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Repeated gas issues

Zazu

New Kit
Hi all - Not a regular visitor to the health pages thankfully but unfortunately in recent times my 2-3yr old long-haired bun is struggling with gas!

Around 6 months ago he had what I'll call 'stasis' but not entirely sure on that diagnosis... It wasn't bloat as his stomach didn't go large/hard. This week he has had the same symptoms twice, just 4 days apart. I want to know what I can do differently to help him when it happens, or prevent it ideally.

His symptoms tend to come on over a few hours, either overnight or in the day. He starts to become disinterested in food (really strange for him as it's the highlight of his life). Then he tends to sit very hunched in a corner for hours. Then the noises start, loud gurgling noises I can hear from another room. By this time I've started the infacol/simeticone, I tend to give about 1ml every hour or 2, and try and make him hop around. He often hops into the litter tray but only manages wee's (more often than usual, sometimes weeing every 20-30mins). The infacol must help, because between 4 and 6 hours later he is back to grooming and nibbling his food/hay.

I've noticed the last couple of times once he is feeling better, his first poos have been really tiny or strung together with hair. This fits because he is longhaired but not getting much loose hair off him during grooming. What can I do to help this?

It's the fact he's done it twice in 4 days that is concerning, what can I do differently?

He is fed Excel light nuggets, twice a day (around 1-2 tbsps). He gets Readigrass, Fibafirst sticks, dried dandelion salad, and Excel long stem feeding hay ad lib. Admittedly he doesn't get much fresh foods, but this has caused him to have gas and the runs before so I am hesitant that it could be a trigger. However the times he has had these episodes they haven't been the cause.


Thanks in advance, from one gassy bunny!
 
Hi Zazu,

My Toby suffers with tummy issues and also creates lots of poo bracelets for me.

I changed Tobys diet thanks to some help from rabbits United and now we haven't **touch wood** had a issue again

Tobys diet before was:
Any hay I could find at the time from pet shops. Mostly excel brands. He had long stem everyday.
Excel pellets
Forage from the shops for example dandelion or burgess mixes
(it was noted that if a bun eats the nuggets too quickly they can swell in tge stomach. Also the yeast can make buns uncomfortable. I can't tolerate yeast either!)

Here are some things we changed.
Companionship to reduce stress - Toby is in a side my side slow bond with other bunnys which he can see everyday

It was mentioned that bunnys feel safer if they are not blocked in and have several escape roots. For example pulling the sofa out from the wall so a bun can "tunnel" around it. I applied this to Tobys area and pulled all his litter trays, toys, tunnels etc from against the wall and now Tony often does zooms around hi sitter tray. He also likes to sleep behind it.

Toby went pellet free
The biggest thing for Toby was finding a hay he would really enjoy.
Every day he stuffs his face with these hays
Oat Hay and Timothy hay from timothy hay.co.uk
His second part of his diet is forage and twigs. Here is an example of the forage that Toby gets
Apple twigs
Pear twigs
Brambles
Apple leafs
Pear leafs
All of the above from GalensGarden. Or free if you can find any yourself!

Plaintan - This is the bunnies ultimate fave. I would recommend this 100% and is supposed to be good for bunnies with bad tummies
BlackBerry leafs
Birch leafs
Strawberry leafs
Sunfower leafs - rarely
Rasperry leafs
Marigold leafs - rarley
Chicory root
Dandelion root
In order all the above from thehayexperts. Co.uk

I think the key is too find forage that bunnies would come across in the wild. For example,
Plaintan
Broad leaf plaintan
Hazel
Hawthorn etc
There is a book called foraging for rabbits by twigs way which can you. Unfortunately I am not a confident forager so I have order lots of seeds from Galens Garden to grow it all myself

I hope some one **cough cough** mighty max and provide the thread where I learnt all this

I have attached some pictures for example of what we get.

Also Toby has a very savvy vet and I investigated to see what was happening. We did bloods and xray to see what was causing it. Thankfully nothing wrong with his tummy but did pick up that Toby had an enlarged heart. Even once medicated and on metacam for life he continued to have episodes until I cut the pellets and made his life (to a bunny less stressful)

Everytime Toby has gas it's investigated at the time with a xray of his tummy (awake) and a glucose reading incase of blockages. If full stasis he's admitted into the hospital with the correct meds and fluids. I hope you have a savvy vet than can provide this for you?

I really hope my experience helps you and I really wish you the best of luck. I really know how stressful it is.

