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Snuffles antibiotic (sulfatrim) causing stasis - help!

L

lucyb2797

New Kit
Hi everyone,

Sadly my 4 year old lop girl Layla has been experiencing what appears to be a mild respiratory infection for several weeks now - she was still eating and pooping fine, energetic, doing binkies etc, we just noticed occasional sneezing and a slight wet nose, as well as an occasional snoring/wheezing sound when she was asleep. We took her to the vet and were prescribed Baytril, however after 2 weeks of this there was barely any improvement (we thought there was at first but it went rapidly downhill after she came off, with her sneezing increasing to above pre-treatment levels and her eyes becoming weepy). Last Friday we took her back in and were prescribed Sulfatrim 0.6ml 2 times a day. It has been hell trying to give her this, with the baytril we just mixed with banana and she loved her medicine time, but Sulfatrim seems to be a lot nastier tasting so the usual banana trick didn't work. We have to syringe feed which Layla hates, which fair enough, most bunnies would, but she is what I would call a 'spirited' bunny, she is incredibly strong, physically and mentally, impossible to pick up (likely due to a rough past as she's a rescue bun) and will fight to high hell to stop us restraining her or doing anything against her will.

Anyway, the antibiotics seem to actually be helping thank God, her sneezing has reduced significantly, and her eyes and nose are also dry. However, the side effects of the Sulfatrim seem to be impacting her more negatively than the infection itself. Yesterday I noticed she was leaving a fair amount of cecotrophes, so I thought to keep an eye on her and if she got worse to ring the vet. Today our normally active, troublemaking bunny is quiet and looks exhausted, and she's gone off most food, which for Layla is mind-blowing as she was starved before she was rescued so is normally crazy about food, so of course I made an appointment, and chose to do a telephone consultation so not to further stress Layla out, and have been prescribed Metoclopramide (Emiprid oral solution) 1.3 ml twice daily (She's 2.3kg for reference - is this the right kind of dosage for her situation?) and Bio-Lapis sachets.

This morning she ate some parsley (one of her favourite veggies) but barely touched her pellets (very unlike her as theyre normally gone in about 10 seconds), and we noticed she just wasn't eating any hay, and was also leaving loads of cecotropes everywhere - it was at this point we called the vet. In the afternoon I managed to feed her some dried bramble leaves, willow twigs, celery and more parsley, she is very enthusiastic about the brambles in particular, however she has no interest in hay or many of the other things I offered her (rosewood summerfield mix, ribwort, more pellets, dill), and as a result of her reduced appetite she's producing a lot fewer droppings. We just gave her the 1.3ml metoclopramide so will wait for a couple hours to feed her and hopefully this will improve her appetite.

Has anyone had experience with Sulfatrim or any other antibiotics that caused loss of appitite? Does anyone have any suggestions for how to encourage her to eat and drink, and how to minimise the stress of syringe feeding meds?

I'm also not sure about how to give the Bio-Lapis as it is supposed to be dissolved in their water, but she has a bonded partner who is completely healthy (thank God), I was thinking it's probably fine to let them both drink it, as surely it can't do the other bun any harm if it's just rehydration/probiotics? I know I could syringe it, but I don't want to stress her out further as she's already having 4 syringe feeds a day (and potentially more as I will give her critical care if she doesn't eat her pellets this evening), which causes her immense distress.

I'm completely new to gut stasis, although I'm not sure if she's in stasis as she's clearly still producing cecotropes and eating (albeit very selective foods), she's certainly in the warning zone so are there any things that people experienced with stasis would reccomend to do alongside the meds to ensure that she doesn't go into full blown stasis?

Thank you for any help or well wishes, I'm praying Layla makes a full recovery because she's my world and the most wonderful friendly loving bunny anyone could wish for, it's breaking my heart to see her suffer like this.
 
You seem to be doing all the right things. If she's eating eg brambles, just keep feeding her those. There should be fresh ones available if you go foraging (with gloves on, small scissors and a tough bag to put them in). Dandelion leaves usually go down well (watch out for orange urine).

The only other thing I can think of is pain relief (eg Metacam). It can help with appetite, and is often given during stasis (oral, daily, but tastes nice). It's worth asking your vet if you can try some - it usually works very quickly.
 
Thanks for your advice Shimmer, I'll ring up and ask the vets tomorrow! I do regularly forage in a nature reserve nearby, and so I got some more brambles today (as well as some nettles which Layla showed no interest in, however she did eat some plantain I found). I've also noticed she's been loving mint, corriander and celery so I've been hand feeding her however much she will eat of these, which is way way way more greens than usual. I am a bit worried that the high amount of greens she's eating is bad for her because it's so instilled in me that greens should be limited, but I figured it's way better to overdo the greens a bit than it is for her to not enough food, am I right in thinking this?

