do you know what the blood tests can detect?
did you find that certain veggies were a problem? what diet changes did you try? unfortunately i really dont think its food related, wish it was that simple. they have the high fibre diet, hay, egg cup of pellets each a day and greens, carrots etc.
i dont really want to do xrays as they will ahve to put her under and that is stressful (for all of us!). Do all vets put a rabbit to sleep to xray it?
thank you
I really do understand how you feel. We felt the same way. Nino had ongoing stasis episodes ever since we adopted him 4 years ago. Sometimes they would go away for nearly a year, and at others they would be recurrent and reoccur almost every weekend or every month, particularly this Spring and in the New Year.
It is all too easy to think that a rabbit is just 'prone' to stasis when in reality this is quite rare and nearly always there is an underlying condition causing ongoing low grade pain or something similar. Like you we were very reluctant indeed to Xray but it just so happened that after one middle of the night emergency vet trip a vet did a conscious abdo Xray. Trying to get to the bottom of the recurrent episodes this Spring our reg vet requested this old Xray after I suggested/asked about stones for example causing pain... because of our bun's strange pain on weeing symptoms - lifting hips strangely and straining. Our reg vet spotted something that looked like very poorly hip joints on this one-off Xray and requested to put Nino under a GA to Xray properly. The problem with conscious Xrays is that you can not position the rabbit correctly for every aspect. They are fine for a quick abdo Xray to check for obstruction/gas but to check jaw and molar tooth roots properly (a common reason for repeat GI stasis) and in our case to position Nino's hips correctly to check the suspected arthritis - a GA was required.
Our vet knew how we felt about this and Nino's 'stress' levels but took every care, even housed Nino with his bonded partner Poppy in an isolation room away from the cats and dogs and gave them a big dog crate. He was ABSOLUTELY FINE during his GA and surprised them all by munching hay in his tray immediately afterwards ( I took all their blankets and litter tray etc with us to the vet for familiarity).
These Xrays were then sent off to an exotic vet for analysis - this was such an important thing we did you know. Nino has a definite diagnosis of early onset Osteoarthritis (he hides his symptoms VERY well - the only symptom was stasis from the pain of his joints). He is on daily NSAID and glucosamine and has not had an episode since.
Whislt this is quite rare in a young rabbit - it demonstrates the importance of investigations and Xrays if your vet thinks necessary. How much more stressful is it for you and your bunny when he keeps getting stasis? Surely no more than having a quick GA and some Xrays taken.
If diet makes no difference - cutting out all starchy/sugary foods (we don't feed pellets at all) then I really would consider further investigations for your own peace of mind and to help you find out what is wrong with your bunny. Good luck x
p.s. I might have been the person suggesting ongoing metclopramide (maxolon) and ranitidine (zantac) because this is what my vet advises for repeat stasis buns - simply because a persistent ileus does not just go away over night and repeat episodes are more likely to be flare ups of the original episode unless you reestablish normal gut motility over a longer period of time with prokinetics if appropriate.
ETA Xrays also showed microabcesses on the kidneys probly due to past EC infection going by blood test result also - may also be contributor - again importance of investigations!