eat, whereas greens are nice and soft and may not cause pain.

The good thing is that she's eating, as long as things are going in and coming out it's good, but if she doesn't start eating hay again it's worth looking into why.

That's what I thought, but all the vets I talked to seemed to ignore the fact that she was eating greens and just referred to her as "not eating"--a big difference between the two in my mind, but what do I know!

 

[happypoo]

The eating of all the greens probably means she's getting enough fluids without drinking. The preference for eating them and not resuming eating hay could be as mentioned be the result of an underlying problem such as with teeth. As hay is a lot coarser it may hurt to eat, whereas greens are nice and soft and may not cause pain.

The good thing is that she's eating, as long as things are going in and coming out it's good, but if she doesn't start eating hay again it's worth looking into why.

That's what I thought, but all the vets I talked to seemed to ignore the fact that she was eating greens and just referred to her as "not eating"--a big difference between the two in my mind, but what do I know!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Some people have hearing problems--you can speak but there is no guarantee they'll listen. I just loaded her up on veggies and had to do extra cleaning in her hutch,but, thankfully she started back eating hay, pellets and treats. We use orchard grass as I'm allergic to Timothy.

 

[happypoo]

Bunny still isn't eating her hay or pellets. She also isn't inhaling the greens with quite as much gusto as before, but that could be because I've finally nailed the force feeding and she could be full from those. She does seem to have a bit more kick in her (seems like mostly annoyance towards me for pinning her down and shoving a syringe in her mouth :\ ).

On that note, how do I weigh the benefit of force feeding versus the stress it causes her? At first she was complacent but is now struggling a lot more and is clearly miserable while I feed her. I do give her lots of breaks, which she uses to shoot me some attitude-filled head shakes and preen herself thoroughly, but I don't want to add unnecessary stress if that will make things worse. She's an old girl.

Also, I've noticed since starting the Critical Care that she leaves around a LOT of uneaten soft cecotropes, specifically during the middle of the day (hardly any in the evening or overnight). Any ideas on what might cause this?

 

[Bonsai]

Uneaten cecotropes can possibly mean that the diet is so rich that they're making too many to need to eat them and you're actually seeing the "leftovers". My Snickers had this problem when I first got him, he could not handle alfalfa-based pellets being free-fed so I had to limit them. As your friend's rabbit is geriatric and considering all the other symptoms, I really can't be sure but it sounds like maybe it could be from the Critical Care as it's packed with lots of nutrients. But I would wager she definitely still needs to be on it until she is eating everything on her own normally. It'd probably be a good idea to phone the vet again and tell them about the new symptom.

I can't really offer any advice/insight, but just make sure her back end stays clean since she's producing soft stools and cecals in excess. My boy got a cecal mashed up on one of his feet once while I slept, took a bit of scrubbing. I mostly just wanted to say good luck and it's very kind of you to take such measures to take care of your friend's bunny.

 

[happypoo]

Uneaten cecotropes can possibly mean that the diet is so rich that they're making too many to need to eat them and you're actually seeing the "leftovers". My Snickers had this problem when I first got him, he could not handle alfalfa-based pellets being free-fed so I had to limit them. As your friend's rabbit is geriatric and considering all the other symptoms, I really can't be sure but it sounds like maybe it could be from the Critical Care as it's packed with lots of nutrients. But I would wager she definitely still needs to be on it until she is eating everything on her own normally. It'd probably be a good idea to phone the vet again and tell them about the new symptom.

I can't really offer any advice/insight, but just make sure her back end stays clean since she's producing soft stools and cecals in excess. My boy got a cecal mashed up on one of his feet once while I slept, took a bit of scrubbing. I mostly just wanted to say good luck and it's very kind of you to take such measures to take care of your friend's bunny.

Thank you! Yes, I figured with the Critical Care + quite a lot of greens (maybe 2 bunches of cilantro/parsley and a handful of kale pieces a day) she's getting a lot of nutrients and maybe that's why she's leaving behind cecals.

I've noticed an odd new behavior lately. When I hold a piece of hay in front of her face, she desperately lunges to rip it out of my hand, but then ignores it after it falls to the ground. I've gotten her to munch on a couple pieces by harassing her this way, but as much as she wants to grab the hay, she has little interest in actually eating it. She just REALLY doesn't want me to be holding any.

 

[JBun]

Grabbing the hay and not eating it is because she is irritated. It's a common thing for rabbits to do when they are unwell and being bugged by us trying to get them to eat.

I really think your friends rabbit has something more going on than stasis caused by the usual digestive issues. If this was all it was, you should be seeing some sort of improvement by now. If there is an underlying problem such as a dental issue, infection, kidney or liver disease, etc, it's not going to be found without further investigative diagnostics done, and your friends rabbit will just continue to have a lack of appetite and may start to deteriorate even further until the exact cause is found and if possible corrected. Though of course it's also possible that whatever is causing the lack of appetite may not be correctable. But there is just no way of knowing for sure without the vet further investigating what might be going on, which can also be difficult to do when dealing with such an elderly rabbit, as any further investigation that might require sedation to do, is very risky in an older rabbit. Dental problems are still a possibility as they can't be completely ruled out unless the teeth are checked while the rabbit is sedated, as it can be difficult to get a good look at some of the back teeth.

Regarding the critical care feeding, you could try offering it in a dish and see if she will eat it on her own. Another option is moistening her usual pellets in warm water and see if she will eat those willingly.