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Too many tummy aches/GI stasis

Mia

Mia

Warren Scout
My bunny Scampi has a very good diet, lots and lots of hay, hay cakes (just made of hay!) a small amount of nuggets, and greens each day. Yet I have noticed he gets more tummy aches than he should. He is not moulting at the moment, so that cant be the cause.

He is a house rabbit but has free rein of the whole house, we encourage him to run upstairs and play. He also runs in and out of the garden when the weather is good (a rarity nowadays)

When he has a tummy ache/GI stasis I give syringe feed him and syringe him warm water and Fibreplex, some meloxicam if needed. I also massage his tummy to encourage movement and will try and get him to walk about a bit to get the gut moving.

What does everyone else do to keep their bunnies tummy's healthy? It makes me worry every time he gets one, even though I can manage his symptoms quite well. (Of course if they last longer than usual he is taken straight to vets)
 
thanks for the advice. I will check the old thread.

Scampi has an MOT when his vaccinations are due and they have always passed him as perfect.

I personally think he is far too sedentary in the winter months, he needs more movement. He is a "free range" bunny so he has no excuse, lol
 
Mia said:
thanks for the advice. I will check the old thread.

Scampi has an MOT when his vaccinations are due and they have always passed him as perfect.

I personally think he is far too sedentary in the winter months, he needs more movement. He is a "free range" bunny so he has no excuse, lol
Click to expand...

I think you're right. My Benjie is a very timid bun, & won't go downstairs without me. (I mainly live upstairs) Now that he's in heavy moult, he's not so much getting tummy ache, as slight gut slow down - minimally off his food & number of poops falling off but no signs of tummy ache or true stasis.
He's eating twiggy branches, apple, hazel & a bit of willow like no tomorrow, & I put my alarm on to get him to run up & down stairs with me regularly, & got plenty of huge poops. :D

I only discovered that he's absolutely terrified of cats last week, which could well be why he won't go downstairs on his own. He doesn't understand that they can't get through a glass window.
 
Have his teeth been checked?

Just a warning, syringe feeding food can actually cause more harm than good, if they have a blockage then feeding them will make this 10 times worse. I would syringe a little water into him when he is in these episodes.

What greens does he get? Some greens can cause gassy tummies and this can then lead to stasis.

Is your bun a lone bunny? I find that when they have a friend they will be much more active and this can help with poorly tums.
 
One of my house rabbits, Charlie is like this. He was always a bit prone and then between early October and Christmas he had bouts of it every 2-3 weeks. The only thing I changed during that time was I had started using the Carefresh bedding, so I stopped using that and just used the Back2nature pellets (they are house rabbits with a 'base'). I have also stopped all greens on vet's advice and changed him to a bit of SS and the Vetcare Digestive...I'm keeping everything crossed:shock: I know how frustrating it is, when there are no obvious reasons. His teeth were checked too.
 
We went througha very similar thing with Harley approximately every 6 weeks he would have gut stasis and we didn't know why, he had a few small spurs on his teeth but that was all. We booked him in for a dental and whilst he was under the vets took x-rays of his tummy and teeth and he had blood taken, which was tested for everything. All the tests came back negative.

After his dental we increased his space and changed to a better meadow hay, ensuring he gets plenty every day and we also got him a friend which has all seemed to help. I have found that greens can cause bunnies to become gassy which is incredibly painful for them and lead to problems with the GI tract. Greens are very limited these days and are always fed with plenty of hay.

I hppe that helps
 
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