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Help! Our bunny is trying to recover from GI stasis.

K

Kjrichings

New Kit
Last week I noticed our beautiful bunny was acting quite lathargic and a bit out of sorts. She went off her hay and these stick treats by Supreme that she usually loves. She later went in to full GI stasis as a result of gut impaction and I've been up with her the past week trying to take care of her with the vets limited help.

She now has some gut movement and is VERY intermittently passing droppings of poor quality. In order to keep her going during her sickness one vet recommended I try dandelion leaves which helped massively and were the only thing she'd actually eat for the past few days. She's very up and down at the moment and her behaviour is bizarre and erratic though this could be the medication and discomfort from gas. Our vet has prescribed ranatadine for a prokinetic and metaclopromide for pain and then said to take her home and just keep nursing. Does anyone have any experience wth these drugs on their own buns? If so, did you find any unusual behaviour; i.e licking walls, carpets, newspaper, scrabbling then laying down and growling at water?

Also, I wanted to ask if anyone had any advice with helping bunnies recover from this? I've done a fair amount of reading the past few days and it mostly says the same but I just thought I'd ask here. She's looking fairly bright at the moment but keeps having episodes of lethargy.

The biggest problem at the moment is she's completely gone off her hay. The usual hay she gets she now has no interest in whatsoever and I've bought 4 new types for her to try with no luck. Any ideas on how to get her eating hay again?

Thanks,

Kristian
 
Has he given her emerprid to encourage natural appetite and gut movement? Natural sweet meadow hay was the only thing my boy would touch. Oh and earl grey tea...the proper stuff made with real bergamot oil. Flavouring didnt cut it!!

Sent from my SM-G850F using Tapatalk
 
Kjrichings said:
Last week I noticed our beautiful bunny was acting quite lathargic and a bit out of sorts. She went off her hay and these stick treats by Supreme that she usually loves. She later went in to full GI stasis as a result of gut impaction and I've been up with her the past week trying to take care of her with the vets limited help.

She now has some gut movement and is VERY intermittently passing droppings of poor quality. In order to keep her going during her sickness one vet recommended I try dandelion leaves which helped massively and were the only thing she'd actually eat for the past few days. She's very up and down at the moment and her behaviour is bizarre and erratic though this could be the medication and discomfort from gas. Our vet has prescribed ranatadine for a prokinetic and metaclopromide for pain and then said to take her home and just keep nursing. Does anyone have any experience wth these drugs on their own buns? If so, did you find any unusual behaviour; i.e licking walls, carpets, newspaper, scrabbling then laying down and growling at water?

Also, I wanted to ask if anyone had any advice with helping bunnies recover from this? I've done a fair amount of reading the past few days and it mostly says the same but I just thought I'd ask here. She's looking fairly bright at the moment but keeps having episodes of lethargy.

The biggest problem at the moment is she's completely gone off her hay. The usual hay she gets she now has no interest in whatsoever and I've bought 4 new types for her to try with no luck. Any ideas on how to get her eating hay again?

Thanks,

Kristian
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear that your Bunny is so unwell. The two medications you mention are both prokinetics, Metoclopromide (AKA Emiprid/Vomend) is not a pain killer

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00Chem/ChComplex/Metoclopramide.htm

Vets usually prescribe Meloxicam (AKA Metacam/Loxicom) for pain relief

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00Chem/ChComplex/Meloxicam.htm

I assume that your Vet has established that your Rabbit does not have any Dental problems that may be preventing her from eating ?

This link may be useful to take a look at

http://anyflip.com/dvpt/hzvv
 
The vets been pretty useless to be honest. We've had had to have advice from 3 vets at our local surgery, all with differing opinions. The one we were introduced to as "the rabbit savvy one" and who owns rabbits himself has basically advised us to just carry on feeding her what we can and wait and see. He's also said to start reducing the medication we have been giving her.

They haven't said anything about emerprid at all or semethicone which I read a lot on. Just ranatadine and metaclopromide. I'll have to ask tomorrow and hope whichever vet it is this time knows what I'm on about.

I hadn't thought about the earl grey but maybe that's a new way to go thank you! Meadow hay from wilko's in the U.K. is one of the ones I've got in there at the moment and one of her usuals but she's just not interested at all.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply!
 
Where abouts are you? Your vets dont sound very rabbit savy. Your wee bun needs pain relief too. If u are in the UK there is a list of rabbit savy vets on the Francis Harcourt Brown website or others here can su guest a good vet. The two meds you have been given are good, glad there are some poops.
 
Hello!

Me too! We've both been so sick with worry about her the past days. It's especially horrible as we'd only just lost our little rescue two months ago and she's always been very healthy.

That's very interesting to know, I have experience with those drugs in humans but until last week I had no idea they were used wth rabbits. The vets gave me a very brief view of what they were for but I don't know if maybe they we're just fobbing me off. She was on meloxicam for one day prior to an overnight stay at the vets but after she began producing droppings again they stopped it I think.

Her teeth were checked by all 3 vets from the surgery who didnt see any problems so I don't think that's a problem for now (hopefully not will it be!).

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply!
 
Kjrichings said:
The vets been pretty useless to be honest. We've had had to have advice from 3 vets at our local surgery, all with differing opinions. The one we were introduced to as "the rabbit savvy one" and who owns rabbits himself has basically advised us to just carry on feeding her what we can and wait and see. He's also said to start reducing the medication we have been giving her.

They haven't said anything about emerprid at all or semethicone which I read a lot on. Just ranatadine and metaclopromide. I'll have to ask tomorrow and hope whichever vet it is this time knows what I'm on about.

