Ileus - recurring episodes u/d bloods ok

Rambo stopped eating a few weeks ago and he had all the usual meds and started to eat within the hour after them (never known it work like that before!) and was OK.

Two weeks ago he had exactly the same symptoms so popped him to the vet (emergency hrs on a Sunday night!) where he had all the meds again and started to eat within 40 mins. He stopped again the following day but we think that was triggered by taking him back in for a check up and it took about 24 hours to get him back eating.

This morning I saw him eating/drinking at 7.30am and at 9.30am he was showing signs of refusing some food again. I had some emergency emipred and metacam so gave him a small dose (only 1ml of emipred and 0.5ml of metacam) and within the hour he picked up again.

We had never had problems with him before this (except for his tooth before Christmas and then he did go into stasis in Jan which may or may not be related).

I have spoke to my vet today and if this happens again we are looking at further investigations.

Has anyone else had this with their bunnies? I know it is moult season but 3 times in a few weeks I have never experienced before.

I had this with one of ours a couple of months ago. We were debating further investigations, but the vet and i decided to hold off as he was recovering so quickly. After four episodes in less than three weeks , he has been fine ever since. No idea why it happened!

Sorry, no similar experience here but did not want to read and run. My bunnies are in full on moult too but it took a medication issue to set Fiver off early this week and I'm still working him through it today.
I hope whatever is troubling Rambo is easily sussed and he's back to normal soon. xxxx

bunny babe said:

Rambo stopped eating a few weeks ago and he had all the usual meds and started to eat within the hour after them (never known it work like that before!) and was OK.

Two weeks ago he had exactly the same symptoms so popped him to the vet (emergency hrs on a Sunday night!) where he had all the meds again and started to eat within 40 mins. He stopped again the following day but we think that was triggered by taking him back in for a check up and it took about 24 hours to get him back eating.

This morning I saw him eating/drinking at 7.30am and at 9.30am he was showing signs of refusing some food again. I had some emergency emipred and metacam so gave him a small dose (only 1ml of emipred and 0.5ml of metacam) and within the hour he picked up again.

We had never had problems with him before this (except for his tooth before Christmas and then he did go into stasis in Jan which may or may not be related).

I have spoke to my vet today and if this happens again we are looking at further investigations.

Has anyone else had this with their bunnies? I know it is moult season but 3 times in a few weeks I have never experienced before.

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You don't say how long he was on any meds after he started eating again.
How is his fluid intake? Is he overweight? Does he get enough exercise? What is he eating? Does he get enough fiber? How are his teeth? Does he get enough fluid? Could he be getting gasey? Has he been moulting a lot?
One of my bunnies would go through the same situation.

Poor Rambo You dont mention anything about his poo output. 'Stasis' is not only 'not eating', a Rabbit can stop eating and initially not be in gut stasis. That only occurring if the anorexia persists for several hours. So first of all I'd want to know if it is a primary GI tract issue or not. For example Rabbits with transient bladder discomfort due to bladder sludge will stop eating during a 'bladder twinge' and as soon as pain relief kicks in they start eating again. So just treating the 'not eating' without knowing why the 'not eating' has occurred can mean just treating symptoms and not the primary cause.

As you have mentioned a previous Dental issue that too is a possible primary cause. Personally I would want to talk with the Vet about trying to establish whether it is a recurrent gut problem he is having, or if the 'not eating' is a symptom of something else; the 'not eating due to something else' then leading to gut stasis as a secondary problem.

Hope that makes sense, it's not even 6am yet and I spent a lot of last night with 2 crews of Fire Fighters !! :shock:

Dont ask...........................:roll:

Sending lots of stay well vibes for Rambo xx

Hi, thank you all for your replies.

Jane - will look forward to hearing your story at some point. That is what we want to get to the bottom of i.e. the primary cause.

