Goofball is not eating: U/D: back to post surgery recovery

This morning, I notice Goofball's poos is tiny, and there is very little poos. From 4 am or so of this Fri. till now (Fri. 11 pm), she didn't eat her pellets. All she ate is the stem and leaves of the carrot, the stem of 2 piece of spinach, a few bits of raisins.

I force feed her w/ 2 servings of baby food this evening. Since she lives indoor, and the room is clean, and her food is the same everyday, I can't see there is any element that can cause her to get sick. And she's only 1.5 yr. old.

I also notice the sound made by her chewing of the stem of the carrot seems rather loud. It's defnitely louder than usual.

My best guess is her rear teeth is at it again. As her last molar cut was Aug. 10, 2006, so it has been 5 months & 2 days. So happens that the first time a similar non-eating behaviour occurs, my vet & I work the time backwards, it's also about 5 mth. since the growth of her first set of molar., i.e., about March 2006.

There may be a sneak-in appointment tomorrow, but my vet, whose a exotic pet specialist, is fully booked today.

If it is the teeth again, how many percent should my vet cut the teeth before she sand it down? Say about 75% cut off under GA on the molar, and then sand it down?

On the other hand, for an indoor rabbit like Goofball, is there anything else that can cause the above?

Sorry to hear that Goofball is not eating

As far as how the Dental is actually done, ie how much tooth is burred (clipping inadvisible as it can cause cracks in the enamel) that really depends on what is found when the Vet has a look.
The spurs will be filed off and the crowns of the molars shaped.

Does Goofball eat lots of hay/grass? If she prefers pellets I would cut back on them and try to make him eat more hay.

Outdoor Bunnies can get Dental problems for the same reasons as indoor Bunnies ie Not enough hay/grass in diet. A genetic predisposition, a diet lacking calcium when Bun was growing......

Hope the Vet can get Goofs sorted today. Please keep us posted

Janex

I hope you get her looked at today and she starts eating soon, sending vibes xx

Goofball actually stop eating hay since last Aug. just before the teeth cut down procedure. So since that week, I have do the "induced hay feeding". Basically, I hold a bundle of long hay about 1.25 ft. long, and hold the bundle tight. As she try to bite the hay, so ends up in her mouth, and since rabbit can't vomit, the part ends up in her mouth, she swallows it. So as she's done, there is a big pool of broken hay on the carpet and I just throw it away. I do the above twice a day so some hay does ends up eaten by her. This trick works 100% of the time.

Having said that, how much hay should a 5 KG rabbit eat? As it seems the above method is not frequent enough, I thought her teeth gets enough exercise, but apparently not.

rabbits should eat their own body size in hay every day - that's a lot for Goofball, as she's so big! Still - some is better than none. Green leafy veg like cabbage is also good for wearing down back teeth, so you could gradually increase the amount of greens in her diet if she likes them normally.

Hope she gets her teeth sorted out soon - If she normally eats a high fibre pellet you might be better mushing some up with hot water from the kettle (soak a few mins too cool) and syringing that instead of human baby food - it will keep her guts moving better.

That would be a huge amount of hay. They need that much? I did remember she used to eat half a bowl of hay per day

Yes they need about this much hay daily! It's also a great boredom buster for them - mine sit in their trays for hours, sifting out their favourite strands of hay from the rest - and of course they are toilet trained while they sit there!



My 4 normal sized girls have a bundle twice as big as the pile of hay in this box, x 6 daily, and they eat most of it - I have 3 big trays like this and split the hay into a morning and evening feed, so they don't trample it too much to eat it all. I would guess a giant rabbit would need the same as 4 normal rabbits, so that's a lot of hay! You could maybe store a bale from a farm in a big garbage can or carton?

With a giant rabbit you'd need a very big plastic box, like the kind you get for storing suff in your attic or under beds maybe, as it would pee over the edge if the sides were low - they're not expensive. I put paper based litter in my boxes, with the hay at the 'eating end'

Sorry to hear your bunny is not eating. Just to say I am sending positive vibes.

