Asking for positive vibes for Evan

bunny momma said:

Thanks to everyone who sent vibes. Evan and I appreciate your positive thoughts.

After less than 2 hours of rest, I called the vets and got an appointment for this morning when I did not see any poos and he felt full all over. Vet examined and felt matter throughout his GI system. We decided to do the blood glucose test and x-rays. The X-rays showed a lot of material and gas throughout his GI system except for the last part of his colon/rectum. The blood glucose had a value that calculates to 6.882 mmol/L which is well below the level for an obstruction and in the range of GI stasis.

Evan was quite a good patient and he was very good for his exam, X-rays, and blood work. It was another day below freezing, so I was glad that my spouse drove to work in my 17 year old car with the heater that takes longer to heat up than it takes to drive to most destinations , so Evan could ride to the vets in my spouse's nice warm car.

Evan keeps looking at and sniffing his hay and greens likes he wants to eat. I keep tempting him with fresh greens and fresh hay. I will give him more critical care, fluids and meds and hope he can move the material along and he will make me some poo and begin eating on his own.

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What a wonderful boy Evan is

So glad to hear he had a full work up at the vet and no obstruction was present.

Now for the get better vibes and the poo vibes xx

Hoping things improve for Evan soon. X

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still waiting for poo

bunny momma said:

still waiting for poo

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Poo vibes being sent. I know how stressful this is

Hoping he has left you little pressies xx

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I do understand what you're going through. I had to syringe feed my 6 month old mini lop Calico for a whole week before Christmas until she would eat on her own. So if Evan has no obstruction, I would just persevere with the syringe feeding, little and often. It is still very early days yet although I know that won't ease your worries.

Have you tried giving Evan fresh untreated lawn grass cuttings? :!: A tummy massage perhaps? (for Evan, not yourself!)

My vet recommended not to overfeed critical care however in order to let the bunny get hungry enough to eat on their own, but I find calculating this fine balance difficult, hence the "little and often" strategy.

How is Evan in himself? Is he still fairly active and cleaning himself, and taking an interest in things? I hope Evan is still being himself - that would be an encouraging sign.

Good vibes and good luck! :wave:

Marmot said:

I do understand what you're going through. I had to syringe feed my 6 month old mini lop Calico for a whole week before Christmas until she would eat on her own. So if Evan has no obstruction, I would just persevere with the syringe feeding, little and often. It is still very early days yet although I know that won't ease your worries.

Have you tried giving Evan fresh untreated lawn grass cuttings? :!: A tummy massage perhaps? (for Evan, not yourself!)

My vet recommended not to overfeed critical care however in order to let the bunny get hungry enough to eat on their own, but I find calculating this fine balance difficult, hence the "little and often" strategy.

How is Evan in himself? Is he still fairly active and cleaning himself, and taking an interest in things? I hope Evan is still being himself - that would be an encouraging sign.

Good vibes and good luck! :wave:

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Thanks for the encouragement. I am glad Calico recovered after five days. I know how hard it is to stay positive.

You are right about giving critical care regularly. My vet told me to keep syringing critical care as long as he would swallow it. It provides much needed moisture and fiber. I also gave him plenty of sub Q fluids to help to rehydrate the material already in his GI system. Evan was sniffing his greens and hay, yet he stopped short of eating it. I also suspect the act of eating helps to stimulate the entire system to move more (of course I was giving him two types of motility drugs too).

Evan was not active. He only moved around if disturbed and he was pressing his tummy to the ground. I even put a gentle heat source below the area where he was sitting (he could move away if he wanted).

Both me and my spouse gave Evan gentle tummy rubs which he enjoyed.

My spouse did not work his second job last night so he helped to hold Evan and give him the gentle tummy rubs I gave him earlier. Evan was sitting on spouse's chest for over and hour when my spouse fell asleep. I had to take a photo of them and at that time I thought it may be Evan's last picture.

It was becoming hard to remain positive, so you can imagine my relief when he passed his first poo after close to three days of care. At first he only passed a plug of gelatin mucus that was light amber. Many hours later he passed his first poos. At that point, I could finally fall asleep for a couple hours. It took many more hours before he nibbled his first greens (his favorite which is dandelion greens). He still was very gasey and not eating or drinking so I made sure he got more Critical Care and his medications before I left him to do some errands. When I got home I saw he ate more of his greens, he passed more messy (beautiful to me) poo, and his stomach/cecum felt closer to normal.

Because his initial illness came on without much warning, I will continue his medications, fluids, and critical care(if necessary) for day or so and then taper them off one by one.

I stopped at the store to pick up so different varieties of hay so I can get him to eat more fiber in case he wants something other than his usual timothy hay which he was eating well prior to this episode.

I want to thank everyone for the information and good thoughts for Evan and I. As noted in my above post, he is much improved after three days of a very serious case of GI stasis. I am cautiously optimistic that he will continue to improve until he is back to normal.

bunny momma said:

I want to thank everyone for the information and good thoughts for Evan and I. As noted in my above post, he is much improved after three days of a very serious case of GI stasis. I am cautiously optimistic that he will continue to improve until he is back to normal.