She refused to eat her pellets at dinnertime but did eat the mint and corriander I gave her enthusiastically, and I even saw her eat a few mouthfuls of hay at around 9pm. Its so strange to me that she's ignoring her pellets but eating a lot of greens, normally she'd ignore her greens in favour of pellets, but I suppose the greens are just what her body needs right now? I have noticed that she's not drinking either, but I suppose celery in particular, and the other greens to a lesser extent, all have a lot of water in, so maybe that's why she's not thirsty?

I tried to feed her the critical care, first in a bowl, which she ignored (it's the aniseed flavour which I have read a lot of bunnies don't like, but it was the only one available). I then tried syringe feeding but she struggled so much I was worried she was going to hurt herself (she's the 'I'd-rather-die-than-submit' kind of bunny, like, I've never heard of a bunny like her, she is an absolute fighter, I've tried everything from towels to scruffing but nothing helps) so I figured that the amount of greens she's eating will hopefully be okay? I could try again but it's genuinely a risk to her health every time she's syringe fed so I think it would do more harm than good.
 
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I'd let her eat whatever she wants tbh, not eating anything is so much worse. Have her teeth been checked? Sorry if I missed that. And I'd definitely ask for some pain medication like metacam like shimmer said.

Sent from my Galaxy S21 Ultra using Tapatalk
 
Even with veggies I would watch her hydration and make sure she pees normally. Vet can help administer fluids if necessary. Sending vibes.
 
Thank you both for your advise! She's seeming fairly energetic (back to her annoying habit of frantically digging at my bed- for the first time in my life I feel thankful to see this behaviour!) and is happily munching her hay as I write this, and I managed to get her to voluntarily eat a small amount of critical care by mashing a small bit of banana. She's still not interested in her pellets, though I keep offering them to her every hour or so, but if she's eating hay and veggies I suppose that's the most important thing anyway. I got her to drink some water by putting a small amount of apple juice in it, I know this isn't ideal but at least it's something.

Graciee - her teeth are fine apparently, although I'm not sure how rabbit savvy our vet is, it's a shame but because of covid I can't go in with her for the consultation so I can't really have a proper chat with the vet about their experience or even see if they're doing things properly. They seem lovely though and I can see they're genuinely caring.

Bunny momma - I'm not sure how to check pee levels as she's in a bonded pair, and even though they're provided 2 seperate litter boxes they choose to share one, but as I said I've seen her drink a little now, albeit with the incentive of the apple juice, so I'm hoping that she will continue to drink.

Come to think of it I might add a teaspoon of apple juice to their water overnight just to encourage her to drink, obviously it's not ideal as she's with a healthy partner, so I'm not sure if I should?
 
lucyb2797 said:
Thank you both for your advise! She's seeming fairly energetic (back to her annoying habit of frantically digging at my bed- for the first time in my life I feel thankful to see this behaviour!) and is happily munching her hay as I write this, and I managed to get her to voluntarily eat a small amount of critical care by mashing a small bit of banana. She's still not interested in her pellets, though I keep offering them to her every hour or so, but if she's eating hay and veggies I suppose that's the most important thing anyway. I got her to drink some water by putting a small amount of apple juice in it, I know this isn't ideal but at least it's something.

Graciee - her teeth are fine apparently, although I'm not sure how rabbit savvy our vet is, it's a shame but because of covid I can't go in with her for the consultation so I can't really have a proper chat with the vet about their experience or even see if they're doing things properly. They seem lovely though and I can see they're genuinely caring.

Bunny momma - I'm not sure how to check pee levels as she's in a bonded pair, and even though they're provided 2 seperate litter boxes they choose to share one, but as I said I've seen her drink a little now, albeit with the incentive of the apple juice, so I'm hoping that she will continue to drink.

Come to think of it I might add a teaspoon of apple juice to their water overnight just to encourage her to drink, obviously it's not ideal as she's with a healthy partner, so I'm not sure if I should?
Click to expand...
The apple juice will be fine, could you provide two bowls? One with normal water and one with the apple juice added? Only reason I mention it is one of mine hates anything in her water [emoji38] I'd hate for the other bun to stop drinking and give you more issues [emoji38]

Sounds like she's eating much better except for pellets now, hopefully she'll start to eat them again when she's feeling a bit better :)

Sent from my Galaxy S21 Ultra using Tapatalk
 
lucyb2797 said:
Hi everyone,

Sadly my 4 year old lop girl Layla has been experiencing what appears to be a mild respiratory infection for several weeks now - she was still eating and pooping fine, energetic, doing binkies etc, we just noticed occasional sneezing and a slight wet nose, as well as an occasional snoring/wheezing sound when she was asleep. We took her to the vet and were prescribed Baytril, however after 2 weeks of this there was barely any improvement (we thought there was at first but it went rapidly downhill after she came off, with her sneezing increasing to above pre-treatment levels and her eyes becoming weepy). Last Friday we took her back in and were prescribed Sulfatrim 0.6ml 2 times a day. It has been hell trying to give her this, with the baytril we just mixed with banana and she loved her medicine time, but Sulfatrim seems to be a lot nastier tasting so the usual banana trick didn't work. We have to syringe feed which Layla hates, which fair enough, most bunnies would, but she is what I would call a 'spirited' bunny, she is incredibly strong, physically and mentally, impossible to pick up (likely due to a rough past as she's a rescue bun) and will fight to high hell to stop us restraining her or doing anything against her will.