Also of you are not confident in reducing the pellets down to nothing - I give my elder bun Nature pellets (also recommended by RU) i will attach a picture for you. The pellets are bigger and a akward shape so each bunny has to chew them and the ingredients are very nice and natural
fe670bab3e4b54082ff5a4107d692662.jpg
99ed861f9071805f63e6db984ea497a2.jpg
1582fcc6745c64c346648a81e49a9a61.jpg
9f836d681c21f6b6e5298f79d258278a.jpg


Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
Hi, I'm sorry that your rabbit is having issues of gas. Usually with these issues it's a case of trial and error to see what helps. Reading your post I would say one of the most important things you could do is to remove more hair from him when grooming. It is this that is causing the poos to be strung together. Does your rabbit live alone or does he have a partner rabbit? Is he indoors or outdoors and does he get plenty of exercise. Exercise is useful in keeping the gut active.

He will need lots of fibre in his diet to assist his digestion. Does he eat a lot of the hay and Readigrass? How many Fibafirst sticks does he have a day? I would try reducing or eliminating his Excel pellets slowly in favour of Fibafirst. Your aim would be to get him having around 80-85% of his diet as hay or Readigrass and one way of doing this is to reduce the other foods he is eating.

As you say his diet is dry and moisture is helpful in digestion. Have you tried him on fresh herbs or freshly cut grass? If he will tolerate the herbs, you could rinse them in water to get more fluid into him. Does he have a bowl to drink from? Rabbits tend to drink more readily from a bowl.

Foraged food is also excellent to provide fibre. Maybe he would tolerate some fresh Dandelions, some Plantain or some Bramble leaves, which are all helpful. I also feed a lot of tree leaves and sticks e.g. Apple, Pear, Hawthorn, Willow, Ash, Hazel and Field Maple.

Lastly I don't use Infacol, but I'm glad you've found it helpful in the past. Other forum members do use it though and hopefully someone will check the dosage you are giving.
 
He is getting far too many pellets. He should be getting no more than 1 tbsp. per day and maybe not that much, but I would definitely slowly reduce his intake. This will eventually mean he will start eating lots more hay which in turn will keep his gut moving better and carry the fur along with it. He needs constant access to hay as he should be grazing on it more or less all the time.
 
Hi all - Not a regular visitor to the health pages thankfully but unfortunately in recent times my 2-3yr old long-haired bun is struggling with gas!

Around 6 months ago he had what I'll call 'stasis' but not entirely sure on that diagnosis... It wasn't bloat as his stomach didn't go large/hard. This week he has had the same symptoms twice, just 4 days apart. I want to know what I can do differently to help him when it happens, or prevent it ideally.

His symptoms tend to come on over a few hours, either overnight or in the day. He starts to become disinterested in food (really strange for him as it's the highlight of his life). Then he tends to sit very hunched in a corner for hours. Then the noises start, loud gurgling noises I can hear from another room. By this time I've started the infacol/simeticone, I tend to give about 1ml every hour or 2, and try and make him hop around. He often hops into the litter tray but only manages wee's (more often than usual, sometimes weeing every 20-30mins). The infacol must help, because between 4 and 6 hours later he is back to grooming and nibbling his food/hay.

I've noticed the last couple of times once he is feeling better, his first poos have been really tiny or strung together with hair. This fits because he is longhaired but not getting much loose hair off him during grooming. What can I do to help this?

It's the fact he's done it twice in 4 days that is concerning, what can I do differently?

He is fed Excel light nuggets, twice a day (around 1-2 tbsps). He gets Readigrass, Fibafirst sticks, dried dandelion salad, and Excel long stem feeding hay ad lib. Admittedly he doesn't get much fresh foods, but this has caused him to have gas and the runs before so I am hesitant that it could be a trigger. However the times he has had these episodes they haven't been the cause.


Thanks in advance, from one gassy bunny!


Hi there Zazu, good to see you again :wave:

Stasis is such a difficult thing to deal with. Your long haired bun will be shedding loads of hair, and whilst it's good that it's coming out, you need to try and ensure that as much gets groomed off him daily, especially in moulting weather.

If it's a recent thing, then you should ask your vet what they can suggest you do. Recurring stasis can sometimes be a signal of something else underlying. Also a vet can suggest if there any meds you can have at home to prevent an emergency.

Fibafirst sticks are OK to give, and contain fibre, but not as good as hay - different sorts preferably to encourage appetite. Loobers has given you a plethora of wonderful suggestions!.

Infacol is excellent to give, and you can carry on with that no problem.

You could also try switching to a higher fibre pellet or cut them out altogether depending on how many Fibafirst sticks he is getting.

There's also this you could try:

https://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-food...care-plus-digestive-health-formula-1kg-p-5639


How much is he drinking? Possibly in times of heavy moult (I wouldn't routinely recommend this) you could give tea flavoured with a little apple juice to encourage drinking. Some peoples' rabbits like peppermint tea.


I'm sure you've seen this before, but just in case:

http://anyflip.com/dvpt/hzvv/basic
 
He is getting far too many pellets. He should be getting no more than 1 tbsp. per day and maybe not that much, but I would definitely slowly reduce his intake. This will eventually mean he will start eating lots more hay which in turn will keep his gut moving better and carry the fur along with it. He needs constant access to hay as he should be grazing on it more or less all the time.

I agree with this.
 
Wow thanks for all the lengthy and informative replies guys. A real help , hopefully I will start to get him onto a better diet...cruel to be kind eh!
Things I've already started from your suggestions is to offer him a water bowl which he seems to love haha. I have bought some planted herbs which will will slowly start to add some freshness to his diet. I have bought some Timothy hay to give him some variety.
The cutting down on pellets is going to be the hardest thing. Sometimes I can feed him in a morning and he won't have touched his hay all day while I've been at work, but demanding pellets on my return! Argh. Fibafirst sticks don't seem to cut it, but he will eat maybe 1 a day if he is forced.
Loobers25 and MightyMax I will look at all those links thank you. He loves his small bags of dandelion/marigold salads and he will choose them over pellets... but I always limit it as I think if he enjoys it that much it must only be a small treat for him. The Vetuk stuff looks interesting too.
He's an indoor bun with a large cage and puppy play pen attached. When I am home he has full run of the upstairs, and most days I try and get him in the garden...but all he wants to do is clamber in the back door and run back upstairs haha!
Obviously it will take me a while to look through all the links but I can definitely feel my bank balance taking a hit lol. Thanks for all suggestions :) Any more please let me know.
Zazu
 
Some bunnies are harder than others to get interested in hay but, if you make it gradual, and try to offer some tasty ones, hopefully you'll get some interest. I remember when I got bunnies they looked at hay as if to say 'what on earth am I supposed to do with this?' but they really got into it eventually.

Personally, I wouldn't bother about the Fibafirst sticks (given that he isn't even into them) and really concentrate on the hay. Good luck!
 
Great that he loves drinking out of the bowl :thumb:

It definitely sounds as though he is not eating enough hay. That could be either he is not hungry enough or he doesn't find the hay tasty enough, or perhaps a bit of both. You would really think that hay is hay, but so many rabbits seem to be very picky about it :roll:

I see nothing wrong in giving him more dandelion/marigold salad, especially if he will eat this in preference to pellets. If you feel he is not eating any hay during the day, I would offer him some of this instead of filling him up again on pellets and then give him a reduced amount of pellets later. Definitely try to reduce his pellets overall as well.

Then you have the issue of what hay he will find tasty, which will be a matter of trial and error. Most rabbits seem to like the timothy hay from https://www.timothyhay.co.uk/ (mine included) and the oat hay from there is also popular. Ings hay is also popular from here https://www.hay-and-straw.co.uk/. It's really a case of finding one, which he will eat.
 
Wow thanks for all the lengthy and informative replies guys. A real help , hopefully I will start to get him onto a better diet...cruel to be kind eh!
Things I've already started from your suggestions is to offer him a water bowl which he seems to love haha. I have bought some planted herbs which will will slowly start to add some freshness to his diet. I have bought some Timothy hay to give him some variety.
The cutting down on pellets is going to be the hardest thing. Sometimes I can feed him in a morning and he won't have touched his hay all day while I've been at work, but demanding pellets on my return! Argh. Fibafirst sticks don't seem to cut it, but he will eat maybe 1 a day if he is forced.
Loobers25 and MightyMax I will look at all those links thank you. He loves his small bags of dandelion/marigold salads and he will choose them over pellets... but I always limit it as I think if he enjoys it that much it must only be a small treat for him. The Vetuk stuff looks interesting too.
He's an indoor bun with a large cage and puppy play pen attached. When I am home he has full run of the upstairs, and most days I try and get him in the garden...but all he wants to do is clamber in the back door and run back upstairs haha!
Obviously it will take me a while to look through all the links but I can definitely feel my bank balance taking a hit lol. Thanks for all suggestions :) Any more please let me know.
Zazu


Ah you're very welcome :)

Loobers is the star, and I agree with her recommendation of Timothyhay.co.uk :)

Just one thought .. Can your vet make sure that there's nothing wrong with his teeth that prevents him from eating hay? A vet can't see the back teeth very easily with an otoscope, so they may have to make the best judgement they can.

Some info:

https://www.twickenhamvets.com/rabbit-dental-problems-part-1-malocclusion-cheek-teeth/

Rabbits should eat their body size in hay every day :)

https://www.twickenhamvets.com/know-rabbits-eat-body-size-hay-every-day/
 
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