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Hello - Week 2 of Stasis (Long read sorry)

Hey dudes,

Sid came home last night. The blood in his poops has all but gone, looked like a bit of a sore bum which we will have to treat with a bit of gel every day just to keep it from rupturing again.

Interesting evening really, he had minimal teeth grinds and was very active but he now has some interesting postures (albeit not the pain, readjusting postures, it was more one constant) vets think he's trying to take pressure of his bum touching the floor for now as it's a bit raw.

Also, he had a bout in the middle of the night after a tea spoon of nuggets, kale, parsley and a lot of water where he sounded like he had 5 pints and a curry. It was really really loud, as in human loud from the other side of the room loud rumbling and gurgling. The strangest part of it was he was active and fine while it was going on bar towards the end when it quietened down where he lay down for a bit.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150482612@N02/34901802665/in/dateposted-public/ - the noises had died down by this point but you can still see his stomach going

I know I'm paranoid but check out between 40-50 seconds - how is that comfortable for the bigman? I don't understand the logic in bringing him home if he's in serious pain, all further diagnostics can be carried out at the vet.. Perhaps, it's just his body getting used to life again and given his weight loss it's a lot more visible. Gurgling like you've had a monster dinner isn't normal though.

Worth also pointing out he drank 125ml from his bowl between 22:30 / 08:30 - peed loads and poopd loads, his poops look proper wet though, firm enough! Think it's all forward progress albeit v slow! On we go!

All the best
Rich


One of my Rabbits has a chronic condition which effects the innervation of his GI tract, amongst other things. He has the same pronounced peristaltic waves every day. They are painless, but they look very dramatic. The GI tract element of my Rabbit's chronic condition is mostly managed by him having to follow a very strict diet plan.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdAjaB0_xuo

Interestingly I have seen the same abdominal symptoms in a few Rabbits, all of whom have a grey/frosty point /broken grey fur colouring. Which makes me think that there might be a genetic factor involved. I have no other clinical evidence of this being the case though.

I hope that Siddi continues to improve now that he is back home x
 
Hey dudes,

Sid came home last night. The blood in his poops has all but gone, looked like a bit of a sore bum which we will have to treat with a bit of gel every day just to keep it from rupturing again.

Interesting evening really, he had minimal teeth grinds and was very active but he now has some interesting postures (albeit not the pain, readjusting postures, it was more one constant) vets think he's trying to take pressure of his bum touching the floor for now as it's a bit raw.

Also, he had a bout in the middle of the night after a tea spoon of nuggets, kale, parsley and a lot of water where he sounded like he had 5 pints and a curry. It was really really loud, as in human loud from the other side of the room loud rumbling and gurgling. The strangest part of it was he was active and fine while it was going on bar towards the end when it quietened down where he lay down for a bit.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150482612@N02/34901802665/in/dateposted-public/ - the noises had died down by this point but you can still see his stomach going

I know I'm paranoid but check out between 40-50 seconds - how is that comfortable for the bigman? I don't understand the logic in bringing him home if he's in serious pain, all further diagnostics can be carried out at the vet.. Perhaps, it's just his body getting used to life again and given his weight loss it's a lot more visible. Gurgling like you've had a monster dinner isn't normal though.

Worth also pointing out he drank 125ml from his bowl between 22:30 / 08:30 - peed loads and poopd loads, his poops look proper wet though, firm enough! Think it's all forward progress albeit v slow! On we go!

All the best
Rich


Hi there

I am glad he came home. I do recognise the peristalsis you describe, it's occurred in one of my rabbits in the past - something like this here (not my rabbit)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmbOICAaOuw

Have you told the vet about this, and have they indicated anything changing in his diet? I wonder whether the US vets may throw more light?
 
All noted, have forwarded on the video to the vet too. Safety first and all that! Thanks for your advice all, you have been beyond great!
 
