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Bear is at the vets tonight...

C

Chrisrules334

Warren Scout
Bear hasn't eaten for about 6 hours now and has not been very active so we've taken him to the vets near us. They've done a physical examination and found nothing wrong with him, other than some concaved back teeth (that don't appear to hurt the tongue). He has had all the necessary jabs etc.

They are keeping him in overnight, so we will have an update in the morning. Have any of you got any ideas of potential illness? Also Cam is now on her own so is there anything we can do for her to make sure she is OK/doesn't get lonely?
 
Chrisrules334 said:
Bear hasn't eaten for about 6 hours now and has not been very active so we've taken him to the vets near us. They've done a physical examination and found nothing wrong with him, other than some concaved back teeth (that don't appear to hurt the tongue). He has had all the necessary jabs etc.

They are keeping him in overnight, so we will have an update in the morning. Have any of you got any ideas of potential illness? Also Cam is now on her own so is there anything we can do for her to make sure she is OK/doesn't get lonely?
Click to expand...

I am sorry that Bear is not well. It may be that it is his teeth that are causing him discomfort, even if there is not any obvious soft tissue damage in his mouth as yet. I hope that he will have improved overnight and perhaps the Vet may suggest that he needs a Dental to address the problems noted on examination yesterday.

Sending vibes for him and I am sure you gave Cam lots of attention last night so that she did not feel too lonely x
 
Thanks both.

Bear hasn't improved overnight. The vets have tried to feed him through a syringe/drip to get his gut moving again.

My guess is that he is in stasis, but the reason why is unknown.

Unfortunately they aren't rabbit specialists at this vet (and we didn't want to wait until the morning to see how he was)... So any guidance you guys can give us will help when we're discussing treatment with the vet.

They've also taken a blood sample to do tests.
 
I'm sorry that Bear hasn't improved during the night. Some fluid therapy might help. Is he having any faecal output? If a problem has been identified with his teeth, it is quite likely that this is causing the problem with eating, even though on examination it appears that it is not the source of the issue. Do you know whether the blood tests have included a blood glucose test to exclude a blockage?

Sending Bear lots of vibes.
 
Chrisrules334 said:
Thanks both.

Bear hasn't improved overnight. The vets have tried to feed him through a syringe/drip to get his gut moving again.

My guess is that he is in stasis, but the reason why is unknown.

Unfortunately they aren't rabbit specialists at this vet (and we didn't want to wait until the morning to see how he was)... So any guidance you guys can give us will help when we're discussing treatment with the vet.

They've also taken a blood sample to do tests.
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear about Bear - it's worrying, isn't it?

A vet can administer fluids - either Intravenously or subcutaneously (under the skin) and these are often very helpful. IV fluids will need the rabbit to stay in whereas sub-cut can be done as an out-patient.

Here's some info to bring yourself up to date with stasis:

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

http://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/ROWinter10p7.pdf

http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/diagnosing-and-treating-gastric-ileusstasis-rabbits-proceedings


It's often the case that we never find out why a rabbit has gone into stasis.

Teeth can be a cause - dental issues can cause a lot of pain. A vet (unless they can do conscious dentals) can't see well inside the mouth to the back teeth and spurs can have grown.

Also, a rabbit who is moulting can sometimes go into stasis.

I hope your rabbit gets better soon.
 
When you go to the vet ask for the temperature to be taken as well as blood glucose levels.

Info on blood glucose testing:

Blood glucose is measured in mmol/ml (millimoles/litre)

Normal: 4-8 mmol/ml

2-4 mmol/ltr – needs food – rabbit is experiencing gut stasis
If less that 2 mmol/ltr, call vet

8-15 mmol/ltr Rabbit is stressed, but can stay at home
More than 15mmol/ltr, less than 20 – Call vet, start to worry…
More than 20 mmol/ltr, needs surgery.
 
Thank you Max. I will ask when I call back for an update at lunchtime.

In terms of the cause of his stasis it's hard to know. I can rule out a lot of them. The only relevant ones are:
- Proximity of a dominant rabbit (Cam, his buddy, is dominant, but this has always been the case)
- Extremes of weather/temperature - not really extreme but it has gone from cold to quite warm in the UK (relatively)
- Pain
- Foreign bodies (unsure what this could be but you never know)

He is also moulting quite a lot so this may be impacting him.

Thanks :)
 
Chrisrules334 said:
Thank you Max. I will ask when I call back for an update at lunchtime.

In terms of the cause of his stasis it's hard to know. I can rule out a lot of them. The only relevant ones are:
- Proximity of a dominant rabbit (Cam, his buddy, is dominant, but this has always been the case)
- Extremes of weather/temperature - not really extreme but it has gone from cold to quite warm in the UK (relatively)
- Pain
- Foreign bodies (unsure what this could be but you never know)

He is also moulting quite a lot so this may be impacting him.

Thanks :)
Click to expand...


You're welcome :)

In terms of your list, pain and moulting stood out to me.

But as I mentioned, it's one of things we often never get to the cause of ... I hope it's a one-off and he is soon right again :)
 
Yeah it's probably one of those two... Unfortunately Bear hates being touched and runs away unless you are hand feeding him (even then he runs to eat elsewhere) so it's hard to brush him and keep the fur out of the way.

