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  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

    You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.

    We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.

    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

Please keep Phillip in your thoughts (Update on post 146)

Update: Last night he was very happy and ran around quite a bit, as well as eating a little for himself. We left him in a much less restricted area overnight so he could continue to move around more. I woke up this morning to find he hadn't touched his greens, had pretty much sat in the same spot all night (though not sprawled out like in the photo), and had done minimal small black pellets. That was at 6.30 so I gave him his medicines and syringe fed him. I just can't understand how he improved last night and then is back to this again in the mornings. I'm knackered from getting up so frequently to check him, I just want him to get better :cry:

Jack's-Jane said:
Poor Phillip :cry: If there has been no improvement at all today then personally I would contact the Vet again to request that Phillip is re-assessed. It sounds as though he may need some additional pain relief, sometimes metacam alone is not enough.
Click to expand...

I rung my vets this morning and booked him in for 9am tomorrow. Unfortunately one of the vets at the practice is allergic to rabbits so they're finding it hard to get me an appointment sooner but will ring me back today if they can squeeze me in. If he gets any worse I'll take him to another practice but I trust my vet completely and don't want to go elsewhere ideally.
 
Hello there,

So sorry to hear Philip is still unwell.

Waiting until tomorrow could prove fatal. I don’t want to add stress, but Philip needs care, allergic vet or not... I’m also allergic, but antihistamines and nose spray works well enough to have buns at home.

Nose rubs for little Philip x
 
nap91 said:
They have managed to squeeze me in at 11.15 today. I just hope he's going to be ok :(
Click to expand...

So pleased to hear that they will see him today. I really hope that the Vet can get to the root cause of poor Phillip's discomfort.

This may sound a bit strange, but I'd ask the Vet to have a thorough check of Phillip's ears. I had a Rabbit who had a chronic ear problem and when he had a flare up he behaved in a very similar way to that you describe re Phillip. Pain from any source can effect a Rabbit's gut motility/appetite. My Rabbit did not display more obvious symptoms that might indicate ear pain such has head shaking, scratching his ears or head tilt. It may be that Phillip's ears are 100% fine, but thought I'd mention it anyway. Sending lots of vibes for him xx
 
Back from the vet, she had a thorough check of him and said he felt more comfortable and less bloated than Monday. Not dehydrated so didn’t do any fluids. She has upped his dose of gut medication to the maximum, every 6 hours. If he doesn’t improve by tomorrow then my choices are to have an X-ray or to see the rabbit specialist. I am unbelievably stressed, and to top it off my other bunny seems to be picking up on the stress :(
 
nap91 said:
Back from the vet, she had a thorough check of him and said he felt more comfortable and less bloated than Monday. Not dehydrated so didn’t do any fluids. She has upped his dose of gut medication to the maximum, every 6 hours. If he doesn’t improve by tomorrow then my choices are to have an X-ray or to see the rabbit specialist. I am unbelievably stressed, and to top it off my other bunny seems to be picking up on the stress :(
Click to expand...

Are the meds he is on for his GI tract motility 'Metoclopramide' and 'Ranitidine' AKA Zantac ? I ask as Zantac has a dual effect, it works as a prokinetic on the hind gut and it also acts as an anti GI tract ulcer drug. Ulceration of the GI tract can occur when a Rabbit is not eating much, it can also be exacerbated when the Rabbit is having an oral NSAID- eg Metacam.

I really hope that Phillip will show some signs of improvement as the day goes on x
 
Sending loads of vibes for Phillip. I hope that he will soon start to feel a lot better.
 
Jack's-Jane said:
Are the meds he is on for his GI tract motility 'Metoclopramide' and 'Ranitidine' AKA Zantac ? I ask as Zantac has a dual effect, it works as a prokinetic on the hind gut and it also acts as an anti GI tract ulcer drug. Ulceration of the GI tract can occur when a Rabbit is not eating much, it can also be exacerbated when the Rabbit is having an oral NSAID- eg Metacam.

I really hope that Phillip will show some signs of improvement as the day goes on x
Click to expand...


Yes he is on Ranitidine and Metoclopramide every 8 hours.

This was him when I got home just now. He's still not eating for himself but the fact he's bothered to get up is positive I hope.

 
nap91 said:
Back from the vet, she had a thorough check of him and said he felt more comfortable and less bloated than Monday. Not dehydrated so didn’t do any fluids. She has upped his dose of gut medication to the maximum, every 6 hours. If he doesn’t improve by tomorrow then my choices are to have an X-ray or to see the rabbit specialist. I am unbelievably stressed, and to top it off my other bunny seems to be picking up on the stress :(
Click to expand...


Sending you hugs and calming vibes xx

It's so hard coping with a rabbit in stasis. It sounds like moulting may have something to do with his gut slowdown.