My bunny Nell has also gone off her food at the moment and I suspect it is her teeth again too. However her last dental was only under 4 weeks ago. Hopefully, your bunny can keep it to a 5 month interval at least.

Hopefully Goofball will make a speedy recovery

Fiona x

Sorry to hear Goofball's feeling poorly. Hope she gets her teeth sorted soon and starts to feel better.

Poor Goofball hope you are able to get her teeth sorted asap.

Well, after 2.5 hr. at the vet, turns out it's not the teeth. I'm surprised, in the end, it's just GI stasis. There is a slight enlargement on the stomach. So she receive s SQ fluid injection, metcam, metoclopramide injection and x-ray.

Should I knew it's not the teeth, I can administrate meto over here in my house, would have save just over $300. But it's now clear the amt. of hay she's eating is not enough.

As of now, there is some mid size bunny poos although not close to the amt. she used to have. Thanks everyone for helping out.

I think it's the pear that she ate the other day that starts this. As there was no carrot from superstore a few days ago, so I get her an slice of pear, but this kind of pear is the softer one, not the hard pear, as such, there could be some gas inside the pear.

Does anyone knows a link to a list of all the fruits and veggies that can contains gas, so I won't make the same mistake twice?

Happy Hopping said:

Well, after 2.5 hr. at the vet, turns out it's not the teeth. I'm surprised, in the end, it's just GI stasis. There is a slight enlargement on the stomach. So she receive s SQ fluid injection, metcam, metoclopramide injection and x-ray.

Should I knew it's not the teeth, I can administrate meto over here in my house, would have save just over $300. But it's now clear the amt. of hay she's eating is not enough.

As of now, there is some mid size bunny poos although not close to the amt. she used to have. Thanks everyone for helping out.

I think it's the pear that she ate the other day that starts this. As there was no carrot from superstore a few days ago, so I get her an slice of pear, but this kind of pear is the softer one, not the hard pear, as such, there could be some gas inside the pear.

Does anyone knows a link to a list of all the fruits and veggies that can contains gas, so I won't make the same mistake twice?

Click to expand...

As a general rule of thumb the Veg like Cabbage,Brocolli, Sprouts can cause excess gas. As can too much Sugar-ie that found in fruit and carrots/sweetcorn etc
Can you get some Simethicone? Its called INFACOL over here and is used for babies with colic. You can give Goofball 2ml (sorry, cant do cc conversion ) and some tummy rubs which will help break up the gas.
Even though you are now down by $300 you could not have given Goofs the Metoclop' you have at home without being CERTAIN she did not have an abdominal obstruction. Also, unless the Metoclop' you have is the INJECTION it would not work. Oral meds are not absorbed once a Bun is in Stasis

Sending vibes to Goofball

Janex

Glad it's not her teeth anyway, although she still needs a lot of TLC - I'm horrified that an injection of metaclop cost you the equivalent of about £200 though :shock:

I would think there's more sugar in a soft, ripe pear than in a hard one, or in carrot, and sugar feeds 'bad' bacteria in the gut (even humans get gas after eating too much chocolate and sweets) - so I guess that was the problem. Eating more hay is recommended for this type of thing too, as the stomach contents are moving along faster, so there's less of a comfortable 'home' for bacteria to multiply in.

Hi there. Hope Goofball is feeling better today.

I have since learned that mls convert exactly into cc. So 2mls of something equals 2 cc. I noticed it on a fancy syringe I bought.

Lots of warmth and tummy rubs (and forced exercise) seems to help my bunnies when they are in GI stasis.

Fiona x

Some buns don't so well with fruit - Zeus got stasis from banana (took it to happen twice before I put two and two together)!

Caz

Fionabun said:

Hi there. Hope Goofball is feeling better today.

I have since learned that mls convert exactly into cc. So 2mls of something equals 2 cc. I noticed it on a fancy syringe I bought.

Lots of warmth and tummy rubs (and forced exercise) seems to help my bunnies when they are in GI stasis.

Fiona x

Click to expand...