Hello again,

So sid is drinking a fair bit of water as mentioned, looks like he was fast asleep and managed to pee himself.

Given the amount if meds he's on we aren't surprised, this is the second time in a fortnight now though.

I want to make sure he doesn't get a uti and reading round mentions clearing off pee on his coat to minimise pain. Ive got small animal shampoo by Johnsons but he is so clean naturally we have never used it. Is this a case where we should? Then get it dry asap...

Finally he was ravenous for salt yesterday. I've got him a small animals mineral block safe to give him for a day? Might help? Do I let him see if he wants a bit?

Sorry for so many questions but just so keen for him to get best possible treatment!!

Rich
 
Hello again,

So sid is drinking a fair bit of water as mentioned, looks like he was fast asleep and managed to pee himself.

Given the amount if meds he's on we aren't surprised, this is the second time in a fortnight now though.

I want to make sure he doesn't get a uti and reading round mentions clearing off pee on his coat to minimise pain. Ive got small animal shampoo by Johnsons but he is so clean naturally we have never used it. Is this a case where we should? Then get it dry asap...

Finally he was ravenous for salt yesterday. I've got him a small animals mineral block safe to give him for a day? Might help? Do I let him see if he wants a bit?

Sorry for so many questions but just so keen for him to get best possible treatment!!

Rich

I don't understand why some pee on his coat would be likely to cause pain :? If it's very occasionally, then I would not use the animal shampoo on him, but would maybe just wipe it off with a cloth with plain water before drying quickly. If it's an area where he can reach to clean it himself, I would probably just leave it and make sure he did.

I'm interested to know how you knew he was "ravenous for salt" :? Did he already have a salt block? I've never given my rabbits one of these, although I'm not sure that they are actually harmful or not. Hopefully someone else will have an opinion on that. I would have thought that having lots of salt would also make him drink more.

Personally I would try to keep Siddi's diet simple at the moment and wouldn't change anything. That way, if he starts with a new symptom you will know that it's not something he has eaten that's causing it.

He's certainly presenting with an unusual mix of symptoms! I'm sorry, you must be worried.
 
Hi Omi,

Was doing a bit of reading and said it can irritate, however I think it's a minimal amount of pee so hopefully he's fine.

He used to have a salt block in our old house, he did use it but since we moved he hasn't bothered with it.

He has just eaten some greens, hay and about 10 pellets again (his poops have been fine today since 8am 45+) however it sounds like he's just eating a massive meal again. He seems fine within himself though, yet again.

I've stuck another video online as the vet wanted to hear the noises... feel free to see what you think..

https://vimeo.com/219105195

Bar the noises, this is one of his most relaxed postures he's in, it's normally very rare he does this. It's either in the sunshine like the video or in front of the file place in the winter!
 
Hello again,

So sid is drinking a fair bit of water as mentioned, looks like he was fast asleep and managed to pee himself.

Given the amount if meds he's on we aren't surprised, this is the second time in a fortnight now though.

I want to make sure he doesn't get a uti and reading round mentions clearing off pee on his coat to minimise pain. Ive got small animal shampoo by Johnsons but he is so clean naturally we have never used it. Is this a case where we should? Then get it dry asap...

Finally he was ravenous for salt yesterday. I've got him a small animals mineral block safe to give him for a day? Might help? Do I let him see if he wants a bit?

Sorry for so many questions but just so keen for him to get best possible treatment!!

Rich


Poor lad!

A bit of pee on his fur won't harm him. If it's bad and he's not up to cleaning himself, I would wash just that area with warm water. In cases of more pee I give a butt bath with half an inch of water. I then dry thoroughly usually using a hairdryer on a cool setting.

I'm not a fan of mineral and salt blocks. There's salt in veggies, and also in pellets if he's eating them .. I have yet to come across a salt deprived rabbit, but ask your vet if unsure?
 
Vet said same as you as to not bother with stick. Poor old gurgling belly of his sounds like he's been on coca cola all night.

