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Lets talk GI STASIS ...

Julia123

Warren Veteran
Stasis - my understanding is immobility in the gut which causes discomfort, anorexia and lack of faecal pellets.

I wanted to start a discussion and experience feed on stasis. I've tried to find out what I can about this horrible illness and as far as I can gather its symptomatic of another underlying cause and its finding this cause which is the key.

I lost my boy Gabriel, I don't know what the cause was but the symptoms which alerted me to his illness were that of stasis - in hunched in pain, not eating and an imobile gut.

My girl Nushka has just had a bout of stasis and has pulled through thank goodness.

It seems the treatment of the stasis is the first point of call and depends greatly on whether there is undigested mass in the gut or not.

I'd like to explore two points

1) The treatment and varying opinions
2) How to find the underlying condition

1) Gabriel had faecal matter in his gut and so I was advised to syringe just water until this has passed - Nushka had gas and so I was advised to syringe watery recovery, Gabriel was given metaclop & metacam and later Baytril when his temp rose, Nushka was given all three at onset. Due to the gas I gave Nushka Infacol also (vet had no knowledge of this treatment). Both instances lasted only 48 hours and two very different outcomes. Is there a definative treatment?????

2) The condition, it seems until the onset further symptoms do not appear and once they do (or don't) relate to the underlying cause - Gabriel's temp rose and Nushka's remained stable. Could it be that Gabriel had a pre-existing condition that I saw no sign of and was the onset of stasis the worsening of it? How can I ensure I find what has caused it in Nushka??

I'm so frustrated at not knowing what brings it on, my vet thinks it is stress related in Nushka as both times she has suffered she has had a change in routine - first when she fought with Daisy and had to be separated and on her own, second when I returned from a 5 day break where my neighbour was looking after them - but what if she has an underlying illness - how will I know?

This may appear a big ramble but I'm really interested in hearing your experiences - maybe we can find some answers???

Jx
 
When my bunny had statis. I took him to the vet as he was floppy and not eatting or pooing and the vet gave him a shot of something to bring his tempeture down and to combat any shock he might be in. We were told to give him critical care rabbit food and sirnige water into him.

However we couldn't keep him on the critical rabbit care food as gizmo has stomach trouble and can't eat alfa alfa so we had to soak down his food [high fibre food] and feed him that. He had a couple days were we thought we were loosing him but luckly he pulled through.

The vet said it could have been stress as they couldn't find anything else wrong with him :? but never knew for sure. Maybe it is just one of those things.... i think sometimes shock or stress can cause it and if caught early enough can be treated.... but if there is a underlying health problem then maybe that is when the outlook isn't so good.... [not sure though only thinking out loud :? ]
 
Bunnie went into stasis 5 times in all

The first time we experienced it there were signs hers where always

First - Reduction of hay eating to the point of stopping
second - She would it her normal poos
third - she would stop eating the pellet which at this point stasis of the gut was happening she may or may not depending on how far gone be hunched up, bit cold at if really far gone the grinding of the teeth due to the pain.


Her first time when we found her in a bad way in the morning it was off to the vet hosiptal for the diagnosis where she would be admitted for

Painkiller, fluids, gut stimulant,syringe feed and anti's.

In 3 days she was back home.

After knowing the signs once she slwoed on the hay and would eat normal poops it was off to the vet for examination, painkiller gut stimulant and avipro plus in the water. the 3 times we caught it early this was enough to keep her away from been really poorly with the stopping of the gut.


Bunnie's tummy could not tolerate fruit or veg or too much pellet and I mean anymore than 15 pellets for brekkie and dinner and it made her have poo blowouts.

Once we stopped all veg and fruit she went without any gut problems for a year until in April she showed the signs of getting poorly which i acted on and got her better for only a month later her to be runnign around and perfectly happy and eating too 3 & a 1/2 hours later being hunched up and not interested in any food only cuddles, her big fibrous poos not in the litter tray which told me something was wrong before even setting eyes on her where she was behind the sofa. Off to the vet hospital, she had a blockage and 12 hours later at 06:45 on Sunday May 3rd she sadly passed away:cry::cry:

The vet who treated her from since she was a baby said she must just have one of those tums that she will always be effected by, yes there could of been something wrong inside but obviously could not find out whilst alive.

