Rumbly stomach, possible stasis?

Hi I'm new to the website and signed up specifically to ask about this. I've already learnt a lot from reading other posts on here.

I have a male dwarf lop who is 5 years old. For the last 2 years or so he's had, what I now realise after reading through this forum, to be gut stasis every 3 or 4 months. It only lasts one night and he's absolutely fine. The first time it happened I was terrified. I made a vet appointment as early as I could but by the time it came around he was absolutely fine. We always thought it was furballs. It always seems to happen around moulting time. He lives with a female dwarf lop, who has extra thick, extra soft fur and he grooms her a lot, so we just thought it was from that.
In the past I've always noticed it in the evenings when I go to feed them and by morning he's fine. But 2 or 3 weeks ago it happened in the afternoon and he was still not right when I went to bed 12 hours later, but again by morning he was fine. Except ever since then he's had stomach rumbles. They are really loud. Louder than a persons stomach rumbles. He's eating fine and he's moving about fine. As far as I can tell he's pooing fine. There even seemed to be more poo than normal today. I can't tell if he's drinking as normal because he shares the bottle with the other rabbit and it's started leaking lately. The rumbles are worse when he's eating. Today I had him on my lap for about an hour and he seemed himself, but his tummy felt a bit hard. I've never really felt it normally though as he hates it being touched. I will try the other rabbits tummy and see if it's the same to compare as she seems absolutely fine.

Any ideas what could be wrong? Should I take him to the vet? When I took him for his injections once I mentioned to the vet about these stasis episodes and she just shrugged and said she didn't know. I think I know more about rabbits than my vets do. Also because he's been eating and pooing fine I wasn't sure if I needed to take him.

Any advice would be really appreaciated
Thanks,
Pippa

I would definitely take him to the Vet for a thorough examination. Chronic GI tract hypomotility can cause the symptoms you describe.

With regards to fur ingestion, this is not usually the primary cause of gut problems. But in a Rabbit who's GI tract is not functioning well for some other reason the ingested fur becomes an issue and can lead to a full obstruction which would be extremely serious. So I would make sure you groom both Rabbits at least once a day to try to minimise the amount of fur ingested

Good luck at the Vets

Thank you
I read up online about GI hypomotility and it definitely fits with everything he's got. I took them both to the vets today. This vet luckily seemed to know a lot about rabbits. He checked Harley's (the rabbit with the stomach rumbling) teeth and says he has some spikes on his back teeth so he's been booked in to have them filed tomorrow. The vet told me he isn't 100% certain that's the cause of the stomach problems but he's fairly confident. He also said if it isn't then they will do some further investigation. I'm also taking the other rabbit, Miffy, in tomorrow to have a bit of a hair cut! The vet had to do it once before because even with me grooming her it's impossible for it not to get matted when it's been so wet. They are temporarily indoor rabbits to keep them warm and dry and because it's easier to keep an eye on Harley.

Thanks for the advice

Starfish Slush said:

Thank you
I read up online about GI hypomotility and it definitely fits with everything he's got. I took them both to the vets today. This vet luckily seemed to know a lot about rabbits. He checked Harley's (the rabbit with the stomach rumbling) teeth and says he has some spikes on his back teeth so he's been booked in to have them filed tomorrow. The vet told me he isn't 100% certain that's the cause of the stomach problems but he's fairly confident. He also said if it isn't then they will do some further investigation. I'm also taking the other rabbit, Miffy, in tomorrow to have a bit of a hair cut! The vet had to do it once before because even with me grooming her it's impossible for it not to get matted when it's been so wet. They are temporarily indoor rabbits to keep them warm and dry and because it's easier to keep an eye on Harley.

Thanks for the advice

Click to expand...

If you have them indoors then they will need to remain indoor Rabbits until next spring when the weather warms up. They will not cope with going back out into the cold wet winter weather if they have been kept in a warm house for several days.

I hope the Dental resolves Harley's problems

Well the spurs were not the cause of his gut problems. The vet said after the operation that they were probably too small to be creating the issue. His gut had no rubmles for 24 hours afterwards but then steadily got worse again. He had a few bits of diarrhoea over 2 days so I took him back to the vet. The vet seems a bit stumped. He gave him antibiotcs, which we've just finished. It did seem to improve for a day or so but has steadily gotten worse again. I gave the vet some poo and will ring tomorrow to get the results of the faecal analysis, but the vet didn't think anything would come from it. I will also be taking him back as the antibiotics hasn't helped. The vet seemed to think last time that it was an overactive gut rather than underactive and he says he doesn't have much experience with that in rabbits. He said there is no point in having an x ray because there is no blockage, which i'm inclined to agree with.
Any ideas what could be the problem? Or anything I should suggest to the vet? I think he might go for blood tests next. He was talking about possible problems with the kidneys or liver.