Yet to be fair he shows no real sign of discomfort, he is licking everything though, we have some rocks in the back room some crappy 70s feature of the house and he's licking that, my legs and the radiator. That's got to be for a lack of something. Considering all his critical care, fibreplex, I just don't understand what it is he needs...
 
Hey folks,

So siddis progress is going well still. His belly noises are far less violent sounding and he's not shown any real signs of pain.

We are working to get his weight up at the moment but it's been hard as he has a love for pellets and we are pushing him with Timothy hay and wet veggies from rabbit org safe list. Reading on sites, the process to transfer % of feed needs to be done over many weeks so we are going to play it that way.

He's trying to gnaw everything at present too so we are going to find those branch's recommended by Omi tomorrow. The sticks from the store aren't really interesting him.

His current feed; 20ml CC - 2 tablespoons of pellets, 10 min hay binges he has now and then and a mixture of veggies which he normally gets through half.

Poop count good, drinking a good amount and peeing well.

Hopefully with the gradual weight gain there will be more stability in him as he's a bit wobbly when listening to things stood still and when stroking him he's very wobbly, never used to be like it but the seizure and the weight loss I think is the factor, even a bit of weight gain make help strengthen him.

No blood in stools now since late Friday. On we go.

All the best
Rich
 
All sounds good :D

Regarding the sticks, I would give him two different ages of branch. They seem to like the new growth, with new fresh leaves, and my rabbits eat this whole. With older branches, they will take the bark off and the reason why Siddi probably doesn't like the old, dry stuff from the shop, is that inbetween the bark and the inside of the branch is the sap, which seems to be very tasty :)
 
Hey folks,

So siddis progress is going well still. His belly noises are far less violent sounding and he's not shown any real signs of pain.

We are working to get his weight up at the moment but it's been hard as he has a love for pellets and we are pushing him with Timothy hay and wet veggies from rabbit org safe list. Reading on sites, the process to transfer % of feed needs to be done over many weeks so we are going to play it that way.

He's trying to gnaw everything at present too so we are going to find those branch's recommended by Omi tomorrow. The sticks from the store aren't really interesting him.

His current feed; 20ml CC - 2 tablespoons of pellets, 10 min hay binges he has now and then and a mixture of veggies which he normally gets through half.

Poop count good, drinking a good amount and peeing well.

Hopefully with the gradual weight gain there will be more stability in him as he's a bit wobbly when listening to things stood still and when stroking him he's very wobbly, never used to be like it but the seizure and the weight loss I think is the factor, even a bit of weight gain make help strengthen him.

No blood in stools now since late Friday. On we go.

All the best
Rich


No blood - that sounds better.

I hope you can find some tasty sticks.

Hope you're all having a peaceful Bank Holiday weekend :)
 
Hey dudes,

Hope you're well.

Sid is doing excellent atm, real good run. Just gotta keep him on it, he's really wobbly to be touched so we use one hand to help him when stroking but his movement is absolutely fine, he will wobble a bit after eating and chewing his food free standing but we hope with weight gain and muscle coming back it will minimize it. It's certainly improved a little bit.

He comes off some of his meds this week, but he's been fine on low doses recently so touch wood all good.

He is absolutely ravenous for food at present, he is destroying 3 dessert spoons of nuggets a day, 20ml of CC, one small bowl of veggies and a good proportion of hay, certainly got his appetite back. Barely any loud belly noises but with a stethoscope his belly noises are loud and clear while his poop count is through the roof. They vary in size, 85% are large with the odd small one, still quite damp and shape varies but he's in such a better place.

Vet is due to do a home visit tomorrow @5pm - wonder if there's anything they can give him to help with his wobbles?

All the best
Rich
 
Hey friends,

Hope you're well.

