Is Yoshi depressed or just old ???UPDATE - no idea

Sorry long post. I have shortened it down as much I can but given you as full a picture as possible .

Yoshi who is nine and a half lost his bunny wife in April and afterwards was a little quiet but not as bad as we expected. So about three weeks ago we bonded him with alex (our female who has been his neighbour since tiggs passed away) . The bond went well and all has been great lots of grooming etc but then Monday evening yoshi was showing signs of gut stasis so we rushed him to the emergency vet. They checked his tummy and it was nice and soft and no dehydration. So they gave him a gut stimulatent and pain meds / anti inflammatory and wondered in a few small dental spurs where the issue. We were told to take him back to the normal vets in the morning after a night of doing critical care. He did nibble some veg and hay but wasn't eating normally (he would normally clear everything) The vet the next day didn't feel the teeth were bad enough to be the cause of his problems so dosed him up again and told us to continue with critical care...he said it could just be old age... however by the evening we were getting more concerned so back to the out of hours vets. We explained he is eating a little bit himself and pooing and weeing (he had a wee and laid in it) as well as having critical care but he seemed flat in himself and was getting less willing to eat so they felt his tummy checked his teeth and did a blood test to check for kidney problems all was fine. So they dosed him up and said to keep going with critical care and to have him checked on Thursday if he is no better but they again said it could be his age. And although he looks good for his age he may be failing .... something I find hard to believe. I don't know if you have ever had a bunny with symptoms of gut stasis (sort of) who sort of ate but just seemed flat. We are so confused and don't know if he could be depressed or whether it is something more serious going on. I must add our normal very good rabbit savvy vet is not in until Friday .

I've had it before, but I don't know what the cause was. Our bun had a history of bunny depression, and it wasn't long after we adopted him - my best guess was the overwhelming change in circumstances. I gave him a few days of Fibreplex, and left him some puzzles during the day to keep him mentally engaged, and just spent a bit of extra time sitting with him.

Did your other bun pass away recently?

If he's still eating and not in pain, I would consider continuing to monitor him closely, but waiting until Friday to see your rabbit vet. Include a few of his favourite treats for a day or two to see if that perks him up.

In my experience, it takes at least several days to get over an episode of stasis with no obvious cause - probably a week on meds (gut stimulants and pain relief) and a close watch for another week. I always carry on with the meds for a couple of days after everything seems to be back to normal as they can suddenly stop eating again. Some rabbits just seem to be more prone to it than others.

Teeth spurs can be a cause of anorexia. It's worth getting them checked again and maybe discuss a possible dental if they have got worse. Teeth grow quite quickly so a couple of weeks of not eating properly can allow spurs to grow enough to be an issue.

Personally, I would be asking the vet for more gut stimulants and pain relief to give at home until the episode is over, and carefully monitor his eating / pooing with top up critical care if needed. He has been checked over 3 times, so I assume there is no sign of blockage or anything showing up in the blood test results, so you could try ringing up rather than taking him in and stressing him further. I wouldn't leave it until Friday.

Thanks for replying . His bunny wife had to be PTS In April she was his partner for 7 and a half years. We have just started giving him fibreplex and he seems a bit brighter but not 100-% what was the outcome with ur bunny

Hi thanks for the advice . I meant to say we have gut stimulant rinitadin (sorry about the spelling) and loxicam so we are doing that until tomorrow but will ask for more following your advice . They have not done full bloods just bloods to check his kidney function . But they have said his stomach isn't gassy or firm so they don't suspect a blockage as he is pooing a bit . As for dental spurs we had a dental bunny before so we are aware of the problems spurs can have but two vets have now said they don't believe the spurs are bad enough to validate doing a dental on such an old bunny . They have said they will try an awake X-ray tomorrow if he isn't improving enough but as you said we don't want to stress him so wondering whether to keep going with critical care, fibreplex , rinitadin and loxicam and lots of TLC . We have given fluids by injection today too (on the advice of a vet who is on leave ) which seems to have perked him up a bit . Maybe his age is making it take longer for him to pick up or it's. just we aren't used to having a bunny with gut stasis that is taking longer to recover (assuming it is gut stasis )

Shimmer said:

In my experience, it takes at least several days to get over an episode of stasis with no obvious cause - probably a week on meds (gut stimulants and pain relief) and a close watch for another week. I always carry on with the meds for a couple of days after everything seems to be back to normal as they can suddenly stop eating again. Some rabbits just seem to be more prone to it than others.

Teeth spurs can be a cause of anorexia. It's worth getting them checked again and maybe discuss a possible dental if they have got worse. Teeth grow quite quickly so a couple of weeks of not eating properly can allow spurs to grow enough to be an issue.

Personally, I would be asking the vet for more gut stimulants and pain relief to give at home until the episode is over, and carefully monitor his eating / pooing with top up critical care if needed. He has been checked over 3 times, so I assume there is no sign of blockage or anything showing up in the blood test results, so you could try ringing up rather than taking him in and stressing him further. I wouldn't leave it until Friday.

