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

Her eating pellets and dried forage mostly may be contributing to a slower gut . Hay and more fiber passes through gi much quicker. She may need a dental once she is a bit better.
I had Raven on motility meds for over a month in the past when he was shedding at same time he had dental.


Years ago I had an older bunny on metoclop injections for a year and he developed an occasional movement disorder -head tick-which may or may not be related.
 
joey&boo said:
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?
Click to expand...
I actually thought about Joey, too, and his slow progress when he was ill recently. His diet choices were better, I think, though! I wish Sophie would eat some grass, but she's not interested. And, yes, that's what I'm wondering about, with the long-term gut motility meds. What the consequences would be of her taking them for a long time, and if she could or would have to stay on them for life, and if she would get used to the effects and would need increasingly higher dosages. I think I'll message my vets about it on Monday, or ask them when I'm there if Sophie's not better by then, since I'll want to have another x-ray made to see what's going on. But hopefully she'll be better by then...


bunny momma said:
Her eating pellets and dried forage mostly may be contributing to a slower gut . Hay and more fiber passes through gi much quicker. She may need a dental once she is a bit better.
I had Raven on motility meds for over a month in the past when he was shedding at same time he had dental.


Years ago I had an older bunny on metoclop injections for a year and he developed an occasional movement disorder -head tick-which may or may not be related.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's what I'm afraid of, that all the pellets are just slowing things down. :( I guess the fibre content of her pellets are about the same as the syringe feed I would give her, but at least the syringe feed would come with water to help move things along. That's a good point about her possibly needing a dental once she's a bit better, since she's not eating hay now...

Thank you for telling me about the bunnies you've had who had gut motility meds for a long while. Did the older bunny stop needing the injections and was fine after that, or was it the last year of his life?
 
I'm sorry that Sophie is still not 100% I've no experience of having a bunny on long term gut meds. From what you've said, my view would be that using gut meds at the moment is a way of compensating for the fact that her current diet, by choice, is low on fibre.

Definitely discuss this with your vet if this continues, but unless there is a physical reason why this is happening, my preference would be, once she's eating normally of course, to try to increase the amount of fibre in her diet. Increased fibre should have a similar effect to the gut meds and would be more natural. It might be worth discussing with your vet whether removing the pellets completely might help to encourage her to make better dietary choices.

I presume that Casper is eating greens and hay, so hopefully she'll soon be encouraged by his good example. Sending her lots of vibes and I hope that something beneficial will result from your discussion with the vet.
 
Omi said:
I'm sorry that Sophie is still not 100% I've no experience of having a bunny on long term gut meds. From what you've said, my view would be that using gut meds at the moment is a way of compensating for the fact that her current diet, by choice, is low on fibre.

Definitely discuss this with your vet if this continues, but unless there is a physical reason why this is happening, my preference would be, once she's eating normally of course, to try to increase the amount of fibre in her diet. Increased fibre should have a similar effect to the gut meds and would be more natural. It might be worth discussing with your vet whether removing the pellets completely might help to encourage her to make better dietary choices.

I presume that Casper is eating greens and hay, so hopefully she'll soon be encouraged by his good example. Sending her lots of vibes and I hope that something beneficial will result from your discussion with the vet.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the vibes and your thoughts on how she's doing, Omi. Normally she only gets a limited amount of pellets and eats her hay and greens, but it's only since yesterday that she's only wanting pellets and dried forage as she's not feeling well because of the gas in her stomach. At least on Thursday evening she was still eating some greens, and ate a bit of hay, but now she doesn't want it. Increasing the amount of fibre in her diet once she's better instead of the gut motility meds is a good idea, though, and I'd prefer that, I think. I've been trying to encourage her for a long time to eat more hay for her teeth, but I'm struggling with it as she needs her pellets or she loses weight quickly, so I can't leave out pellets so she'll eat more hay.

