My rabbits are not eating or drinking

Hi,

My 2 male bunnies who are 9 months old and have been poorly on and off for about 3 weeks now, we took Jess to the vets when it first happened and they diagnosed gas, give him a painkiller injection and sent us home with medication to get their bowels moving and 2 packets of recovery liquid feed. The next morning he was eating and drinking again and everything seemed fine, but the next night he was slumped in the corner of his hutch and totally disinterested in eating again (even carrot). We carried on with the liquid feed again and he perked up again. We visited forums to check for possible causes and realised they had been malting and read that rabbits get fur balls. A couple of days later our other rabbit Dusty came down with the same thing and it has been on and off for the past three weeks with them both taking it in turns to be ill. I just want to know if anybody else has had the same problems and if anybody has any advice or help they can offer. We have been massaging his stomach and also tried infacol, they always have plenty of hay to eat, have excel nuggets in the morning and fresh greens at tea time. Thanks.

:wave: If they aren't eating they will need to go to the vet again for checking over and possible injections of pain relief/gut stimulant.

Have you tried putting them on grass to run around and nibble? Sometimes this stimulates the senses to be a rabbit and can help make an assessment, if they just hunch after half an hour then they are really unwell.

Lots of hay, feeding their daily portion of greens in smaller portions wet through the day - dill the herb is a good one you can feed a couple of sprigs wet through the day and it does help with gas I think. Water in bowls aswell as bottles and brushing them and allowing exercise is essential.

If stasis starts you have to get them to the vet to turn it around, the only thing you can do really without the vet checking them for obstruction is try syringing some lukewarm boiled water, or offer a bowl of this - try anything you have that you know your rabbit will eat normally - a small piece of banana/apple/carrot tops/flat leaf parsley/dill - readigrass/dandelion/plantain?

Just signing off now but, just to say if stasis is re-occurring there could well be an underlying reason so it may be worth even if they perk up going back to the vet to check over, teeth, eyes/ears and monitor weight etc - they may well need subcut fluids to help them aswell - best of luck, whatever you do - don't leave it too long, if they don't respond to the favourite foods or in the run then they need to go to the vet ASAP - do you know when they did last eat? Has anything spooked them in the night or something?

Best of luck hope they will be alright - time is of the essence - I'd say beyond 8 hours is an emergency case and requires vet intervention.

Hi and welcome.

Yes many of us have suffered the agonies of "gassy bunnies" and GI Stasis. It is something that requires urgent supportive treatment to aid a happy outcome. The stress involved with moulting (I assume that's what you mean) can be a trigger, (many of us had problems, myself included, a couple of weeks ago when they seemed to start a moult), but I understand it is not usually thought to be "fur balls" exactly.

Supportive care usually involves fluids, painkillers, gut mobilizers, warmth, syringe feeding, medicine to help relieve the gas.

Recovery - although they often pick up over a day or two with the right treatment, a full recovery and return to normal can take a couple of weeks - I have seen this with Maisy recently.

As your rabbits are still poorly and have not had ongoing treatment to support their recovery I would get them both to a good rabbit savvy vet (you can get a recommendation from members of the forum) right now.

The road to recovery will involve continuing to push fluids, a water bowl is a good idea as well as feeding freshly washed and still wet veg, and increasing fibre intake.

Perhaps later you need to consider the veg you are feeding as some are sensitive to certain veg, broccoli for instance.

But the number one priority is to get your rabbits seen by a vet today without fail - rabbits can go down hill very quickly.

This link may help to explain GI stasis better -

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

Also, just noticed your buns are 2 males, 9 months old - are they neutered? are they living together? if so they could be fighting/falling out as they are now sexually mature which will be causing them stress too.

Do you use a bowl or a bottle?

Also, did you start a new batch of hay or food around the time the first one got ill? If you did, was it different from what they were used to?

I'd be thinking there is some connection between the two, to be honest, so would suggest getting rid of whatever you're feeding now, and buying afresh, if at all possible.

Are they inside or outside? Is there a possibility they have found something toxic and are eating it? Like maybe a plant flowering now? Or bulbs that are growing?

Have you introduced them to grass yet? If so, have they had spring grass? When did they have the first lot?

Jess was eating fine last night then just didn't want the greens we usually feed them. We have put a bowl of water in front of him but he just nudges it out of the way and spills the water. They have both been castrated about 6 weeks ago, the vet said Jess was overweight and suggested feeding them less nuggets, so they eat more hay and give them more greens (carrot once a week) each day so their diet has changed in that sense but they haven't had anything different to what they have had before. They are outside rabbits but we brought them in after their castration and due to the cold they have been in since only going out in nice days, they get exercise out of their hutch everyday and only go on the grass when the grass has been dry enough. They have megazorb in their litter trays which they have had since they were born and have occasionally eaten it but never caused any trouble. We did remove the megazorb in case it was this for a while but they still were poorly. They have occasional fights where Jess has pulled clumps of fur out of Dusty but nothing serious. When we took Jess to the vets in the first instance they did not suggest any reason to why they would get gas so I'm reluctant to take them back to pay £70 for it to happen again. If anyone can recommend a vet in the West Yorkshire area that could resolve the issue that would be great. Thanks for all your suggestions so far.

May I suggest that you put a new thread with the title 'Urgent: Rabbit Savvy Vet needed in XXXX (wherever you live) for stassis'

The buns will definitely need another vet visit if they are to get over this - it sounds as though something is perhaps staring to impact inside and they will probably need subcut fluids to moisten it up. Also checking on teeth etc in case there is something else going on to cause this.

Alas rabbits can be very very expensive pets!!!

Good luck!

Hi, sorry to hear they are not too good. I hope they improve soon.

No additional advice but if you are looking for bunny savvy vets, I have found this link. If you are near to Francis Harcourt-Brown I would definitely go there.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=270259&highlight=vets+west+yorkshire

How are they now ? Any update, hope they are OK :wave: