First experience of GI stasis - advice needed

Hi all,

We experienced our first (and hopefully last) bout of stasis last night as fairly new bunny owners and would really appreciate some advice.

We noticed something was wrong yesterday evening as she was looking uncomfortable and didn't touch her veggies which is very unlike her! We took her straight to the emergency vet who gave her subq fluids, gut mobility and painkillers.

I've been up all night watching her, offering food and making sure she's warm. She's since nibbled coriander, basil, some spring greens and at about 6am had a small drink of water as well. So that's looking positive I think? I've not however seen any poos yet. Do you think because she's nibbling greens she's coming out of it and w ended to be patient for poos or should we take her back to the vet first thing?

The other issue we have is Larry, we took him to the vets too because we didn't want to ruin their bond and we had such trouble bonding them in the first place - he's a very nervous bunny and didn't cope well with the vet visit yesterday to the point where he's not pooing either and isn't really eating as much as normal.

Obviously we'll take them to the vet if it's the best thing but I'm not sure at what point we should be panicking considering she's now nibbling greens.

Any advice much appreciated! Thank you.

Did the vet send you away with any medicines?
Have you got any syringe food for her?

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No he didn't give me anything and I don't have any food to syringe feed. I asked the vet if there was anything I could take / give her at home he said there wasn't as the pain medicine is 24 hours apparently.

She should really be continuing with the gut medication for a few more days and also you should have some more pain relief. If I were you I would contact your vet again and ask if they could leave some out for you, so that you don't have to take the rabbits again. Hopefully, Larry will start to pick up today once he's fully over the stress of the vet.

If either rabbit is not eating enough you could syringe feed. This can either be done with a ready-made recovery product or you can make your own by soaking pellets in water. This mixture could have some vegetable baby food mixed with it, such as Ellas, or something like grated carrot or apple. Sometimes with stressy rabbits though, it's better to try to get them to increase their intake of food themselves, by continually offering it to them.

Sending vibes for them both. I hope you can arrange for some more meds from the vet.

Thanks very much for this! I'll call the vet now. Can we administer gut mobility at home do you know?

LarryMolly said:

Thanks very much for this! I'll call the vet now. Can we administer gut mobility at home do you know?

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Yes, both pain relief and gut medication can be given at home in liquid form.

LarryMolly said:

Thanks very much for this! I'll call the vet now. Can we administer gut mobility at home do you know?

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Yes. You should get one drug that will improve upper gut motility & another that will improve the lower half. Stasis always happens for a reason but finding out the reason can be impossible at times. I'd ask for some pain relief too. Good luck

Omi said:

She should really be continuing with the gut medication for a few more days and also you should have some more pain relief. If I were you I would contact your vet again and ask if they could leave some out for you, so that you don't have to take the rabbits again. Hopefully, Larry will start to pick up today once he's fully over the stress of the vet.

If either rabbit is not eating enough you could syringe feed. This can either be done with a ready-made recovery product or you can make your own by soaking pellets in water. This mixture could have some vegetable baby food mixed with it, such as Ellas, or something like grated carrot or apple. Sometimes with stressy rabbits though, it's better to try to get them to increase their intake of food themselves, by continually offering it to them.

Sending vibes for them both. I hope you can arrange for some more meds from the vet.

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Definitely this You will need a bit more to get them on the road again.

There's a couple of articles here which may help you to understand things a bit better.

http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/

http://anyflip.com/dvpt/hzvv/basic

Please let us know how you get on, and if we can help further x

... and welcome to the Forum :wave: Lovely to have you here.

I hope they are both feeling better soon x

Thank you everyone! I'm waiting for the vet to call me back, she's currently in surgery, I'll push for that medicine to be left out for for us. (Molly has just done so teeny poos!)

It sounds like Molly is on the mend!

I'm surprised by how little stuff you were given though... We are new to bunnies and had our first stasis episode recently. We were given syringe food, gut mobility meds and fibreplex. Gut mobility meds were needed once/twice a day for about 4 days, fibreplex for 3 days and syringe feed until he started eating on his own. I did give some metacam we had lying around too after 24 hours. I'm a bit suspicious about your vet not giving anything...

Hi my bunny experienced this for the first time last year...and I was so stressed out (so thankful for this forum) I stayed up for 3 nights with him...he'd stopped eating, drinking and moving because he was in pain...we caught it early and headed straight for the vets where they can him pain and gut meds...he was sent home with some metacam and criticle care which I made very watery and syringe fed him little bits of it through the night with a syringe of water also...I was told to gently massage his tummy....not easy to do on a bunny who wont be picked up!..But I remember the first tiny poo and then him drinking some water from a bowl I had sat next to him on his own...the joy!!! but it was very slow going for the next few days after that...hang in there. I also sat a hot water bottle next to him wrapped in a towel so he could snuggle next to it...Hope it all goes ok..x

MiniC said:

It sounds like Molly is on the mend!

I'm surprised by how little stuff you were given though... We are new to bunnies and had our first stasis episode recently. We were given syringe food, gut mobility meds and fibreplex. Gut mobility meds were needed once/twice a day for about 4 days, fibreplex for 3 days and syringe feed until he started eating on his own. I did give some metacam we had lying around too after 24 hours. I'm a bit suspicious about your vet not giving anything...

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Yeah it doesnt really sound like your vets are super rabbit savvy - I'd probably look for more knowledgeable vets in case of a next time. Hopefully for now they're both better!

LarryMolly said:

Thank you everyone! I'm waiting for the vet to call me back, she's currently in surgery, I'll push for that medicine to be left out for for us. (Molly has just done so teeny poos!)

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If you think you may want to look for another vet, you can post in Rabbit Chat with the title "Rabbit Savvy vet needed in (your location)" and members will come up with their recommendations ......

I think you're all right my vet is definitely not rabbit savvy by the sounds of things - makes me think we've been lucky in catching it early and her not deteriorating a lot more than she did! We do seems to have turned a corner this evening - she's now munching through a bowl of wet veggies and has started moving more. We've not had any more poos but hopefully things are moving if she feels like eating. I'll post on Rabbit Chat for a rabbit savvy vet in the area. Will be keeping a very close eye on her tonight. Thanks again, really appreciate the support! Will keep you posted.

Brilliant news It certainly sounds as though she's improving.

She sounds like she's continuing to improve - hopefully you'll see more signs of movement soon! Just keep doing what you're doing. Do you know how to give belly massage? There are videos on YouTube, you can use those to help.

LarryMolly said:

I think you're all right my vet is definitely not rabbit savvy by the sounds of things - makes me think we've been lucky in catching it early and her not deteriorating a lot more than she did! We do seems to have turned a corner this evening - she's now munching through a bowl of wet veggies and has started moving more. We've not had any more poos but hopefully things are moving if she feels like eating. I'll post on Rabbit Chat for a rabbit savvy vet in the area. Will be keeping a very close eye on her tonight. Thanks again, really appreciate the support! Will keep you posted.

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Good news :thumb:

Hope you find a good vet - keep bumping it up so people see it

Sorry I never got back here
I jump on at work but it's difficult to reply when at work.
I'm glad to read she's improving and hope you can find a rabbit savvy vet soon x

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