I hadn't thought about the earl grey but maybe that's a new way to go thank you! Meadow hay from wilko's in the U.K. is one of the ones I've got in there at the moment and one of her usuals but she's just not interested at all.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply!
Click to expand...

Emeprid is Metoclopramide.

So your Bunny is not receiving any pain relief ?
 
Hi, I presume that as your rabbit is intermittently passing droppings, the vets have ruled out a blockage? If that is the case, you could help her by syringe-feeding her either with a recovery food or her usual pellets mixed with water. If she fights too much because of the flavour then try mixing some fruit or vegetable baby food with it (eg Ella's Kitchen). I don't think she's going to feel better without something bulky going through her system and I suspect this is why she is attempting to nibble strange things. Laying down flat and tummy pressing is an indication of tummy pain. Metoclopromide is a gut medication, not for pain. She should really have been and possibly still should be on pain relief, as a rabbit in pain, for whatever reason, will usually not eat.

Dandelions are usually one of the foods that a rabbit will eat with a poorly tummy. It's really a case of trying lots of other different foods to see whether any of them will tempt her. I would try Bramble leaves, any rabbit-safe tree leaves, Rose leaves and strong-smelling herbs like Dill, Coriander, Parsley, Basil and Thyme. She might show an interest in one of these and then you can feed her a lot of that favourite food. I would also rinse any food in water as extra fluid is good for this situation.

I wouldn't be too concerned that she is not eating hay as that will return once her tummy is better.

Let us know how she gets on.
 
nickybunny1 said:
Where abouts are you? Your vets dont sound very rabbit savy. Your wee bun needs pain relief too. If u are in the UK there is a list of rabbit savy vets on the Francis Harcourt Brown website or others here can su guest a good vet. The two meds you have been given are good, glad there are some poops.
Click to expand...

We're in abergavenny at the moment. And unfortunately not I don't think, they've been a real mixed bag but aside from their advice being a bit spotty the home care has been pretty appalling to boot. They sent her home with me as soon as they could which I think more because they had issues with being busy than because of her wellfare. They didn't give any home care plan either, just gave me drugs and said "ok so there you go, give her this and this". Since then I've had to rotate between 3 vets at the surgery depending on who's rota'd for that day and it's been a real chase to get them to give any kind of follow up.

I'll have to see about changing, we're hoping to move soon anyway so thank you very much for the website. As for the droppings she's stopped actually again today, nothing at all but her tummy is full and she's still eating leaves. The vet has said this is most likely because she is full and taking longer to produce the droppings more in line with the normal rabbit day cycle. We'll see as she usually just goes whenever but I suppose she is in recovery and not on a normal diet. Still she seems quite alert and bright which is nice, even if she is acting very strange.

Thank you for taking the time to reply!
 
Omi said:
Hi, I presume that as your rabbit is intermittently passing droppings, the vets have ruled out a blockage? If that is the case, you could help her by syringe-feeding her either with a recovery food or her usual pellets mixed with water. If she fights too much because of the flavour then try mixing some fruit or vegetable baby food with it (eg Ella's Kitchen). I don't think she's going to feel better without something bulky going through her system and I suspect this is why she is attempting to nibble strange things. Laying down flat and tummy pressing is an indication of tummy pain. Metoclopromide is a gut medication, not for pain. She should really have been and possibly still should be on pain relief, as a rabbit in pain, for whatever reason, will usually not eat.

Dandelions are usually one of the foods that a rabbit will eat with a poorly tummy. It's really a case of trying lots of other different foods to see whether any of them will tempt her. I would try Bramble leaves, any rabbit-safe tree leaves, Rose leaves and strong-smelling herbs like Dill, Coriander, Parsley, Basil and Thyme. She might show an interest in one of these and then you can feed her a lot of that favourite food. I would also rinse any food in water as extra fluid is good for this situation.

I wouldn't be too concerned that she is not eating hay as that will return once her tummy is better.

Let us know how she gets on.
Click to expand...

Hello, and thank you for this.

The vets believe she did originally have an impaction yet but they haven't suggested it since as she has been infrequently producing droppings. She has only stopped producing today for the majority. An hour ago she did a very foul smelling dropping which I assume was her bodies attempt at a cecotrope just on a poor diet and inthe recovery phase. I had he same opinion about her being unable to pass anything properly until she started eating wth more fibre but the vet (or the one today anyway) advised against using any recovery paste/formula. I did try give her some oxbow critical care formula earlier, which she usually loves and will lick the plate clean, but she's not interested. I'm starting to wonder based on all the replies here so far if that's simply because of the lack of pain relief as you say.

I will try my best to find her some new her leaves I think! Thank you for these suggestions, our other bunny was on quite a restrictive diet due to a stomach illness from birth and so I must admit her diet has been relatively plain so far. She will enjoy the variety I think.

Thank you again for putting my mind at rest as well, she can't get better soon enough!

Kristian
 
I would ring your vet and ask for more pain relief as soon as possible. This is useually metacam . Wete you given any of this to take home ??This is very important. How often are you giving your bun her gut stimulant meds ?
 
I'm sorry to hear about your bun. Mine had similar problems recently when he stopped eating. He recovered with painkiller, gut stimulant and by staying hydrated. He wasn't interested in his usual food but loved fresh mint, lavender and rosemary. I washed all of them to try and increase his water intake.

As others have said painkiller is very important, a rabbit in pain (whether from a distended stomach or teeth) loses interest in eating.

The vet could give an injection if you're having problems getting your rabbit to eat / take meds.

I hope your bunny is feeling better soon.
 
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