Stasis

Hey all

Our 4 year old lop, Hamish, is currently suffering from stasis. It seemed to come on quite early yesterday morning. We gave him some meds which we had leftover from his partners recent bouts and we were attempting to feed him regularly. He seemed to be making an improvement up until about 6 am this morning when he stopped taking the food, so we took him in and they injected him with some more painkillers and gut meds. We brought him home with the intention of bringing him back around midday, however the vets called at around 9 and asked if we could bring him in at 10, which we did. He came home again after this with some honey and a syringe to feed him fluids, however any attempt to do so he just wouldn't take it in - so back he went.

He's now been in since before noon, being syringe fed fluids in the hope he will poo. The vets called about 40 minutes ago and informed us that he has been urinating however still no poops. We believe he hasn't done any since around 3 this morning, the ones he did do being extremely small and hard anyway.

We're currently waiting to call back at around 5 o clock to see how he's doing, however it just does not feel as though he's ever going to poo properly and he's quite clearly been in a lot of pain. The vets said that they would be looking to discharge him at 6:15, and suggested we bring him home tonight in the hope he feels more able to poo. It feels totally different this time - our other rabbit seems to get the beginnings of stasis 3 or 4 times a year but she always responds to medication. It's been at least 30 hours since we began treating Hamish now. We have pretty much ruled out surgery due to the high mortality rate.

I was just wondering if anyone here has had a stasis episode last this long and how their rabbit recovered, and if you have any suggestions. Really couldn't bear to lose him, its just beginning to feel inevitable.

Lop94 said:

Hey all

Our 4 year old lop, Hamish, is currently suffering from stasis. It seemed to come on quite early yesterday morning. We gave him some meds which we had leftover from his partners recent bouts and we were attempting to feed him regularly. He seemed to be making an improvement up until about 6 am this morning when he stopped taking the food, so we took him in and they injected him with some more painkillers and gut meds. We brought him home with the intention of bringing him back around midday, however the vets called at around 9 and asked if we could bring him in at 10, which we did. He came home again after this with some honey and a syringe to feed him fluids, however any attempt to do so he just wouldn't take it in - so back he went.

He's now been in since before noon, being syringe fed fluids in the hope he will poo. The vets called about 40 minutes ago and informed us that he has been urinating however still no poops. We believe he hasn't done any since around 3 this morning, the ones he did do being extremely small and hard anyway.

We're currently waiting to call back at around 5 o clock to see how he's doing, however it just does not feel as though he's ever going to poo properly and he's quite clearly been in a lot of pain. The vets said that they would be looking to discharge him at 6:15, and suggested we bring him home tonight in the hope he feels more able to poo. It feels totally different this time - our other rabbit seems to get the beginnings of stasis 3 or 4 times a year but she always responds to medication. It's been at least 30 hours since we began treating Hamish now. We have pretty much ruled out surgery due to the high mortality rate.

I was just wondering if anyone here has had a stasis episode last this long and how their rabbit recovered, and if you have any suggestions. Really couldn't bear to lose him, its just beginning to feel inevitable.

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I've had rabbits in stasis for weeks [emoji51] it's not always a quick recovery. What medication is Hamish on? Is your vets rabbit savvy?

What would the surgery be for? Does he have a blockage?

Has the vet done xrays to see? Or a blood glucose test?

Hope he gets better soon.

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My first step would be requesting a blood glucose test - if this indicated a blockage it isn;t safe to syringe feed gut motility meds or food, if its very high it indicates the need for surgery. Stasis in itself is just a symptom (the gut slowing down) but there will be a reason behind it - a health problem or stress. Working out what caused the symptom is important although admittedly not always possible.

I hope your bunny gets better soon

Graciee said:

I've had rabbits in stasis for weeks [emoji51] it's not always a quick recovery. What medication is Hamish on? Is your vets rabbit savvy?

What would the surgery be for? Does he have a blockage?

Has the vet done xrays to see? Or a blood glucose test?

Hope he gets better soon.

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Thanks for the quick reply!

Our vet isn't an exotics, sadly. The lady treating him is fairly experienced with rabbits I believe.

The medicine we'd been giving him was emeprid, ranitidine, infacol and a tiny bit of leftover metacam for the pain. The vets have given him metacam and ranitidine, as well as a pretty high dose of another painkiller I'm not sure the name of.

We're not really clear if he has a blockage, we think he might be quite heavily impacted, as he has very long fur and grooms a lot. I don't believe they have done any bloods or x rays.

joey&boo said:

My first step would be requesting a blood glucose test - if this indicated a blockage it isn;t safe to syringe feed gut motility meds or food, if its very high it indicates the need for surgery. Stasis in itself is just a symptom (the gut slowing down) but there will be a reason behind it - a health problem or stress. Working out what caused the symptom is important although admittedly not always possible.

