Sophie's not well again + Casper's unwell, too, now

[bunny momma]

I am pleased she nibbling greens and vet prescribed meds. Greens will add moisture to stomach contents.
By now you know I will mention fluids ,oral would be helpful to help food to pass easier if syringe feed is not appropriate per vet.

Sending more vibes.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Sorry to come on here and read that Sophie has been poorly again. Maybe she is struggling with keeping herself well hydrated especially if it is as warm there as it is here. Even minimal dehydration can lead to reduced gut motility. Personally I would try to encourage a water intake as well as her medication. This can be done by feeding a bit more fresh veg served wet from rinsing, a splash of unsweetened pure apple juice in her water. If syringing water into her stresses her out I would only do it as a last resort as stress will exacerbate her GI tract slow down.

Hope that she is feeling better very soon .

 

[Omi]

Sending lots more vibes for Sophie. I'm pleased that you had a good consultation with the vet and that Sophie is now starting to eat a little. I hope she has improved during the night. It has been really hot here and presumably there too and so drenching her greens in water is a good idea.

 

[Pets mum]

Really pleased that the vet visit went well, and really hope that you managed to get some sleep. Sending more vibes for Sophie and hope that she improves soon, and look after yourself too xx

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

Topping up the vibes for Sophie, I hope you are okay too.

 

[Zoobec]

Topping up the vibes xx

 

[kattymieoww]

Sending vibes for Sophie. x

 

[a reader of books]

Thank you all so much for the vibes and your thoughts. It really means a lot to me that you all care about Sophie. I checked on her every two hours during the night (so, I really need to catch up on some sleep during the day today, as I'm exhausted) and each time she ate some wet herbs or grass, and when I woke up around 6 she and Casper were eating hay together. She's still not eating well, though. She hasn't really wanted any greens today and has mostly been eating dry things like hay and pellets and some dried forage. She did drink for a while just now, though, so at least she's keeping herself hydrated. She absolutely hates it when you come near her with a syringe, so I haven't been giving her water that way and have just been relying on the wet greens, but since she hasn't wanted any of that today I've been worried about her not getting enough fluids, so I'm glad she drank just now, and I'll get her an extra bowl of water with some unsweetened apple juice in case that'll encourage her to drink more. Thank you for that idea, IM. She has been moving around and even chased her food ball a little bit this morning, but she isn't as active as usual. She's definitely better than yesterday evening, though.

My vets called earlier, too, to ask how she's doing, because the out of hours vet had sent them the information from last night, so that was really kind of them. They were confident that Sophie'll be okay since she's doing better. They couldn't really say what could be behind this happening twice in one month, though, though they did suggest it could be that she's not digesting her food as well now that she's a bit older, or it just being plain bad luck, but they were going to ask around at the practice and see if anybody had any ideas. It has been pretty hot this week here, too, yes, so I can see that being a possible cause as well. I hadn't thought of that. This is probably a silly question, but since rabbits don't sweat, would they get dehydrated during hot weather? I always thought the reason we humans got dehydrated quickly during hot weather is because we sweat.

Anyway, I'll keep you all updated. Thank you again for being here. Here's a photo from this morning:

Casper has been very good so far today about not eating all of Sophie's food. :lol:

 

[KCG]

I hope the cause of this recurrent disease is found. And Sophie never gets sick again. I will keep sending lots of vibrations for her. Xxxxxxxxxx

As for the photo, they are so cute. So Casper looks like the government, Sophie the people. :lol: Casper eats everything Sophie and enjoys himself. Sophie just like the people, she's living all the pain herself, Casper is pleasure this situation. Full government-public relationship. :lol:

 

[joey&boo]

good morning pretty girl - glad you seem to be on the road to recovery. Its a joy & a privilege to have older bunnies but its certainly not without its stresses - well that's my experience anyway

 

[keletkezes]

I hope Sophie's recovery continues Best wishes xx

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Awwww Sophie looks very perky in their photo which is good. Casper looks very chilled though [emoji38] It's good to hear she is eating a little better and she took some fluids.

