• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

RWAF conference - my notes Part 3

JayUK

Mama Doe
Part 3

Frances Harcourt-Brown BVSc FRCVS

NH & FM Harcourt-Brown Veterinary Practice, Harrogate.

The anorexic rabbit – Is it surgical?

A thoroughly interesting talk about a subject that we all think we know lots about, but there were some startling revelations! The premise of the talk was the distinction between GI stasis and GI Obstruction – and how to diagnose and treat each one.
The talk opened with a look at the wild rabbit living on the iberian peninsular - Frances had been there and photographed them. What was really interesting is the absolutely 'terrible' (as we'd see it) quality of what they live on - it's basically scrub, hardly any grass, dried scrub and bushes, dried grasses, and that was IT! They have one rainy season, and then the buns will eat fresh shoots, and fruit that falls off trees, but that's all.

Frances went into great depth on the process of caecotrophy, and basically, the rabbit can convert the most rubbish foods into what it needs - It is not the quality of what goes IN that matters at all, it's keeping the gut healthy with plenty of coarse fibre - without that, then the caecum gets in trouble, and the quality of what comes OUT is affected , and then we start altering the diet, quickly, to try and remedy that - not good either.

The problem with pet buns is that they are fed these high calorie foods as soon as they are able to eat them, and so they 'learn' that this is food, and like a child, will turn their nose up at what they are supposed to eat, in favour of what is effectively, a learned behaviour - pellets, muesli etc. So pet buns are stuffed (no pun intended) from the outset, so what can you do? ... Train , clicker train, whatever you can do to bring high fibrous foods back into the frame as the norm.

That said, Rabbits adapt to their environment, and here (UK), they will eat a large range of foods in the wild, because there are a large range of foods available. So they choose to eat these, and Anne McBride says, enjoy the variety, but all the foods they do eat are still highly fibrous.

So onto the talk.

GI stasis is medical emergency.
GI (internal) obstruction is a surgical emergency. (adnominal catastrophe)

GI stasis causes hair balls (trichobezoar)
Internal obstruction is caused by hair balls

Sometimes anorexia is the only sign that something is wrong

Other symptoms
Shock
Hypothermia
poor circulation
Depression
Anorexia
Muscular weakness

When is anorexia surgical?
Dramatic and sudden loss of appetite
Hiding
Flopping
Straining (toilet)
Bloated abdomen

Rabbits cannot vomit because the muscles at the top of the stomach close so tight that they will not open to allow food out. Frances demonstrated this with ppictures of a stomach that she inflated, beyond fully, and it wouldn’t open.

Rabbits can regurgitate small pieces of food, but if they do this, they are likely to die.

Caecotrophs are NOT faeces – they are food !

Despite us owners talking about over feeding starch and protein rich foods, there is no evidence that rabbits cannot process these foods – they can. The problem with them is the potential for obesity, which does kill rabbits.

GI stasis – slow gut motility
Stops eating
Food doesn’t move in GI tract
Blood glucose goes down (this is important will discuss later)

Treatment: syringing 50:50 Heinz (or other) baby cereal with Critical care/recovery. The cereal should be vegan. 10-20 ml per Kg

This increases the glucose levels in the blood, creates fibre.

Go and pick/feed grass and dandelion/plantain leaves.

If no improvement in 24-48 hours, see vet.

Intestinal obstruction
Very common in rabbits
Usually matted hair
Leads to bloat
More prevalent during moulting time

During moult time, rabbits can re-ingest hair pellets from stolls which can contribute to a bigger hair ball
Med – Large ones can causes a blockage

Intestinal tumours are the other common cause

Foreign objects

Diagnosis:
Obstruction occurs suddenly, if rabbit was healthy at night, and anorexic in morning, then it’s more likely to be obstruction

acute abdominal pain and depression
Rabbit will show signs of discomfort – Like Hid – flop out, shift around.
Stress – Blood sugar levels RISE

If the obstruction passes, the rabbit will suddenly seem better – although the pain may then cause a gut stasis.

When to elect for surgery?
Difficult to know
Foreign body can pass through ok
Surgery may causes rupture

An obstruction can usually be felt on the Left Hand side, just under the rear of the ribs – it will feel like a balloon – not nec the obstruction, but gas (bloat).

Do not syringe feed bloat. Owners that use Infacol are not helping the condition at all – any signs of improvement are purely coincidental and the obstruction has worked through the rabbit.

Frances has developed a blood test to correctly diagnose whether the rabbit is experiencing GI stasis or GI obstruction. Not only that, but has got the variant degrees of blood glucose to determine each course of action.

This paper is currently under review for publication by the Vet Journal.

However, she was more than happy to share it with us, so I’ll share it with you!

Blood can be taken from the main artery in the ear, using a hypodermic needle. The skin needs to be exposed (shaved).

Blood glucose test kits can be bought for £10 from Lloyds, and are ideal for this. Frances is encouraging her clients to do these readings at home before deciding if rabbit needs to make the trip to the vet.

Blood glucose is measure in mmol/ml (millimoles/litre)

Normal: 4-8 mmol/ml

2-4 mmol/ltr – needs food – rabbit is experiencing gut stasis
If less that 2 mmol/ltr, call vet

8-15 mmol/ltr Rabbit is stressed, but can stay at home
More than 15mmol/ltr, less than 20 – Call vet, start to worry…
More than 20 mmol/ltr, needs surgery.


The last talk was on diagnostic imaging, and was very interesting, but solely visual, and apt for vets, not nec owners. Was given by Elisabetta Mancinelli, DVM MRCVS CertZooMed.
I took no notes for this one, sorry, but Elisabetta was explaning the differences in technologies for diagnostic purposes – and talked about CT, Radiography, MRI and Ultra sound, and their different uses.

GOTO Part 1
 
Last edited:
Thanks, made good reading :)

I for one would be more than happy to use the Glucose kits on my buns if the time came, so i hope that this comes into play (although i do hope that i never need to do it!)
 
Thanks, made good reading :)

I for one would be more than happy to use the Glucose kits on my buns if the time came, so i hope that this comes into play (although i do hope that i never need to do it!)

I'm determined to get over my fear of hurting them and do the glucose testing. I've got the kit, I just daren't use it. :oops::oops: Between them we seem to have an average of a 'refusing food/stasis' type episode about once a month. The only consolation is that my rabbits between them have provided a lot of the data for FHB's studies.

Oh, and thanks for posting, Jay :wave:
 
Back
Top