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GI stasis - advice needed

M

masters02

New Kit
Hello All,
I'm really hoping someone will be able to give me some further advice, one of our buns has been suffering with GI stasis and we are running out of ideas on how to help her. (Just to point out straight away, she has been to the emergency vet and then our local vet for follow up). Also, sorry for what is going to be a long post... i just want to give as much perspective as possible

Background
Doris is an 18month old Dutch house rabbit, typically eats lots of hay and drinks a lot of water, much more so than our other 2 buns and all very healthy. Her diet consists of mostly timothy hay, her standard greens are a mix of: Kale, Spring Greens, Romain Lettuce, Celery and Bell Peppers. She has been eating these for around 1 year, nothing has changed in that regard.

Monday night at 19:00 she was fine, running around as usual and all seemed well. However, when we went to see her before bed at 21:00 she refused to get up off the floor to greet us (very very odd) and refused to eat any of her night time greens. When she refused those we tried giving her some Banana/Apple/Strawberry and she also refused to eat those. We immediately called the emergency vet as we knew 100% that something was not right.

The vet nurse took her temp, heart rate and listen to her breathing which was all fine. The vet then became available and couldn't hear any gurgling in her stomach (bad), but was glad that we caught it so early. Ultimately, she gave her an injection of Metoclopromide and sent us on our way with some critical care. She refused to eat all through the night, at 1am we decided we really had to get some sleep so we reluctantly left her for the night and hoped she would get some rest. I woke up at 4am really not sure what to find, fortunately she seemed much more alert, no greens or hay yet... but she did eat a good chunk of banana, which was a good start.

During the day she slowly started to get an appetite back and finished a bowel of greens, she even started nit picking at some hay. Poops started coming again, although small in size and quantity. They were also very dark and hard. She appeared to be in some pain passing her poops, so i called our regular vet who gave us some Metacam for pain relief and some more Metaclop.

Present
Seeing her poop again plus eating the greens gave us a lot of hope, however since last night it seems her poops have slowed right down and possibly even stopped again. She is still eating, but again, its at a reduced rate. She also hasnt been drinking at all since this all started, i've been keeping her greens extra wet to try and keep her hydrated that way.

First thing this morning i cleared out all of her poops again from her litter tray so i can accurately measure how many she does today. However, this is all very concerning and im really not sure what else we can do to help her.

I gave her a belly massage again, given her fresh greens and hay. Is there anything else we can do? Perhaps some pineapple/pineapple juice? Although it seems this to be a bit of a grey area...

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks!
 
Sorry your bunny doesn't seem to be getting better. I think she really needs to be on fluids from what I have learned on here, go back to the Vets also did they take a blood sample? From what you are feeding it sounds to me like she might be eating too many vegetables. Infacol is used but she really needs to go back to a Rabbit Savvy Vet as there might be some kind of blockage. Good luck.
 
Thanks for replying.

Yea i agree think she is eating too many veggies, but thats the only thing she will eat at the moment. So my thinking was that its better to eat Veggies (and get some hydration) than eat nothing at all?

I will be phoning the Vets back when they open in an hour or so for some more advice
 
I'm sorry that Doris is still unwell.

I would certainly contact your vet again and ideally have her re-examined. Sometimes sadly these episodes will persist and will last several days and need ongoing medication to support.

I would be continuing the Metaclopramide and Metacam at home, if you are not already doing so. Fluids, as tonibun says, are very often very helpful. I would also want the vet to test her blood glucose levels to exclude a blockage. You do not say whether you have been feeding her any Critical Care, but I would certainly be doing this regularly (after excluding a blockage), perhaps mixed with some organic fruit or vegetable baby food if she dislikes it by itself. In addition to this, I would be giving her anything she will eat and making any vegetables or herbs wet so that she gets the moisture.

Sending her lots of vibes. Let us know how she gets on.
 
The good news is, i just checked on her and there is a decent pile of poops :D Still small and dark, but at least there are some. She is back on her food now, mostly greens but has also taken some hand fed hay too.

The metacam she takes gladly, the Metaclop/critical care i have to really force down her. To the point where she fights as though its life and death, i do wonder if the extra stress outweighs the benefits? Especially if she continues eating...? Its really sad doing it because we usually have such a great bond.
 
I agree with Omi and Tonibun, I’d get the vet to have another look at her. Is the vet a rabbit savvy vet? As Omi said, after a blockage has been excluded I’d be syringe feeding critical care if she won’t eat it herself, to supplement the small amounts she is eating herself. Sometimes they will eat critical care from a bowl if it’s got mashed banana or some fruit baby food - Ella’s kitchen is widely recommended on here. As Omi said sometimes it takes a while to get everything back to normal, with the Metaclopramide and Metacam needing to be given at home.

Did they check her teeth? Sometimes spurs can cause a bunny to go into stasis. Some bunnies can’t cope with large amounts of certain vegetables, but if her diet has been consistent with quantity and type then that might not be the issue.

There has been a lot of bunnies on here suffering from stasis lately, could be caused by fireworks, moulting or the environmental changes, I’ve found autumn seems to see an increase in susceptibility to stasis and illnesses:cry:
 
Can you find her some forage such as grass, Dandelions etc. I would stop the Pepper and Kale and just give small pieces of Spring Greens. Pleased bunny has passed some poohs!
 
The vet did indeed check her teeth, no spurs, which is good but ill certainly get back onto the vet shortly.

Does the fact that she is passing poops rule out a blockage? A blockage suggests to me that it would actually block all poops escaping?

I'm curious why would you cut back on peppers/kale and go for spring greens instead? Is Spring Green more fibrous? The one thing i will try, is getting some green oat hay to go with her timothy hay, she absolutely loves that stuff!

With regards to the fireworks, they don't seem to affect her at all, although buns are very good at hiding their fear sometimes so its certainly a possibility. (i really wish fireworks would be limited to organised displays)
 
masters02 said:
The vet did indeed check her teeth, no spurs, which is good but ill certainly get back onto the vet shortly.

Does the fact that she is passing poops rule out a blockage? A blockage suggests to me that it would actually block all poops escaping?

I'm curious why would you cut back on peppers/kale and go for spring greens instead? Is Spring Green more fibrous? The one thing i will try, is getting some green oat hay to go with her timothy hay, she absolutely loves that stuff!

With regards to the fireworks, they don't seem to affect her at all, although buns are very good at hiding their fear sometimes so its certainly a possibility. (i really wish fireworks would be limited to organised displays)
Click to expand...

Well, something has made her go into stasis. Kale can cause gas, also peppers. Also kale is high in calcium so too much can cause a build up of bladder sludge and kidney stones. Stress can also cause a bunny's gut to slow down.
 
masters02 said:
Hello All,
I'm really hoping someone will be able to give me some further advice, one of our buns has been suffering with GI stasis and we are running out of ideas on how to help her. (Just to point out straight away, she has been to the emergency vet and then our local vet for follow up). Also, sorry for what is going to be a long post... i just want to give as much perspective as possible

Background
Doris is an 18month old Dutch house rabbit, typically eats lots of hay and drinks a lot of water, much more so than our other 2 buns and all very healthy. Her diet consists of mostly timothy hay, her standard greens are a mix of: Kale, Spring Greens, Romain Lettuce, Celery and Bell Peppers. She has been eating these for around 1 year, nothing has changed in that regard.

Monday night at 19:00 she was fine, running around as usual and all seemed well. However, when we went to see her before bed at 21:00 she refused to get up off the floor to greet us (very very odd) and refused to eat any of her night time greens. When she refused those we tried giving her some Banana/Apple/Strawberry and she also refused to eat those. We immediately called the emergency vet as we knew 100% that something was not right.

The vet nurse took her temp, heart rate and listen to her breathing which was all fine. The vet then became available and couldn't hear any gurgling in her stomach (bad), but was glad that we caught it so early. Ultimately, she gave her an injection of Metoclopromide and sent us on our way with some critical care. She refused to eat all through the night, at 1am we decided we really had to get some sleep so we reluctantly left her for the night and hoped she would get some rest. I woke up at 4am really not sure what to find, fortunately she seemed much more alert, no greens or hay yet... but she did eat a good chunk of banana, which was a good start.

During the day she slowly started to get an appetite back and finished a bowel of greens, she even started nit picking at some hay. Poops started coming again, although small in size and quantity. They were also very dark and hard. She appeared to be in some pain passing her poops, so i called our regular vet who gave us some Metacam for pain relief and some more Metaclop.

Present
Seeing her poop again plus eating the greens gave us a lot of hope, however since last night it seems her poops have slowed right down and possibly even stopped again. She is still eating, but again, its at a reduced rate. She also hasnt been drinking at all since this all started, i've been keeping her greens extra wet to try and keep her hydrated that way.

First thing this morning i cleared out all of her poops again from her litter tray so i can accurately measure how many she does today. However, this is all very concerning and im really not sure what else we can do to help her.

I gave her a belly massage again, given her fresh greens and hay. Is there anything else we can do? Perhaps some pineapple/pineapple juice? Although it seems this to be a bit of a grey area...

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks!
Click to expand...


Hi there and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your bunny, but encouraged by the update you've posted :)

Until she is back to normal I would continue with the metaclopromide, but check with your vet first that this is the right thing to do. Also, Ranitidine is often given, and it's not only a pro kinetic, but also protects the stomach during periods of not eating. You wouldn't have to necessarily take her back to the vet for this to be prescribed, but you may want another examination.

