Kentmonkey
New Kit
Hi all
First post on the forum and I'm afraid it's not a happy one.
My rabbit (male lionhead) is 5 years old and appears to be suffering from GI Stasis.
First signs were Wednesday night, when I went to get him out of his run to put him back in his hutch and noticed 4-5 small brown puddles on the floor, no bigger than 5p pieces (in some cases smaller). I dipped kitchen roll into them and it smelt a bit 'pooey'. We decided to get him in for the night so we could observe him in his indoor cage.
He was very playful, running around with his newspaper in his mouth that he loves to do and enjoying lots of cuddles. He was extremely active but hadn't produced any poos. Upon reflection and checking his outdoor cage, he hadn't pood that much for about 3-4 days previously. Didn't appear to stop completely until Wednesday though.
The next day he stopped eating and he was due for his Mxy jab but my wife told the vets that he wasn't eating and that he hadn't pood and so they didn't give him his Mxy jab and they gave us some liquid Zantac to syringe into his mouth. Still no poos and no wees since Wednesday.
Friday he was no better, still not eating and no poos, but we did get one wee out of him. The vets wanted him back, so he had a painkilling injection, some gut motility injection, more Zantac (from us) and Critical Care food to syringe into his mouth (2ml's every two-three hours, from 14:00-23:00) and we had to administer another painkiller by mouth in the evening.
Saturday another trip to the vets and another gut motiility injection, as well as another painkilling injection. They told us to syringe 2ml of Critical Care into him every hour, which we've been doing (actually more like every 1.5 hours).
When we returned on Saturday, bunny started to eat some Hay, although no grass or pellet food that he normally enjoys. For the first time in days, he took his raising as well (we give him 3 every night before bed as a treat, as he loves them. He's so funny when he hears the box being rattled, he runs around going loopy. However, whilst he ate them, there wasn't the normal excitement). He also weed, which was really good news. Still no poos though. We also gave him a painkiller by mouth last night and we've added Pro-Biotic to his water (he's still drinking, not loads but we've got a medium sized water bottle and he's drinking about 1/5 of that a day which is about normal). They said that we really needed poos within the next 24 hours and they wanted to hear from us on Monday as if it hasn't improved by then, they would like to do an x-ray.
When he was at the vets, she felt his adbomen and said that she could feel a slight lump, but whether that was a blockage, build-up or possibly worse (tumor) she didn't know at that stage.
Today we've had a wee, but still no poos. We've kept up with the painkiller (2 a day) and Zantac and up until lunchtime with the Critical Care by mouth every hour, but we've decided to stop the Critical Care as he gets extremely stressed with it and I'm not sure that's going to help. Are we right to have done that? The vets said every hour but I'm concerned that with that amount of food being forced in and no poos coming out, it will cause problems.
Behaviour-wise he's not too bad. He's not right, that's for certain, as he's not eating and he's off his raisins. However he's got plenty of fight in him when he's having the Critical Care syringed and we've put him outside today in his run and he's lopping about, sniffing things, digging a bit etc. Not running around with his paper like he usually does (we tear a strip off and he puts it in his mouth, chucks it over his eyes and runs around in circles with it for hours. No idea why he enjoys it so much but he's done this for years now and it amuses us and everyone else) and he's laying more perhaps than he usually does, but then I think he's got the hump with all of the vet visits and the syringes in the mouth.
One thing is he's always had a watery right eye. The vet opp'd on it a couple of years ago but it never improved. However the past 24 hours it's omitting a very milky almost gluey substance that we clean every 2-3 hours, usually it just needs it once a day and isn't as thick and milky as this.
He only has one front tooth (the vet broke the other one when snipping it about a year ago as it had become overgrown) but he's always got by fine with that. It is a little long, but the vet isn't concerned that it's too long, and whilst his mollars are a little large, they're not large enough to be causing a problem (just larger than ideal).
I massaged his belly earlier and I could feel air moving around, and there were a few gurgles. He also appears to pick up whenever we get him back from the vets (both days he's improved after the painkiller/gut motility injection).
Any advice on how to get him going? Whether stopping this hourly intake of syringed food is a good idea (we were instead planning on giving him two more to keep up his strength, one more at tea-time and another before bed, whilst continuing with the Zantac and painkilling).
Apologies for the long post, I just wanted to give as much info as possible and I appreciate anybody who has read this far. I'm really concerned for him, we both love him to bits and he was a great source of strength to me when I had to have time off for an operation a few years ago. He was my source of friendship during the day for nearly three months, and I knew this day would come one day, but it's still not easy to take and I'm so concerned we're going to lose him.
