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gale

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On Wednesday our 2 yr mini lop, Lola, didn't eat her supper. The next day when I cleaned her litter box there was nothing but pee in it and she was acting like she didn't feel good (she did drink a little). She acted the same way once about a year ago and after a day she snapped out of it and was normal. So anyway that night (thursday) she didn't eat again and still acted like she wasn't feeling good. I called Friday am and took her in the afternoon-the vet is an hour away. The vet took xrays and there was no blockage or stones and he palpated her and didn't find anything unusual around her tummy but said her bladder felt very full. At the time she let out a bit of pee and some brown mucus but he couldn't tell which orifice the mucus came from. So they don't know what is wrong. It hasn't been that warm out (it is today but it wasn't that bad earlier in the week). They kept her there and took her to their home and are syringe feeding her. Today they said they got a little food in her plus fluids and she was peeing a little. Not worse and only a little bit better. What could this be? I can't afford another big vet bill. :( We just got both of them spayed in mid-may and they unbonded at the time so we had to buy and build another run and hutch for one. I'm spending more on these rabbits than I have on all the dogs I've ever had put together. :(

They stay outdoors in large runs and we always put out frozen water bottles and put ice in their crocks when it's warm.
 
Forgot I posted this. The vet found nothing wrong. No parasites, no obstructions, etc. They syringe fed her and she is now eating and drinking on her own-we pick her up tomorrow. I wish I knew what caused this because I want to avoid it happening again. What are the reasons bunnies quit eating like that? btw they said there is quite a bit of fur in her poops so maybe that's why?
 
We had one quit eating after we took her in for a nail trim, but after I syringed some water, she came back fine. Sounds like yours needs more hay in her diet--the hay aids in motility and helps push the fur on thru instead of it building into a blockage.
 
Nancy McClelland wrote:
We had one quit eating after we took her in for a nail trim, but after I syringed some water, she came back fine. Sounds like yours needs more hay in her diet--the hay aids in motility and helps push the fur on thru instead of it building into a blockage.
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They both get unlimited Oxbow timothy hay. We give them grass daily (when there is grass) and pellets in addition to their nightly supper of various veggies. Maybe I should remove the pellets? I wonder if she's eating too much of those and neglecting the hay.
 
Hershey did something similar when he was very young. The first time he even lost about three quarters of a pound! He only weighs 4.5 pounds!

The vet couldn't find anything wrong. But shortly afterwards he pooped a lot of hairy poops and chains of poops. I think he had a bit of a hair ball problem which led to gas and gut pain. The vet said maybe even the beginning of stasis. Since he was young, it was probably the first time and he was scared. (He also did a lot of hiding at the time.)

He deals with it a lot better now - 4 years and several bouts later. When I'm scratching him, he will even move himself around for tummy rubs when he needs them! I guess we both learned to deal with it better, and it's not such a big deal anymore.

I can't say for sure that this is what is happening with you rabbit. I'm just telling you this as a reference, to help you figure it out!

You can talk to your vet about using metcam and simythicon if this happens again.
 
Lola is home-we brought her home yesterday. She has been very active and nosy. Today at noon it was getting pretty warm out so I put her in the bathtub in a cage. She looks completely bored out of her mind. She has a small litter box (takes up 1/3 of the cage-should I take it out and just let her go in the cage??), a hay ball, a crock of water, and a jingle ball. She hasn't got much room to stretch out. I guess cool and bored is better than too hot right? I put some apple in and she gobbled it right up, and she's been munching at the hay a little.

eta: I should mention that the vet is thinking the heat was the problem. They have tolerated more heat than we had when she quit eating but maybe it was a combination of things. I also wonder if she's depressed. We had our girls spayed in mid may and they became unbonded, despite always keeping them together (separated by wire but able to see and smell each other). So we had to build a second run which is right up against the first (they share a wall). Now they are always sniffing each other through the fence but we haven't tried putting them together again since one was slightly injured before.
 
I'm kind of at an impasse now. Lola is fine, acting normal, etc. I've been bringing her in the house (with A/C) during the hottest part of the day but she will not go potty while she's in here. We tried it with a litter box but she just flipped it over. I tried it without one and she didn't go then either. When I put her back in her pen, she immediately jumps into the box and goes for a long time. She just won't while in the house for some reason. Same litter inside it. So I called the vet and they said that's not good so to not bring her inside, but now I'm worried again about the heat. We put out ice bottles but she doesn't really go near them. I put a fan out there but she avoided it. I put ice in her bowl and she does drink the water but I don't know if that's enough. At the first sign of her not eating or pooping I'll have to bring her back in but I'm just not sure if it'll help. ugh. Why can't they just tell us what they want. lol
 
