Won't eat, drink, or poop..help

[snowbunnies]

Hi everyone. One of my rabbit hasn't been himself for the past few days. He has been molting and I am afraid he has eaten too much hair and is now having trouble pooping. He last pooped yesterday and it was very pearly and strung together. I'm most worried about him not drinking water or eating today. I have an appointment to see the vet first thing in the morning. Should I take him to emergency or is it safe to wait until tomorrow? Thanks!

 

[Imbrium]

Emergency vet. In addition to dehydration concerns, if a rabbit goes 8-12+ hours without eating and/or pooping, it's a medical emergency. A rabbit's digestive tract needs to be moving constantly. Your rabbit sounds like he's suffering from GI stasis (a hairball being a likely cause), which can be deadly if not treated aggressively.

The vet needs to give you a pain medication like metacam or meloxicam for him and a motility drug (something that stimulates his gut to move). The vet may also give sub-q fluids if your rabbit is dehydrated. Ask if they sell critical care and if so, get some (see if they can give you a larger, needleless syringe; 6-10cc is a good size).

 

[Imbrium]

Here's a copy/paste of my generic GI stasis "at home" recommendations, should you ever experience a similar problem in the future but catch it earlier. I can not stress enough that your rabbit is too far into GI stasis for at-home remedies and absolutely must be taken to an emergency vet tonight. The at-home remedies are only viable before you've reached the 8-12+ hours without eating/pooping mark. I recommend reading this tonight once you're home from the emergency vet, as the notes about syringe-feeding (and possibly about making a pellet slurry, should the e-vet not stock Critical Care) will almost certainly be relevant/helpful to you in getting your bunny healthy again.

You can buy a syringe at any grocery store. If you have critical care food (comes from vets), you can syringe feed that. If you don't, you can make a pellet slurry - take some pellets and add water or pedialyte; microwave. Let sit for 5-10 mins so the pellets can "fluff", then mix together (breaking up the pellets as much as possible); add more liquid if needed to get it to a good pudding-like consistency for syringe feeding (using a food processor (before adding liquid to the pellets), a blender or a mortar and pestle (again, before adding liquid) will make it easier to break up the pellets). Critical care will work with a syringe as-is but with the DIY slurry, you may find it necessary to cut the tip of the syringe off to make the opening larger.

You can also offer a little bit of canned pumpkin (PLAIN stuff, not the pie filling kind) and/or some fruit or squash flavored baby food... not a whole lot, as these foods are sugary - maybe 2 tsp or so. If he won't eat the pumpkin on his own, you'll need to water it down with water or pedialyte in order to easily syringe feed it. These things could also be mixed into the pellet slurry or critical care to make it tastier.

You should syringe water or pedialite if you're worried he might not be drinking enough and/or if you're feeding pellet slurry/critical care.

When you syringe feed a rabbit food or liquids, you want to aim for the gap between his front incisors and back molars and always squirt the food/liquid in sideways - never straight back - to make sure he won't accidentally inhale it. Remember to give him time to chew/swallow. I find it easier (especially with liquids) to have the bunny wrapped in a towel, as things can get pretty messy.

Here's a great video showing how to syringe feed - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGZVYVm5Bg

You can also offer pain meds to make your bunny more comfortable - metacam/meloxicam if you have it (bunny painkillers); baby aspirin or low-dose aspirin if you don't. This website has dosing info for pain meds - http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

Simethicone (any brand of over the counter baby gas medicine) can also be given. it may or may not help depending on the cause of the GI stasis, but it's *incredibly* safe for rabbits so it definitely can't hurt. You can give 1-2 cc every hour for 3h, then 1 cc every 3-8h as needed if it seems to be helping.

Probiotics are also very helpful for tummy troubles (stuff like benebac/probios) - you can sometimes find them at pet stores or feed stores; failing that you can buy them online. Do NOT give yogurt w/probiotics, as rabbits are lactose intolerant, plus the extra sugars can make stasis worse.

