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Why do my rabbits keep having stasis?

MichelleBee

Alpha Buck
My three girls (all sisters) have all had stasis over the past 3 months and both myself and the vet have no idea why.

All three have been spayed and have access to lots of hay and water. They are fed a small amount of Burgess Excel pellets and have some greens (mainly cabbage leaves and carrots) every morning. They usually either free-range or go in their runs on the grass every day and so can eat grass / weeds etc.

We are not doing anything differently, but we've had them for a year and it seems odd that the stasis episodes have all been in the last three months.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks
 
I've had probs with grass setting off tummy probs in my buns before, some times of the year it seems to be richer. Normally its the new growth in spring that sets mine off so I try to limit it at first.
 
Can't be much help I'm afraid.

I know some bunnies don't tolerate cabbage very well - but mine love their spring greens.

Carrots are very high in sugar, so not good for teeth or tums, and I do not feed regularly but reserve a tiny bit each as a treat.

Herbs tend to be good. I grow my own but you can get pots from supermarkets and bunnies do tend to like them - you could give them herbs instead of carrots.

The recommended amount of pellets is an eggcupful each a day - don't know whether you feed more than this?

The only other thing I can suggest is lots and lots of hay (but think you said they already eat lots).

Hope you can find some way of preventing stasis episodes.
 
I agree that cabbage can be gassy and the sugar/starch in carrots can also cause problems but if you've been feeding them that way for a year I find it unlikely its causing the problem now. You might want to think about limiting them and introducing some alternatives, but you will need to take extra care to introduce anything new.
 
I've had probs with grass setting off tummy probs in my buns before, some times of the year it seems to be richer. Normally its the new growth in spring that sets mine off so I try to limit it at first.

If they have access to grass 24/7 or at least all during the daytime hours perhaps, and you've said this has been going on for ~3 months, that coincides roughly with the start of spring, when the grass is very rich as Amy says. I agree that this could be a posisble cause! :)
 
In the absence of any physiological cause you need to think about any major stress triggers - cat in garden? something new in house? change to environment? If no, then probably just a combination of a very mixed up weather system in the UK - ridiculously hot March, and then cold again - this has caused a lot of confusion with moulting and no doubt with rabbit hormones (not sex hormones) such as pituitary etc. which probably have an impact on metabolism. Plus rich grass growth from the sudden rain and sun, dehydration from alternating moisture content in grass etc... If it is any consolation you are not alone with your sudden stasis these last few months - our bunny Poppy has been poorly too and is only just back to normal after a bad few weeks. I would certainly look into stress triggers though - we found ours for Poppy, but undoubtedly there were other factors as mentioned above all exacerbating the condition.
 
aside from the other suggestions, have you checked that all the things growing that they have access to are bunny safe?
I'd keep them off the lawn and out of the run for a couple of weeks then check everything that's growing. I had a bad weed growing in one of my runs but didn't notice until I kept them off and it had a chance to grow enough for me to see it.
 
Thanks for all the advice.

Dyliss is still at the vets, but we've kept the other two off the grass today. We're also going to cut down on carrots and cabbage and see what happens.

We've been thinking about the stress triggers. We have a cat (and have had since before we got the rabbits), so not sure it can be that. Perhaps another cat in the area is the issue? Everything else is the same as always. We'll keep on thinking though.......

Our grass seems to have been invaded by a yellow weed, so it could be that.
I'll try to upload a photo to see if anyone knows what it is and if it is bunny safe.

Thanks again.
 
I'd maybe keep a note of what veggies and see if there is any link there. Perhaps swap to things like dandelion/bramble etc. rather than carrot/cabbage.

How much is a small amount on the dry food - just checking as people's ideas of small vary :)
 
I'd maybe keep a note of what veggies and see if there is any link there. Perhaps swap to things like dandelion/bramble etc. rather than carrot/cabbage.

How much is a small amount on the dry food - just checking as people's ideas of small vary :)[/QUOTE]

Lets just say that BOTH of us will now be measuring very accurately with an egg cup :lol:
 
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