But, yes, Casper is still eating greens and hay, though he's been very stressed because of Sophie being ill, so he's not eating 100% like normal, either. Hopefully she'll see him eating those and will want to eat, too, though...
 
a reader of books said:
I actually thought about Joey, too, and his slow progress when he was ill recently. His diet choices were better, I think, though! I wish Sophie would eat some grass, but she's not interested. And, yes, that's what I'm wondering about, with the long-term gut motility meds. What the consequences would be of her taking them for a long time, and if she could or would have to stay on them for life, and if she would get used to the effects and would need increasingly higher dosages. I think I'll message my vets about it on Monday, or ask them when I'm there if Sophie's not better by then, since I'll want to have another x-ray made to see what's going on. But hopefully she'll be better by then...



Yes, that's what I'm afraid of, that all the pellets are just slowing things down. :( I guess the fibre content of her pellets are about the same as the syringe feed I would give her, but at least the syringe feed would come with water to help move things along. That's a good point about her possibly needing a dental once she's a bit better, since she's not eating hay now...

Thank you for telling me about the bunnies you've had who had gut motility meds for a long while. Did the older bunny stop needing the injections and was fine after that, or was it the last year of his life?
Click to expand...
The older bunny was in his final year.
If sophie has lot of gas, slow motility also allows overgrowth of some 'bad' bacteria which results in gas,pain,less eating,mor gut slowing. Rabbit guts get stimulated by food/fiber.

Jane may be able to recommend a prebiotic (different from a probiotic) or a fiber supplement to help sophie.

Fibafirst sticks may give more fiber than pellets while not requiring the same chewing motion like hay. Mine were shipped from UK.

edit. glad she is eating hay.
 
KCG said:
Mashallah, I wish she continues like this..
Click to expand...
Thank you. :)


bunny momma said:
The older bunny was in his final year.
If sophie has lot of gas, slow motility also allows overgrowth of some 'bad' bacteria which results in gas,pain,less eating,mor gut slowing. Rabbit guts get stimulated by food/fiber.

Jane may be able to recommend a prebiotic (different from a probiotic) or a fiber supplement to help sophie.

Fibafirst sticks may give more fiber than pellets while not requiring the same chewing motion like hay. Mine were shipped from UK.

edit. glad she is eating hay.
Click to expand...
Thank you for being glad she's eating hay, bunny momma, and for the advice. She normally gets Fibafirst sticks, but she doesn't want any today, unfortunately. I'm hoping the gut motility meds (she's on two different ones) will help her enough that things keep moving and the gas doesn't get worse even though she's not getting a lot of fibre. I hadn't considered a prebiotic or a fibre supplement, but that sounds like it could be helpful. Thank you for mentioning those. I'll look into it.
 
joey&boo said:
Ohh Sophie - you are such a good girl:love: keep it up sweetiepie
Click to expand...
She has kept it up! She's been eating some more hay. Not much yet, but more than yesterday. She ate some greens last night as well, and she's definitely more active today.

Right now she's taking a nap, though. :love:

XrB3cUjh.jpg
 
Aww I'm glad she's getting better.

And a lovely photo! Sending vibes that the munching continues.

Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk
 
a reader of books said:
She has kept it up! She's been eating some more hay. Not much yet, but more than yesterday. She ate some greens last night as well, and she's definitely more active today.

Right now she's taking a nap, though. :love:

XrB3cUjh.jpg
Click to expand...
Awww glad to hear she's doing better :D and you have to give her head rubs and massages when she's having such a happy nap [emoji173]

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk
 
Thank you everyone. :love: She ate some greens a little while ago! :love:


KCG said:
:love: Can you kiss her for me :love:
Click to expand...
Aw, Sophie doesn't like kisses. :lol:

cheriseru said:
Awww glad to hear she's doing better :D and you have to give her head rubs and massages when she's having such a happy nap [emoji173]
Click to expand...
She wouldn't like me if I did that. :lol: When she's napping, she doesn't want to be disturbed. We're a lot alike, Sophie and me. :lol:
 
Its always good to be aligned in your personal space requirements with other house members:lol: Its a really lovely photo of Sophie - she really is perfect
 
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