Chloé, 7 years old, 2nd stasis in the year !

:wave: Hello everyone, after a long absence due to family problems and no internet, just to say that Chloé had a 2nd stasis with no apparent reason this fall. As I knew the symptoms, I took her to the vet straight away and he re-hydrated her and kept her for 10 days at the clinic. The first one occurred beginning 2009.

It happened so suddenly : she was ok and next day, down with no poo at all or just 2 or 3 tiny dry grey drops, and of course she was annorexic.

Upon return from the clinic although the vet and his team said she was eating and pooing ok, it took her a week to settle down again : she kept sleeping, indifferent to everything, and ate very little. So I gave her a lot of green leaves, vegetables and mountains of hay (as I did before, and it still occurred !) and gradually she was more reactive and eating OK and her poos got larger and darker.

The more hay they eat, the biggest and healthiest the poos are : very hydrated ! I was released because of her age was afraid she passed away this time. But with good care at the clinic and home, she got over it !!


That is to say slowed down transit can lead to stasis with no sign nor illness and needs immediate veterinary's attention.

I am sorry to hear that Chloe has been poorly again. But it's good news that she recovered thanks to you making sure she received prompt Veterinary care xx

Thank you Jack's-Jane ! When it happens once, you are in the watch for abnormal or lack of poos, it's so distressing to see them suffer

I'm so relieved for you both that she recovered.
I agree with you completely about plenty of fiber & hay in the diet to help to keep the gut moving naturally.
Yes, when we've a bunny with stasis problems I think all of us become obsessed with their poops. I'm sure that early treatment saves lives here. Well done for getting Chloe to the vet so quickly. :thumb:

Martine said:

Thank you Jack's-Jane ! When it happens once, you are in the watch for abnormal or lack of poos, it's so distressing to see them suffer

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I know exactly what you mean. You allways have a watchfull eye after something like this happens.

These things could happen for no reason at all.
I had it with my bun Kismo. Now I know his stumic is working, but not as fast as it should. So I have to spread his food more along the day. This works really good for him.
But my other bun, Keltya has had multiple times digestion-problems. I sat down with the vet and talked about all things that could cause these problems. But we came to the conclusion, that everything I did was good, so it wasn't a caring problem. I still don't know what causes it with him, for he has had it a few times now. I did also change diets but that doesn't help at all. So I just keep a watchfull eye on him, for we still don't know what causes it.

Thank you very much all for your nice words and concerns ! I can undertstand how someone not aware of this does not take immediate action, because it is happening so unexpectedly, and scientists have not found the real causes yet (pain, stress, lack of veg food/hay, water etc etc) no-one really knows. My vet told me they had to hospitalize one rabbit who has stasis twice a year, his owner knew it would happen and was on the alert !
This rabbit in spite of this dangerous problem died of natural causes at the respectable age of 11 years 1/2 ! once they survive and they're out of danger, it's ok but sometimes it can get months before they recover fully. The first time it took 3 months for Chloé to recover : her poos had long shape like rats' and all other kind of shapes ; I touch wood this time was quicker till next time !!!

It's lovely to hear from you in Europe. Please forgive us when we speak colloquial English!

There are several bunnies on the forum who are prone to stasis. They are almost all different. Pretty Lupin's Nino has advanced arthritis at a young age & has bloat from pain. Donnamt's Alvin is deaf, & has high cortisol levels from stress. He's done remarkably well since changing diet. Giantbunnymummy's Daisy has megacolon. Weedug's Floppy has a mobile patella causing pain. My Thumper has a combination of a gradual loss of nerves to the gut & toxins made by bacteria in the caecum.

Several of us have returned to the way we kept rabbits 50 years ago, by adding wild plants & tree leaves to their diet rather than human veg.
You may find threads with the words "Foraging" (Gathering plants from the countryside) or "Wild plants" interesting if rather long reading.

Thank you Thumps, it's nice of you ! I try to understand colloquial..:lol:

It's true what you are saying about wild plants and so on, closer to natural diet than what we give but difficult to get when you live in a city where choice is rather limited. Compared to a decade ago, we can now correct the diet and make it as nearest as possible to a "strict herbivore" diet as it should be. Industrial food had proven disaster in shortening the lives of millions of domestic rabbits in terms of health disorders due to cereals, sugar, fat incorporated in pellets of earlier decades. The House Rabbit Society has really changed the world of rabbits owners thru the net, and I am thankful to them for that.

I'm therefore pleased to see that the life ratio for rabbits is increasing at a fantastic rate, thanks to scientific studies of the specy, veterinarian medicine improvements, new technologies in surgery, sterilisation, food and needs improvements etc.. We now get more and more rabbits over 7 years, which was not the case 10 years ago !

