nicki
Warren Scout
Hello,
I have had Gracie for about 4 months now.
I adopted her and bonded her with my 8.5 year old Oliver after I lost my bunny Libby.
Gracie had a difficult past and has made a lot of progress - her eating pattern has improved considerably, she is down to her target weight, she is very settled and happy and really naughty. Her diet is really good.
However, she has had several episodes of stopping eating.
The onset is very fast and usually she will have been eating well and producing normal poos shortly before.
It seems to be either in response to a stressor e.g. sudden noise, slight change, possibly moulting related or moderate pain related - possibly acid as her stomach can sound very gurgly.
If I am sure she is producing some poos, I normally medicate her with metoclopramide, ranitidine and Metacam and then syringe feed if she doesn't pick up in about an hour or two. I get her vet checked if no output or it persists, to check blood glucose, temperature etc
She gets very stressed with meds and syringe feeding so it is a bit of a vicious circle.
So far, it has usually resolved in about a day and on 2 occasions the vet has used a mild opiate (not Vetergesic) to calm her down which seems to have helped.
Her teeth have been checked and nothing obvious.
I am really worried as I am going on holiday soon and feel that Gracie could well have an episode.
I have thought about installing a camera in shed linked to my phone so I can alert someone if she has stopped eating straightaway.
I am also wondering whether there are any animal stress relief sprays that might help.
I will use fibreplex as a preventative.
Any thoughts would be appreciated,
Nicki
I have had Gracie for about 4 months now.
I adopted her and bonded her with my 8.5 year old Oliver after I lost my bunny Libby.
Gracie had a difficult past and has made a lot of progress - her eating pattern has improved considerably, she is down to her target weight, she is very settled and happy and really naughty. Her diet is really good.
However, she has had several episodes of stopping eating.
The onset is very fast and usually she will have been eating well and producing normal poos shortly before.
It seems to be either in response to a stressor e.g. sudden noise, slight change, possibly moulting related or moderate pain related - possibly acid as her stomach can sound very gurgly.
If I am sure she is producing some poos, I normally medicate her with metoclopramide, ranitidine and Metacam and then syringe feed if she doesn't pick up in about an hour or two. I get her vet checked if no output or it persists, to check blood glucose, temperature etc
She gets very stressed with meds and syringe feeding so it is a bit of a vicious circle.
So far, it has usually resolved in about a day and on 2 occasions the vet has used a mild opiate (not Vetergesic) to calm her down which seems to have helped.
Her teeth have been checked and nothing obvious.
I am really worried as I am going on holiday soon and feel that Gracie could well have an episode.
I have thought about installing a camera in shed linked to my phone so I can alert someone if she has stopped eating straightaway.
I am also wondering whether there are any animal stress relief sprays that might help.
I will use fibreplex as a preventative.
Any thoughts would be appreciated,
Nicki