Slippers not eating!

Love your rabbit
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
bunniekrissy

bunniekrissy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Messages
311
Reaction score
0
Location
, California, USA
I had Slippers in to the vet this morning for a follow-up appointment and her eye is doing much better--- barely any discharge anymore and the white spots are diminishing. She's been treated with 1 eye drop per day of Neo-Poly-Dex (antibiotic/steroid drops), and 4 drops per day of Cefazolin and artificial tears mixture. The vet said he got this recommendation from "an expert up at Davis." Not sure if that meant a rabbit expert or an eye problem expert.

BUT ---- over the weekend it seemed the bunnies suddenly stopped eating their pellets. The two are housed together so it is hard to know which bun is the one not eating or both are, but it really seemed like both of them were ignoring it. So I thought maybe something was wrong with the bag of pellets, since they were still eating veggies and treats. I mentioned this to the vet and he said to keep an eye on them but if i haven't seen any stool problems and they are eating veggies fine then it's not necessarily a problem.

However when I got home from the vet I gave the buns their salad and Slippers would not eat anything, even treats. She did eat 1 banana chip treat before we went to the vet and seemed fine then. I went to work and had family members try getting her to eat again several times and she won't. My dad got her to lick up a little bit of Petromalt.

I've read some of the threads on buns not eating, and see you can give them canned pumpkin, benebac and baby gas medicine. Would these still be the way to go even though she has another condition (the eye infection) which may be involved? I'm planning on bringing her to the vet again tomorrow if she still won't eat, but now I'm very worried and leaving work would be very difficult today!
 
So how long ago do you think she last ate? And can you tell when she last pooped and what it looked like?

Not eating leads to the GI tract slowing down (and vice-versa) and that most often leads to gas (and vice-versa), so it she hasn't been eating, yes, the pumpkin and simethicone (gas meds) would be good. (No Petromalt, though).

Has she had any antibiotics given orally or by injection? Or just the eye drops? The meds may be making her lose her appetite.

Sometimes pain (or stress) will make them stop eating as well.

For now, I'd start by waving some well soaked parsley in front of her face. They'll often not want it be they get mad and grab it out of your hand and start munching on it. And it has a soothing effect on the tummy.


sas :clover:
 
I'm glad her eye is looking better. I don't think her eye condition would affect her GI tract, unless she was having eye pain or discomfort and that caused her to not eat. I would definitely put out some pumpkin puree, a dish of pedialyte, and give her some bene-bac and gas meds. Just treat as you would a normal stasis bunny. If you can get some food and fluid into her, try giving her some Metacam as well if you have it (less than 6 mo old is fine).
 
She last ate vegetables yesterday evening around 10 pm, and a banana chip this morning at 8:30 am. For the past 2 weeks she has had only antibiotic eye drops, nothing injected or oral. She was on Baytril orally several weeks ago but we stopped that. I'm afraid I can't tell for sure the status of her poops. I have been looking for anything abnormal and I haven't seen any runny/soft poops or poops strung together with fur. Possibly some a bit smaller than usual. There hasn't been a drastic or noticeable change in the amount of poops appearing in the boxes the two rabbits share, but I can't say for sure that she pooping normally.
 
This has nothing to do with not eating but what I have learned from by own rabbits eye problems is that steroid drops should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

Steroids reduce the ability of the body to fight infection.

I was prescribed steroid drops 1 time with a raging eye infection in a holland lop, however, the vet stressed to only use it only if the chloramphenical salve was not effective and my rabbit's eye had not responded to anything. the chlorampenical salve worked well and I never used the steroid drops
i would bring this up with your vet...
 
Cefazolin is a cepahalosporin which if used as an antibiotic in a rabbit must by given by injection.
I am wondering if she is grooming this drug off her face and ingesting it or if the eyedrops is affecting her appetite.
I assume you have a rabbit knowledgeable vet. ??

Cepahlosporin and penicillin type drugs cannot be ingested orally by rabbits ..wipes out the beneficial bacteria.
I don't know if this is what is going on...just a thought.
 
Oh that is interesting. However, wouldn't it have been affecting her from the time she started the Cefazolin drops, not all of a sudden like this?
 
His name is on the HRS recommended vet list and my friend who works with the local shelter rabbits and has many house rabbits of her own says he is good ... so I hope he knows what he is doing. She could be grooming it off her face... hopefully the Benebac can help with this?
 
It may help with that. I don't know if ingesting a few drops worth will harm her, but it's a possibility.
 
Maybe, Sonicka is also grooming the drug off Slippers face (but not as much) and this is why it originally appeared as if BOTH of them were ignoring the pellets. Sonicka has continued to be very excited about treats, veggies, and hay, but maybe she wouldn't hurt from some Benebac as well.
 
Umm....I would really like to see additional information on this. I am concerned about the use of a steroid in the eye unless a stain was performed. The use of steroids in an eye condition can be a bit tricky if you have an abrasion or ulcer. Steroids suppress the immune system. The idea is to prevent the body from attacking itself (a very simplified explanation). Steroids have in the past been used in head and/or spinal injuries....but now the use of steroids is coming under question. But when used in a corneal abrasion/ulcer, the steroid can inhibit healing and cause scar tissue which will affect vision.

A combination of Tobramycin and Cefazolin has been used to treat corneal ulcers. It isn't a drug I would use...but I doubt the small amount being used would cause GI problems.

And just a thought....but when you have an eye problem followed by decreased appetite....I would be doing someskull x-rays and be looking for possible dental and/or jawissues. Maybe a round or two of an anti-inflammatory (Metacam) might cause some improvement and give some direction to treatment. Just a thought.

Randy
 
Thank you for the information, Randy. No stain was performed; she has been only getting 1 drop per day of the steroid-containing drop, but I'll discontinue it now. It's good to know that the cefazolin eye drop should be ok, even it is not normally a drug of choice. It does seem to be working against the infection. Slippers is about 4 years old if that makes any difference. I hope she has no tooth/jaw issues but that is something to have checked out. Thanks again.
 
Slippers' stomach seemed normal this morning and quite bloated tonight. I got the BeneBac, Simethicone, Pedialyte, and pumpkin puree.

I gave her a dose of benebac (the box said 1 tube per 5 lbs, it was broken up into a bunch of dose-sized tubes, but how often do I give her one of these?)

I gave her 1 CC of simethicone. Again, how often do I repeat doses?

I tried to force feed her some pumpkin puree, but she spit most of it out.

She is not looking very good, and she grunts when I pick her up as if her tummy hurts.

I'm off to the store to pick up some more veggies ... totally forgot when I was there earlier to buy the other treatments!
 
Just for a conversation point.....I prefer either Gentamicin or Chloramphenicol drops for ocular infections....again depending on the exact cause. I use these as support if the ocular issue is secondary to a dental or respiratory issue.

Randy
 
Simethicone can be given 1cc every hour for the first 3 hrs. Try some tummy massages between, and/or a ride on top of the washing machine during a spin cycle. These break up the gas bubbles. I would give half a tube of Bene-Bac at a time daily until she's feeling better. I prefer to get it in the big syringe form that has gradations on the plunger so you can give 1gram at a time, but each tube should contain 2 g, I think...

I think force-feeding water/pedialyte is more important than food at this point.

Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top