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GI information needed

K

karen1980

Mama Doe
Hi,

I lost another Bunny last night to GI statis.:cry:

I spoke to the foster lady on Monday b/c the bunny wasnt himself. She said as long as he's eating he'll be fine.
well my boyfriend got home from work last night and he'd deteriortated so he took him to the vet.
The vet said his bowels were static and then mentioned good bugs and bad baugs and said he has pneumonia.(I wasnt at the vets this is what my bf told me)
Now Ive keep them all warm and covered so I dont really believe this although he was finding it hard to breathe but I think that was his body shutting down.

He sadly went to rainbow bridge at the vets.

I spoke to the foster lady after and she scorned me for taking hinm to the vets and said that you cant help them and there's no point taking them to the vets.

I need as much info on this as possible and im going to try to buy a stethascope so i can hear their bellies properly.

Im stuck b/c ultimately im only looking after them and she's paying the bills.

Im sure there's stuff you can do to help the bunny to try to recover.
I cant believe that there's nothing that can be done.

Please help me.
 
I'm sorry to hear you lost a bunny to GI stasis, that's heartbreaking.

Did the vet give him any painkillers or gut motility drugs? These are essential if a rabbit is in stasis. Also, did the vet mention syringe feeding?

The foster lady is wrong, yes- rabbits do die from GI stasis BUT if it is caught early enough, it can often be treated.

Here's a link from the RWA regarding GI Stasis: http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rwf/articles/gi_stasis_pet.htm

I'm slightly confused on the pneumonia though. The vet said he had this as well?
 
Yes he did say he had that too as he wasnt breathing properly in the afternoon but he was fine in the morning.

I know statis comes with stress, illness and diet but his diet was unchanged and he gets exercised and he wasnt subjected to anymore stress than usual.

I feel really bad and very sad. Bungle dies of this exactly a month ago.

I begining to wonder if i should be having bunnies at all :cry:
 
I'm sorry to hear your bad news:cry:

I'm no expert and brand new to bunnies but my Thomas is recovering from Stasis (fingers crossed still). He is proof that something can be done so I have to disagree with your lady. Think I read somewhere that Stasis can occur if the bunny has another medical problem, maybe this is what is happening? Maybe the pneomonia brought on the stasis?

As I say i'm no expert, so please somebody put me right if i'm wrong
 
Did both the rabbits come from the same place originally i.e. "foster woman"? If so, I wonder if there is an underlying problem with their care while they were at her place? I can't understand why she would criticise you for getting vetinary help:shock: You did the right thing, don't blame yourself.
 
Yes they all came from the same original owner and the same foster lady.

I feel awful. Im not much of a temporary home when all I seem to be doing is burying them in my garden.

Ive got a house bun (on signature) and she's always been good so I dont think its that im a bad owner? surely? i care and try so hard with them.
 
I doubt it's because you are a bad owner.

Were the rabbits from the same litter? I adopted a bunny, Floss, at 5 months old and she died from GI stasis which was probably caused by an underlying genetic problem. Her only sister died of the same problem 3 days later, even though she was got to a vet quicker. Strangely, all the brothers survived.
 
You completely did the right thing going to the Vet, can't believe anyone who cared about rabbits would think otherwise :censored: . Even if nothing can be done the rabbits can be made comfortable with pain relief. And that is worth all the money in the world. So sorry for your loss xx
 
My bunnies have both had stasis loads of times (I can't even count how many), so the idea that nothing can be done for them is absolute rubbish - in fact, I've never heard anything so daft! :shock:

And, as others have said, why on earth would anyone criticise a person for going to the vet? :?
 
What an uncaring carer she is!! I think you did exactly the right thing and I think you are a very caring bunny owner! She should be grateful that she has got you and that you care so much that you WILL take them to the vets when you think they need it.

It must be so sad to lose a bun and I'm so sorry you had to go through this but take comfort in that you did everything you could.
 
It is very worrying when this fosterer is giving out this kind of information. The best thing you could have done was take your rabbit to the vet. Don't beat yourself about what happened as you did all the right stuff.
 
Have you considered that an underlying problem may be present as GI stasis is often a symptom of another illness.

Have you investifated options such as Coccidia or Enteritis for example?

Just an idea.
 
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