Hi

I hope Goofball is feeling better - sending lots of vibes!

Fiona is exactly right - cc and mL are equivalent measurements. cc just stands for cubic centimeters, so effectively 1cc is just 10^-6 metres cubed. 1mL is 10^-3 L, and as 1L is conventional notation for 10^-3 m3, you end up with 10^-6 metres cubed again

(Spot the chemist )

My first rabbit, Vincent was very disinterested in eating hay, but I found that soaking it in water overnight and then offering it to him helped. Also, I tried sprinkling the hay with his favourite finely chopped herbs or dandelions - that also encouraged him to try some hay. Good luck x

here's an update. When she left the vet clinic yesterday around 4:30 pm (Sat), she was given an injection of 10 mg/ml meto and SQ fluid.

Now, around 11 am (Sat), she was drinking water on her own but I haven't seen her drink water on her own since. At 2 pm we went to see the vet.

Of course the SQ fluid is injected and should be good for 24 hr. but that would mean she should be drinking water after 5 pm today. I didn't see her drink any so far, so I give her some water w/ syringe.

There is some reasonable amt. of smal to med. size poos, but not regular size. Of course, there are light color urine, i.e., consistent w/ urine produced from SQ fluid injection.

She ate the carrot leaf and stem on her own, a small bite of dry mango, and 4 little pieces of sunflower seed. Other than that, I have to syringe feed her w/ baby food.

The prescription so far is 3 cc of meto. every 8 hr. As of now, besides feeding her w/ baby food and water, there isn't much to do and wait.

As to the stomach rub, my vet said I should only do it when she's lying on her back, or else it can do more harm than good. I don't understand why can't I rub her tummy while she's lying down. But the vet did say if I'm holding her standing, I can rub her tummy. But I never done this before, accordingly, it'll just using my hand to move back and forth along her stomach, is that so? If so, what does do this motion do?

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EDIT: is not drinking water normal for GI stasis case? Because she eat a little bit on her own, but she definitely is not drinking water on her own

Here's an update as of Thurs. morning 2 am. On her own, she hardly eat anything, just 4 tiny piece of sunflower seed, just a few bite of dry pineapple and dry mango along w/ eating some carrot leaf on her own.

However, I discover yesterday that by holding her on a feeding position, i.e., her back leading on my front and a towel wrap around her leg, just by holding a carrot near her mouth, she eat a large portion of it. Doing the above twice in a few hr. gap, she finished a 12 in. long carrot.

Doing the above w/ a slice of pear, she eat it too.

Now she's not drinking water on her own. So I have to forcefeed her. As of Wed. night, the vet recommend "Super charge" her water level for the 2nd time, (the first time is last Sat.) w/ 200 ml of Sub Q fluid. And I'll be doing this for 5 days straight.

Bunny poos are irregular shape, but definitely more than last Fri. and bigger even it's irregular shape.

The only screw up I made is the syringe I used to forcefeed her w/ water must be too big, it leak out quite a bit. So in the past 2 days, I use the tiny 6 cc syringe.

In short, her diet seems improving but her water level is low, because the urine level is low. So I hope that w/ the new daily injection of sub Q fluid in the next 5 days, it'll improve her condition.

I have cut the baby food from 5 -6 times to 4- 5 times because she eat the whole carrot. If I knew she would eat the carrot by holding in front of her, I would have do this a lot sooner.

I ask the vet why she would eat the carrot "sort of" on her own, but not willing to drink any water on her own. She has no clue, and I think it's a bit too soon on her to drink water on her own.

Glad to hear there is some inprovement
Can you add some Critical Care to her syringe feeds as she needs fibre which is lacking in what she is eating at the moment. I would also recommend the use of a probiotic with added fibre-'FIBREPLEX-the 5th item down on here

http://www.petvetcare.co.uk/acatalog/Small_Animals_Pets.html

and some more info on it here

http://www.protexin.com/vet/product.php?id=21

I hope Goofball is soon fully recovered

Janex

Glad to hear there is a little improvement. Poor bunny and hope she feels better soon.