When she passed yes it would of been nice to know if there was something wrong inside with her tum that she and us were battling against but we didn't want our baby girl being opened up:(

We always knew one day her poorly tum would finally give up and she would be too tired to go on, and that she would ok to leave us to go to the bridge as she had been loved and spoilt for almost 4 years and knew it was her time to go:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

I think that a buns tum and the occurence of stasis or bloat will always sometimes for no apparent reason or cause just be one of those unknown mystery things that happens and makes them poorly and sometimes takes them away from us

Our vet reckons that Bunnie did have an underlying problem if not just a delicate tum, as even when she was no longer on veg or fruit and no more than a total of 30 oxbow bunny basics T pellets a day she would occasionaly start her steps towards stasis or just bang straight to stasis:cry:


He thinks that some buns get a indigestion type thing that sets the ball rolling:(

I know though that at the moment for some the silent killer that is gi stasis is happening alot at the moment as Sue at Southampton rabbit rescue has had this occuring alot in the past 3 months and at the vets that she works at and the bun people she knows are also having alot of buns going down or being taken away due to it:cry:
 
I expect you have already seen this but its a good article on GI Stasis

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

There are numerous possible causes of stasis-a diet too high in carbohydrates and too low in fibre, Dental problems, obesity, pain from any other condition eg a Urinary Tract infection, stress, poor water intake, lack of exercise............

Treatment for stasis would depend on specific findings at examination.
Ongoing pain relief being of vital importance
Gut motility meds -Metoclopromide- are contraindicated if the Rabbit has a suspected obstruction.

Syringe feeding an obstructed or bloated Rabbit could result in a fatality :cry:

Fluids are another essential and my Vet allows me to have the necessary equipment at home to do IVs or Subcutaneous fluids.

Another med that me and my Vet have found to be very useful in the treatment of GI stasis is Ranitidine (AKA Zantac) It is an anti GI Ulcer med but it also has the added benefit of increasing the rate of gastric emptying.

Whether to give abx or not would depend entirely on the specific case you and your Vet are dealing with.

So there is not a 'one size fits all' treatment.

What really pees me off is that some Vets still fail to give appropriate analgesia to a Rabbit with GI stasis.......................
 
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Autum was rushed in on Fri with what I suspected to be bloat. Again no apparent cause but vet suspects something to of stressed her. She had fluids, two injections of pain killer (different ones) and I was advised to syringe feed. I was also given Zantac as Jane mentioned.

She is still on the Zantac twice daily and Metacam once a day. She is bright and perky, now eating on her own but stomach is still pretty distended. i have her under close observation.
 
IMO, Krempels GI stasis has to be the best article ever written on the subject. In my experience, PROPER ANALGESIA, and supportive sub q fluids, are THE most important initial therapies, until a full assessment of the gut is made.
 
IMO, Krempels GI stasis has to be the best article ever written on the subject. In my experience, PROPER ANALGESIA, and supportive sub q fluids, are THE most important initial therapies, until a full assessment of the gut is made.

100% in agreement with this
 
Sadly, as many of us have discovered, you wont find a definitive answer because there simply isnt one. As Jane pointed out, it is important to realise that there are 2 main categories of stasis - 1 where there is a problem within the gut, such as bloat, low fibre, obstruction etc and 2 where stasis is secondary to another problem, such as stress, infection, pain from another source etc.

It is important to know which you are dealing with as there are some differences in treatment e.g. whether or not to give Abx and if syringe feeding will be beneficial or harmful. The first type can probably be avoided/prevented/reduced by good diet and husbandry, whereas the second is much harder to predict or control. But i think you are right in that there may be certains rabbits, or breeds of rabbit, that are more prone to stasis or have some inherent susceptibility we are yet to identify.

i dont know if thats helpful to you, especially after losing a rabbit to stasis, but we are all in the same situation and we can only be vigilant and proactive and hope each time that we can get them through it.
 
GI Stasis

My Hunny Bunny has dental problems, every time he goes into stasis. Sometimes before the dental and always after. This last episode I found him in the hutch with a soaked chin. So Gave him the meds which I have at home, syringe fed him, every three hours as much as he could take! Just happened to be a Sunday so waited until Monday for Op.
Hoping this time he wouldn't be in the vets as long (usually 4 days with stasis) This time even though I thought I was quick and on top of things with meds and feeding he spent 5 days in the vets before he pooped!!
Its getting longer and longer his recovery time, regardless of if he is in stasis before he goes in or not!

Unfortunately that's just my Hunny Bunny!
 