First post on the forum and I'm afraid it's not a happy one.
My rabbit (male lionhead) is 5 years old and appears to be suffering from GI Stasis.
First signs were Wednesday night, when I went to get him out of his run to put him back in his hutch and noticed 4-5 small brown puddles on the floor, no bigger than 5p pieces (in some cases smaller). I dipped kitchen roll into them and it smelt a bit 'pooey'. We decided to get him in for the night so we could observe him in his indoor cage.
He was very playful, running around with his newspaper in his mouth that he loves to do and enjoying lots of cuddles. He was extremely active but hadn't produced any poos. Upon reflection and checking his outdoor cage, he hadn't pood that much for about 3-4 days previously. Didn't appear to stop completely until Wednesday though.
The next day he stopped eating and he was due for his Mxy jab but my wife told the vets that he wasn't eating and that he hadn't pood and so they didn't give him his Mxy jab and they gave us some liquid Zantac to syringe into his mouth. Still no poos and no wees since Wednesday.
Friday he was no better, still not eating and no poos, but we did get one wee out of him. The vets wanted him back, so he had a painkilling injection, some gut motility injection, more Zantac (from us) and Critical Care food to syringe into his mouth (2ml's every two-three hours, from 14:00-23:00) and we had to administer another painkiller by mouth in the evening.
Saturday another trip to the vets and another gut motiility injection, as well as another painkilling injection. They told us to syringe 2ml of Critical Care into him every hour, which we've been doing (actually more like every 1.5 hours).
When we returned on Saturday, bunny started to eat some Hay, although no grass or pellet food that he normally enjoys. For the first time in days, he took his raising as well (we give him 3 every night before bed as a treat, as he loves them. He's so funny when he hears the box being rattled, he runs around going loopy. However, whilst he ate them, there wasn't the normal excitement). He also weed, which was really good news. Still no poos though. We also gave him a painkiller by mouth last night and we've added Pro-Biotic to his water (he's still drinking, not loads but we've got a medium sized water bottle and he's drinking about 1/5 of that a day which is about normal). They said that we really needed poos within the next 24 hours and they wanted to hear from us on Monday as if it hasn't improved by then, they would like to do an x-ray.
When he was at the vets, she felt his adbomen and said that she could feel a slight lump, but whether that was a blockage, build-up or possibly worse (tumor) she didn't know at that stage.
Today we've had a wee, but still no poos. We've kept up with the painkiller (2 a day) and Zantac and up until lunchtime with the Critical Care by mouth every hour, but we've decided to stop the Critical Care as he gets extremely stressed with it and I'm not sure that's going to help. Are we right to have done that? The vets said every hour but I'm concerned that with that amount of food being forced in and no poos coming out, it will cause problems.
Behaviour-wise he's not too bad. He's not right, that's for certain, as he's not eating and he's off his raisins. However he's got plenty of fight in him when he's having the Critical Care syringed and we've put him outside today in his run and he's lopping about, sniffing things, digging a bit etc. Not running around with his paper like he usually does (we tear a strip off and he puts it in his mouth, chucks it over his eyes and runs around in circles with it for hours. No idea why he enjoys it so much but he's done this for years now and it amuses us and everyone else) and he's laying more perhaps than he usually does, but then I think he's got the hump with all of the vet visits and the syringes in the mouth.
One thing is he's always had a watery right eye. The vet opp'd on it a couple of years ago but it never improved. However the past 24 hours it's omitting a very milky almost gluey substance that we clean every 2-3 hours, usually it just needs it once a day and isn't as thick and milky as this.
He only has one front tooth (the vet broke the other one when snipping it about a year ago as it had become overgrown) but he's always got by fine with that. It is a little long, but the vet isn't concerned that it's too long, and whilst his mollars are a little large, they're not large enough to be causing a problem (just larger than ideal).
I massaged his belly earlier and I could feel air moving around, and there were a few gurgles. He also appears to pick up whenever we get him back from the vets (both days he's improved after the painkiller/gut motility injection).
Any advice on how to get him going? Whether stopping this hourly intake of syringed food is a good idea (we were instead planning on giving him two more to keep up his strength, one more at tea-time and another before bed, whilst continuing with the Zantac and painkilling).
Apologies for the long post, I just wanted to give as much info as possible and I appreciate anybody who has read this far. I'm really concerned for him, we both love him to bits and he was a great source of strength to me when I had to have time off for an operation a few years ago. He was my source of friendship during the day for nearly three months, and I knew this day would come one day, but it's still not easy to take and I'm so concerned we're going to lose him.