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Stasis prevention - any ideas?

lja401

Warren Scout
Hi all,

Our bunny Milly had stasis a few weeks ago and was very poorly and so we wondered if there was anything we could do to help prevent it? We have no idea what caused it but we were away on holiday at the time so perhaps a change in routine?
At the moment she gets an egg cupful of science selective pellets a day, unlimited hay and some mint/basil or celery r pak choi. She does get the odd treat during the week (bit of apple, bit of seed bar). She eats cardboard a lot so bit worried about that not helping! We had to put cardboard tubes out from petshop because she was eating the carpet and chewing the dining table. She also gets to chew on apple and willow twigs.

If you have any ideas I would love to hear them. Thank you x
 
It's when the gut stops, they stop eating due to stress, change, dental pain and sores in mouths, or other illness. Also lack of exercise, poor diet and not drinking enough can slow the gut and lead to problems causing stasis. This is what i've learned from 5 years and fifteen rabbits over this time. I have 8 at the minute. I've lost them due to a variety of things gut issues, ruptured bowel, sudden death with pm showing no cause, tumour, stroke/ec and mucoid enteritis, one died after 2 days of being with us from vhd which he caught in the pet shop after living there for 4 months. Best advice is to look out for early signs as the sooner its treated the better. This can be difficult with prey animals. But tooth grinding, change in activity or appetite are some signs to watch for, even the slightest change could be a sign. The easier it is to spot the more ill they are, i've found they hide it so well until it's serious. I'm no expert but this is what I go by. There is no fool proof way to one hundred percent prevent things. Hope this helps :)
 
Stasis is often a secondary symptom of another underlying issue, the difficult bit is getting to the bottom of what causes it on an individual case-by-case basis. Usually the most common thing to cause stasis is teeth problems (front and/or back) it's a good idea to get a full health check by a rabbit-savvy vet every time you got for the 6 monthly vaccinations to keep an eye on those teeth (you may be doing this already but it may be useful advice to someone else reading this :wave:). From what you're saying it sounds like it could have been brought on by the stress of change, fingers crossed it's a one-off from that and doesn't happen again.

The diet sounds OK but I'm not sure what 'r pak choi' is (sounds chinese?) Please make sure you cut out all the celery strings before feeding it to bunnies as they can choke on celery strings :shock:
 
Bramble leaves are good for bunny guts, as are hawthorn leaves.

My boys get hawthorn leaves every day, and if there is any sign of poops getting smaller they get some bramble leaves to get things going again :)
 
The diet sounds fine to me. Mine eat pak choi and love it!

Only thing I personally would change are the seed bars. I don't let mine have any.
 
My rabbit had bad stasis in May this year. It was after I gave them some apple tree trunk to nibble on. I will never know if it was that or not, but I do wonder. When I gave some apple tree to one of my other bunnies she also had a "funny day".. but recovered without vet help.

I wont give them apple bark anymore, but it might just of been a coincidence.
 
WE have an apple tree in the garden, and our 2 have nearly demolished it sadly (very sadly I was really sad:cry: I'm doing my best to help it recover it's bark)..and anyway they have never got ill with it? They also eat all the leaves and I give them twigs now and then, sounds strange what happened to your buns?
 
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