GI Statis Recovery?

Hi everyone,

Peter is looking a little better and he has pooed this morning again, but I did need to take him back to the vet for additional gut stimulant. I have a number of drugs at home now and he has had a small amount of hay but still seems distressed. I have used Infacol and liquid feed. I have pushed him around his run and tried everything.

I read that Kale was good for rabbits in this condition so he has had come of that too. The vet said I could also try grass. What do you think?

I know exercise is key so he has had a 15 min run around the garden...he started off excited and then lay down to rest. He is not back in his run (off the grass of course as I was told too much grass was a bad thing).

I am doing everything I can but am I being impatient? Its been three days now and whilst I have seen inprovement he is still in pain at times and grinds his teeth. I have pain relief but I know this can also affect their stomachs so I have been giving him one third, am, pm and eve.

Can I do anything else? What can I feed him at this stage? He has hay (but he's not too keen on this) and dry pellets, kale and a small amount of grass.

Any advise would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Catherine and Peter

Are you giving Metacam? And what dosage? Sounds like the cause of this stasis needs to be investigated, if it isn't already. Your bunny shouldn't be in pain for such a long time. Hope you get to the bottom of things (so to speak!) soon.

Yes I am giving him metacam. I was told 1.5ml per day so he has had 0.5 so far and at 1pm I will give him some more. He has perked up since going for a run (his run is over 6 ft long but he only really gets excited when out in the garden). He just ate some pellets and had another small poo.

He seems lathargic. Is that normal or do rabbits normally perk up within hours after a bout of GI Statis?
Thanks

It does take a while, but to be honest, I would give him 0.15 ml at once of Metacam. That's not a hugely high dose, and should help the pain. In my view, the 0.05 ml wouldn't help much at all. I would therefore give the next 0.1 asap. What did the vet suggest?

Is the bunny drinking OK? That's what seems to make them perk up most, in my experience.

yes he is drinking ok- in fact he is drinking well and has done throughout the episode. He is looking a little better but I am worried to bits!

The vet has been really good and has called me everyday to give me advise. What else can I offer him to eat?

Are greens out of the question? Am I restricted to anything? Obviously I would not offer any fruit or anythiing high in frucose but I wondered what other people offer their rabbits?
Thanks
Catherine

But did the vet recommend the 3 separate staged doses of Metacam? It's not something my vet has ever recommended. I think that's the main priority, to be honest - resolving the pain.

When mine have had it, I normally try them with something strongly flavoured, that they love like parsley or coriander.

ok thanks I am on the parsley- can they eat anything? i.e. in their condition are they restricted to only certain veg? I just gave him another dose of painkiller and yes the vet said that 3 stages would be good. I will try one large dose tomorrow.
thanks

I wouldn't go for anything potentially 'gassy', eg. cabbage, broccoli, greens etc, or high in sugars (eg carrots). Personally, I would stick to the strongly flavoured herbs, and in small amounts.

Good luck!!

Mine will most readily eat carrot tops and Dandelion leaves when in stasis.
I think most regular greens that you feed are fine to give in stasis and the most important thing is to make sure that they are eating something regularily.
I know stasis can be over in hours and have seen this several times, but some cases it takes days and others even longer. I have a bun now(she's an EC bun) that has had a long bout of stasis-nearly 2 weeks now, but she has finally come around. My vet started her on another course of panacur a few days ago, and that seemingly has perked her up soon after, so I am thinking that maybe my bun had pinworms or some other additional parasite that panacur kills, that causes GI upset :?

I would stay awy from the gassy vegs too, and feed the softer greens and herbs. The other thing about the greens, is that they seem to really want them extra fresh, for some reason when in stasis, so I keep a window gardens of herbs growing all year around, just for this.

Do you know why he went into stasis? Maybe there is some underlying cause which is causing him the pain and so making him not want to eat. Did the vet check his teeth? Maybe his mouth could be hurting a bit? My bun had to be treated yesterday with painkillers and gut stimulants, he is eating hay fine, but I couldn't get the recovery food in his mouth yesterday and he wasn't that enthused by the few pellets that I offered him this morning. Its good that your bun is drinking, I had to syringe mine water before he went to the vets yesterday as when he stops eating he won't drink either. I hope he perks up soon, like carasblanco said, each bun is different and will recover at different speeds.

oops double post

Yes, I agree about the freshness thing - I once tried to give a bunny in stasis some parsley from a bag, which she wouldn't take, but she went mad for some parsley from a pot!

Ok thanks everyone. He is eating a little and I will be patient with him. I will also try and look into the other prospect of him having those worms. Fingers crossed that he will pull round and be ok. He is going to the toilet more now. I guess that is good. He just seems really miserable.

Just a thought, I usually keep some of the hay experts orchard grass in for emergencies, as each time Alfred has been ill, he has turned his nose up at normal hay (which he would usually wolf down).

The other thing he really loves is the herbal garden by rosewood, that seems to tempt him too.

Hope he gets well soon...

Ax