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John-Joe - U/D 25th April

Another episode of bloat

On appropriate meds and IV fluids

Blood glucose was 18, now down to 11

Advised to continue treatment, nil by mouth atm

Thank you for your support x
 
I am glad you caught his bloat early and he is improving with your loving care.
Sending more vibes for a full and long term recovery.

Sent from my KFTRWI using Tapatalk
 
Sending loads of vibes for John-Joe. I'm glad he's improving.

Re the Dandelion Roots, I bought some of these, but from a different supplier, a couple of years ago and the bunnies wouldn't eat them. But that's probably just that they didn't like them, as I know lots of people feed them presumably with no issues.
 
Omi said:
Sending loads of vibes for John-Joe. I'm glad he's improving.

Re the Dandelion Roots, I bought some of these, but from a different supplier, a couple of years ago and the bunnies wouldn't eat them. But that's probably just that they didn't like them, as I know lots of people feed them presumably with no issues.
Click to expand...

The last time he had bloat, which was only a few weeks ago it came on a few hours after having a few of the nibbles.

JJ has always had poor gut motility, even though he is on a 90% hay diet. We think his problems are genetic as he was a single kit, he is under the minimum weight for his breed, everything about him is smaller/fragile. So we think he probably has internal ‘structural’ issues too. I am wondering if the nibbles pass out of his stomach still whole and could then potentially cause an obstruction in his intestines. I would have thought this to be unlikely, but perhaps not impossible.

JJ has just started a heavy moult and despite twice daily grooming I think ingestion of a lot of fur when he has chronic GI tract hypomotility is more likely to be the cause. He grooms Dara a lot too and she is also moulting.

We are probably going to put him onto cisapride and SQ fluids during heavy moults from now on, ie as a prophylaxis.
 
InspectorMorse said:
The last time he had bloat, which was only a few weeks ago it came on a few hours after having a few of the nibbles.

JJ has always had poor gut motility, even though he is on a 90% hay diet. We think his problems are genetic as he was a single kit, he is under the minimum weight for his breed, everything about him is smaller/fragile. So we think he probably has internal ‘structural’ issues too. I am wondering if the nibbles pass out of his stomach still whole and could then potentially cause an obstruction in his intestines. I would have thought this to be unlikely, but perhaps not impossible.

JJ has just started a heavy moult and despite twice daily grooming I think ingestion of a lot of fur when he has chronic GI tract hypomotility is more likely to be the cause. He grooms Dara a lot too and she is also moulting.

We are probably going to put him onto cisapride and SQ fluids during heavy moults from now on, ie as a prophylaxis.
Click to expand...

Was he also eating them just before this incident? If so, I would be very suspicious that they were the cause. From memory they are pretty hard and of course fibrous, so if he hasn't chewed them properly, it's possible he's swallowed pieces whole. Whilst they are plant material, I doubt they would soften very quickly. That could be itself be the cause, or perhaps in combination with the ingested fur. I personally wouldn't take the chance again with them and John-Joe.

Just as an aside, I hand-feed Tui and Froe their SS pellets. I can tell that the first two or three, when Tui is hungry, she does not chew, but swallows presumably whole. Leaving a gap between handing them to her makes no difference as they've already gone out of her mouth.
 
Omi said:
Was he also eating them just before this incident? If so, I would be very suspicious that they were the cause. From memory they are pretty hard and of course fibrous, so if he hasn't chewed them properly, it's possible he's swallowed pieces whole. Whilst they are plant material, I doubt they would soften very quickly. That could be itself be the cause, or perhaps in combination with the ingested fur. I personally wouldn't take the chance again with them and John-Joe.

Just as an aside, I hand-feed Tui and Froe their SS pellets. I can tell that the first two or three, when Tui is hungry, she does not chew, but swallows presumably whole. Leaving a gap between handing them to her makes no difference as they've already gone out of her mouth.
Click to expand...

Even if swallowed whole the highly acidic environment of a Rabbits’s stomach (much higher than dogs/cats etc) should break down even the hardest most fibrous material ;it will liquidise an SS pellet very quickly. So with pelleted feeds swallowed whole personally I wouldn’t worry about any issues with a whole one causing an obstruction in the intestines as it’d be dissolved by the time it gets that far. My concern would be a choking risk. I have had 2 Rabbits choke on an old style SS pellet. They used to be much larger than they are now.

Yes, JJ had eaten a few dandelion root nibbles about 4-5 hours prior to the onset of the bloat.

Thankfully he is now doing much better. He has had a good poo output, he’s eating, the bloating has resolved and he is much brighter within himself. I won’t be feeding him the dandelion roots again. If I do it’ll be the large twig sized pieces that he couldn’t possibly swallow whole.

Thanks for the vibes everyone :love:
 
Could it just be his system has a problem with dandelion in general? Do you ever feed him the leaves? It seems to me one of my bunnies would sometimes have issues with dandelion, but would eat it anyway. I think it was Fiver? I think it added to his gut problems if he didn't drink a lot of water with it.

I'm glad JJ is feeling better. More vibes that improvement continues. xxxxx
 
MimzMum said:
Could it just be his system has a problem with dandelion in general? Do you ever feed him the leaves? It seems to me one of my bunnies would sometimes have issues with dandelion, but would eat it anyway. I think it was Fiver? I think it added to his gut problems if he didn't drink a lot of water with it.

I'm glad JJ is feeling better. More vibes that improvement continues. xxxxx
Click to expand...

He’s fine with fresh and dried dandelion leaves, so I am sure it’s not dandelions per se x
 
I am so glad he is doing so much better today.
If he got bloat twice after eating these roots, I agree with not giving them again in case there is a connection.

Sent from my KFTRWI using Tapatalk
 
Thanks again for your support :)

I have a very low panic threshold at the moment. Losing another Rabbit right now would tip me over the edge :cry:

Thankfully JJ appears to have made a full recovery. I just hope I haven’t tempted fate by posting that
 
My two get dandelion root and dried dandelion in abundance. I think it can be nearly impossible to tell why they get a bad episode sometimes. Certainly Mr B was the biggest mystery.
 
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