Poppy...U/D Admission tomorrow for Xrays

No idea what title to give this thread :?

Is doing wierd things again in terms of eating/drinking.

Just like the begining of winter and again Spring, and now in the next season change.

Okay so she's currently out most of the time at the moment in the garden from first thing in the morning until bedtime on and off, especially if I am at home during the day. As a result her main diet is once again lawn grass, she is barely touching her hay indoors. However, we have a poor sandy soil and the grass although green is no longer long or lush, and with the recent heat it has obviously lost moisture. She appears to be extracting all of her fluid from the grass, her water bowls appear largely untouched recently. However, the drier grass means she is peeing less and more concentrate as far as we can tell.

Her droppings output has talied off indoors but being outside so much it is likely she is scattering whilst grazing (she does this) and they are small and dark due to the grass and reduced long bulky fibre. This has been the case for a few months now, maybe 6 weeks?

Yesterday she went into gut stasis in the afternoon. She had been out in the morning as usual all appeared fine, droppings overnight and in the morning. Lunctime/afternoon she failed to come outside voluntarily for some time (unusual unless too hot or she's sleepy :?) but when she did come out she sat in the sun, didn't graze and looked a little uncomfortable in her posture - so gave her some apple leaves/herbs etc fresh from the garden and she ate half. She went back inside - I topped up her hay with readigrass (mistake! dehydrating - but it's the one hay she will eat above others and gets her guts moving) and gave her some profibre pellets for the same reason - ate them. By early evening - still hadn't come back out voluntarily (again the time she would emerge again) and posturing pain and anorexic, squished dried caec under her tummy. Medicated her instantly, had a good check all over and feel - nothing untoward. Tummy doughy but perhaps a little full of gas, not bloated and hard. Within half an hour she finally felt well enough to eat the wet leaves offered - by bedtime some droppings in tray - better size - and ate the fresh readigrass I put out. Still don't think she had a drink though but seemed much brighter and more alert, just a bit on edge still (probably as I had to grab her to check her over and medicate her - she hates handling).

This morning - lots of droppings, 'think' she may have drunk from her upstairs bowl after a run in the garden where she was clearly feeling much better after a little binky and climbing on flower pots to reach the bird seed that had falllen! :roll:

So why is she not eating her hay or drinking? It's not her teeth - she can eat hay no problem if she wants to...... it is like she is choosing not to - every season change she gets in an 'outdoor' mindset and seems to hold out for being outside. Interested too that when not feeling well rabbits don't drink? Is she not well because she is not drinking - GI slowdown compounded by dehydration or not drinking because she isn't feeling well - chicken or egg? Is she ignoring her hay because she is being fussy and is awaiting the sweeter prize outside and thus getting slowdown or not eating her hay because she has slowdown? chicken or egg? Even more importantly what on earth can we do about it??? :?

Sorry for the epic post - just thought it would help to give an overall picture! :wave:

I've noticed the last few days Doughnut hasn't eaten hardly any hay or drunk hardly anything and a lot fewer poops but all a good size. Just wondered if it's because she's been on the grass as there's more water in that and also been eating rose petals, rose leaves and an egg cup of pellets. This morning there seemed to be more poops around again since I was at work so she's only been out in the evening instead of the wole day. I guess hay is her least favourite thing and eats so much before she comes in that she's not that hungry or thirsty.

Thanks Cpayne.

Poppy deteriorated again at lunchtime. She's had all she can have for now including some fluids orally as she's still very responsive and alert and i'm not going to stress her with a vet trip until this evening for sub-cuts - see how she does for now with those. She's picking at leaves when offered so not totally anorexic again yet.

Sending vibes for Poppy. Spenser never drunk much as an outdoor bunny, even on the hottest days of summer. The change in Poppy does sound worrying, so I hope you can work out a solution for her.

Had to pop her to OOH vet at 8pm as still anorexic but was still quite lively. She felt a bit bloated to me too.

Emergency vet felt she wasn't bloated and bright enough still but was happy to admit her. Nothing obviously wrong, no temp and teeth looked fine. We went with some vetergesic and sub-cut fluids and I brought her back home. She is totally OUT OF IT however so I can't even syringe feed her now :? We did try, but she's doped up to the eye balls so guess will just have to leave her to rest and let the drugs wear off before attempting again.

Please could our pesky Poppy have some vibes? x

Poor Poppy Hope she is feeling better soon

Mega mega vibes for Poppy. xxx

That pain killer makes them sleepy so she may look out of it for a little while. Xena got it when she went into stasis and she looked rather "zoned out" for a while but she was fine afterwards.
Regarding Poppy's problems, what veg does she get? (sorry if you mentioned that but it's getting late and I only skimmed through the post.)
Is she bonded?
My bunny, Fiver was having very similar problems. He was just randomly going into stasis every few months, he had "long" teeth but nothing that was really impeding his eating. The only change was that he lost his wifebun when it all started so I'm sure he was grieving and was going into stasis from simply being bored, frustrated and depressed. I booked him in for a dental and he took a long while to come around (partially due to a bad reaction to the GA and partially due to a bad vet) he recovered fine and was back to himself after a few days. Not long afterwards he decided to start slowing down again and was not eating much or "outputting" much. I took the plunge and decided to bond him since I was certain this was the problem. I bonded him with Xena and I have had no problems with his tum since! His teeth are far from perfect since the vet who performed it didn;t do it properly :evil: but he has been so much happier since I bonded him. No more sitting looking sorry for himself.

