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Another funny bunny do UPDATE p12- funny poos

bunkin

Warren Veteran
I have posted alot about this so apologies to everyone. History as quick as possible - had bunny nearly 3 years he is nearly 8 years old. Neutered male. Every 4-5 weeks from being perfectly healthy and happy eating everything in sight one minute and then he suddenly does not want anything to do with us, refuses food and water. Spends his time hiding in his tunnel in what looks like happy bunny flop, seemingly only half awake.
I have had endless vet trips and loads of vets. They can never find anything wrong with him on exam etc. We have changed everything about his diet totally over the time and nothing has made a jot of difference.
Have given him high dose loxicom and ranitidine last twice and no differenc whatsoever.
He always gets totally back to normal in less than 24 hrs usually 12-16 hrs. He first starts by grooming himself and moving around, then eating hay and drinking water and finally eating food. He is completely normal.
There is nothing at all to indicate when it is going to happen, no change in poo or wee or eating.
It is now happening every 4 weeks to the day!!!!!!!!!!!
This mornng he was wildy happy binkying around and racing from room to room, had mugged us for food and was a very happy bunny. He happy flopped behind the sofa and 30 mins later would have nothing to do with us or food and is now in his tunnel.
He is a very good litter tray trained bunny and never ever makes a mess anywhere else but when he is like this he will at some point go and wee on our rug in front of fire?? He never ever does this at any other time so now we confine him while he is like this to stop him doing it.
He had a poo before and looks normal.
Oh and he gets the trembles about 3 hrs into it that stop after about 6 hrs.
The pattern is exactly same every single time.
Everyone at total loss as to what there episodes are from. He recovers so quickly and is totally back to himself afterwards.
 
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Its so horrible seeing him like this, he won't let us get anywhere near him he runs and hides - he is still pooping and peeing but he is now trembling and looks so miserable. The pain relief and stomach meds have done nothing at all.

The hardest part is knowing what to do, he is an old rabbit and vet is very very reluctant to do any investigations that require GA plus there are no rabbit expert vets nearer than edinburgh or cheshire to me to be able to interpret scan results etc if they were done. If he runs true to form by tomorow morning he will be perfectly normal. But 4 weeks and we will be in exact same position again. It breaks my heart:cry:
 
In a quandery ( see health/ funny bunny do)

I have posted in health section although i am not expecting anyone to reply health wise as we are all stumped, this is more a post of what I should do with this ongoing problem.

My bun is ill for one day every 4 weeks. I don't know if he is in pain as well as even high dose pain meds do not seem to have any beneficial effect on him and he gets better in his own time regardless of what meds he is given.

In between he is the happiest healthiest bunny you could ask for.

He is old - do I subject him to invasive tests and all the stress and risks. Or do I just accept he is going to be ill one day every 4 weeks and not try and investigate further. There are no true rabbit savvy vets anywhere near me not even in the county! I like the vet I now have after seeing loads over the past nearly 3 years but she admits she does not know enough to analyse scans of rabbits etc.

The attacks have increased from one every 6-8 weeks so whatever it is is getting worse.

Sorry for waffling but feel so helpless to help my lovely bunny who is suffering today.
 
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Also how old is he?

An option might be to travel to a recommended vets for a check up?
 
I'm sorry he's poorly again, its so horrible :( as I've said before, my Daisy is similar, vet never finds anything wrong with her either :( i don't know what to suggest :( xxx
 
Its really hard to say what's happening with out further tests. And ultra sound generally doesn't require a GA. X rays can sometimes be done consciously. Its possible your vet could find a specialist vet who is willing to look at the x rays for her.

We have had two buns in the past with similar symptoms but the causes were completely different. One had a benign abdominal tumour which would press on his intestines occasionally. The other had liver cancer, but we only found this out via post mortum. She had xrays and blood tests and they didn't show anything.

Its so frustrating not knowing what is going on so I hope you and your vet can figure something out soon x
 
What are his symptoms ?


Save you looking at health bit - same symptoms every single time for same length of time.

