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Does the GI tracts of a Rex or Mini Rex somewhat different than other rabbit breeds?

Happy Hopping

Wise Old Thumper
So I only have 2 Rex all these years. My first Rex was a mini Rex Bobby that I adopted from SPCA. In the 7 year that I have Bobby, (I got him from age 5 to age 12), there has been about 4 to 5 times, that I think he's on a GI stasis. As I judge that whenever a rabbit's side muscle is rapidly moving up and down, and not responding to treats, then he's in a GI stasis.

So what I did is to give a little bit of metacam, and in those years, 1/2 to 45 min. later, everything back to normal, and makes me wonder if I jump the gun or not.

After Bobby passed away, I adopted Fudgie, he's a mix breed, and quite often, his side muscle always moves up/down, so I'm used to seeing it and know that it means nothing

In Aug, I adopted Andi, she's a 100% Rex, and tonight, the same thing happen. She really loves the treats, so when I put the banana on the dish, and she won't go for it, and she won't nibbble the hay that I put in front of her, and that her side muscle is moving up/down, I judge that she's in a GI stasis. So I did 0.17 ml of metacam, and 1/2 to 4 5min. later, everything back to normal.

So this is the 2nd Rex that I'm seeing this. I don't know what to make of it. I don't even think metacam can reacts that fast.

Now, I did discover she's shedding fur. Not a lot, only 4 comb full of fur, but it's still a shed. Could this be just a coincidence with my bridge bun Bobby ?
 
Maybe the ripples are just more visible with the short rex type fur and you just don't notice it with standard fur?
 
So I only have 2 Rex all these years. My first Rex was a mini Rex Bobby that I adopted from SPCA. In the 7 year that I have Bobby, (I got him from age 5 to age 12), there has been about 4 to 5 times, that I think he's on a GI stasis. As I judge that whenever a rabbit's side muscle is rapidly moving up and down, and not responding to treats, then he's in a GI stasis.

So what I did is to give a little bit of metacam, and in those years, 1/2 to 45 min. later, everything back to normal, and makes me wonder if I jump the gun or not.

After Bobby passed away, I adopted Fudgie, he's a mix breed, and quite often, his side muscle always moves up/down, so I'm used to seeing it and know that it means nothing

In Aug, I adopted Andi, she's a 100% Rex, and tonight, the same thing happen. She really loves the treats, so when I put the banana on the dish, and she won't go for it, and she won't nibbble the hay that I put in front of her, and that her side muscle is moving up/down, I judge that she's in a GI stasis. So I did 0.17 ml of metacam, and 1/2 to 4 5min. later, everything back to normal.

So this is the 2nd Rex that I'm seeing this. I don't know what to make of it. I don't even think metacam can reacts that fast.

Now, I did discover she's shedding fur. Not a lot, only 4 comb full of fur, but it's still a shed. Could this be just a coincidence with my bridge bun Bobby ?

No, Rex's GI tracts are no different to any other Rabbit Jason. Monitoring poo output is the best way to assess gut motility. With gut stasis poo output is usually reduced in size/quantity before the Rabbit actually stops eating.

Rex's are usually exceptionally greedy and will gorge on 'treats' and any pellet food offered to them. This can cause problems with obesity and reduced gut motility. As with most Rabbits they do best on a hay/grass/forage diet. Treats being things like apple tree twigs + leaves, fresh herbs such as coriander, dill, flat leaf parsley.

You wont see a wild Bunny eating bananas ...................... ;)
 
who says there is no wild rabbit eating banana?

41237-6500-46544-1-bugs-bunny.jpg
 
anyhoo, when I thought tonight that I witness the beginning of a GI stasis, I give the metacam, as I figure it doesn't hurt to give a 1 time application of metacam. My next step would have been to observe her.

But for behaviour like no interest in treats, w/ the side muscle moving up/down, how do you explain it if it's not a GI stasis? I mean, clearly something went wrong.

I also do what I call the hay test: I put a long stem of hay in front of her, normally she would chew it off, eventhough she doesn't want to eat it. Tonight, she just ignore and won't bite on it. All these are signs that something is wrong. As I have her since Aug., every day, she jumps for the banana treats. Tonight is the 1st time I see her not touching it.

But if it were a GI stasis, it must be the shortest one I've seen
 
anyhoo, when I thought tonight that I witness the beginning of a GI stasis, I give the metacam, as I figure it doesn't hurt to give a 1 time application of metacam. My next step would have been to observe her.

But for behaviour like no interest in treats, w/ the side muscle moving up/down, how do you explain it if it's not a GI stasis? I mean, clearly something went wrong.

I also do what I call the hay test: I put a long stem of hay in front of her, normally she would chew it off, eventhough she doesn't want to eat it. Tonight, she just ignore and won't bite on it. All these are signs that something is wrong. As I have her since Aug., every day, she jumps for the banana treats. Tonight is the 1st time I see her not touching it.

But if it were a GI stasis, it must be the shortest one I've seen

'The muscles moving up and down' is probably normal peristaltic waves.Peristalsis is a series of muscle contractions that moves food to different parts of the digestive tract

Here is an example of abnormally exaggerated peristalsis in one of my Rabbits.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdAjaB0_xuo

This is NOT GI stasis, he has a complex condition which affects the innervation of his GI tract. His brain and heart are affected too.

As I said before, noting what the poo output is like is one of the best indicators of gut motility (as well as an abdominal examination/ auscultation ) :)
 
https://youtu.be/ZMshY4FI-Us

see the center of the video:

this is what I'm talking about. The video is my other bun on bathtub bonding, but it illustrates my point.

So the other night, my bun Andi has that part of her body moving up / down. Exactly what does it mean when that muscle group is moving up / down?
 
The video looks like stressed / rapid, shallow breathing to me.
Yea definitely looks like that to me too, I've seen Atticus do this when he got really spooked before, shallow breathing almost like he didn't want to be detected [emoji38]

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