Regards the pineapple juice - my vet has recommended it, although it wasn't something I personally used. So perhaps use your discretion on that one. It possibly helps where hair has been held in the intestines and moves things along, but be careful the sugar content doesn't cause runny poos.

Wet greens are really good. Anything with moisture - freshly picked grass, bramble leaves, rose leaves are all god for fibre. Apple twigs and leaves if you can get hold of them.

She useful info here:

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

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


I also use Infacol (infant gas meds) which is fine alongside anything the vet gives.
One ml every three hours for three doses.
Sometimes it can be a life saver for buns - not that it sounds like you need it now, but perhaps one for the future.

Good luck x
 
Sorry your little bun has been unwell. You have been givenue some great advice so far. I just wanted to add that I found spring greens made my buns gassy and put one into stasis several times before I cut it out.
 
Agreed, there has been some great advice so far. I don't think it is the Spring Greens that caused it, as she has been eating them for months. The 5 greens she has; Kale, Spring greens, Romain lettuce, Celery and Bell peppers seems like a good balance, however if the consensus is that Spring greens arent ideal ill happily drop them and try to introduce something else slowly as a substitute.

We checked on her an hour ago and more poops (still dark and small) but definitely more, more greens had gone and some hay. I think she is on the mend, although she still seems a little 'sad' and uncomfortable. Im hoping that this is just part of the recovery. As i understand it, stasis recover is far from instant!
 
masters02 said:
Agreed, there has been some great advice so far. I don't think it is the Spring Greens that caused it, as she has been eating them for months. The 5 greens she has; Kale, Spring greens, Romain lettuce, Celery and Bell peppers seems like a good balance, however if the consensus is that Spring greens arent ideal ill happily drop them and try to introduce something else slowly as a substitute.

We checked on her an hour ago and more poops (still dark and small) but definitely more, more greens had gone and some hay. I think she is on the mend, although she still seems a little 'sad' and uncomfortable. Im hoping that this is just part of the recovery. As i understand it, stasis recover is far from instant!
Click to expand...


Yes, it can take a while.

How are things going now?
 
masters02 said:
Agreed, there has been some great advice so far. I don't think it is the Spring Greens that caused it, as she has been eating them for months. The 5 greens she has; Kale, Spring greens, Romain lettuce, Celery and Bell peppers seems like a good balance, however if the consensus is that Spring greens arent ideal ill happily drop them and try to introduce something else slowly as a substitute.

We checked on her an hour ago and more poops (still dark and small) but definitely more, more greens had gone and some hay. I think she is on the mend, although she still seems a little 'sad' and uncomfortable. Im hoping that this is just part of the recovery. As i understand it, stasis recover is far from instant!
Click to expand...

It can take several days of ongoing treatment for a Rabbit to fully recover from gut stasis. It is important that treatment continues until both input and output are 100% back to normal. As you will have noted from the links I posted yesterday, fluids are an important part of the treatment for gut stasis. So I would try to maximise Doris's fluid intake. Many Rabbit savvy Vets give fluid therapy as part of the initial treatment regime, so not only are drugs given but the Rabbit may be admitted for IV fluids or the Vet may administer fluids subcutaneously. IME this protocol can be extremely beneficial. When a Rabbit's GI tract motility slows down any ingesta within the GI tract rapidly dehydrates. This, in turn, makes it less likely to break down and pass through. Fluid therapy reduces the rate of dehydration of ingesta within the GI tract, prokinetics help to re-establish gut motility and analgesia addresses any pain associated with the condition.

I hope that Doris is feeling a lot better by now.
 
Thanks again for all the replies guys.

There have been a lot of positive signs over the past 24 hours. She has finally started to eat hay by herself without being hand fed, she is now eating all of her greens and seems to have a ravenous appetite, she is also back to binkying around the room and coming to greet us whenever we see her. So it all looks very positive for the time being.
 
masters02 said:
Thanks again for all the replies guys.

There have been a lot of positive signs over the past 24 hours. She has finally started to eat hay by herself without being hand fed, she is now eating all of her greens and seems to have a ravenous appetite, she is also back to binkying around the room and coming to greet us whenever we see her. So it all looks very positive for the time being.
Click to expand...


Really great news, she seems to be getting better quite quickly :)
 
She really does, but it was scary how quickly she deteriorated in the first place. We always check on our buns before bed, which in this case was very fortunate as im not sure she would have made it through the night.

I know there is a lot of debate with regards to indoor/outdoor bunnies, however at least for me, having them in the house where i can see them all day every day is invaluable. Its so easy to pick up on behavioral changes, almost immediately!
 
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