I hope your bunny gets better soon

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He's been syringe fed water with a drop of honey - would that affect his blood glucose level? He did actually only go to the vets for his jab last week, think they gave him a good look over and all seemed fine then.

Sorry that Hamish is unwell. As others have said Stasis sometimes will take a while before the rabbit improves.

When you contact them at 5pm I would ask that they do a Blood Glucose test. As joey&boo said this will rule out a blockage. Also it's sometimes helpful for the vets to give sub-cutaneous fluids by injection and I think if they are wanting to discharge him at 6.15pm I would ask for that to be done first.

Sending Hamish lots of vibes.

Lop94 said:

Thanks for the quick reply!

Our vet isn't an exotics, sadly. The lady treating him is fairly experienced with rabbits I believe.

The medicine we'd been giving him was emeprid, ranitidine, infacol and a tiny bit of leftover metacam for the pain. The vets have given him metacam and ranitidine, as well as a pretty high dose of another painkiller I'm not sure the name of.

We're not really clear if he has a blockage, we think he might be quite heavily impacted, as he has very long fur and grooms a lot. I don't believe they have done any bloods or x rays.

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Do you have any exotics near you? It's just I've had some terrible experiences dealing with non exotic vets and bunnies.. Before they haven't even got the amount of the medication right [emoji849]

Can they do a blood glucose test? It's very quick and instant result, it can help indicate if there's a blockage or not.

Do you know if it's the cat or dog metacam? Because the cat one is 1/3 of the strength IIRC and depending on the weight of your rabbit you'd need a lot per dose.

Either way even on the correct medication it can easily take a few days to a week or so to clear up ime. I had two buns in stasis recently, one was almost back to normal in a couple of days, my other one hasn't been right for weeks unfortunately, but is now getting better. So 30 hours isn't a huge amount of time, but getting the right treatment is essential imo.



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Lop94 said:

He's been syringe fed water with a drop of honey - would that affect his blood glucose level? He did actually only go to the vets for his jab last week, think they gave him a good look over and all seemed fine then.

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Which jab was this? Has he had his two yearly vaccinations? Sorry for all the questions

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It was his second VHD2 vaccination. We are picking him up at 6 and going to have him at home to see if he improves. We do have the option of taking him to the exotics vet later tonight if things get worse or we feel that he needs expert care overnight.
The vets have said that the honey they have given him may affect the glucose test. The vets said that his tummy has softened up a bit but still no movement as yet. How long realistically can he go without pooping before we have to consider that he won't get over it?

Lop94 said:

It was his second VHD2 vaccination. We are picking him up at 6 and going to have him at home to see if he improves. We do have the option of taking him to the exotics vet later tonight if things get worse or we feel that he needs expert care overnight.
The vets have said that the honey they have given him may affect the glucose test. The vets said that his tummy has softened up a bit but still no movement as yet. How long realistically can he go without pooping before we have to consider that he won't get over it?

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Do you know why he is being given honey? I personally wouldn't want this

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Graciee said:

Do you know why he is being given honey? I personally wouldn't want this

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It was to give him a bit of energy - think it's only a very small amount mixed with the syringe fed water. He has had some sub cutaneous fluids aswell

Apologies for not typing as much, very tired and stressed today Thanks very much for all the replies and links so far. He's now being picked up from the vets, we're going to just hope that bringing him back may encourage him to go and poo. One thing I forgot to mention is that during the day yesterday he did seem to improve as the day went on - he was running over for his food, doing a reasonable amount of tiny poos. It's just since he got back from his first vet visit at around 6:30 this morning he seems to have gone downhill, the 5 hours or so he's been at home today he was just sitting there hunched up refusing to move or eat anything. Would the fact that he was eating with some vigour not even 24 hours ago suggest that it's not a blockage?

As mentioned I'm not sure the blood glucose test would be viable right now due to the honey, honestly wish we would have mentioned doing that from the get go....

Don't worry about not typing much. I think most of us can easily relate to being stressed about poorly rabbits. Sending him more vibes and I hope that he settles and produces some poo after he returns home. I'm not sure whether eating is any indication of a rabbit with a blockage or not. It would depend also on when the blockage fully developed I would think.

Lop94 said:

Apologies for not typing as much, very tired and stressed today Thanks very much for all the replies and links so far. He's now being picked up from the vets, we're going to just hope that bringing him back may encourage him to go and poo. One thing I forgot to mention is that during the day yesterday he did seem to improve as the day went on - he was running over for his food, doing a reasonable amount of tiny poos. It's just since he got back from his first vet visit at around 6:30 this morning he seems to have gone downhill, the 5 hours or so he's been at home today he was just sitting there hunched up refusing to move or eat anything. Would the fact that he was eating with some vigour not even 24 hours ago suggest that it's not a blockage?

