rikster
New Kit
Hi there.
I am reaching out for some assistance as I have a recurring problem with one of my Netherland Dwarfs (I have 11 in total btw) which I have visited three separate vets about and still have no resolution to.
It started about 6 months ago. My three year old Netherland ‘Agouti’ stopped eating for about 12 hours and stopped passing poo. When I let her loose in the garden she just sat next to the fence rather than running around as she usually would. Later that day I noticed that she had some mucus around her backside and as I watched her I saw her back end convulse like she was trying to force something out but with no joy. Of course I took her straight to the Vet. Her tummy was also making gurgling noises then and when we reached the vet’s. It had now been about 24 hours since we had seen her eat. The vet could feel poo’s when he examined her but they were not getting through – she was blocked up. He thought she had GI Stasis. He gave me three different liquids to get her gut moving so she could excrete the poo’s and get everything moving again. I administered the liquids orally to Agouti for the next 36 hours. She had now not eaten for almost three days. However, as the vet predicted, her guts started moving. She excreted the largest rabbit poo I have ever seen. Eight to ten times larger than normal. After this one ‘biggie’ the rest came out (she could have one the Bunny Poo Olympics, I can tell you) and within 6 hours she was much thinner around the middle and happily munching her hay and pellets and vegetables again. Of course I was delighted, I stopped the meds as instructed and thought all was OK.
A few weeks later I had the same issue with Agouti. And we have had it regularly since. She is OK for a week or two and then the same thing happens again. The vets put her on Baytril for three weeks, and they also tried another Antibiotic the next time. we have also wormed her with Panacur (just to cover all bases although there was no indication this was at fault). I have also fed her pro-biotics as instructed by the vet to try and re-instate the ‘good bacteria’ in her gut that may have been affected by the anti-biotics.
Anyhow, six months on the same cycle happens. She is happily eating and pooing normally for a couple of weeks. Then she gets blocked. The same transparent / milky mucus appear around her bum (there is a distinct smell that comes with this btw). I have to provide the concoction of serums to ‘oil’ her gut and two days later another ‘Biggie’ or two appear/s and she then poo’s for England before happily munching away again. As I stated, I have tried three local vets separately, spent literally hundreds and hundreds on her but am no closer to resolving the issue. I can remove the blockage each time for her (by orally injecting these three serums) but this is not addressing the cause or providing a permanent solution for her.
I have kept rabbits for about 5 years now but have never come across this type of recurring case before. This has now happened seven or eight times and I really want to get an answer and sort this for her as she is clearly uncomfortable every time it happens.
Any ideas, suggestions or can anyone suggest another course of action, another route I could take or another source of experience I could tap into?
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions and bless you in advance!
Rik
I am reaching out for some assistance as I have a recurring problem with one of my Netherland Dwarfs (I have 11 in total btw) which I have visited three separate vets about and still have no resolution to.
It started about 6 months ago. My three year old Netherland ‘Agouti’ stopped eating for about 12 hours and stopped passing poo. When I let her loose in the garden she just sat next to the fence rather than running around as she usually would. Later that day I noticed that she had some mucus around her backside and as I watched her I saw her back end convulse like she was trying to force something out but with no joy. Of course I took her straight to the Vet. Her tummy was also making gurgling noises then and when we reached the vet’s. It had now been about 24 hours since we had seen her eat. The vet could feel poo’s when he examined her but they were not getting through – she was blocked up. He thought she had GI Stasis. He gave me three different liquids to get her gut moving so she could excrete the poo’s and get everything moving again. I administered the liquids orally to Agouti for the next 36 hours. She had now not eaten for almost three days. However, as the vet predicted, her guts started moving. She excreted the largest rabbit poo I have ever seen. Eight to ten times larger than normal. After this one ‘biggie’ the rest came out (she could have one the Bunny Poo Olympics, I can tell you) and within 6 hours she was much thinner around the middle and happily munching her hay and pellets and vegetables again. Of course I was delighted, I stopped the meds as instructed and thought all was OK.
A few weeks later I had the same issue with Agouti. And we have had it regularly since. She is OK for a week or two and then the same thing happens again. The vets put her on Baytril for three weeks, and they also tried another Antibiotic the next time. we have also wormed her with Panacur (just to cover all bases although there was no indication this was at fault). I have also fed her pro-biotics as instructed by the vet to try and re-instate the ‘good bacteria’ in her gut that may have been affected by the anti-biotics.
Anyhow, six months on the same cycle happens. She is happily eating and pooing normally for a couple of weeks. Then she gets blocked. The same transparent / milky mucus appear around her bum (there is a distinct smell that comes with this btw). I have to provide the concoction of serums to ‘oil’ her gut and two days later another ‘Biggie’ or two appear/s and she then poo’s for England before happily munching away again. As I stated, I have tried three local vets separately, spent literally hundreds and hundreds on her but am no closer to resolving the issue. I can remove the blockage each time for her (by orally injecting these three serums) but this is not addressing the cause or providing a permanent solution for her.
I have kept rabbits for about 5 years now but have never come across this type of recurring case before. This has now happened seven or eight times and I really want to get an answer and sort this for her as she is clearly uncomfortable every time it happens.
Any ideas, suggestions or can anyone suggest another course of action, another route I could take or another source of experience I could tap into?
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions and bless you in advance!
Rik