I find him laid flat with legs out to side which he does anyway but he ignores me and won't have food or water. He still looks quite alert at this point but over next 4-5 hours he trembles hugely, his head droops and eyes almost shut. He stays in stretched position but occasionally will move suddenly to change position but always stretched out.
The first sign of improvement is he stops trembling, then he sits normally then he drinks and eats hay before eventaully eating food. This all happens in less than 24 hrs and then he is totally normal.

The only vet finding on many visits was one vet thought he might have slightly bloated stomach other wise all exam and temp normal.
 
I have no idea really but maybe some kind of epilepsy? Could your vet not contact a bunny expert on your behalf with the symptoms etc.
 
Could be a urinary tract issue rather than a GI tract one

I am thinking along the lines of bladder stones

Sometimes these can cause rapid onset severe pain when they shift about

Urethral spasms maybe ?

Do these episodes usually occur after an especially active session ?

If so maybe he has some arthritic changes in his spine and the rapid onset of pain relates to a nerve being pinched. Rather like when we get sciatica ?

Given that his GI tract appears to be functioning immediately prior to an episode I think the source of pain is elsewhere.
 
Its really hard to say what's happening with out further tests. And ultra sound generally doesn't require a GA. X rays can sometimes be done consciously. Its possible your vet could find a specialist vet who is willing to look at the x rays for her.

We have had two buns in the past with similar symptoms but the causes were completely different. One had a benign abdominal tumour which would press on his intestines occasionally. The other had liver cancer, but we only found this out via post mortum. She had xrays and blood tests and they didn't show anything.

Its so frustrating not knowing what is going on so I hope you and your vet can figure something out soon x

Did your buns have the symptoms on and off like mine? He has been having this for at least 3 years that I know about so assume anything cancerous would have got him by now?

I have no idea really but maybe some kind of epilepsy? Could your vet not contact a bunny expert on your behalf with the symptoms etc.

My vet did contact Anna Meredith at Edinburgh and she suggested the pain relief and ranitidine but without he seeing and doing tests she could not really help.
 
Save you looking at health bit - same symptoms every single time for same length of time.

I find him laid flat with legs out to side which he does anyway but he ignores me and won't have food or water. He still looks quite alert at this point but over next 4-5 hours he trembles hugely, his head droops and eyes almost shut. He stays in stretched position but occasionally will move suddenly to change position but always stretched out.
The first sign of improvement is he stops trembling, then he sits normally then he drinks and eats hay before eventaully eating food. This all happens in less than 24 hrs and then he is totally normal.

The only vet finding on many visits was one vet thought he might have slightly bloated stomach other wise all exam and temp normal.

Gah, its so confusing with 2 threads running !!

I have answered over in Health now :)
 
Bunkin - perhaps it would be a good idea to ask mods to delete this thread as you are getting replies in Health and it is confusing having two threads running.
 
Could be a urinary tract issue rather than a GI tract one

I am thinking along the lines of bladder stones

Sometimes these can cause rapid onset severe pain when they shift about

Urethral spasms maybe ?

Do these episodes usually occur after an especially active session ?

If so maybe he has some arthritic changes in his spine and the rapid onset of pain relates to a nerve being pinched. Rather like when we get sciatica ?

Given that his GI tract appears to be functioning immediately prior to an episode I think the source of pain is elsewhere.


Thanks Jane. GI tract wise he is totally normal before an attack. This morning he was his usual starving bunny self and had eaten everything as usual.

Strangley I was just wondering about water works because of him weeing on the rug which is totally out of character and today I have been watching him alot and at times I was thinking he was going to wee on the carpet as he lifted his tail but didn't, He has weed in litter tray so he is still going.

IF he is not better in morning he is back at vets anyway but I will ask for them to investigate bladder. They have manually felt his bladder but I assume they cannot always feel stones or sludge??
 
I'm sorry he's poorly again, its so horrible :( as I've said before, my Daisy is similar, vet never finds anything wrong with her either :( i don't know what to suggest :( xxx

Can I ask what your buns symptoms are and what tests you have had done so far??? Huge thanks
 
Bunkin - perhaps it would be a good idea to ask mods to delete this thread as you are getting replies in Health and it is confusing having two threads running.

sorry will do this but afraid I don't know how to ask mods to do this??
 
Have pm's a mod cos when I went into report post is said only use this for bad things!!
 
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