I am really hoping for some improvement. It can often be painfully slow, and I hope your other bunny is fine and that you can get some rest tonight. It's so easy to get panicked by things when we are tired and stressed, and things get out of perspective
 
Other bunny seems fine thankfully after lots of attention and cuddles. Phillip has been nibbling on some forage (thanks to the member who had a thread about forage for stasis rabbits, can't remember who it was, but it's been amazing for the health of my bunnies recently!) He's not interested in much else though so still syringe feeding, and if he's not lying down he is constantly grooming himself, which 1. can't be helping his fur ingestion and 2. I'm worried he's going to make himself sore from grooming so much.
Feel like I'm in for another long night, thank goodness I am on holiday from work at the moment :cry:
 
I am wondering. I took on a rabbit which spent a lot of time grooming himself. When I checked his coat after doing his claws I saw lots of black specks. I rushed him down to the Vets and he was infested with fleas. Have you had a look in his coat? It's just an idea.
 
I've not spotted any tonibun, but he is jet black so imagine they'd be quite hard to spot! I'll have another look when I feed him in a sec though.

Back at the vets this morning as still no change :(
 
nap91 said:
I've not spotted any tonibun, but he is jet black so imagine they'd be quite hard to spot! I'll have another look when I feed him in a sec though.

Back at the vets this morning as still no change :(
Click to expand...

I am sorry that there has not been any improvement :cry:

I am not sure if the Vet checked his ears ??

I mentioned this in a previous post

Jack's-Jane said:
So pleased to hear that they will see him today. I really hope that the Vet can get to the root cause of poor Phillip's discomfort.

This may sound a bit strange, but I'd ask the Vet to have a thorough check of Phillip's ears. I had a Rabbit who had a chronic ear problem and when he had a flare up he behaved in a very similar way to that you describe re Phillip. Pain from any source can effect a Rabbit's gut motility/appetite. My Rabbit did not display more obvious symptoms that might indicate ear pain such has head shaking, scratching his ears or head tilt. It may be that Phillip's ears are 100% fine, but thought I'd mention it anyway. Sending lots of vibes for him xx
Click to expand...
 
She had a brief check as she thought the excessive grooming was probably down to stress. Which it might be but I have a feeling it's more than that. I'll ask for a more through check today when I go in.

Just hate the waiting; I want to know what is wrong so we can treat it and he can feel better because it's heartbreaking watching him having gone from a young, bouncy energetic rabbit to just a shell of himself. Nevermind the cost, and the emotional impact on my husband and myself.
 
nap91 said:
She had a brief check as she thought the excessive grooming was probably down to stress. Which it might be but I have a feeling it's more than that. I'll ask for a more through check today when I go in.

Just hate the waiting; I want to know what is wrong so we can treat it and he can feel better because it's heartbreaking watching him having gone from a young, bouncy energetic rabbit to just a shell of himself. Nevermind the cost, and the emotional impact on my husband and myself.
Click to expand...

It is so draining caring for a sick Bunny and it is even harder when the cause of their malaise is not known. I am dreadful at always thinking worse case scenarios, which of course is of no help at all.

Has the Vet taken Phillip's temperature ? If not I'd request that is done.

From my unqualified perspective I would also want some fluid therapy to be given. Even if the Rabbit is not obviously dehydrated reduced gut motility leads to water being rapidly absorbed from the GI tract, therefore any ingested matter becomes dehydrated. Fluid therapy can help rehydrate gut contents thus making them more likely to break down and pass through.

There is another prokinetic which a Vet can prescribe and which can be very effective- Cisipride AKA Prepulsid

It is mentioned on the link I posted previously- see page 4

http://anyflip.com/dvpt/hzvv

More info here:

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00Chem/ChComplex/Cisapride.htm
 
Phillip has been admitted to the vets for investigations. He's going to be sedated and x-rayed on his teeth, stomach and paws (we noticed this week that he bends them in a funny way which I didn't know if it was related). They're also going to do a blood test beforehand, and put him on a drip afterwards.

We've lost two bunnies over the past year and I can't face losing another. I'm worried that he won't wake up from being sedated, and if he does that they'll either find something bad or won't find anything which will mean a referral to the specialist, and after today's procedures, we've used up all his insurance until it renews in Feb. I'm beside myself. :cry:
 
nap91 said:
Phillip has been admitted to the vets for investigations. He's going to be sedated and x-rayed on his teeth, stomach and paws (we noticed this week that he bends them in a funny way which I didn't know if it was related). They're also going to do a blood test beforehand, and put him on a drip afterwards.

We've lost two bunnies over the past year and I can't face losing another. I'm worried that he won't wake up from being sedated, and if he does that they'll either find something bad or won't find anything which will mean a referral to the specialist, and after today's procedures, we've used up all his insurance until it renews in Feb. I'm beside myself. :cry:
Click to expand...

One step at a time- the diagnostics may highlight a treatable/manageable primary cause of his symptoms. Can you speak with the Vet about setting up a payment plan. Explain to him/her about the Insurance situation and see if between the two of you you can negotiate and agreement whereby you pay of a set amount each month rather than having to pay for everything up front. Many Vets really do understand that Clients are not always able to access the ever increasing amounts of money to pay for a lot of diagnostics. Often the Vet will agree to a payment plan to enable the Pet under their care to continue to receive the treatment they need.

I feel sure that some fluids will help Phillip feel better within himself and that in itself is a positive.

I totally understand how distressing this all is for you, I have very recently been through a similar scenario. Not knowing exactly what is wrong really does add to the stress.

Do please keep us updated when you can and of course I am sending millions of get well very soon vibes for Phillip x
 
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