How is Poppy doing this morning ?

Personally I think the recent hot weather has had a bad effect on many Rabbits. Not only those with a chronic problem. Dehydration seems to be a big issue, which can all too easily lead to GI tract slow down/gut stasis.

Once Poppy is over this episode you could maybe try to get her to drink more (not the Pinot Grigio Poppy, sorry !!) Sometimes adding Avipro or Bio Lapis to the drinking water helps. Or giving bought bottled water (some water treatment methods make tap water taste 'wrong') or even adding a splash of pure fruit juice to the water. Trial and error really until you find a method that ups Poppy's fluid intake.

I really hope to hear that Poppy is doing better this morning xx

Only just seen this! Sending tons of vibes for Poppy!! I hope she's feeling better this morning and that the vetergesic and fluids have worked their magic! I reckon the dramatic change in temp has caught her out too! While it was cooler she was probably happily getting enough fluids from the short grass then when the temp shot up it's left her a bit dehydrated and she hasn't adjusted her habits and taken on more water quickly enough! It's supposed to cool down a bit over the next week so everything crossed she'll be back to her normal self as soon as possible! If she can't take any fruit juice in her water because of her tummy have you tried some peppermint tea? I've never put it out in a bowl but mine take it happily when they stop eating and a friends bunny will take it from a bowl when refusing to eat?!

You poor souls. Billions of vibes for Poppy and I really hope she is feeling more normal soon.

Hope Poppy has improved overnight.

Hiya, how is Poppy today?

Is she moulting PL? Im having similar issues with Timmy, he was eating less, abit lethargic and had smaller poos on Tuesday. A shot of Metaclop sorted him out, but then the same thing happemed yesterday. He seems to be ok again now *touches wood*

This time of year is quite harsh on them I think. Its very hot here which must be toigh for a black rabbit, although Timmy insists on sunbathing instead of being in the shade! Hes moulting profusely, im plucking out fur in the amount of his body size daily :shock:

Is there any way you can keep Poppy inside for a couple of days just to get her back into the habit of eating hay?

Loads of vibes :wave:

Oh I really hope that Poppy is doing better this morning x

Thank you for all the vibes guys, very much appreciated :wave:

Poppy is still what I would describe as critical this morning

She was still too spaced out at bedtime to attempt any syringing, so we got up around 3 to try again - by which time she was flat and cold Feeling very guilty for not trying to stimulate her earlier than that - just so exhausted needed a few hours kip. It's not easy with a baby and a sick bunny Anyway, was on the verge of making the trip to the OOH again at some ungodly hour when she perked up a little with some oral fluids - peppermint tea by syringe and a hop around the garden (I know it sounds harsh esp at 4am but it really has worked for her before - and she was a lot more able than she seemed) I think the buprenorphine has heavily sedated her this time around. I'm assuming if it wears off after 8 hours then this is the general half-life of the drug? Anyone any ideas? Jane? :wave:
Her tummy felt bloated to me again but soft after her run around and fluids. Got her on her heat pad and she warmed up very quickly and even nibbled some dried plantain that I waved under her nose a few times. She looked exhausted again so left it there and went back to bed for a couple of hours.

Went down an hour ago and she is still quiet and sleepy but warm this time. Bloated again a little but this seemed once again to shift after a good hop around the lawn with encouragement - we even got a growl so she's fiesty still. Managed to get another good 10ml fluids in orally and an apple leaf and dried plantain leaf, but once again she's tired so have left her to rest. She's digging her blanket - another good sign in our book! and 2 normal waste droppings popped out but that's all :? She's just had a very high dose of metacam so will see how she is in an hour. If still no change i'll pop her to our reg vet for another check up and some fluids as I suspect she is still dehydrated. She is a very nervous girl so I don't want to undo the progress made with stress but she will probably need some more fluids - more than I can get in orally.

We are not out of the woods by any means

Yes she is moulting too :wave:

Poor Bobby, really hope she gets better soon. Sending masses of vibes for you and Poppy :wave:

Just saw this...adding ((((((((((((megavibes)))))))))))))))) for Poppy!
A ramble in the garden at 4 a.m. doesn't sound odd at all, especially since the cooler weather at that hour must feel better to her. Sadly though it must be rough on you. (((((((Hugs)))))))
Hope all is back to normal soon!

Well, just had a shower so I could pop her down to the vets this morning and she is now eating some wet leaves when offered - hopped in the tray and did a couple of droppings! :thumb:

Going to give her a big longer as we are making progress again...woohoo! Something is happening down below!

Glad to hear she's feeling better, hope it continues!