My Hunny Bunny has dental problems, every time he goes into stasis. Sometimes before the dental and always after. This last episode I found him in the hutch with a soaked chin. So Gave him the meds which I have at home, syringe fed him, every three hours as much as he could take! Just happened to be a Sunday so waited until Monday for Op.
Hoping this time he wouldn't be in the vets as long (usually 4 days with stasis) This time even though I thought I was quick and on top of things with meds and feeding he spent 5 days in the vets before he pooped!!
Its getting longer and longer his recovery time, regardless of if he is in stasis before he goes in or not!

Unfortunately that's just my Hunny Bunny!

It might be worth weighing your bunny on a very regular basis and send him for a dental as soon as he starts losing weight, rather than wait until a set date or until he is already in stasis. This way you would catch things much earlier and your bunny would have a dental when he is still well, increasing the chances of a quick recovery. :)

Vera
 
Thanks but even when I have booked him in before any problems he usually spends 4 days in the vets with stasis.

The first time he had an op (neutered) he came home and wouldn't eat or poop for 2 days then. (6 months old) now his 4 and it takes twice as long to recover.

I do monitor him looking for signs but even his weight stays stable!
 
100% in agreement with this

The whole one or two drops of Metacam, SID, thing drives me to distraction. As I sit writing this, I KNOW, there are rabbits in pain, who, may have seen a vet, but have probably been underprescribed analgesia.
Getting any rabbit out of immediate shock, with pain relief, and non oral fluids, buys you the time to properly investigate the problem, and treat correctly.
 
Are you talking specifically about for treatment of GI Stasis? Or is a couple of drops not enough generally?

I was talking pain relief generally. I've never been entirely sure what a drop is, but I know I wouldn't be happy with half an aspirin if I was in pain. Drops, are not the measurement I use for oral analgesia.
 
I was talking pain relief generally. I've never been entirely sure what a drop is, but I know I wouldn't be happy with half an aspirin if I was in pain. Drops, are not the measurement I use for oral analgesia.

I agree......................again !!
 
I agree......................again !!

Can't be bad. :)
But if it concerns you.....I firmly believe that if you sit rabbits down, and give them the birds and bees talk, and stress that incest is only practised in the Appalachians, the vast majority of unplanned litters will be avoided.;)
 
I was talking pain relief generally. I've never been entirely sure what a drop is, but I know I wouldn't be happy with half an aspirin if I was in pain. Drops, are not the measurement I use for oral analgesia.

My vet prescribed 0.2ml of metacam for Nush and she weighs 2.46 kg, the other vet at the practice did the whole 2 drop thing - left me very confused with the two different doses. Also the vet who prescribed the 0.2ml gave her an additional anaelgesic injection too.... think I know which vet I will be asking for if there is a choice!

Edit - a drop from my bottle can't be more than 0.05ml - Its dog Metacam btw - dose is different for others.
 
I wish that we could stop using the term "stasis" cos it's about as meaningful as "tummy ache" in people. I know it means long medical words, but we know exactly what we are talking about when we use them.

I would describe Thumper's probs:-
a)"dysbiosis" - wrong bacteria in caecum - causing slow down of the colon. ( Cause- Diet - couldn't get him to eat hay, & resorted to wildie food of apple tree bark/ hawthorn leaves/blackthorn leaves to get in fiber in addition to grass & stopped all starch/fruit/sugars.) He's now had his grass stopped.
b) mechanical block of the large bowel - colon [obstruction] by poops strung together with fur & getting tangled up in a ball. [these pass normally if the gut is working properly. he's managed a 9 bead necklace no probs!]

The symptoms of the 2 probs are quite different.

The underlying cause of both is molar spikes which make it painful to eat or drink although he's no sores,& also prevent the side to side grinding motion of chewing.

There are other things which will tip the balance for him e.g. heat/dehydration/pain/ fear (cat or fox scratching round the door) & GP vets but not GWR vet! (possibly smells) are a few.

What do you feel a special posting for the diagnosis & cause of these gut probs & trying to persuade a vet school to do further research? It's just so awful for our buns & us to struggle with it. I feel we may be missing something, cos lots of buns seem to have gut probs at the same time. "Cottontails Rescue" at Westbury Wilts had an "epidemic " of "stasis" which started with a new arrival - suspicious of an infection problem.
 
Thanks but even when I have booked him in before any problems he usually spends 4 days in the vets with stasis.

The first time he had an op (neutered) he came home and wouldn't eat or poop for 2 days then. (6 months old) now his 4 and it takes twice as long to recover.

I do monitor him looking for signs but even his weight stays stable!

I'm so sorry Hunny bunny has these probs. Does his partner go in with him?
 
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