Sid is going from strength to strength, he's regained weight, had 2 gassy days (but not one for a week) in the 11 days he's been home and has finished his meds & his gut sounds and poops have stayed stable. He's not tooth grinding anymore and we are slowly weaning him off the critical care but using it first thing in the morning and last thing at night to keep him ticking over. He only has a 0.2 syringe of metacam once a day now but that's his lot.

We have a repeat prescription written out just in case but touch wood so far so good. The vets in the states signed off on infacol and 0.2ml syringe feed of it twice over 3 hours and belly rubs helped with his gas.

We think we need to keep his greens to a tablespoon at the moment as that appeared to be the cause. He's massively started to get into hay and he is taking 5 tea spoons of nuggets a day, which is barely anything. Gut sounds good on the stethoscope! Poop count over 100 yesterday which for a 1.25kg rabbit is excellent!

As before, I just hope his progress continues like this!

Hope all is well with you! All the best.

Regards
Rich
 
Last edited:
Hey friends,

Hope you're well.

Sid is going from strength to strength, he's regained weight, had 2 gassy days (but not one for a week) in the 11 days he's been home and has finished his meds & his gut sounds and poops have stayed stable. He's not tooth grinding anymore and we are slowly weaning him off the critical care but using it first thing in the morning and last thing at night to keep him ticking over. He only has a 0.2 syringe of metacam once a day now but that's his lot.

We have a repeat prescription written out just in case but touch wood so far so good. The vets in the states signed off on infacol and 0.2ml syringe feed of it twice over 3 hours and belly rubs helped with his gas.

We think we need to keep his greens to a tablespoon at the moment as that appeared to be the cause. He's massively started to get into hay and he is taking 5 tea spoons of nuggets a day, which is barely anything. Gut sounds good on the stethoscope! Poop count over 100 yesterday which for a 1.25kg rabbit is excellent!

As before, I just hope his progress continues like this!

Hope all is well with you! All the best.

Regards
Rich

A wonderful update !! I am so pleased for you and for Siddi :D
 
Hey friends,

Hope you're well.

Sid is going from strength to strength, he's regained weight, had 2 gassy days (but not one for a week) in the 11 days he's been home and has finished his meds & his gut sounds and poops have stayed stable. He's not tooth grinding anymore and we are slowly weaning him off the critical care but using it first thing in the morning and last thing at night to keep him ticking over. He only has a 0.2 syringe of metacam once a day now but that's his lot.

We have a repeat prescription written out just in case but touch wood so far so good. The vets in the states signed off on infacol and 0.2ml syringe feed of it twice over 3 hours and belly rubs helped with his gas.

We think we need to keep his greens to a tablespoon at the moment as that appeared to be the cause. He's massively started to get into hay and he is taking 5 tea spoons of nuggets a day, which is barely anything. Gut sounds good on the stethoscope! Poop count over 100 yesterday which for a 1.25kg rabbit is excellent!

As before, I just hope his progress continues like this!

Hope all is well with you! All the best.

Regards
Rich


I'm really pleased for you and Siddi :D

I know you weren't too keen on using Infacol. So the vets in US suggested it may be of use in these cases?
 
Thank you all for sticking by this thread, I can't thank you enough, I'm a naturally anxious person and the past month was absolute hell but honestly just the advice and time you've taken gave me the absolute belief that we could get siddi back to 100%.

The vets didn't believe he would make a likely recovery after his seizure but knowing how stubborn and determined he is for a bun backed by advice here has kept me absolutely determined to do as much as possible for him and I'll continue to do so!

As for the infacol max, that's right - the stateside vets who were given his medical notes recommended it be put in. The state side version is 0.2% (sorry I can't remember the correct terminology) Simethicone while infacol is 0.4%, so the dose needs to be half for UK buns if you find your info on a us forum.

But over a few hours it can change the 'dynamic' of the gas structure (very US sounding!) & this makes it a lot easier for the rabbit to process and thus settles him, that on top of a pain killer (eg metacam), a snugglesafe and belly massages and encouraging movement over the hour for 15mins or more should help aid ridding of the gas.

