Slippers not eating!

[Maureen Las]

You can give the simethicone about 1 cc every hour x 3 doses. ..then best wait until tomorrow in Am. You can give 1 whole little benebac tube; some buns like it but mine despise it so they need to be held to squirt it into their mouths.
You can also get some pedialyte to give by syringe for elcetrolytes and fluid.

Pineapple juice squeazed from a fresh pineapple has helped my buns who were molting and starting to have gut slowldown . you can give a few ccs at a time or mix a few ccs with pedialyte or water.

and you can very gently massage the tummy area or try to get the bun moving around to dispel the gas. Some folks hold their buns on the washing machine during the spin cycle to have the vibration help move the gas bubbles(I personally have never done this ..too afraid of scaring them) but others have been successful.
if Slippers seems uncomfortable you can place rice in a sock and heat in the microwave until it is warm with the heat distributed evenly and not hot spots. Slippers may want to lie next to it.
I believe that she should go back to the vet tomorrow if not better ; but do everything that you can before you go because sometimes (a lot of times) we can help the bun pull out of this ourselves

 

[Maureen Las]

I did not see Claire's post so I repeated ... it is hard to give a whole tube of benebac at once so go with her suggestion

 

[bunniekrissy]

I gave her a few CCs of pedialyte, I'll try some more in a bit.

She sure hated the Benebac... I gave some to Sonicka too since for some reason she seems to be ignoring the pellets as well as I said... but she still does not seem sick and is eating plenty of of other things. They both had the most violent reaction to the Benebac of any med I've administered ... it must be pretty yucky stuff!

Thank you so much for the dosage info!

It has been a while since I've had to bring a bun in to a vet for a digestive issue. The last time was over 10 years ago and the vet was not familiar with bunnies. So what is the proper thing for the vet to do to treat this problem, beyond what we can do at home? I'm curious about what to expect.

 

[Maureen Las]

the vet will x-ray the stomach and intestines to see if there is a blockage of any kind . they can visualize on xrays whether their is activity in the abdominal area / sometimes the stomach will be full and nothing will seem to be moving through.

Some vets will give subqutaneous fluids for hydration and electrolytes.; he
may give you criitical care ( but you canalso get that elsewhere)for feeding purposes.
if the diagnosis is stasis he will most likely you instruct you to syringe feed the bunny; some vets will give gut motility drugs which is a controverial topic on this forum.
I am still wondering if the meds have anything to do with this...I guess because it is mainly affecting Slipper at this time...

Some vets will will use a substance to bind toxins in the intestines( Questran) as rabbits wilth stasis build up a lot of destructive bacteria quickly
Randy is currently using a prodiuts called the biosponge for bacterial gut infections in young cottontail rabbits. he has had good success with it so far but it is really marketed for the equine community but apparently it is extremely useful for rabbits.

the vet may also do something that I am not aware of but right now i just listed some of the things that my vet has done with my rabbits.

Some vets will check whether the rabbit has a fever.

that is somethingI believe that we need to teach owners on this forum soon.

monitor your bun closely; I really hope that the simethicone helps with the bloat.

 

[bunniekrissy]

The vet did take Slippers' temp this morning and said it was normal (at that point).

I gave her the 3 doses of simethicone, and she ate 1 sprig of parsley by herself. I can see now that she is pooping, but very small, hard pieces.

I worry that Sonicka may have something wrong as well ... it's very strange that she won't eat the pellets, either. She did eat a lot of veggies this morning since I gave them extra and Slippers did not eat her share. It seems so unlikely, though, that both would have GI stasis at once! I haven't seen any normal sized poops from Sonicka since I changed the boxes this evening.

 

[tonyshuman]

How are the girls today? I'm glad you got some poops last night.

It's possible that the trip to the vets, along with the stress of one of them having an eye problem, caused them some stress and thus a GI slowdown. Another possibility is tooth issues--some bunnies will stop eating one kind of food when they have painful molar spurs, although they usually seem to stop eating hay before they stop eating pellets.

 

[bunniekrissy]

This morning all the veggies I gave them were gone and a very small amounts of the pellets had been eaten. Both bunnies took banana treats. Slippers ate a few pieces of parsley, and Sonicka was eating some parsley also. After I gave Slippers some simethicone and pedialyte by syringe, she doesn't seem interested in eating anything else.

Now, the confusing part is, I found a fair amount of poops this morning, some very small and misshapen and others pretty much normal, but they look too small to belong to Sonicka. A while after I got up I found several fresh poops that looked more like Sonicka's size and were a different color than all the others. So this could mean Sonicka is barely pooping and has something going on too, (and Slippers is getting better) or else I'm crazy and the smaller normal ones are Sonicka's.

I'm giving them both simethicone and some fluids. My husband is going to give them some of these while I'm at work since his grad school classes are at night. I called the vet and they basically said "it's up to you, it's good that they are eating something" as to whether I should bring either or both of them in. I don't want to stress them unnecessarily by taking them to the vet and probably leaving them there all day if they are going to get better with the treatment I can give them at home.

 

[tonyshuman]

It sounds good that they're eating. It can take quite a while for appetite and poo to return to normal after a slowdown. It's probable that both were having small poos and normal poos. I'd keep up the simethicone (at least 1mL/day) and pedialyte for both until they seem better. I don't think the vet could do a lot more for them at this point--all he could do is give sub-q's, maybe force-feed or give motility drugs, which i don't think are needed now.

I don't think it's necessary to force feed unless they aren't eating on their own, but forcing to drink is fine in my book. If you find that they only want to eat veggies, you can soak them for a little while in water to increase the water content of the veggies. They lose a bit of nutrients that way, but they can really hydrate a bunny well. Just keeping up with the gas meds, some probiotic daily, and fluids should bring them back to normal.

good luck!