With regards to his poop output. The last 2 times we noticed smaller than usual poop, then he would not poop. He was lying flat out in the toilet so was definitely in discomfort. He had meds and then ate quite quickly after and after a couple of hours he would go and poop. Probably a good few hours later he would poop some really smelly soft poop and then feel a lot better after this. Yesterday I think we caught it just in time so poop output was OK and poop size etc was "normal". There have been no "strings" of poop.

Just to answer the other questions:

How is his fluid intake? Good
Is he overweight? His weight is about right for his breed (Beveran)
Does he get enough exercise? He has a large kennel to move round in and access to the garden most of the day. He can be lazy at times :roll:
What is he eating? Hay and we also have Oxbow bunny basics pellets. 1-2 scoopes of pro-fibre most days between him and Cassie. He has spring greens mainly and we try to vary with some kale, carrot tops. He is not keen on herbs but will eat them sometimes.:roll:
Does he get enough fiber? Yes
How are his teeth? He had a fractured tooth in Dec and the vets (both I have seen) checked this out and it has grown back OK. X-rays in Dec showed the rest of his teeth were good.
Could he be getting gasey? I thought this might be a possibility. He is a bit of a glutton at times so wondered if he was eating too fast. So scatter feeding pellets. I have also cut out broccoli now as read that could make them gasey and cut back on the amount of veg we were giving over the last week.
Has he been moulting a lot? He tends to "shed" more than moult but I have been brushing both of them to try to remove any excess fur.

We have had Rambo just over a year now and the only other time he stopped eating is when he had his tooth problem (fractured :roll: vet have confirmed this has grown back OK) in Dec.

My bunny does this too, does stomach pressing. Im thinking its gas as she eats outside and all that spring grass.

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I had stasis 3x in 4 weeks with Fergie recently - no pooing, no eating, lethargic and tummy pressing. The first time was bad, the second time was less severe but the third time he was in for 3 nights. The first 2 times it happened we didn't do any tests - he needed a dental the first time and as the second wasn't too bad we left it but I really pushed for them on the third episode of it.

As it turned out he has poor jaw conformation and his molars don't grind completely together so he's a dental bun, and the third time he had high white blood cells so an infection. So far (touch wood!) now we've established the causes I've got it under control - hay only diet and he had antibiotics after the third time

I think if this was my bun I would probably be asking them to look for a cause - I know how draining it is emotionally and financially to have recurrent stasis bouts. I know diagnostics aren't cheap but in my case they were worth it (we only did bloods, 2 dentals with a good vet picked up his jaw shape problems). I think with previous dental problems I would probably be suspicious of teeth issues

Really hope it gets sorted for you - I know the stress of silly stasis bunnies! Xx

I have a bunny that has been going through stasis. He was a very picky eater and stopped eating hay and fresh grass- which all my other bunnies eat with gusto. He stopped eating for a full day and was belly pressing and hunching up, his temperature dropped, I warmed him up and syringed lots of fluids/electrolytes - 6 tablespoons in 6 hours (hydration therapy). 8 hours later, he finally pooed and recovered - but a week later it happened again. I was sure it was his teeth, took him to a vet who sedated him with ketamine (has anyone heard of that before) and he was knocked out. We both looked at his teeth with an otoscope, the vet declared his teeth were normal. I thought I saw a pointy tooth that possibly might be poking his cheek but there was no mark on his inside cheek so the vet said it was normal. ....Still thinking I want a second opinion and like there might be something we missed. Even with my bunny knocked out it was hard to see his very back teeth, his mouth is really small.

Anyway, if my bunny's episodes of GI stasis have nothing to do with his teeth, I think it must be related to moulting and ingestion fur, because I saw lots of string of pearl poos last time he moulted. I think somewhere in his intestines there's still a possible blockage slowing his digestion down and making him prone to more blockages. One of the reasons for thinking this is (like your rabbit) his poos are consistantly smaller than they should be, I have other rabbits smaller than he is and his poo is the smallest of any of my rabbits.

They say fibre/more hay is the key to getting rabbits guts working properly and hay, hay, hay. I tried every trick in the book to get him to eat more hay and grass, but he just won't. I even tried grinding hay and apple together in a spice grinder for a while, which worked, but then he started snubbing that. I try all sorts of fresh grass and he snubs that too.