As mentioned I'm not sure the blood glucose test would be viable right now due to the honey, honestly wish we would have mentioned doing that from the get go....

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Was the 'stronger pain killer' he had Buprenorphine (Vetergesic/Buprecare) ? If so that may account for his 'going downhill' after returning from the 0630hrs Vet visit. Buprenorphine is an opiate and can cause marked sedation that can last for several hours.

I'm really sorry Hamish is unwell and he really hope he starts to produce some poo soon. I once had a bun take over 36 hours to poo during a particularly bad stasis episode. Hopefully the fluids and medication will start to have an effect soon.

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Jack's-Jane said:

Was the 'stronger pain killer' he had Buprenorphine (Vetergesic/Buprecare) ? If so that may account for his 'going downhill' after returning from the 0630hrs Vet visit. Buprenorphine is an opiate and can cause marked sedation that can last for several hours.

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It was indeed! We had this suspicion ourselves actually, he was pretty much falling asleep on his feet before he went in the second time. He's home now, and to be honest he looked a lot perkier when he was being collected! He was thumping apparently, which is always nice too - he looked utterly lifeless earlier. He ate a little bit too! Our vet is confident he doesn't have a blockage - she also said he should be fine if he doesn't poo overnight. We've been given some critical care and syringes to keep him fed and hydrated, so he will be eating. We're not totally out of the woods yet, it's just a matter of feeding him every hour and hoping for the best. Will keep you all updated on how he gets on.

Jack's-Jane said:

Was the 'stronger pain killer' he had Buprenorphine (Vetergesic/Buprecare) ? If so that may account for his 'going downhill' after returning from the 0630hrs Vet visit. Buprenorphine is an opiate and can cause marked sedation that can last for several hours.

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This was what I was about to type.

I have had several rabbits that seem to be improving with stasis and then they are given Vetergesic AKA Buprenorphine and it causes heavy sedation. My local vets I used to use were terrible for it. They often gave it to a rabbit that was coming home having 'recovered' then they would 'knock them out' with the strong painkiller and you would take a backwards step.

I hope it's as simple as that and he continues to improve.

I'm not sure about the blood glucose test but I've also never heard of feeling honey to rabbits either, I can't imagine what benefit it has especially with a slow gut and adding sugar.

Bunny Buddy said:

I'm not sure about the blood glucose test but I've also never heard of feeling honey to rabbits either, I can't imagine what benefit it has especially with a slow gut and adding sugar.

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Yeah I'm not entirely sure to be fair, haven't really seen anything else that recommends it. I do trust our regular vets judgement though, she was doing everything she could to get him eating and pooping again - plus it was the night vet that gave him the sedative.

He's had a syringe full of critical care now, he had to be chased around a bit but he definitely had the majority of it. He's still been hiding away a lot since he got back but given all that the poor little boy has been through today it's not surprising. Honestly, I do think he looked a lot worse this morning due to the fact he was dehydrated and pretty heavily sedated.

I'm sorry I'm late to this thread - firstly sending vibes for the gorgeous Hamish. I hope that things stabilise soon.
Secondly, and working slightly backwards, for what my own input is worth, my Lillian was given vetergesic a few months back when she was recovering from a bladder stone. It was given orally and had to be given along the gums? Oh my word - we had one dose of it (the vet injected Lillian) and I was absolutely convinced I was going to lose her the following morning. She was a complete rabbit zombie She had no idea where she was, what day it was and there were many things strangely wrong with Lillian at that moment. So I took to this forum and was given similar guidance from the wealth of experince from those above. It turns out that after consulting with the vet, the vetergesic does zonk some bunnies out - and from reading your threads this sounds like what Hamish was also enduring. So when you next see your vet, I would be tempted to request that the vetergesic is not the most prefered pain relief.
I have to say that once the dose wore off on Lillian, she was better and all we did after discussing with our vet was to increase the metacam and boy, did that make all the world of differnce to Lillians recovery. It was all she needed - a stronger dose of pain med.
It looks like you are doing all the right things, syringe feeding critical care and monitoring poo output. A vet should be abel to feel for any solids in the gut and in doing so should determine the status of any stasis. Again, Lillian was in the early stages of stasis this week due to urinary infection, but the vets acted quickly with antibiotics and also rantidine (I think that's what it's called) which certainly helped Lillian regain her appetite and prevent further problems.
So I think that once the effects of that opitae pain killer has worn off, Hamish should look and behave much better and hopefully tucks into some food and gives some poop.
Sending loads and loads of vibes for Hamish. xx