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When does stasis warrant a vet visit? // UPDATE! =)

sidereus7

sidereus7

Mama Doe
What is the breaking point for stasis? When do you give in and go to the vet?

I think I've read a million posts on here about stasis, but when Milo didn't eat this morning, my brain went into panic mode. :( He won't touch his pellets, which he normally scoffs, but he will eat leaf lettuce. No interest in fresh hay, and his poos were getting smaller and smaller until they've now stopped altogether. Now, all he wants to do is scrunch up in front of the heater in what I call "meatloaf" position, or "duck on the water".

My question isn't about Milo specifically, but any advice would be helpful if you have it.

Here's a photo of Milo for inspiration:

IMG_0559-1.jpg


"Leave me alone, Mommy! Critter Care is yucky and I love the heater!!"

(Side note: Critical Care is disgusting! I wondered why he wouldn't eat it till I tried it myself this morning. :lol:)
 
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He is :love: and :lol: at you trying the critical care, your braver than me

To be honest if it was one of mine I would go to the vets at the first sign of no eating or pooping. I know people do things at home to encourage this but I wouldn't trust myself and would rather go to the vets too early than too late x
 
When Bugys wouldn't eat her breakfast one Sunday morning I rushed her to the emergency vets (an hour away). I offered her pellets and all kinds of treats she was having none of it.

I called the vets within 30 mins of being up and left straight away, I couldn't wait and had no previous experience of this.

I don't know if this was right but if it happened now would still ring my vets straight away for advice.
 
What is the breaking point for stasis? When do you give in and go to the vet?
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For me, as soon as I've realised he's not eating and I've tried everything I can to get him to eat. (So, maybe a couple of hours from noticing.) For some reason, Muppet has tended to be ill in the evening: I'd rather not go to the vets in the middle of the night and I cant leave it ALL night so I might as well just go!!

The last couple of times he refused his tea, I must've caught him in the early stages, since a combination of infacol, a run round the garden (in the dark and rain...) and tempting him with anything I can possibly think of that he doesnt normally get often but loves (oats, banana, grape) has worked.

BUT I think it all depends on if you know WHY your rabbit has gone into stasis. It could be an obstruction - would you know? I'm only willing to try these things with Muppet because I *think* it's hair in his stomach and it's happened before. I wouldnt try 'home remedies' for longer than an hour or so, because the sooner he's better the better :D
 
If they stop eating and pooing that would be my trigger to go to the vet. However it's always hard for me to tell as they live in pairs and don't generally like to eat in front of me except for the treats.
 
To me it would depend a lot on your knowledge of the rabbit and if they are prone to digestive upsets.

When I took Artie to an emergency appointment recently the vet said that 19/20 rabbits they see for 'not eating' they don't know what caused it and it sorts itself out with medication and nursing. It's the 1/20 you have to watch for and in the vet's words, "If you leave it too long you can easily end up with a dead rabbit." ie in this case it isn't just a digestive upset but that is the symptom you see and there's an underlying condition that needs treating. He also said the sooner they see them the better chance they have of saving them. All too often they have a very sick rabbit they try to save and if they had had them in 24 hours earlier the chance of them surviving would be much greater :cry::cry:

So for me if the rabbit isn't known for digestive upsets I get them to the vets pretty much immediately (especially if I suspect bloat), if they are prone to stasis/bloat and don't seem in agony I nurse them for an hour or two to see if I can relieve the symptoms. If they are blatently in pain I always treat it as an emergency.
 
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i cant explain it really... before i had home treatment i would panic within hours and get him sorted asap.. quite a few emergency vets trips weve had..

now i have home treatment i think i would be brave enough not to use an emergancy vets but in saying that the time he was hospitalised overnight he had no fight in him at all so thats my trigger now..

ive seen him fiesty and in stasis for a week where he needed a daily visit and the vets were the ones telling me fiesty buns dont die :oops: and ive seen him all given up where he needed really strong drugs and a drip which i cant do at home.

i think anything that lasts more than 5 hours needs checking out, just maybe not at emergancy prices if i have the same treatment they would use anyhows... i dont know what im supposed to feel for so id need a vet to tell me the tummy feels right and its not the teeth causing issues :D

Pearl who never ever goes on hunger strike would be at the vets within the hour.. i cant give her medication thats been prescribed for alvin so id never self medicate her unless the vet ok'd it first
 
With me it depends on the bun, if it is Gus or Sweetpea they are straight down the vets at the first sign of not eating, where as Poppy occasionally goes off her food for a few hours, and I can tell the difference between that and when she is in real pain...

If in doubt I would always always err on the side of caution and see a vet, plus is is difficult to tell what is causing the problem so whatever treatment you try at home may not be appropriate
 
Yeah, knowing the bun seems to be very important. Milo rarely goes off his food, whereas Eddison will leave it from time to time. Also, Milo's poos are normally big and golden, and I was amazed how quickly they went small and black.

But also, I did a thorough cleaning of their cages last night. Milo was banished to the living room for a couple hours, so maybe that stressed him out? It's so hard to tell what causes these things sometimes. :(

He's still eating lettuce, so I guess that's part of my breaking point. If he's still eating, I'd rather not chance stressing him out more with a trip in the car and a strange lady poking him.