So most recently I have stopped focusing on getting him to eat more hay— I still give him lots of fresh hay every day and I do see him eating some of it but not nearly as much as my other rabbits. Now, everyday I give him twice the portion of his favourite greens twice a day, dandelions, lettuce, nasturtiums, a handful every morning (around 1/2 cup) and another handful every evening before he gets his pellets. He also might get a baby carrot or apple slices as well. I actually think the extra greens going into his system twice a day (instead of just once) has helped keep things constantly flowing through his system. In recent weeks his poo is larger and closer to normal. I feel like he is much better and am not nearly as worried about him getting GI stasis again.

So, after reading that Rambo does eat lots of hay, my suggestion is try slowly upping his intake of leafy fresh greens and veg (with lots of water content) until you are giving him twice the amount, two servings, once in the morning and once at night (introduce it slowly so as not to set off an episode of diarrhoea). See if that makes his poo size larger and a healthier size. My theory is there might be something like a small partial blockage somewhere in his system and the extra veg going through his system might flush it out. I think this may have worked with my rabbit.

Other thoughts I have is..... Dr. Dana Krempels who writes lots of medical information about rabbits believes in giving Lactulose, a stool softener, along with hydration therapy. Maybe you could talk to your vet about this approach. It has to be done with extra hydration because the lactulose pulls water from the rest of the body and hydrates the intestines, so the bunny needs extra hydration. If you are interested in that you could print out what Dana Krempels has written about "Lactulose hydration therapy" and give it to your Vet and see what they think. Anyway, good luck .

Hi, thank you for your replies.

Well he has stopped eating again tonight. Just given emipred and metacam and spoken to the out of hours vet. I have asked for him to be admitted tomorrow for tests as he is was fine outside at 9pm and at 10.10pm he was showing interest in food but would not eat it. I am at my wits end now.

I would not say he is a brilliant hay eater but he does eat hay washed in water to try to increase water intake (he does drink quite a bit too). He has veg about 3 times a day. We have actually cut back the last week and a half to try to encourage him to eat more hay than usual. We have also cut out broccoli completely after reading this could cause gas.

His poops have been normal today.

This is happening so sudden and closer together.

bunny babe said:

Hi, thank you for your replies.

Well he has stopped eating again tonight. Just given emipred and metacam and spoken to the out of hours vet. I have asked for him to be admitted tomorrow for tests as he is was fine outside at 9pm and at 10.10pm he was showing interest in food but would not eat it. I am at my wits end now.

I would not say he is a brilliant hay eater but he does eat hay washed in water to try to increase water intake (he does drink quite a bit too). He has veg about 3 times a day. We have actually cut back the last week and a half to try to encourage him to eat more hay than usual. We have also cut out broccoli completely after reading this could cause gas.

His poops have been normal today.

This is happening so sudden and closer together.

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I know just how stressful it is having lots of episodes in a short period of time, I think it is definitely worth looking into so well done for booking him in they might not find anything but it does make it a lot easier to deal with if you can rule in or rule out a problem.

After all his stasis Ferg was recommended a hay only diet and I have to say I think it's made a difference. That might be because his main cause is his teeth so lots of hay is keeping them in check, but cutting down veggies and getting rid of pellets does seem to have worked in his case - we've had no problems since.

Hope the tests give you some answers, sending lots of vibes xx

Thank you for your replies and thoughts.

No arthritis. No blockage, Little bit of gas but probably less than normally in a rabbit, fractured tooth ok (not fractured any more!), no spurs.
Xrays done from side of head to show all teeth, top of head and body. There is nothing that is showing.

There is a little bit of a gap in his gum around the tooth where the fractured tooth was but the vet said unlikely to be the cause of the episodes. There was no inflammation or infection there.

Ears were fine.

I asked about the bladder e.g. bladder sludge. He said the x-ray would not show that due to angles other stuff.

