Melbourne in stasis- please help!

Melbourne (1 yr old neutered lionhead living indoors) was suddenly acting off yesterday- posture suggesting tummy pain and refusing food so took him straight to vets where he had:
Blood glucose checked- slightly high at 12 but not emergency situation (20?)
Injections of metaclopromide and Metacam and sone to take home as well as an injection of morphine
This was 14 hours ago.
He started improving at home and is now hopping about quite happily, grooming himself and has been munching a few strands of hay and a nibble of apple and I just watched him have a small drink. His stomach now feels slightly hard as opposed to gassy like before.

HOWEVER he HAS NOT POOPED at all since we brought him home around 13 hours ago. What now!? Take him back and potentially have GI surgery? (Scary) or is there still hope with food and nursing at home seeing as he is perky and eating tiny amounts? I have done some very brief gentle tummy rubs and am encouraging him to have a little run around.

All help much appreciated, thank you.

ElsasMummy said:

Melbourne (1 yr old neutered lionhead living indoors) was suddenly acting off yesterday- posture suggesting tummy pain and refusing food so took him straight to vets where he had:
Blood glucose checked- slightly high at 12 but not emergency situation (20?)
Injections of metaclopromide and Metacam and sone to take home as well as an injection of morphine
This was 14 hours ago.
He started improving at home and is now hopping about quite happily, grooming himself and has been munching a few strands of hay and a nibble of apple and I just watched him have a small drink. His stomach now feels slightly hard as opposed to gassy like before.

HOWEVER he HAS NOT POOPED at all since we brought him home around 13 hours ago. What now!? Take him back and potentially have GI surgery? (Scary) or is there still hope with food and nursing at home seeing as he is perky and eating tiny amounts? I have done some very brief gentle tummy rubs and am encouraging him to have a little run around.

All help much appreciated, thank you.

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Did the Vet give any subcutaneous fluids ? Fluid therapy (both oral and subcutaneous/IV) is almost always an essential part of the treatment for gut stasis. Even if the Rabbit is not systemically dehydrated the contents of the GI tract rapidly dehydrate once gut motility is reduced. So any ingesta becomes much harder to pass through.

See page 4 on here :

http://anyflip.com/dvpt/hzvv

So I would contact the Vet again to seek further advice. In the meantime try to increase Melbourne's fluid intake by syringing him some water, aim for up to 10ml/kg if possible.

Any morphine type drug can cause drowsiness and they can also slow down the motility of the hind gut, although the latter does not appear to effect Rabbits to such an extreme :

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3687404/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2696831/

Offer him some fresh veg as they will add to his fluid intake.

How active is he now ? If he is still pretty dopey from the opiate drug then he may not want to make much effort to eat for himself. So keep encouraging him, but try not to stress him out in the process.

Hypothermia is another consideration- when a Rabbit is poorly they can struggle to maintain their body temperature. So he may benefit from a heat pad of some sort. He definitely needs to be indoors, if he is not already.

Hope there will be some improvement over the next few hours. Fluids, fibre and warmth are the essentials until you can speak with a Vet again xx

Hi Jane thank you so much for your reply. The vet was so thorough but it wasn’t until I left that I thought to ask about fluids.

THANKFULLY about an hour ago he produced a big pile of tiny dark poops! I really think it was the running around and tummy rubs that finally got him going!

He is very alert and curious and eating and drinking for himself. I am carrying on with the Metacam and metacloprimide today and lots of TLC

Also as a point of interest- my vet (vets for pets romford) is open 24 hrs with no additional fees so that’s really reassuring!

ElsasMummy said:

Hi Jane thank you so much for your reply. The vet was so thorough but it wasn’t until I left that I thought to ask about fluids.

THANKFULLY about an hour ago he produced a big pile of tiny dark poops! I really think it was the running around and tummy rubs that finally got him going!

He is very alert and curious and eating and drinking for himself. I am carrying on with the Metacam and metacloprimide today and lots of TLC ��

Also as a point of interest- my vet (vets for pets romford) is open 24 hrs with no additional fees so that’s really reassuring!

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Great news !!! It sounds as though Melbourne is on the mend. Hopefully his poos will improve throughout the day

ElsasMummy said:

Melbourne (1 yr old neutered lionhead living indoors) was suddenly acting off yesterday- posture suggesting tummy pain and refusing food so took him straight to vets where he had:
Blood glucose checked- slightly high at 12 but not emergency situation (20?)
Injections of metaclopromide and Metacam and sone to take home as well as an injection of morphine
This was 14 hours ago.
He started improving at home and is now hopping about quite happily, grooming himself and has been munching a few strands of hay and a nibble of apple and I just watched him have a small drink. His stomach now feels slightly hard as opposed to gassy like before.

HOWEVER he HAS NOT POOPED at all since we brought him home around 13 hours ago. What now!? Take him back and potentially have GI surgery? (Scary) or is there still hope with food and nursing at home seeing as he is perky and eating tiny amounts? I have done some very brief gentle tummy rubs and am encouraging him to have a little run around.

All help much appreciated, thank you.

Click to expand...

Hi there :wave:

Sorry I didn't catch your post earlier, but *so* relieved to see this improvement!

It seems you have a great vet and things are really looking up for Melbourne .. I hope the improvement continues with more golden boulders

That's good news glad Melbourne is getting better