Dear Forum users
I was wondering if some fellow bunny owners may be able to give their opinions.
Sadly our bunny passed away this week (Sunday 31st March). He had just passed his 8th Birthday and took ill quite suddenly. He was agreat pet and will be sorely missed. He was a netherland min lop cross.
I’m wondering what happened, I have an idea but will not write it here so that I do not influence thoughts. Our vet is not sure and guess has put it down to gut stasis but I am not so sure.
The events were as follows.
Tuesday: Bunny was in a great mood, eating and drinking fine. In the evening he did a big hop in the living room which was unusual for him, we thought he seemed happy. When we went to give him his last mel of the day, a bowl of veg, he ate half and lay down. This was a little unusual for him as he normally eats most. Now the stranger thing, after an hour I saw him lying flat out on the carpet, he looked a little strange and I was unable to rouse him from his near unconscious state, eventually he did wake up and he went to his hutch….
Wednesday: We make up and discover bunny has diarrhoea, the poop smells pretty bad. He is not eating so we take him immediately to the vet. The vet keeps him in and gives metacam and ranitidine. The vet identified that the guts were barely working. Bunny kept in for care and syringe feeding. Bunny released to us in the evening for us to continue the care, syrienge feeding, metacam and ranitidine.
Thursday Bunny continues medicine and is now eating solids, he begins to poop normally. Bunny looks in good state and eats all his normal meals by himself.
Friday: 1st thing it is noted Bunny poorly again, not eating, took bunny to vet and he is hospitalised for nurse care. Same medicines again syrienge feeding, metacam and ranitidine. Guts seem to have stopped working again
Saturday: We are told good news our bunny can come home and is apparently eating solids….. We collect him and we can observe he is weak and he picks at food, we hand feed him some softish food (flat dried peas), he refuses anything that is hard. He grinds his teeth a lot. Bunny drinks massive amount of water…………. Almost feels like too much water
Sunday AM. Bunny appears very poorly, we return to the vet (not our vet – as ours was closed on Sunday) We are told the prognosis looks very poor, grinding teeth, bit hunched up, not eating. He has what feels like bulges on his underside (perhaps his intestines – gas) The vet says that he is bloated, his blood sugar is very high and he may have a blockage. We are told that they could xray and operate but they did not think his outlook was good. While at the vets he appeared to fade away rapidly and we ended up taking the very hard decision of having him put to sleep.
We are so sad at the loss of our bunny, our much loved pet. What a fantastic little friend he was.
What does this sound like to you? We have seen gut stasis before but this felt different, maybe that’s what it was. The vet did not really say what was wrong but it looked as if the treatment was for gut stasis although that was maybe a result of something else. Thank you for reading and your time
Dave
I was wondering if some fellow bunny owners may be able to give their opinions.
Sadly our bunny passed away this week (Sunday 31st March). He had just passed his 8th Birthday and took ill quite suddenly. He was agreat pet and will be sorely missed. He was a netherland min lop cross.
I’m wondering what happened, I have an idea but will not write it here so that I do not influence thoughts. Our vet is not sure and guess has put it down to gut stasis but I am not so sure.
The events were as follows.
Tuesday: Bunny was in a great mood, eating and drinking fine. In the evening he did a big hop in the living room which was unusual for him, we thought he seemed happy. When we went to give him his last mel of the day, a bowl of veg, he ate half and lay down. This was a little unusual for him as he normally eats most. Now the stranger thing, after an hour I saw him lying flat out on the carpet, he looked a little strange and I was unable to rouse him from his near unconscious state, eventually he did wake up and he went to his hutch….
Wednesday: We make up and discover bunny has diarrhoea, the poop smells pretty bad. He is not eating so we take him immediately to the vet. The vet keeps him in and gives metacam and ranitidine. The vet identified that the guts were barely working. Bunny kept in for care and syringe feeding. Bunny released to us in the evening for us to continue the care, syrienge feeding, metacam and ranitidine.
Thursday Bunny continues medicine and is now eating solids, he begins to poop normally. Bunny looks in good state and eats all his normal meals by himself.
Friday: 1st thing it is noted Bunny poorly again, not eating, took bunny to vet and he is hospitalised for nurse care. Same medicines again syrienge feeding, metacam and ranitidine. Guts seem to have stopped working again
Saturday: We are told good news our bunny can come home and is apparently eating solids….. We collect him and we can observe he is weak and he picks at food, we hand feed him some softish food (flat dried peas), he refuses anything that is hard. He grinds his teeth a lot. Bunny drinks massive amount of water…………. Almost feels like too much water
Sunday AM. Bunny appears very poorly, we return to the vet (not our vet – as ours was closed on Sunday) We are told the prognosis looks very poor, grinding teeth, bit hunched up, not eating. He has what feels like bulges on his underside (perhaps his intestines – gas) The vet says that he is bloated, his blood sugar is very high and he may have a blockage. We are told that they could xray and operate but they did not think his outlook was good. While at the vets he appeared to fade away rapidly and we ended up taking the very hard decision of having him put to sleep.
We are so sad at the loss of our bunny, our much loved pet. What a fantastic little friend he was.
What does this sound like to you? We have seen gut stasis before but this felt different, maybe that’s what it was. The vet did not really say what was wrong but it looked as if the treatment was for gut stasis although that was maybe a result of something else. Thank you for reading and your time
Dave