So now we have to wait for results of bloods. They will be sent off tomorrow so hopefully get them back on Friday, if not it will be Monday.

bunny babe said:

Thank you for your replies and thoughts.

No arthritis. No blockage, Little bit of gas but probably less than normally in a rabbit, fractured tooth ok (not fractured any more!), no spurs.
Xrays done from side of head to show all teeth, top of head and body. There is nothing that is showing.

There is a little bit of a gap in his gum around the tooth where the fractured tooth was but the vet said unlikely to be the cause of the episodes. There was no inflammation or infection there.

Ears were fine.

I asked about the bladder e.g. bladder sludge. He said the x-ray would not show that due to angles other stuff.

So now we have to wait for results of bloods. They will be sent off tomorrow so hopefully get them back on Friday, if not it will be Monday.

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Did your vet mention an EC test? Not sure if that's included in your bloods or not. My vet was going to recommend one if bloods and X-rays were normal, didn't need it in the end but was an option xx

I'm not sure. I could ask for it as bloods will be sent tomorrow.

Also done some research and worms that live in intestine can cause pain too so going to ask if we need to do poop tests or give meds to possibly eliminate that.

bunny babe said:

I'm not sure. I could ask for it as bloods will be sent tomorrow.

Also done some research and worms that live in intestine can cause pain too so going to ask if we need to do poop tests or give meds to possibly eliminate that.

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Maybe a course of Panacur to sort worms or e.c. ?

Oh gosh sorry you are having such a difficult time with Mr Rambo. I have looked over my vet records and Rambo has never had any previous problems with gut statis in the past. What I would say is that the other blue beveren I have....no idea if they are related or not as I'm not sure Bluebells background but she has gone into statis around 5 times in the 4 years I have had her and I have never found the reasons why. Not sure if this is the trait within the breed but they seem to be super sensitive souls. Bluebell refused to eat a few weeks ago because it hailed and she was outside? There is nothing stressing him is there like something coming into the garden. Good you are getting all bloods done I really hope you get some idea of what's causing it and it's nothing serious. I know you have had pin worms in the past...mine also have pin worms which I see occasional but from what I have read up on and spoken to my vet about it is quite normal for rabbits to have pin worms as long as they do not get out of control. I really don't like the idea of keep on giving them panacur lots of times as this can cause problems in itself. Keep us updated on the results of the blood tests. I will have a look on line and see if I can see any problems with that particular breed.

I checked with the vet today and we have started panacur in case! He has not had any since about last August when we had the previous issues with worms. We will also continue with some emipred for a couple of days and then reduce.

Rambo does get a bit stressy with if it is windy at times but we have done all we can to stop fences rattling etc. For such a big bold bun he can be a wimp :roll:

LL - of course I will keep you updated on him as soon as we know anything. He is bright in himself, eating and pooping but not always with his usual enthusiasm (you know what I mean ) Apparently during his stay yesterday at the vets, the vet nurses were admiring him

More vibes on the way for Rambo. (((((((((((((((Vibes)))))))))))))) I really hope things turn around for him soon. xxxx

MimzMum said:

More vibes on the way for Rambo. (((((((((((((((Vibes)))))))))))))) I really hope things turn around for him soon. xxxx

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Thank you. Tonight he has eaten all his veggie tea and then was looking for some pro fibre or science selective after that Oh and was trying to pinch Cassie's spring green too.

Really hoping it doesn't happen again.

bunny babe said:

Thank you. Tonight he has eaten all his veggie tea and then was looking for some pro fibre or science selective after that Oh and was trying to pinch Cassie's spring green too.

Really hoping it doesn't happen again.

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I have found that Spring Greens can cause tummy pain for many Rabbits. I no longer feed it at all. I dont know if my Rabbits are just weird though, it wouldn't surprise me !!

Also, I do not feed any Veg at all to Rabbits who are out grazing on grass at this time of year. The grass is so rich and I personally think giving Veg too can be a bit much for their GI tract.

I hope that Rambo does not have any more 'episodes' xx