Gut Stasis...Arnie's Ups and Downs

Hi everyone,
I have been reading this on and off but not registered until today as I am after your thoughts.

I have two beautiful house bunnies, Abs and Arnie. I have had Abs since a baby (now almost 3) and I adopted Arnie (2 and a half) just over a year ago. He had been treated very badly and had been quite poorly before I had him. Since having him, he has gone into gut stasis 4 times despite being on a high fibre diet with plenty of fresh veg and hay. The bunnies have their own room in the house and have lots of room to exercise and lots of toys for stimulation.

Each case of stasis has been slightly different to the last, with this one being the hardest to deal with. I first noticed last friday (over a week ago) when I went to give them breakfast and he wasnt interested. I took him to the vets who did he usual, pain relief and critical care. He was better by the evening and continued to improve over the weekend. Until Sunday evening when I went to say sweet dreams and he was clearly uncomfortable and refusing to eat even hi favourite veg. I syringe fed him throughout the night as he also wasnt drinking as much as usual. I took him to the vets Monday morning who gave him a gut stimulant and sent me home with some antibiotics incase the stasis had led to an infection from the build up of food. He picked up quickly and although he would only eat hay by himself, I was just glad he was eating.

All day Tuesday he munched on hay but would not eat any pellet (selective) or veg. Wednesday he was much the same, but by about 4pm he was uncomfortable again and reluctant to eat or move. I gave him a small amount of critical care and left him for an hour, came back and he was eating.
The same happened Thursday. All Friday he ate as normal - hay, veg and a small amount of pellet. Saturday he was fine and happy until about 3pm when he was uncomfortable and not happy to eat or move. Again I gave him a tiny amount of critical care and left him to it, within an hour he was nibbling hay again and looking perky and happy. For the last two days he has also had some fibreplex and avipro in his water.

I have been speaking to the vets regularly about his progress and she recommends and xray to see what is going on inside, which I will try and book in for Monday.

I'm just confused as to why he would be fine most of the day, then be very uncomfortable and then pick up again.

Do you think there may be something psychological causing this? Do you think maybe he remembers the pain he was in and stops eating incase it happens again? The rest of the time he is hopping about and binkying around like the happiest bun on the planet. But goes from that to hunching in the corner or slumping on his belly.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thank you,
Clara

Hello

Noting what comes out is just as important as noting what goes in. So what is his poo output like ?

The pattern of symptoms you describe sound very much like cecal impaction to me

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/Caecal_Impaction.htm

Jack's-Jane said:

Hello

Noting what comes out is just as important as noting what goes in. So what is his poo output like ?

The pattern of symptoms you describe sound very much like cecal impaction to me

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/Caecal_Impaction.htm

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It's difficult to tell as the buns share a litter tray. Initially there might have been none from Arnie, after starting treatment there were some small hard poops aswell as normal ones (which I'm assuming were Abs's poops as she is fine).

There have been a few odd shaped poops - larger than a normal one and more oblong than round. And also some uneaten cecals.

Oh how I long to see lots of normal poops!!

I have a bun that kept getting stasis. I narrowed it down to his pellets. Once I stopped feeding them, he no longer had stasis issues. Now he gets hay and select veggies only, no pellets or sugary starchy treats. It's been over a year and he has been a healthy bun.

I know certain veggies, especially cruciferous ones, can cause gas problems for some buns too.

Jbun said:

I have a bun that kept getting stasis. I narrowed it down to his pellets. Once I stopped feeding them, he no longer had stasis issues. Now he gets hay and select veggies only, no pellets or sugary starchy treats. It's been over a year and he has been a healthy bun.

I know certain veggies, especially cruciferous ones, can cause gas problems for some buns too.

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I have been researching a non pellet diet for rabbits. I wonder if this may help him out. It might be worth a try because he is just trouble after trouble. Good thing I love the little man so much xx

It certainly worked wonders for my bun. It was easy for me to blame pellets as the culprit, as he was a new bun and wouldn't touch hay and wasn't used to veggies yet, so was only having his transition pellets when it first happened. Then he would just start to get better and got stasis again, repeatedly. It was a trick removing pellets though, since he wouldn't eat hay, but I was able to figure something out.

I did try later on, after he had been better for a while, to reintroduce different types of pellets. I was really careful and went super slow, but every time I could see he was starting to sit like he was feeling uncomfortable, so I quite trying them. I figured it had to do with the carbs/sugars in the pellets, as that was the only common thing in all the different kinds that I tried.

It certainly won't hurt to try cutting the pellets for a few weeks, as long as your bun is eating plenty of good grass hay and veggies. Though if you don't notice it helping, maybe look to one of the veggies as being the culprit.

There are health problems that can cause these things as well, but aside from vet care and meds, I figure diet is one of the main things under our direct control that we can change in hopes that it might help these extra sensitive buns.

Jbun said:

It certainly worked wonders for my bun. It was easy for me to blame pellets as the culprit, as he was a new bun and wouldn't touch hay and wasn't used to veggies yet, so was only having his transition pellets when it first happened. Then he would just start to get better and got stasis again, repeatedly. It was a trick removing pellets though, since he wouldn't eat hay, but I was able to figure something out.

I did try later on, after he had been better for a while, to reintroduce different types of pellets. I was really careful and went super slow, but every time I could see he was starting to sit like he was feeling uncomfortable, so I quite trying them. I figured it had to do with the carbs/sugars in the pellets, as that was the only common thing in all the different kinds that I tried.

It certainly won't hurt to try cutting the pellets for a few weeks, as long as your bun is eating plenty of good grass hay and veggies. Though if you don't notice it helping, maybe look to one of the veggies as being the culprit.

There are health problems that can cause these things as well, but aside from vet care and meds, I figure diet is one of the main things under our direct control that we can change in hopes that it might help these extra sensitive buns.

Click to expand...

Thank you for being so helpful. He has done some rather large poops overnight which have some hair in them. I'm assuming this is some of the old blockage coming out. I think I will try and elimination diet to see if it is the pellets and/or certain veggies. I would do anything to make this little boy better for good!!

Update -

Arnie has been in for an xray today. There are no blockages or gas problems but he is being treated for a stomach ulcer. Does anyone have any experience of stomach ulcers in rabbits?