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Can anyone help to clear up a mystery?

Marreline

Warren Scout
Hi there,

I'm stuck with a problem that has been going on for about 6 months now.

You may recall previous posts about my rabbits Stew and Dumpling. Periodically they stop eating upon which I rush them to the vet, they have a painkiller and recovery food and are back to normal within 2 hours or so. Each bun has been affected in this way 3 or 4 times since they first started going free range in March. Not only is it expensive (least of my worries, just want well, happy bunnies), but it must be traumatic for the buns and I live in fear every time I get them up in the morning in case one is pressing his/her tum and refusing food.

Dumpling is the lastest to be affected but this time it is much, much worse. She is currently in the pet hospital - we took her in last night. When I took her in she was disgnosed with gut stasis and the vet said she was in a critical condition. Couldn't believe it. She's only just started to allow the nurses to syringe feed her and she has pooed a little so I'm hoping and praying she's on the mend. They did her a dental this afternoon in case it was her teeth but found only minor spurs so the vet is pretty sure we have yet to find the root of the problem.

So what could the root of the problem be??????

I'm wondering if it is the fact they get to run free range. I have very few plants and have checked them all to see that they are all on the safe list.

Could it be ...too much grass...tanalised wood fencing (they have chewed a hole in one slat)...too much of a 'safe' plant?

Any advice from owners of free range bunnies would be welcomed. I'm so worried and confused.

I have got to get this sorted as I cannot bare for the buns to have to go through this again.

:cry:
 
There is someone else on this forum who had problems with recurrent stasis in their bunnies one after the other, and it turned out to be as a result of e.cuniculi infection. It's not a symptom well written about, but certainly seemed to be the case with hers. I will pm her the link to this thread in case she thinks it sounds similar and has anything to add.

I do hope you manage to get to the bottom of things, it must be so worrying for you xx
 
Thanks for linking me to this thread, Santa. :) It was me who had the bunnies with stasis problems caused by E Cuniculi. I will cast my mind back and tell you their story (sadly they are no longer with us - I lost the last one last November :().

First let me say before I get carried away with my story (!) how much I can empathise with your worry having this happen time and time again. I can honestly say I have never known such stress as these bunnies caused - particularly when I didn't know what was causing it, and was constantly turning over the possibilities in my mind.

My two bunnies were females and about 18 months old when I got them. They looked virtually identical, so were presumably sisters. They were in good health, apart from the usual thing where they'd been fed all the wrong things, were fat etc! I had them spayed two months later, then about 2 days later the first one went into stasis. Then about 12 days later the other went into stasis.

This then kept happening for a period of about 10 months. There were several trips to emergency vets and, whilst one was worse than the other, often one would go into stasis, then a few days to a fortnight later the other would. I finally flipped after being told 'it's just one of those things' one time too often by a vet, as they seemed no closer to actually finding out the cause. I went to see a different vet, and almost my first words were 'it must be something contagious!!!'

One of his first thoughts was the possibility of it being E Cuniculi causing the problem, despite them having none of the traditional symptoms of active EC infection, due to it appearing to have a contagious element to it all. The one who went into stasis most often at that point was then tested for EC, which showed a high exposure level to it. They were both then treated with Panacur.

Unfortunately, a fair amount of internal damage had clearly been done by the active infection, so their guts became progressively more sensitive to any level of dried food or fresh, and eventually both had to be put to sleep (at different times - one outlived the other by 6 months - strangely, it was the one who was tested for EC and had originally been worse who outlived the other). I also found that I had to treat them with Panacur fairly regularly, as the infection did keep returning. However, I didn't realise at the start that my disinfectant (Virkon) didn't kill EC spores - you need bleach for that. Things might have been different if I'd (a) discovered the infection sooner, and (b) disinfected with bleach properly etc - hindsight is a wonderful thing.

There is also someone on here who had an almost identical experience with bunnies, EC and stasis, but she no longer seems to post. I was quite relieved at the time to find that it wasn't just me!! I seem to remember her vet was quite surprised to find that her bunnies responded to Panacur, despite them not having the traditional symptoms of EC, just like mine.

To summarise, the things I found most helpful were:

(a) Panacur to treat the EC - I'd recommend going via the vet and discussing it, considering testing etc, although you can actually buy Panacur yourself (it's non prescription). I used to find that Panacur worked amazingly fast - within 24-36 hours they'd be bouncing around full of health.

(b) Long-term Metacam - This isn't something that was started straight away, but both bunnies ended up on long-term Metacam. This is another reason why it's best to go through a vet for all these investigations; if it is E Cuniculi causing the problems, it's often not just a case of treating with Panacur, as there could be inflammation and damage caused by the infection.

(c) reducing the non-hay element to the food right down. Both ended up on a hay-only diet, and that was definitely life-extending. I should have done it sooner with the one who died first, and I think it was the hay-only diet, along with the next thing on my list (!) that extended the other's life by a further 6 months.

Some people with bunnies with frequent stasis have found that throwing out the rule book and giving a bunny a small amount of muesli mix is better than pellets, but mine were never actually keen on muesli, so I just reduced the pellets right down and eventually to none.

(d) peppermint tea: I started giving just 1 ml of cooled peppermint tea twice a day, which really helped. I also gave it more often during an acute attack. I discovered it when I was just about to call the vet for an appointment to get one of them put to sleep after not responding to any of the usual meds, and decided to give peppermint tea as a last resort. Half an hour later the bun was pooing. :)

Apologies if this is long and waffly. Please let me know if you need more info - am very happy to help.
 
Do they have the same routine each day or does it vary? Although this like grass and safe plants shouldn't cause harm they can if fed suddenly in quantity.

For example, think about a wild rabbit, although the plants available change according to the time of year this happens gradually. The richness or spring grass developes over weeks not one day to the next.

If your rabbits only freerange at weekend, for example, then it's very much like someone suddenly giving their rabbit a pile of veg they've never eaten and can cause problems.
 
Can anyone help to clear up a mystery? UPDATE **

Thank you so very much for your responses and excellent advice. I'm overwhelmed that you took the time to help xxx

Update on Dumpling's condition - we finally got her home today after two nights in the hospital. She's looking very sorry for herself but that's to be expected I suppose. So thrilled to have her back. Love her dearly.

Now I am going to have to address this recurrent problem once and for all!!! Your advice gave me real food for thought and an excellent starting point. I will certainly speak to a vet asap.

Just to answer a few of your queries - my rabbits are related (brother and sister) but the thing that makes me doubt the likelihood of genetic issues is the fact that my friend has the other brother from the litter and she has not had a single problem with him. Not one! She also has the mother who is very healthy. My friend's rabbits have a very similar set up to Stew and Dumps but the big difference is they don't get any free range time at all. My rabbits have free range time every day at the same time for about 3 hours. I have checked out the plants and am sure they are safe but cannot vouch for any that they may be sneaking through the fence from next door so now watch them like a hawk.

As for the possibility of a predator, I don't think so. I lock the rabbits in the hutch over night and cover it with carpet and canvas, held in place by bricks. I've never seen any evidence of disturbance.

I'm very interested in the information on EC. Sarah, thank you so much for all your advice. I'm so sorry to hear about your own rabbits. :cry:I am going to look into this straight away.

xxxxx
 
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