Bunnies with gut problems

Hi

I recently lost my rabbit to an intestinal blockage (it was a felt of fur). He had suffered this problem some time ago and was successfully operated on and despite successful surgery again this time, a week later a blockage reoccurred and I had to let him go.
I have had 6 rabbits up to now (I have two of these 6 still with me) but the 3 that I have lost to gut problems have all been the 'butterfly' pattern (please google if not sure how it looks, a.k.a broken butterfly). I have been doing some reading on this topic for a while and have come across information suggesting that the butterfly pattern is more susceptible to gut problems than other colours (I believe their colouring somehow has an affect on absorption or release of substances through the gut walls predisposing them to problems).
Now I realise that not all gut problem bunnies are of the butterfly colour pattern but I am interested to find out what percentage are.

I would be really grateful if you could tell me if you've had a rabbit with gut problems and what colour your rabbit was/is.
It may also be useful to know what was wrong with your rabbit (e.g. Gut hypomotility, gut stasis, blockage, bloat).

I'd really appreciate any input and as a veterinary nurse, it may prove useful to me and the vets I work with.

Many thanks

PS, if you would prefer I am happy for you to PM me

I have 2 mini rex girls, and both have had gut stasis problems. They are also both butterfly pattern. Molly has more colour (probably known as broken black) and Milly is classed as a "charlie" with only a small amount of colour. They have both had gut stasis, usually easily treated with gut stimulant and pain relief and they are eating again within hours, whereas other times, they have needed a few days of vet visits and injections of gut stimulants to get them eating again. They are litter sisters and fed on unlimited meadow and timothy hay and a small amount of Science Selective pellets. I have since tried new pellets and this seems to have helped. They have Science Selective Mature which seems to help their digestion, and Milly also has Oxbow Digestion Support supplement tablets as she's prone to dental issues and thus more likely to have gut stasis. I did try them on Vetcare Plus Digestive pellets which they were on for a few months and this also helped their digestion but they started to go off them a bit and didn't always want to eat them.

One of my rabbits has had stasis before. She is not a butterfly, she has brown and white dutch markings. She's only had full stasis once but she is a general monkey for trying to eat wood and paper so I suspect she has a slow moving gut.

I have no experience with this, since I've never had a broken butterfly bun nor experienced a blockage in my buns, but I'd certainly be interested to hear what people have to say.

I have one bun that is prone to stasis, but I think that is more stress related (happens after thunderstorms or fireworks have been going off). My other bun has problems with her cecals/poo occasionally, and I believe this is either genetic or damage done from before I got her. (She was severely starved).

Steph182's Charlie is a broken butterfly, I believe, and he does have random stasis episodes for no apparent reason. :?

From what I could find on google I think one of mine is a broken butterfly but she seems to have a gut of steel as she has not had a single gut stasis episode and she is now about 6 years old.

Yes my Charlie is a broken butterfly and goes into stasis randomly.
Milly is chinchilla and does too but hers seems to be stress related most of the time, or due to eating wallpaper when she was free range

Hotot are very well known to have gut problems- something to do with the gene that causes the hotot looks also causes gut problems. I believe the same is said, but to a lesser degree, for, as you say, butterfly bunnies.

I have a whole miriad of butterfly marked bunnies and none have a history of gut problems (other than those caused by dental issues/pain). The one of mine who has the gut problems is Autumn, who has dysautonomia (which is apparently a genetic virus) and he is harlequin marked.

Snowdrop has Megacolon and is a cross breed. She is white with brown markings on her face and back.

Cookie is a 'Sooty Fawn/tri-colour' according to the breeder, I don't think he is broken butterfly looking at the google pics but he has a very sensitive tum - he is five and whilst i've had him (3.5 years) he has had two stasis episodes, a blockage (managed to clear itself thankfully) and his tummy is now permanently sensitive.

Moley had terrible stasis last year for no particular reason and had a blockage which nearly needed operating. I have made changes to his diet which seems to help but I am always on edge looking for the signs. He is partnered with a hotot cross who has had 2 cases of slow gut what the op says makes a lot of sense to me!!

my butterfly lop could eat anything and not have a problem

Where to start

Rudy (broken butterfly) went through a spate of gas/stasis/bloaty episodes when I first got him nearly six years ago, having about 4 -5 a year, some only a month apart. *touch wood* probably about 3 years since he had gut problems.

Tinkerbell (butterfly markings) has had 2 stasis/gas episodes needing treatment in 6 years, I would personally count that as a normal bunny (?)

Esme (black fox markings) has had maybe about eight stasis/gas episodes in 6 years. She's had a blockage once but didn't require surgery.

Little Dot (magpie harlequin) had a blockage at 7 months old and died straight after surgery

Elijah (fox markings, opal, grey/beige or some such colour) had had 10+ stasis episodes often with blood glucose readings of 15+ (mostly occuring when moulting). He's had blockage surgery and there was nothing unusual to see in his intestines.

Erin (harlequin and white, broken butterfly markings) has had 5 or 6 stasis episodes whilst with me (between ages of 3 and 6 years) though she has a 'probable' diagnosis of surgical adhesions from her spay so may or may not be constitutional.

Eloise (harlequin) has had approx 2 per year stasis episodes, 4 in total.

Barnaby (sooty fawn) has had stasis episodes and sometimes very slow gut and in May was found on x-ray to have 'something abnormal' with his intestines, possibly a thickening though no definite diagnosis. He's had 3 stasis episodes.


So, Rudy and Elijah have the most history of gut problems but one is butterfly the other isn't.

I lost Mango last year to bloat. He was just plain black.

Truffle (bun in my sig - no idea what her markings are) has stasis episodes every few months.

eta - Tully and Fudge - both black otter I think - no butterfly marking - no issues with either of them. (Fudge had one stasis episode, but it was dental related).

Bunny Buddy I had no idea you had so many! Gosh that must be so stressful.

Spenser has had stasis a couple of times, and headed in that direction a few more times. He has a tender spot in his caecum (not sure if this counts as gut?). He is a red eyed white, lionhead cross, and very particular with his grooming so doubtless ingests fur.

Sorry you've lost buns to this problem.

Thumper - all dark colour - progressive scarring of the gut - looked like but wasn't megacolon.
Benjie - jet black - very nervous - gut slow down for psychological reasons mainly foxes outside.
There's an additional group of stasis prone buns & the effect of adding tree leaves to their diet here.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...ried-given-your-stasis-prone-buns-tree-leaves

I have definitely noticed a correlation between colour and the worst digestive problems. White rabbits with grey markings are more prone to megacolon type problems and disautonomia. The fewer markings the more likely the problem. So whatever genetics is carrying it is close to that colour gene.

Of course other rabbits can get gut problems too. I have a black and white lionhead doe with a sloppy/impacted gut at the moment. Nothing fixes it but she carries on with frequent use of cisapride and fibreplex.

Hi everyone, thank you so much for the input, I really appreciate. If anyone else has any input i'd be really grateful if you would let me know x