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There's no reason Yoshi can't get through this - but to keep his guts going, he needs to maintain his input (ie food) whether he is eating by himself or you have to syringe feed. The meds will help him feel better and keep things moving through as well, so that will help with his appetite. Poo size, shape and quantity is important to show how his guts are working - but they can't with no input.

I've got a rabbit who suddenly stopped eating (again) last week for no obvious reason. She seems prone to these episodes once or twice a year. Meds made quite a big difference very quickly, although I had to partially syringe feed critical care for a few days and she would only eat fennel leaves (normally she eats absolutely anything). She's started eating normally again yesterday and has gone back out in her run today as her poo output has been OK for the last couple of days and she's obviously bored inside now.

I hope Yoshi picks up soon.

Could it possibly be more pain related, has he been checked for arthritis?
It may also be worth looking at the dose of metacam he is getting, many vets underdose, I believe. It is also better to give twice a day due to rabbits having a high metabolism.

bunnylover4 said:

Thanks for replying . His bunny wife had to be PTS In April she was his partner for 7 and a half years. We have just started giving him fibreplex and he seems a bit brighter but not 100-% what was the outcome with ur bunny

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Our bunny was fine, I never found out the real cause, it passed after a few days of fibreplex. I just reckoned it was stress/grief (his buddy died, then his owner put him into the shelter, then we adopted him, all within a short period of time).

Has he been getting better at all with the medication?

Thank you everyone for the advice. yoshi seems a bit more up for eating this evening and we have given him rinitidin and fibreplex as well as critical care and he will have some more loxicam around midnight with his midnight feast of critical care . :roll:

He has an appointment early tomorrow morning at the vets (sadly not our rabbit savvy vet) for a check up so I will be asking about possible arthritis with his age and possible back issues as well as seeing if they will do full bloods on him to rule out infection etc.
I have managed to speak to my rabbit savvy vet who isn't in work until Friday (we are friends on Facebook ) and she has said he may be taking longer to recover from gut stasis or that he may be a bit stressed with having a new companion but basically if he is still dodgy on Friday I will be taking him to her. She also told us to give him extra fluids via injection which we did and he definitely seems brighter.
Hopefully we are turning a corner but I would still like to know what has caused him to get like this.

She said he may need pain meds constant if it is arthritis or something but to see how we get on for no way and she will advise if it comes to that. The main thing is we are finally seeing a bunny happy to eat a bit more himself and he is getting annoyed when we are giving him critical care etc :thumb: I never thought I would be glad to be bitten by a rabbit but to have a stroppy bunny is definitely better than a floppy one

So yoshi went back to the vets today for a check up. Different vet again :roll: they are pleased with his stomach as it is nice and soft they are keeping him on rinitiadin and loxicam as he is improving although slowly . They gave him fluids today and told us to keep up with the critical care and fibreplex . They are now wondering if arthritis is the problem but don't want to X-ray as that will stress him and if he is improving they say to keep going as we are.
Our vet is back in work tomorrow so going to take him to see her. She always goes that extra mile so would like our rabbit savvy vets opinion rather than all the guess work . They weren't interested in doing full bloods either so basically drugging him without knowing what for ��

bunnylover4 said:

So yoshi went back to the vets today for a check up. Different vet again :roll: they are pleased with his stomach as it is nice and soft they are keeping him on rinitiadin and loxicam as he is improving although slowly . They gave him fluids today and told us to keep up with the critical care and fibreplex . They are now wondering if arthritis is the problem but don't want to X-ray as that will stress him and if he is improving they say to keep going as we are.
Our vet is back in work tomorrow so going to take him to see her. She always goes that extra mile so would like our rabbit savvy vets opinion rather than all the guess work . They weren't interested in doing full bloods either so basically drugging him without knowing what for ��

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I know we have been in touch elsewhere, but I just wanted to post to say I am glad to hear that Yoshi is doing a bit better now xx

The loxicam will help with arthritis as well, so it's worth carrying on with it for various possible conditions.

bunnylover4 said:

So yoshi went back to the vets today for a check up. Different vet again :roll: they are pleased with his stomach as it is nice and soft they are keeping him on rinitiadin and loxicam as he is improving although slowly . They gave him fluids today and told us to keep up with the critical care and fibreplex . They are now wondering if arthritis is the problem but don't want to X-ray as that will stress him and if he is improving they say to keep going as we are.
Our vet is back in work tomorrow so going to take him to see her. She always goes that extra mile so would like our rabbit savvy vets opinion rather than all the guess work . They weren't interested in doing full bloods either so basically drugging him without knowing what for ��

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Glad to hear this news about Yoshi.

A good vet can make a diagnosis of arthritis without the need for X-ray. I'm glad you're going to see your usual vet