Oy, rabbits are going to drive me to the mad house! :(
 
I don't think it's common for people to treat stasis at home. It's gas, or the early signs that a bun *might* be going into stasis that can sometimes be treated. Stasis means that the guts have shut down, which needs pretty radical treatment if the bun is to survive.
 
abbymarysmokey said:
I don't think it's common for people to treat stasis at home. It's gas, or the early signs that a bun *might* be going into stasis that can sometimes be treated. Stasis means that the guts have shut down, which needs pretty radical treatment if the bun is to survive.
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your right its too dangerous to go it alone, its only Alvin i would ever treat at home and not for more than a night without a vet and thats at the vets suggestion, he said him being fiesty is possibly why he took so long to recover last time, they suggested neuturing even tho hes been done :oops::oops:

i really beleive they need the fluids injection if they go too long without food and i cant do that so i would need to go the vets just for that anyhows
 
From a section in my When Your Rabbit Needs Special Care, it says:

Rabbits have a number of stomach and intestinal problems; unfortunately the recent trend is to lump them all under the term "GI Stasis". This is a terribly inaccurate term and should not be used in any educated discussion of rabbit intestinal disease. The original term "Gastric Stasis" was coined for one specific gut problem, that of slowed stomach contractions and blockage (the classic "hairball" disease). Even here, "gastric stasis" was a poor description, as "stasis" means a complete lack of movement. Rabbit "hairballs" involve slowed stomach emptying, but complete shutdown only occurs in the most severe cases. Many cases are still eating and producing small amounts of stools until the disease is advanced.
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All I mean to say with that is that there are many forms of "stasis". There's intestinal dysbiosis, severe and non-obstructive gastrointestinal hypomotility, and acute bloat and blockages. If we can tell the difference, is there still a cause to take them to the vets if you can treat it at home?

For example, I would definitely take a rabbit to the vet with bloat, whereas non-obstructive stasis, I might give a try. (Quiet environment, forced run-arounds, flavor the water, tempt with nice herbs, tummy rubs, Critical Care, etc...)

So I guess I'm asking, is there a way to tell the difference? And if so, which of these would you feel comfortable treating at home?
 
sidereus7 said:
From a section in my When Your Rabbit Needs Special Care, it says:



All I mean to say with that is that there are many forms of "stasis". There's intestinal dysbiosis, severe and non-obstructive gastrointestinal hypomotility, and acute bloat and blockages. If we can tell the difference, is there still a cause to take them to the vets if you can treat it at home?

For example, I would definitely take a rabbit to the vet with bloat, whereas non-obstructive stasis, I might give a try. (Quiet environment, forced run-arounds, flavor the water, tempt with nice herbs, tummy rubs, Critical Care, etc...)

So I guess I'm asking, is there a way to tell the difference? And if so, which of these would you feel comfortable treating at home?
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I wouldn't trust myself to be able to tell the difference, but I have no experience of stasis myself so it would be best for me to see my vet. The furthest I would go myself at home would be encouraging them to eat, basically if they were refusing to eat anything I would go straight to the vet because I would be too scared to hang on a bit longer x
 
:wave: this happened to us lastnight with our boy Shauny, we gave him tummy rubs and made him run around (it broke my heart), but he did perk up and start eating again:D.

I wouldnt have left it any longer than we did though (i was already on the phone to the vets when he did perk up).
 
AFAIK there is no way of telling whether there is an obstruction without further tests, i.e. an x-ray.

Often stasis is secondary to another ailment, and won't be resolved unless the primary illness is treated
 
abbymarysmokey said:
AFAIK there is no way of telling whether there is an obstruction without further tests, i.e. an x-ray.

Often stasis is secondary to another ailment, and won't be resolved unless the primary illness is treated
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But if you have a strong idea of what the primary cause is, would you treat it yourself?

I've only dealt with stasis a handful of times. One time, Eddison got back from his neuter and wouldn't eat or drinking anything. I did call my vet that time, but as she had told me the surgery went perfectly, I knew it was stress that was causing it. Some alone time in a dark room, plus handfed veggies, perked him up in a few hours.

Or what if you recently changed the rabbit's diet, and you know that it's gut dysbiosis? Would you give Fibreplex and put the bunny back to a hay only diet as long as they were still eating?

A vet has knowledge and equipment. If I have all the equipment and a pretty strong knowledge of the particular situation, I'm just saying that I might be tempted to try a few things before seeing the vet.

But still, not eating or drinking or pooing for a few hours would have me rushing down there.
 
Well done Milo!:D:D

Personally I will treat the very early stages i.e as soon as I notice something is wrong,like the way they are lying/not eating/pressing tummy to floor etc, I will do infacol/tummy rubs/exercise,

If there's no improvement within the hour I will repeat the same.

By the second hour my hand will be twitching over the cisipride, but I make myself wait another half hour or so, then I use cisipride and pain relief.

I'll give that an hour,and if that doesn't work I book a vets appointment for within the next few hours.

I've had several incidents of early stages that the above has worked for, and a couple that I've not even hesitated 5 mins over before phoning the vets.
I think it depends on the rabbit and how the symptoms present themselves.
 
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