Illeus

I am a long time lurker, first time poster. I live in Ottawa (Canada) but I know this forum has a lot of knowledgeable people.

I do not know what to do anymore My elder bun Clarence (9 years old) has been having ongoing GI issues. He has been to the vet about 4 times the past six months due to what I learned was arthritis - which he was prescribed Metacam, which upset his stomach and resulted with GI issues and another trip to the vet. About a month ago, I separated him from a female bunny he was bonded with that has been together for years because she has started becoming very aggressive with him. She is also overweight and tends to eat all of his food. About 3 weeks ago, I noticed he wasn't eating his vegetables. When he tried to eat, he was having difficulty swallowing so I thought he might have a malocclusion. His bowel movements were also very small. After the second day of him not touching his food, I took him to the vet where he had an x-ray. I was shocked when I saw it - his intestines were completely full of feces. He was diagnosed with Illeus and was prescribed 0.3 ml of Trimebutine PO BID and 0.25 ml Cisapride (prepulsid) PO BID for one week. After giving him the medication, he started eating his food by the second day and his poops were getting larger and more frequent. I would also like to add that he is not the friendliest bunny and does not like to be handled- but giving him medication was not that difficult, as I had to do that quite a bit with another rabbit I had. After the week was over, he was fine for the first day but after the second he wasn't eating again. Money has been very tight and each visit to the vet automatically costs $75 just for the check up. I would LOVE to go to a vet that is cheaper but there are not many rabbit savvy vets where I am and I know that this vet has experience with rabbits. I would gladly travel farther to another city but again, I do not know of many rabbit vets. After the second day, I saw he was dehydrated and then forced fed him water and a couple cc's of the liquid of his blended vegetables. After the third day of not eating, we called the vet who said the one we normally see is on vacation, so we asked for another prescription. We got another week prescription that ended yesterday and AGAIN, he did not touch his vegetables today. I tried massaging his stomach but he has become more and more nippy. I could just crawl up in a ball and cry.. I just do not know what to do anymore. I have no idea if he can be on this medication long-term. Our money is so limited due to the constant trips to the vet and his medication is $60 for both. I don't want him to be in pain and it breaks my heart he is not eating. Does anyone have any advice? Is there anything I can do to help this? If it is a chronic issue then is there another issue causing it?

I apologize for the long, disorganized post. I would like to say that although money is hard, we are not going to give up on him and giving him away is not an option. I just want to know how I can help him and if anyone has any similar experience with this.

Thanks for reading.

I am sorry that he is still unwell

Unfortunately without further diagnostics just giving more and more medication is only treating symptoms, not the primary cause of the symptoms

A full blood work up would give some information about his Liver and Kidney function. Problems with either can cause GI tract symptoms

Urinalysis would also be helpful- looking for things like infection/crystals/'sludge'.

Gastric ulceration is another possibility. Rabbits have a very acidic stomach and even a very short time without eating can lead to the formation of gastric ulcers

You say he reacted badly to Metacam. What alternative analgesia was/is he receiving for his arthritis ? If none then pain from arthritis will lead to GI tract hypomotility/Ileus

Did the Vet check his teeth ? Dental problems are very possible in a 9 year old Rabbit who has also had protracted periods of anorexia

Fluid therapy would also be something I would want to give now, either subcutaneously or IV. Once ingesta within the GI tract becomes dehydrated, something that rapidly occurs in cases of gut stasis/illeus, then the problem will just get worse and may result in a full obstruction.

Cecal impaction may be an issue for him. Treatment for this needs to be ongoing and aggressive for many days. Not only medication but also fluid therapy, an osmotic laxative, abdominal massage etc.

So whilst I would like to list a load of different drugs to suggest to the Vet I cant because as I said at the start of my post, without further diagnostics it is impossible to know what is actually causing his problems

I really would urge you to find a Vet willing to carry these out in the hope that they will enable the Vet to better help your Rabbit xx

I hope you and your vet manage to get to the bottom of this. Sending vibes for you and bunny.