The absolute majority of cases for sid seem to cone from an over feed of a particular green, in sids case too many dandelions set him off, he is more stable on timothy hay, pellets and a daily teaspoon of veggies, instead of an overfeed of veggies. It can certainly vary by rabbit!

Let's hope this mega thread can assist any one looking for advice!!

This is a twitter link to a pic from the other night when he made a chair his own >

Take a look at @sidditherabbit's Tweet: https://twitter.com/sidditherabbit/status/871662475439210496?s=09

All the best!
Rich
 
Thank you all for sticking by this thread, I can't thank you enough, I'm a naturally anxious person and the past month was absolute hell but honestly just the advice and time you've taken gave me the absolute belief that we could get siddi back to 100%.

The vets didn't believe he would make a likely recovery after his seizure but knowing how stubborn and determined he is for a bun backed by advice here has kept me absolutely determined to do as much as possible for him and I'll continue to do so!

As for the infacol max, that's right - the stateside vets who were given his medical notes recommended it be put in. The state side version is 0.2% (sorry I can't remember the correct terminology) Simethicone while infacol is 0.4%, so the dose needs to be half for UK buns if you find your info on a us forum.

But over a few hours it can change the 'dynamic' of the gas structure (very US sounding!) & this makes it a lot easier for the rabbit to process and thus settles him, that on top of a pain killer (eg metacam), a snugglesafe and belly massages and encouraging movement over the hour for 15mins or more should help aid ridding of the gas.


The absolute majority of cases for sid seem to cone from an over feed of a particular green, in sids case too many dandelions set him off, he is more stable on timothy hay, pellets and a daily teaspoon of veggies, instead of an overfeed of veggies. It can certainly vary by rabbit!

Let's hope this mega thread can assist any one looking for advice!!

This is a twitter link to a pic from the other night when he made a chair his own >

Take a look at @sidditherabbit's Tweet: https://twitter.com/sidditherabbit/status/871662475439210496?s=09

All the best!
Rich


Thanks for that info Rich :)

I'm glad you've heard of the benefits of Infacol. It's method of action is to coalesce small bubbles (which have little response to gut contraction other than to wiggle about, but many small bubbles together create discomfort) into larger bubbles that are easier for the gut to contract around and move through .. (thank you Maria Kubiak for the explanation :))

I am sure that everything you've documented will be extremely useful to others, and for that I thank you.

I am going to head on over and have a look at Siddi's Tweet now :D
 
Hey folks,

Hope you're well.

This is going to be a bit of a strange post (and long) but feel it's necessary to ask these questions to see what the next steps are if you have any recommendations at all please help out, I've labelled them by number to try and make it easier for you to read:

1) Wobbles - It is day 40 since Siddi's seizure and while he has improved, he is still very wobbly when startled.. ( see first second of video and towards the end in milder form > https://vimeo.com/220826018 ) Long term, do you think there is anything that can be done with this other than the hope weight increase and muscle strength comes back? I don't know whether taking him to the Gold vets in Bedford is worth it against the stress, the American vets haven't recommend anything either and waiting for our vets to come back with a proposed cause of action.

2) Poop Size - This is a bit alarming, in the past 2 days his poops have shrank from monster rabbit poops (albeit they were a bit moisty - if that is a word) to little slightly firmer smaller ones, still perfectly formed, good colour and not that small but smaller than before - still moist, still breakable and with good contents of hay in them but if they get any smaller I would be worried. The counter argument is since Saturday, he's not had any metacam, he's only having 2 CC's a day now instead of 3 and it is about 8-10 degrees warmer in the house due to the UK actually being hot for once, at least in Herts! He is still eating hay, 6-7 teaspoons of pellets a day and a teaspoon of veggies while attacking his grass house but I guess here, if he stops pooping then usual procedure applys - get him to the vets, or if his poops turn to grit size again... Tummy rubs hes purring, so think there's no obvious blockage. Stomach feels good.