gale wrote:
I'm kind of at an impasse now. Lola is fine, acting normal, etc. I've been bringing her in the house (with A/C) during the hottest part of the day but she will not go potty while she's in here. We tried it with a litter box but she just flipped it over. I tried it without one and she didn't go then either. When I put her back in her pen, she immediately jumps into the box and goes for a long time. She just won't while in the house for some reason. Same litter inside it. So I called the vet and they said that's not good so to not bring her inside, but now I'm worried again about the heat. We put out ice bottles but she doesn't really go near them. I put a fan out there but she avoided it. I put ice in her bowl and she does drink the water but I don't know if that's enough. At the first sign of her not eating or pooping I'll have to bring her back in but I'm just not sure if it'll help. ugh. Why can't they just tell us what they want. lol
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hi-gale,,say i donot see your location,but heat can be detrimental to our fury friends--,my facility is kept at 68 to 70 degrees--to better trouble shoot problems as they arise,,--lots of water,timothy,and wet greens-ie.dandylions etc..massage the gi tract feeling for a hardness,and listen for loud intrusive sounds in the gi tract--if all else fails visit http://www.medirabbit.com sincerely james waller--ps.might start weighing her twice daily-in kilo grams


























 
Nancy McClelland wrote:
When inside try what we did. Got a couple of apple boxes, the ones with the lids--cut hole in both sides and put litter boxes inside. Gives them a hideout and a litter box which gets used by one and all.
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Unfortunately I don't have room for that. It was a huge stretch just getting dh to let me bring her in the house at all and it has to be in a cage in the tub (our bathrooms are carpeted). The cage is pretty big (about 28" long) but the litterbox takes up quite a bit of room in there.

The good news is that she is lying next to the ice bottle today and also we are giving her treats throughout the day so we can make sure her gut keeps moving. I'm going to go buy a box fan this weekend and dh said he will run an extension cord out there.
 
Forgot to mention that I'm in north-central Indiana. It gets pretty warm here but nothing like southern Calif. or other southern areas.
 
I was able to get ahold of 2 box fans and a long extension cord so I set those up. I hope it helps. I put the fans outside the enclosures since one has a big hole on the front of it. I turned them both on and the bunnies seemed very curious about them and didn't move away from them. Before, I used a battery operated fan and it was when Lola was sick and she wanted nothing to do with it but hopefully they'll stay in front of these. If they don't I'll just have to turn them off I guess. I don't want to end up chasing them away from their ice bottles.
 
gale: I would massage her tummy every so often. It could be gas that she is experiencing. Also get simethicone, it is infant gas meds and you can give 1mL once every 3 hours. Apple is really good for constipation. Sweetie had constipation twice and both times I gave her an apple and she pooped.

Although your bunny could be going through the beginning of GI stasis. It does happen that the vet can find nothing wrong until it gets worse. My vet found that Sweetie had a mild GI stasis when she was experiencing gas issues. You can syringe pineapple juice, it has to be freshly squeezed from a pineapple, not the canned stuff as it is too sugary. Syringe her about 10mL of freshly squeezed pineapple juice every day for a week. Your bunny should be better. But please consult a vet about this just to make sure.
 
Sorry if I was misunderstood. She spent from last Friday to Tuesday at the vet and they got her over it but they never figured out what caused it. Now she is eating like there's no tomorrow and she's drinking a lot as well (I can tell by how wet her litter box is getting). So the whole thing now is to keep her from doing it again. If it was the heat that caused it I want to make sure it doesn't happen again so I'm trying my best to keep her (and our other bunny, who didn't get sick) as cool as possible plus giving her snacks throughout the day to make sure she keeps her gut moving. I can't bring her in because she holds it all day and then when I put her back out in her pen she sits in the litter box for a long time, just peeing and pooping. The vet said it wasn't good for her to be holding it all day so to keep her outside and as cool as possible. We'll be sure to keep up the apples. I'm sorry but I'm not going to go and buy and peel fresh pineapple for her but maybe I could buy the kind they sell that they peel and cut up at the store. The only canned pineapple I've ever bought says no sugar, and has 100% pineapple juice only so I don't know why it would have any more sugar than fresh. Also I'm not going to syringe anything in her unless I have to. That stresses her out more than the heat, I think.
 
ok should I still be worried? She is eating hay at an alarming rate. I filled her hay ball (about a 3" wire ball) at around 6 pm or so. My daughter said she filled it again at around 10 pm (although she is prone to forgetfulness so there is a chance that didn't happen) and at 4 am I went out there and it was empty so I filled it again. Today at 10 am I went out and it was empty AGAIN! During this time she got about a cup of fresh veggies and a handful of picked grass but she has no pellets right now (trying to limit them). Can they overeat hay? It is oxbow timothy hay, not alfalfa.
 
that is great news. I agree I wouldn't want to go threw that again either, and not to mention the bill and the pain you and your bunny went through. Glad that she is better!
 
Both buns have decided they hate the fans. They move away from the ice bottles just to get away from the fan so I quit using them. We are still giving fresh water throughout the day and putting out bottles. The problem now is that our freezer can't keep up with the bottles. They won't freeze all the way. We have 6 two-liter bottles in rotation so there is always some in there freezing while the others are in the pens. We put out one in each pen so even when they're in use, there are 4 in the freezer. Even after 12 hours in there they are still not totally frozen. I'm beginning to worry about what this is doing to our freezer, which has a lot of $$ worth of meat in it.
 
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