Is he eating as normal and maintaining his weight ?

Is he drinking more than he used to ?

What is his daily diet ?

He is eating normally. He does occasionally become less enthusiastic about food, but he still eats the same amount.
The vet weighed him the first time I took him in and he was a healthy weight. He'd most recently been weighed a few years ago and he was heavier now compared to back then. I will get him to weigh him again just to check he's the same as the other week.
I tried to increase his fibre intake when this first started to happen.

I've been wondering if he's drinking more than normal. It's hard to tell because they share the bottle, which leaks and they won't drink out of a bowl because they just tip it up. But they do seem to be drinking a lot more than normal even despite it leaking. But it has quite suddenly been a lot colder and they do drink more when it's cold.

He gets all the hay he can eat.
A bowl of rabbit food between the 2 of them each day, which is from a local farm and is all natural dried grasses and plants.
They get a few handfuls of spinach, some spring greens and the green tops from carrots.

In the summer they get free roam of our garden in the daytime and he was still out everyday when the rumbles started. I did stop them going out for a few weeks in case it was something he'd eaten in the garden. This past week he's been out for a couple hours a day just so he can get some exercise. In the garden they mostly eat grass, apple leaves, carrot tops (I forgot I still had some planted so they helped themselves, cheeky buns!), some plants in our pond that I don't know the name of and whatever weeds are about that they like. They occasionally get hold of an apple or a pear that's dropped off the trees. We haven't planted anything new in our garden and I haven't noticed any new weeds. They've been eating this stuff for years with no problems.

I got a message on the phone this morning from the vet asking to see Harley again to see how he's getting on. He also told me the faecal analysis didn't show anything. He said the case is a bit tricky and he has been reading literature but there doesn't seem to be much on this kind of problem in rabbits. I am taking Harley in again today so I will see what he says.

Is the diarhhoea the fecal poop or cecal poop?

Doughnut had diarhhoea and she was making the most awful noises, sounded like choking but it was every time she tried to clean herself and bent down her stomach made a noise. They suspect she has coccidiosis which there is an outbreak of at the moment.

What test did they do on the poop as this would confirm coccidiosis if they tested for it.

I think it's the fecal poo as it looks a little grainy.
The vet didn't say what exact test they did but he said there were no parasites or infections found.

The vet has given him an injection of Terramycin antibiotics and I'm taking him back again tomorrow for a further injection. After this the vet said he's not really sure what to do. He said I could have blood tests and an ultra sound if I wanted to, but he doesn't think either will show anything and will just be very expensive. He also said he'd refer me to the exotic species if I wanted, but again he said it would be very expensive and he said he'd be vary wary of them. I'm inclined at the moment to just leave Harley how he is after this last lot of antibiotics. Obviously if the diarrhoea comes back or something else changes I'd take him back. But he's getting very stressed with all the car journeys and the vet prodding him, so at the moment whilst he still seems happy and not in pain, I might just leave him be and keep an extra close eye on him

My late rabbit Crunchie used to have similar issues, with occasional rumbling tummy, lethargy, limited movement, but then fine again the next day as if nothing had happened. With her, it seemed to be trapped wind, and once it had passed through she was fine again (yes, sometimes this meant her farting a bit :shock. Getting her moving around would help, as would gentle tummy rubs if she'd let me, and a bit of painkiller on bread if she would eat it helped, as well as offering her some favourite treats just to get her to eat (even if they weren't very good for her). I did take her to the vet a few times but as there wasn't anything they could do, I stopped taking her. I started being more careful, not giving too much cauliflower, cabbage and other "farty" veg, and that certainly minimised the problem.

I don't give Doughnut veg. Why not try dill instead, it's good for gas and also bramble leaves as they are good for digestion.

Maybe cut out the veg for a bit (but keep herbs) and cut down on the pellets if they're getting more than 30g each/eggcup full. I had a rabbit who would get a runny bum if fed too much pellets in a day.

Mirth said:

Maybe cut out the veg for a bit (but keep herbs) and cut down on the pellets if they're getting more than 30g each/eggcup full. I had a rabbit who would get a runny bum if fed too much pellets in a day.

Click to expand...

Yes Doughnut only gets an egg cup now too and herbs are kinder on the tummy.

>> bramble leaves as they are good for digestion

Agree with this - my Oreo was doing too many caecals (or just forgetting to eat them - she's scatterbrained so it's hard to tell) but a handful of bramble leaves a day seemed to sort her out within a couple of days.

Whereabouts are you based? If your vet seems stumped someone may be able to suggest a good rabbit vet nearby to give a second opinion.

Bramble leaves can be really helpful. Are they getting enough hay to eat?

It also sounds like you need a new water bottle!

Yes bramble leaves are great for digestion. They push the food along quicker.