I hope she continues to do well and that you manage to get some sleep at all. I know how exhausting it is when a bun is sick and feel for you there.

Really hope she is back to normal eating soon. Topping up the vibes from us [emoji175]

Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk

 

[Omi]

Nice to see Casper looking very supportive

 

[Zoobec]

I’m glad she is doing better has she been moulting? Sometimes it would cause a bit of a gut slowdown for Frosty when he was moulting.

 

[bunny momma]

Sending vibes Sophie continues to improve and is soon back to behaving like herself.

 

[a reader of books]

Aw, thank you all so much again. She has been eating some more pellets, and some wet herbs and grass as well, though when I offered her some food just now she didn't want any, so she's definitely not back to normal yet. The vets said earlier that it was gas in her stomach (so, not food, since I had forgotten which one it was last night), so I'm guessing her stomach is still not feeling great and that the gas is still in her belly. The vets called back a little while ago, too, to let me know that they'd discussed Sophie and that we could try keeping her on a lower dose of Emeprid longterm and see if that helps her. I thought that would be worth trying, but then later I remembered reading something 10+ years ago about how if you give gut motility meds for too long the guts will get lazy and start depending on the meds to work normally, which would obviously be bad? Does anyone know if that's true? For the last month or so, I've been seeing some small and/or misshapen poops in their litter tray every day, but I haven't been able to figure out whose they are yet, so I've just tried to encourage them both to eat more hay and get more fluids, but if they're Sophie's, maybe giving her gut meds for a long while could be a good idea. Maybe her guts really just aren't working as well anymore because of her age, like the vets suggested.

good morning pretty girl - glad you seem to be on the road to recovery. Its a joy & a privilege to have older bunnies but its certainly not without its stresses - well that's my experience anyway

I completely agree. I really love older bunnies, and have a big soft spot for them, but in my experience so far caring for them is not a worry-free experience.

Awwww Sophie looks very perky in their photo which is good. Casper looks very chilled though [emoji38] It's good to hear she is eating a little better and she took some fluids.

I hope she continues to do well and that you manage to get some sleep at all. I know how exhausting it is when a bun is sick and feel for you there.

Really hope she is back to normal eating soon. Topping up the vibes from us [emoji175]

Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk

Yeah, Casper has been fine. :lol: Thank you for caring about how I'm doing, too. That's really kind of you. I've been trying to catch up on sleep, but I'm so stressed that I haven't been very successful. And thank you for the vibes.

I’m glad she is doing better has she been moulting? Sometimes it would cause a bit of a gut slowdown for Frosty when he was moulting.

Thank you. She's not moulting at the moment. She finished a few weeks ago, so that can't be it this time. It has bothered her in the past, though, and has caused gut slowdowns for her like it did for Frosty.

 

[a reader of books]

Thought I'd give you all an update! She's doing a little better. She's eating a bit more and doing a nice amount of poops (they're small, though), and she's a bit more active. She's still mainly eating pellets and dried forage, and I wish she'd eat some wet greens instead so she'd get some more water inside, but pellets and dried forage are better than nothing, so I'm glad she's eat least eating that. There are still a lot of times when I offer her food and she doesn't want any, so her stomach is still really bothering her, it seems. So, she's making progress, but it's slow.

 

[KCG]

I hope Sophie gets well soon... Xxxxxxxxxx

 

[a reader of books]

Thank you, KCG.

 

[joey&boo]

It sounds very similar to Joey's recent episode - like improvement everyday but not fast or complete enough to be reassuring. He would only eat grass though so very different diet choices. Hopefully she'll be there soon. I wondered if your vets would come back with the suggestion of longer term gut motility meds. I bet Inspector Morse has experience or knowledge of this so hopefully she'll see this. i have vague recollections of using it long term being mentioned on here but can't recall anything definite. I guess you'll want to know if the plan has longevity in that if the gut slow down after a long time on it is a risk, are there any issues about a bunny staying on it for life?