Best course of action to leave him at the vets I assume?

Hoping insurance (Petplan) has me covered lol otherwise I'll be paying in Stasis at the shock of paying the bill!
 
Chrisrules334 said:
Yeah it's probably one of those two... Unfortunately Bear hates being touched and runs away unless you are hand feeding him (even then he runs to eat elsewhere) so it's hard to brush him and keep the fur out of the way.

Best course of action to leave him at the vets I assume?

Hoping insurance (Petplan) has me covered lol otherwise I'll be paying in Stasis at the shock of paying the bill!
Click to expand...


Yes leave him at the vets :)

I can't see a reason why PetPlan wouldn't cover it unless it was excluded as a pre-exisiting condition
 
Super,

Update from the vets:
Glucose results came back, just over 15 which I guess shows he is stressed - but that is perhaps expected given he's at the vets and is being handled more than he is used to.

Vet said teeth, though having small spurs, don't appear to be the cause of the discomfort as he isn't producing more saliva than normal (she said a couple of other things too)

He's getting syringe fed and isn't spitting too much of it out and is still having meds.

I guess the more promising sign (potentially) is that she can feel poo starting to form in his gut, so... hopefully that passes through in the next few hours.

They are going to try and put him in a room on his own for a bit to try and get him to hop around and stimulate the gut.

It sounds like the vets are doing the right things from reading the articles posted above so that gives some comfort.
 
Chrisrules334 said:
Super,

Update from the vets:
Glucose results came back, just over 15 which I guess shows he is stressed - but that is perhaps expected given he's at the vets and is being handled more than he is used to.

Vet said teeth, though having small spurs, don't appear to be the cause of the discomfort as he isn't producing more saliva than normal (she said a couple of other things too)

He's getting syringe fed and isn't spitting too much of it out and is still having meds.

I guess the more promising sign (potentially) is that she can feel poo starting to form in his gut, so... hopefully that passes through in the next few hours.

They are going to try and put him in a room on his own for a bit to try and get him to hop around and stimulate the gut.

It sounds like the vets are doing the right things from reading the articles posted above so that gives some comfort.
Click to expand...


Yes your vet sounds good :)

Glucose - I guess they will keep repeating this test to see how it comes down.

Glad he seems to be potentially forming poo. The meds and syringe food should take that through.

Well done you for catching it so quickly :thumb:
 
Bear update:

Glucose was down to 8.2 mid afternoon, which I guess is good as it came down from 15.
He ate a TINY bit of Broccoli a few hours ago.
Cam is now at the vets with him for company, along with snugglesafe/other pieces from the hutch to try and relax him.

Vets are taking good care of him and popped to Waitrose to get him a load of different vegetables/herbs to try and coax him into eating. Posh! I am sure that'll come back on the bill lol

How long does this stuff last for...? I am hoping it ends soon as we now are bunnyless!
 
Chrisrules334 said:
Bear update:

Glucose was down to 8.2 mid afternoon, which I guess is good as it came down from 15.
He ate a TINY bit of Broccoli a few hours ago.
Cam is now at the vets with him for company, along with snugglesafe/other pieces from the hutch to try and relax him.

Vets are taking good care of him and popped to Waitrose to get him a load of different vegetables/herbs to try and coax him into eating. Posh! I am sure that'll come back on the bill lol

How long does this stuff last for...? I am hoping it ends soon as we now are bunnyless!
Click to expand...


Really difficult to say how long it will go on for. You can also tell the vet how much you can afford (I keep a tally of how much it costs) ...

Giving him fluids is one thing the vet can do, taking the glucose (good news about that) and syringe feed during the night.

Most vets will try and get rabbits home asap, as they know they are happier in a familiar environment :)
 
MightyMax said:
Really difficult to say how long it will go on for. You can also tell the vet how much you can afford (I keep a tally of how much it costs) ...

Giving him fluids is one thing the vet can do, taking the glucose (good news about that) and syringe feed during the night.

Most vets will try and get rabbits home asap, as they know they are happier in a familiar environment :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Max. Insurance covers us for £2k of vet fees so hopefully we aren't pushing that yet. Will ask them tomorrow. He's not had any surgery or anything hyper expensive, just an examination, xray and medicines. My guess is its around £500 as it stands.

Yeah they are syringe feeding still. Just want the boy to poo and eat lol.

It's very odd. We have done pretty much everything right looking after them and I was hoping to avoid these things by doing tonnes of research. Turns out the buns are very delicate creatures..!
 
Chrisrules334 said:
Thanks Max. Insurance covers us for £2k of vet fees so hopefully we aren't pushing that yet. Will ask them tomorrow. He's not had any surgery or anything hyper expensive, just an examination, xray and medicines. My guess is its around £500 as it stands.

Yeah they are syringe feeding still. Just want the boy to poo and eat lol.

It's very odd. We have done pretty much everything right looking after them and I was hoping to avoid these things by doing tonnes of research. Turns out the buns are very delicate creatures..!
Click to expand...


They are quite fragile beings .. Can't be complacent when they stop eating. That's why places like this Forum is so good - you get the benefit of everyone telling you what to do! Not always a blessing, but could save a bun's life :)

Overnight poo vibes being sent :)
 
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