Shellypops
Wise Old Thumper
Do you think time of year could be relevant :shock:
I don't know Shelly, possibly as I'm erring towards moult which of course is linked to time of year.
Timmy stopped eating last Thursday, showed all the usual signs of going into stassis, looked in pain/tummy pressing/not interested in anything. I couldn't get an immediate vet appointment and while we were waiting to go, I picked him up and was stroking his sides and gave him a tummy rub. I put him back down in the hay basket and he started eating straight away. Within an hour he had eaten hay and pellets, drank, wee'd and pooped and looked back to normal :shock:
Thinking maybe he was a bit gassy, but the first time it happened was almost exactly a year ago (April) and then again in Autumn. They are both moulting heavily and Timmy is always poorly in the mornings after being fine in the evening. Wondering if they groom more at night?:?
sorry, that is a really long reply to your post. Glad Bobby is ok now!
youll drive yourself mad trying to figure it out Shelley
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=230674
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=216532
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=231992
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=232103
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=232286
see ive so lost my mind over stasis :roll:
Grass is growing again, providing different foods. Could be related.
Yes moulting is definitely associated with moulting which is a considerable STRESS for a bunny. They have to increase their energy intake by 40% to moult. If they already have a bit of a slow gut it tips the blance for them, or they get fur balls forming in a slow gut.
Pineapple contains bromelaine which is a lower gut stimulant. It's probably better to get it in tablet form to avoid the fruit sugars in a slow gut.
Many buns drink less when their gut slows down, so the gut contents can dry out into a hard mass more easily, & either be difficult to push through or get stuck. Gradually adding herbs or fresh weeds can help by adding both fiber & extra nutrients which aren't starchy enough to cause dysbiosis.
I've just had a really difficult 5 days with Thumper, & he's moulting gently but we lost it with hydration.
Yes there seem to be a lot of near-misses with stasis at the moment, like Crunchie was saying. Or "almost-stasis." Last year I remember people put it down to the spring grass and moulting etc, and I suspect that both of these factors are involved.
:wave: Hi Shellypops. You're not much further North from us. The temp here is OK at the mo. I kept the heating on low in our bedroom/hutch or 24/7 & only heat the rest of the house enough to stop it freezing.
Temps have been good recently, the radiator doesn't come on even at 3.00am.
The probs for house buns are sudden fluctuations, usually in winter when we heat our house when we're at home but turn the heating off at night or when we're at work. So temps are fluctuating from above 20C to below 10C. I suspect it's that particular range of temp change too. For us it's the difference between summer clothes & winter clothes. For outdoor buns it's when it's really warm outside & then there's a sudden hard frost at night.
The way I see my own bun & a few others I know well, is that they start with sensitive tummies. There are a whole range of factors which will make the gut slow down a little, some more than others for each individual. They can get through OK if there're just 1 or 2 factors, but if several group together in short succession they have problems. Frustratingly it can be a different group of factors each time. :roll:
The reason I encourage a high fiber low starch/sugar diet is that we can't do much about a lot of the factors, but the fiber keeps the gut working efficiently, & flushes out any wrong caecal bacteria (dysbiosis) which can lead to bloat or make toxins which slow the gut down more.
Encouraging a bun to run around a lot helps too - excercise is so important for gut health.
At moult times, I'm grooming Thumper about 2 hourly if he's in heavy moult. :shock: but he's at incredibly high risk. Grooming both buns (cos they allogroom) about x2 daily can prevent them from ingesting a lot of fur.
As you know, my own bun won't drink water although he's able to do so. Dehydrated food in the gut can stick together with fur & get rolled up into the ball which causes a block. Anything which encourages a bunny to drink more fluids is also a big help.
Sorry I haven't sussed that one out yet. Some people get away with adding a small amount of unsweetened fruit juice to their water. My bun is so sensitive to fruit sugars/starch he'd just pour liquid caecs. The best I can do is to wean him over to fresh weeds & fresh leaf fiber as fast as I can in Spring.
These tummy bunnies are all such individuals. I think we can say that these are the sort of things which can slow down the gut - these sort of things help
but the nitty gritty of getting something to work for your own bun is trial & error.
The hawthorn leaves at the mo. haven't got as much fiber in them as they'll have when they darken but a lot more than human veg & plenty of juice.- I'd use them to replace some of Bobby's veg.
Please remember to take the buds out from the center of the leaf clusters. You'll find fewer buds on the dark side of the bush! I'd try Bobby on a few green bramble leaves too. If she goes for them - great. Buns often only go for added fiber at certain times of year.