Mind you, the above at-home remedies are NOT a replacement for taking the bunny to a rabbit-savvy vet to figure out the underlying cause of the GI stasis! If your bunny regains (and maintains) his normal appetite within half a day or so, you can skip the vet trip but if you continue having to force-feed him, a vet is a must.

here's a good listing of rabbit-savvy vets - http://rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=9

 

[Imbrium]

Oh, and if you have a choice, get the apple-banana critical care - a lot of bunnies won't eat the anise flavored stuff

 

[snowbunnies]

I took him to the vet asap and he had a couple of issues. His tummy was "gummy and hard" so they gave him medicine for that as well as a shot of fluids. He has a broken tooth that looked infected so he is taking antibiotics for that as well as a pain medication. Poor little guy has a lot of things to take for the next 10 days. However, he is drinking water and eating now so hopefully his tummy will be back to normal soon. As far as his teeth are concerned, what usually happens for dental issues concerning bunnies? They want to take xrays but I am not sure if that is necessary. Let me know the different options that are available. Can a rabbit survive with bad teeth?

 

[FreezeNkody]

Vet vet vet!!

 

[JBun]

I think it really just depends on what they see in the xrays. If the tooth is loose, if there's infected bone, or the antibiotics can't get the infection cleared up, the tooth may need to be removed. If there isn't anything wrong with the tooth and the antibiotics clear up the infection, then the tooth shouldn't need removal. But xrays really are important so the vet can see what is really going on in there, but you probably have to wait til your rabbit is doing well and the digestive problem is all cleared up, before the xrays can be done.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

 

[Imbrium]

I'm glad you were able to get him to the vet and that he's hopefully on the mend now! Did the vet give you probiotics? If not, I highly recommend them - they should be given when an animal is on antibiotics (and can help with digestive issues in general). Some pet stores and feed stores sell them and sometimes vets carry them.

If your vet wants to do x-rays, I would let them - as JBun said, x-rays are very important in helping your vet determine what's going on with his teeth so they can use the best treatments. Rabbits can live a good life even with tooth problems, though they can sometimes be higher maintenance (ie require routine treatment). It's quite possible that it was his teeth that led to the stasis rather than the fact that he's been molting (especially if you've been brushing him 1-2x daily during the molt).

 

[snowbunnies]

Hi everyone! So the vet gave me the following medication:
Sulfatrim 1.25 lm twice daily, Metacam 0.27 ml once per day, Cisapride 0.1 ml three times per day.
Today has been his 2nd day getting the medicine, and I have noticed he is eating and drinking sparingly but his poop is now really runny like diarrhea. Is this normal after taking medications? I have never seen his poop like this before and I am hoping his condition isn't getting worse. Thank you for your support.

 

[Imbrium]

Sulfatrim could be the culprit, as antibiotics can be very harsh and cause side-effects (hence my recommendation of giving a probiotic as well - the probiotics prevent the antibiotics from upsetting an animal's system).

Very runny poop/true diarrhea is extremely rare in rabbits, though, and can be extremely dangerous. If the vet is still open, I would call them ASAP to tell them about the diarrhea and find out what they think you need to do about it (he may or may not need to go back in)... if they're not, an e-vet might be necessary (take all of his medications with you if you go to an e-vet). I wouldn't try to home-treat for it.

 

[JBun]

If your rabbits poop is true watery diarrhea, you need to get him back to the vet immediately! If it is soft and mushy, call your vet. It's likely your rabbit isn't responding well to that antibiotic and may need some probiotics as well as a different antibiotic. Soft mushy poop, and sometimes some mucous in the poop, can also happen after a rabbit has had stasis and not been pooping, so it's also possible this is the cause and not the antibiotics. You'll want to discuss all of this with your vet.

 

[snowbunnies]

Hi! Hopcotch is now in recovery. Yesterday he got x rays and he had tooth disease pretty bad on his right side. The vet pulled 2 teeth and shaved the rest down. Hopefully this will end his pain and he can have a full recovery. I am still giving him his medications for his tummy and pain as well as an antibiotic. No wonder he wasn't feeling well Any advice as to how to get him to start eat more hay? He has never liked it and I keep putting it in his cage hoping he will eat it. He nibbles it but never fully eats it. Thanks for your support.

 

[JBun]

I'm so glad the vet caught that! Hopefully he'll recover quickly.

Depending on how long his tooth problems have been going on, it's possible that the tooth issues could have something to do with the not eating hay. So now that that's been fixed, you may see a pick up in his hay eating.

If it doesn't have to do with his dental issues, he could just be picky. Have you tried different varieties of hay? How is his hay given to him(loose or in a hay rack)? What else does he get fed? If he gets a lot of pellets each day, that can cause a rabbit to not eat very much hay? Do you feed limited pellets, and if so how much do you feed each day, how long does it take for him to finish them off, and about how much does he weigh?