 

[bunniekrissy]

Thanks for all of the advice

 

[bunniekrissy]

I brought Slippers to the vet this morning and they are keeping her for the day while I'm at work. Yesterday evening she was lethargic and would not eat, finally she ate 2 or 3 pieces of lettuce late in the evening, but this morning she refused any food including treats.

Unfortunately, the only vet available to see her when I brought her in to the office was the one who I know to have limited knowledge of rabbits. However, he prescribed Reglan and she'll be monitored, medicated, given critical care, and offered vegetables during the day.

Her eye also looked a lot worse. It seems to start getting very runny when she is nervous, such as from the car ride and being in a strange place. I asked about Chloramphenical and he said sure, we can try that.

The good news is I stopped by home after leaving Slippers and found that Sonicka had pooped normally (and continues to eat veggies/treats) so at least she seems fine!

 

[tonyshuman]

Did they give her some sub-q fluids? That's very helpful for bunnies in stasis, much more so than gut motility drugs like reglan. In fact, we kind of worry a bit about the gut motility drugs doing harm in some cases. However, if they're keeping a close eye on her it should be ok. I'm glad they're open to trying a different eye drop. Let's hope that this constant monitoring at the vets is what Slippers needs to get through this!
ray:
Glad Sonicka is doing much better, though.

 

[bunniekrissy]

I'll call and ask them to give sub-q fluids. I'm not sure if they were planning on it or not. I remember seeing mentioned that gut motility drugs are controversial, but if they can get things moving I'll be happy... this whole thing started so many days ago it's getting very worrisome. At least she has been eating small amounts here and there.

*edit* The receptionist passed on the message to give her sub-q fluids if they haven't already.

 

[bunniekrissy]

I picked Slippers up around 5 pm today. The vet gave her sub-q fluids, reglan, and chloramphenicol eye salve. They said she ate a handful of greens during the day, but did NOT poop.

Vet prescribed Metacam to use as needed, more Reglan doses, and the Chloramphenicol eye stuff to apply twice per day. Her eyes did not like that stuff at all. The fur around her eyes is very wet and she is squinting them.

A bit ago she ate 1 sprig of parsley and I think she started pooping very teeny tiny bits... which is more encouraging than nothing. They fell off of her bottom when I picked her up.

I'm giving both buns water by syringe.

Is the simethicone OK in combination with the other meds?

 

[Maureen Las]

Use the simethicone if her tummy feels hard; you don't have to use it continuously.

Chloraphenical ointment worked for my rabbit who had been on 3-4 different eye drops or salves; it doesn't mean it is the correct drug for your rabbit's eye. if your rabbit's eye looks worse then let your vet know. it was the only drug that wassensitive to the particular bacteria in my rabbits eye but your rabbit may need another eye med. Do not get chloramphenical on your own skin when you give it. it can have a very serious side-effect on some humans if it gets on their skin and is absorbed. it can cause irresversible destruction of bone marrow
Now don't freak out just be careful.. I wore throwaway plastic glove when I used it or else made sure it didn't get on my hands and /or washed my hands thoroughly after using it.

it is safe if precautions are taken with it.

Ihope that Slipper improves soon ..

 

[tonyshuman]

Simethicone isn't actually taken into the body--it stays in the "ingesta" aka whatever liquid stuff is in the intestines. For that reason, it's usually very well tolerated, because it doesn't get into the blood where it can interact with other organs and cause side effects, and it can be used in combination with many other meds.

Have you tried some Pedialye? It has a small amount of sugar, plus electrolytes that really help with re-hydration. I gave it to my guys for a day when I was a bit concerned about their hairy poos, and when I came home from work I saw some of the biggest bunny poops I've ever seen!

 

[bunniekrissy]

I did use Pedialyte yesterday and before, if that is better I will keep using it. I just wasn't sure if continued use might be bad with the sugar and other ingredients.

Slippers ate some more parsley last night and this morning she was chasing Sonicka around grabbing the carrot she was eating and ate a little bit. She didn't touch the lettuce though.

This morning, in the pen I found various normal-looking and much too small poops.

Her eyes looked normal again this morning, the bad one even seemed to have no discharge that I could detect. They started tearing again as soon as I applied the ointment though. Should I be concerned that she is having a bad reaction to the medication or does this sound normal? (Thank you, angie for the warning about chloramphenicol!)When I asked the vet office about her wet face they just said it was from the meds and were not worried.

 

[tonyshuman]

Pedialyte has a lot less sugar than something like gatorade, so it usually doesn't upset the GI bacteria. The electrolytes also help a lot.

I don't know about the medicine--it should make her eyes improve within a couple of days at the very least--if they're no better after 3-4 days I'd reasses the antibiotic.

 

[bunniekrissy]

Well, her eye did look much better from the infection standpoint, the runniness in reaction to the meds looks much different. The discharge I was seeing yesterday morning was very milky, this is just clear.

Thanks!

 

[Maureen Las]

It sounds like she is just beginning to come out of her stasis problem so you want to continue treating her with fluids and gas meds (if necessary) until she is completely over it...
sometimes it takes days for a rabbit's GI tract to normalize

 

[bunniekrissy]

Slippers seems no better tonight. I am continuing the fluids, Benebac and Reglan. She's been nibbling the past few days but not reliably. I have not seen her eat anything this evening, and very little this morning. I just syringe-fed her some pumpkin puree since I want to make sure she gets SOMETHING in. I really can't tell if she is pooping or not today :-/ I didn't see any that I could definitively attribute to her :-(