Martine said:

Thank you Thumps, it's nice of you ! I try to understand colloquial..:lol:

It's true what you are saying about wild plants and so on, closer to natural diet than what we give but difficult to get when you live in a city where choice is rather limited. Compared to a decade ago, we can now correct the diet and make it as nearest as possible to a "strict herbivore" diet as it should be. Industrial food had proven disaster in shortening the lives of millions of domestic rabbits in terms of health disorders due to cereals, sugar, fat incorporated in pellets of earlier decades. The House Rabbit Society has really changed the world of rabbits owners thru the net, and I am thankful to them for that.

I'm therefore pleased to see that the life ratio for rabbits is increasing at a fantastic rate, thanks to scientific studies of the specy, veterinarian medicine improvements, new technologies in surgery, sterilisation, food and needs improvements etc.. We now get more and more rabbits over 7 years, which was not the case 10 years ago !

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:wave:Those are sweet words to my ears Martine.
My childhood rabbit was a chincilla breed, & lived to be 13. Our rabbits had large home made hutches & constant access to their runs (minimum length 4 meters x2 meters). There was no vet care at all, even neutering, so sadly they were single buns. There was no such thing as rabbit pellets! 10 was a common age for a rabbit, 50 years ago.
My childhood left me convinced that rabbits need to run around & only eat plants!

I am very aware of the difficulties people have in cities. In England old churchyards or cemetaries are useful places to get plants in cities, as are the courses of old railways now converted to bicycle tracks or pedestrian walks.
The most useful & common bushes for rabbits with stasis problems are hawthorn (leaves only). http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=e...hawthorn&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
And blackberry (often also called bramble) http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=e...sa=1&q=bramble&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Several rabbits which had frequent stasis problems have stayed well by reducing the amount of human veg & adding hawthorn leaves daily eg Alvin & Clover.
I always put out a few blackberry leaves for Thumper. He'll eat them before there are any outward signs of tummy troubles, but leave them if his tummy is OK.

I agree with you completely that at the very 1st. sign of illness our rabbits need to go straight to the vet. The leaves are to try to prevent stasis - NEVER to treat it.

I hope you shall enjoy one of my favourite videos showing wild rabbits actually climbing up blackberry briars to eat the leaves. I've seen this behaviour myself on many occasions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6zRr_EpyNE

Thank you so much Thumps for the sweet rabbits on the videos ! when I think damned French eat rabbits ! but fortunately more and more people keep some as pets and have changed their eating habits ! I must say that over the last 30 years the rabbit has jumped from the saucepan to the seatee ! They are so gentle creatures and intelligent. One does not really know unless he has some in his house. My previous knew what door to push and what door to pull to open. Tremendous strength in the jaw !

Sometingh I noticed too is also when I was a child, rabbits used to be living outside with the minimum to eat: plenty of alfa-alfa or other plants and straw bedding, hard bread (now forbidden in the diet) and they were never sick ! It was before all the industrial rubbish food came on the market. And this is still true with the knowledge we now have on rabbits. But there were normal big rabbits, then the fashion tended to produce tiny rabbits who were always sick and not surviving very long. The bigger a rabbit is, the stronger he is I think.

Please don't be too hard on the French. The English used to eat rabbits too. I'm deeply shocked that many rabbits bred for pets are sold as meat today but not through shops.

Yes I agree so much with you that having a rabbit indoors is the best way to get to know them. I was totally fascinated by how fast they learned, both by trial & error & by watching me! They are incredibly intelligent. To be honest it took Thumper a long time to learn that he pushed on a door when going IN to a room but he had to claw it open to get out of the room!

I laughed about your comment that they are strong in the mouth, because it's exactly my experience. Thumper was never well enough to be neutered so he has some buck behaviour, such as keeping the floor tidy. He takes anything on the floor to the front door mat, because he's learned that letters (Untidy mess) magically disappear from there.

When the man comes to clean my gas boiler, Thumper takes all his tools to the front door mat & then tries to throw his metal tool box there too!:lol: Fortunately all my regular tradesmen really love Thumper. They ask how he is, before they ask how I am!:lol:

I did not know English ate rabbits as well, when I was there (in the last century !) they seemed to be horrified that French ate horses (far much less now though) snails and froglegs..(no longer in fashion because it is now an endangered specy,so forbidden. Tinned ones are imported from Asia :shock:

Your Thumper must be very funny to watch. Yes they really are intelligent. When Chloe was a baby rabbit she used to push a balloon with her nose all round the place and toss light objects in the air ! but unfortunately she had a liking for reading, so I had to take my books away from her :lol:childhoold does not last !