Anyway, the antibiotics seem to actually be helping thank God, her sneezing has reduced significantly, and her eyes and nose are also dry. However, the side effects of the Sulfatrim seem to be impacting her more negatively than the infection itself. Yesterday I noticed she was leaving a fair amount of cecotrophes, so I thought to keep an eye on her and if she got worse to ring the vet. Today our normally active, troublemaking bunny is quiet and looks exhausted, and she's gone off most food, which for Layla is mind-blowing as she was starved before she was rescued so is normally crazy about food, so of course I made an appointment, and chose to do a telephone consultation so not to further stress Layla out, and have been prescribed Metoclopramide (Emiprid oral solution) 1.3 ml twice daily (She's 2.3kg for reference - is this the right kind of dosage for her situation?) and Bio-Lapis sachets.

This morning she ate some parsley (one of her favourite veggies) but barely touched her pellets (very unlike her as theyre normally gone in about 10 seconds), and we noticed she just wasn't eating any hay, and was also leaving loads of cecotropes everywhere - it was at this point we called the vet. In the afternoon I managed to feed her some dried bramble leaves, willow twigs, celery and more parsley, she is very enthusiastic about the brambles in particular, however she has no interest in hay or many of the other things I offered her (rosewood summerfield mix, ribwort, more pellets, dill), and as a result of her reduced appetite she's producing a lot fewer droppings. We just gave her the 1.3ml metoclopramide so will wait for a couple hours to feed her and hopefully this will improve her appetite.

Has anyone had experience with Sulfatrim or any other antibiotics that caused loss of appitite? Does anyone have any suggestions for how to encourage her to eat and drink, and how to minimise the stress of syringe feeding meds?

I'm also not sure about how to give the Bio-Lapis as it is supposed to be dissolved in their water, but she has a bonded partner who is completely healthy (thank God), I was thinking it's probably fine to let them both drink it, as surely it can't do the other bun any harm if it's just rehydration/probiotics? I know I could syringe it, but I don't want to stress her out further as she's already having 4 syringe feeds a day (and potentially more as I will give her critical care if she doesn't eat her pellets this evening), which causes her immense distress.

I'm completely new to gut stasis, although I'm not sure if she's in stasis as she's clearly still producing cecotropes and eating (albeit very selective foods), she's certainly in the warning zone so are there any things that people experienced with stasis would reccomend to do alongside the meds to ensure that she doesn't go into full blown stasis?

Thank you for any help or well wishes, I'm praying Layla makes a full recovery because she's my world and the most wonderful friendly loving bunny anyone could wish for, it's breaking my heart to see her suffer like this.
Click to expand...

Hi @lucyb2797, just wondering how Layla got on? Our little Tigs has been on this since last Tuesday for a respiratory infection also and we've been frantically trying to stave off stasis ever since. He's right off his usual foods. At times he comes running for things and seems interested, he even jumped up onto my knee yesterday for a treat, but he turns his nose up at it.

We were given metacam at the same time, and Saturday the vet said to come off that, put him on metaclop, and if his appetite still doesn't return then bring him off the sulfatrim. We skipped his dose of sulfatrim last night and managed a fair bit of hand feeding, and then he's had a dose this morning. I think we may need to take him off it completely.

As for the snuffles and sneezes, the vet has referred us for a CT scan as she thinks it could be something stuck in there. Did you manage to get to the bottom of your girl's infection?
 
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Talk to the vet about OTC (oxytetracylcine) shots. Brko is getting them and so far so good.
Did you check also heart? Rabbits with heart problem prefer to keep head upright (drinking bottle on propper height might also help). And there is also one thing with stuffed nose or throat edema-you don't feel comfortable to eat or drink. I would give her saline inhalataion (nebuliser or put her in carrier, cover it with towel, put chamomile hot tea in front of the door and 5-10 minutes of warm inhalation can healp ease the stuffed nose. Is the bun getting Bisolvon or any other mucoylitic-ask the vet if it would be a good thing to inhale/use of nebulisor with Bisolvon sachet. WHat other meds are you giving? I'vre reat metacam-meloksikam. How about metamizol? Brko who has also respirary issues is on what i wrote above. Every 12 hour metamizole/Novasul (after 7 day it will be every 24hour) and every 12 hour meloxsicam/Loxicom (cracky breathing and sneezing and is getting better now). He also has slightly enlarged heart-so it is worth checking with your bun.
 
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