3) Eyes - We are also a bit worried one of his eyeballs is a bit swollen, I noticed it the day after his seizure that he seemed to have big bulgy eyes. One seems to have settled down but still one seems big, I think there is a very very transparent level of cloud on that eye, which in 40 days has got no worse. Do you know if it's worth consulting the Bedford gold vets about a lens replacement if it does? Is it expensive? I've put two pictures on flickr, trying to plough through the thousands I have of him prior to his vet visit to compare - https://www.flickr.com/photos/150482612@N02/35301214275/in/dateposted-public/ // https://www.flickr.com/photos/150482612@N02/35301214445/in/dateposted-public/

4) Teeth Grinding 5) This morning 5am (again) (14th June 17) & 6) Cecotrope

So this morning, I woke up about 5:30am to him in a rather odd position asleep, he was spread out like a loaf but no obvious signs of gas but rather in the spread loaf position his back hind legs were not relaxed but kinda bent against the floor, I left him to it for a few minutes and then said his name a few times and he woke up - perhaps he was snoring but he didn't seem right at the time and it took him close to 90 minutes to return to normal, in this time there was a lot of tooth grinding/chatter where there would be the odd loud individual grind, he was kinda comotose to a degree, he would walk to a spot in the room and then just stop and look gormless for a bit.. It was just odd behaviour, but then I'm not normally awake to see him at that time. When he started to come round he would try scratching and on one side (his left, opposite side to his injured leg originally) he fell over himself, perhaps it was through tiredness and stiffness I don't know. He has done it plenty of times when he got back from vets to be fair and over the past two weeks or so that's practically gone, but maybe being asleep for a while stiffed him up. His belly sounds were fine btw. For the next hour there was a bit of tooth grinding but eventually he started grooming himself, eating and gnawing at stuff and grooming me.. poops flowing too, we are looking at over 100 a day now. The strange bit here was just before I went to work, he left a perfectly formed cecotrope in his litter as he was too busy on the timothy hay... He's left a few since he's been back but none as well formed as that..

I guess the above is a kinda, he's getting better, but there's still signs of some things not 100% and it's trying to keep his progress going which is just proving hard. I am going on holiday at the end of July and one of my neighbours is going to be living in the house bar his work hours, but I am absolutely dreading it if he's not fully right, as you can tell there is a lot of monitoring going into him at the moment to make sure he returns to the best condition he can possibly get back to...

He has a repeat prescription available so I might go and grab it tonight just for anything to have the metacam on days where he seems to be teeth grinding, is this sensible? Is it worth the stress of a 30 mile / 40m drive to the gold vets to get him thoroughly evaluated or do we continue to see how it goes, monitoring poops day and water intake etc...

Sorry for the long post, it's just a rather anxious time at present given the odd few signs - but perhaps that is his 'normal' now.

Rich
 
Hi Rich

Well apart from anything else, it's good to see you updating us on how Siddi is. I will try and give you my opinion on what I would do.

I would suspect that the reduced poo size is connected with not eating quite as much due to pain casued by the Metacam being stopped. This to my mind would be also the reason why he is tooth-grinding again.

All three of my rabbits become extremely stressed at the vets and so I do understand the quandry about whether to stress them out by taking them. I think with my rabbits though the stress is caused more by knowing when they travel in the car that they will be going to the vets, which is where the majority of the stress seems to occur. So in my case I would not feel that a longer car journey would be very much more stressful than a shorter one.

I would definitely want to take them to the vet in Bedford if they are specialists. I would do this mainly concerning your points 1, 2, 4 and 5. Regarding his eyes, I would like it confirmed what was causing the bulginess. But for one of my rabbits I would not consider it necessary to have a lens replacement if the reason for doing so was purely one of loss of sight.
 
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