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I'm so relieved to hear that Evan is improving. Your wonderful care has pulled him through, of that I am sure. I hope that he will continue to recover from his latest set-back. He may be a tiny Bunny, but he is obviously a very strong one

I'm so glad he is improving, thanks to your intensive nursing :thumb:

Good news

Good news,come on little Evan.x

Phew! What a relief that Evan is beginning to get back to normal! Bunny poo is lovely - make no mistake. When my Calico was poorly, I would COUNT the number of poos to see if enough food was getting through. Apparently bunnies do around 180 per day!

I'm really delighted that Evan is on the mend, and you can be proud of yourself for your part in his recovery! :thumb:

What good news. I find herbs washed with lots of water on helpful as is fresh cut grass if you can find some. I think you are right once they start to eat it does stimulate them to eat more. We try and get Bob to eat by annoying him with the herbs to the point he snatches them off us. Little and often with variety - our windowsill looked like a herb counter last week!
Keep improving little Evan x

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bunny momma said:

I want to thank everyone for the information and good thoughts for Evan and I. As noted in my above post, he is much improved after three days of a very serious case of GI stasis. I am cautiously optimistic that he will continue to improve until he is back to normal.

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What wonderful news and a tribute to the caring bunny momma you are

Thanks for your kind thoughts. This morning before I went to get my annual check at my doctors, I noticed Evan did not eat all of his greens again and he was producing fewer, smaller poos. His tummy felt quite empty so out came the critical care. When I opened the new package yesterday, I thought he was resisting the syringe feed because he was recovering. He did the same thing this morning; and I wonder if it was because this package of Critical Care was apple/banana flavor instead of original flavor. He ate better while I was gone for my appointment and to the grocery store to get more greens and other produce (the cashier saw piles of produce/greens and likely thinks my new year's resolution is to eat healthy). If he needs more Critical Care, I will open the package of regular flavor I have at home and hope he will not squirm as much.

His littermate, Dash(who is living separately from Evan) has been getting a lot of extra greens because he practically jumps out of his enclosure whenever he sees me giving Evan a few greens (Evan is eating them slowly so I give him only as many as he will eat before they get wilted).

I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed, and hope and pray Evan make a full recovery in the coming days.

bunny momma said:

Thanks for your kind thoughts. This morning before I went to get my annual check at my doctors, I noticed Evan did not eat all of his greens again and he was producing fewer, smaller poos. His tummy felt quite empty so out came the critical care. When I opened the new package yesterday, I thought he was resisting the syringe feed because he was recovering. He did the same thing this morning; and I wonder if it was because this package of Critical Care was apple/banana flavor instead of original flavor. He ate better while I was gone for my appointment and to the grocery store to get more greens and other produce (the cashier saw piles of produce/greens and likely thinks my new year's resolution is to eat healthy). If he needs more Critical Care, I will open the package of regular flavor I have at home and hope he will not squirm as much.

His littermate, Dash(who is living separately from Evan) has been getting a lot of extra greens because he practically jumps out of his enclosure whenever he sees me giving Evan a few greens (Evan is eating them slowly so I give him only as many as he will eat before they get wilted).

I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed, and hope and pray Evan make a full recovery in the coming days.

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It seems very possible that Evan is not too keen on the fruit flavoured CC, cant say I blame him to be honest !! I am glad that his eating picked up again though and hopefully his output now has too. It can be like living on a knife edge when we are caring for a Rabbit with a chronic gut problem, I know. It's a case of always being on super high alert for any subtle changes as we both know that prompt treatment can be a life saver.

Topping up the vibes for Evan xx

Sending more good vibes for Evan across the Atlantic. :wave:

It sounds like he doesn't like the taste of the new CC, so I would just keep giving him the one he likes (well tolerates is more like it). The fact that he eats it at all is lucky - Calico would eagerly eat hers but Rowan spits it out!

I've found that the road to recovery does have hiccups and bunnies will not always get back to eating normally for a while and it does make your heart sink when they have a setback. It sounds however like Evan is on the mend and with your dedication and perseverance he should slowly get back to his old self.

Have you tried tempting him with grass cuttings? After all, fresh grass is the most natural food in the world for bunnies and it is all Rowan would eat a week ago when he was going through a faddy phase (again).

Best of luck!

Marmot said:

Sending more good vibes for Evan across the Atlantic. :wave:

It sounds like he doesn't like the taste of the new CC, so I would just keep giving him the one he likes (well tolerates is more like it). The fact that he eats it at all is lucky - Calico would eagerly eat hers but Rowan spits it out!

I've found that the road to recovery does have hiccups and bunnies will not always get back to eating normally for a while and it does make your heart sink when they have a setback. It sounds however like Evan is on the mend and with your dedication and perseverance he should slowly get back to his old self.

Have you tried tempting him with grass cuttings? After all, fresh grass is the most natural food in the world for bunnies and it is all Rowan would eat a week ago when he was going through a faddy phase (again).

Best of luck!

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I live in an area that gets much snow and quite cold temperatures so grass is not an option at this time of year.
Even the wild bunnies have taken to eating ornamental shrubs planted outside neighboring homes.

Fingers crossed, Evan is eating the dandelion greens I bought yesterday. They are the favorite of five of my bunnies (Heidi likes carrot greens so I have a lot of extra organic carrots). Evan also ate some of the new organic meadow hay I purchased. ( I also have some botanical hay which contains some dried herbs.)

Thanks to everyone for the positive vibes.