Stasis or blockage? Very worried

Hi I hope someone can help me stop worrying myself sick
This morning Betty didn’t want breakfast and was very listless. Our rabbit vet is a 2 hour drive away and here in France we are in lockdown. She also really freaks out in the car so I decided to take her to our other nearer vet. She’s pretty good, treats all our other pets and has a lot of rabbit experience but is mainly a cats and dogs vet.
She checked Betty’s temperature, ears, teeth and palpated her abdomen. She said it was her transit and gave her pain relief, prescribed motility drugs, probiotics and critical care.
I gave Betty some baby gas drops too and as she hadn’t eaten by lunchtime we started critical care syringe feeding. It’s now night time and we gave her meds, another 15mls critical care but she’s still not pooped and is really listless, hiding under the sofa.
So I’m terrified that as she’s not pooping she has a blockage. I rang the vet earlier and said I was worried and she assured me there’s no blockage. How long does it take before a rabbit starts pooping if they have stasis? And is it better to give frequent smaller syringe feeding sessions or bigger ones to get things moving? I’m also scared that force feeding could cause bloat.
Thank you for any advice

The vet should have been able to palpate the abdomen and would have felt a blockage.
You can also check the blood sugar level to determine if there is likely to be a blockage or not.

As the vet has said there is definitely no blockage, she needs food in order to produce any output, so regular syringe feeding is essential to get fibre moving through the gut. She can't produce poo from nothing. It's probably better to get some food into her every couple of hours at first, then as she picks up, maybe every 3 - 4 hours until she is eating normally by herself. A lot depends on how she copes with the interventions, but she really needs it now until she picks up a bit and starts passing some poo. The instructions on the Critical Care will tell you how much she should be eating per 24 hours, depending on her weight. From that you can work out how much she should be getting at each feed. I tend to make up a day's worth at a time in a small jar and fridge it between feeds, then add a small amount of hot water to the next feed to warm it up (eg in a small cup or ramekin dish). It also tends to thicken on standing. You can add some puree to the critical care to make it easier to syringe, and it may tempt her more. I use apple or pear baby food, but any veg based baby puree will do (ie no meat or dairy).

When syringe feeding, put the syringe in the side of the mouth and squeeze the plunger slowly. You want her to swallow it. Don't squirt it down her throat as it may cause other problems if she inhales it. Adjust the thickness of the feed to suit. If it's too thin, it will just run out of her mouth. Too thick, and it won't syringe easily. It will probably be messy anyway (keep some small towels handy), and you need patience if she's not wanting to swallow it.

Also try tempting her with things like dandelion leaves, celery leaves, carrot leaves or fresh herbs - the strong smells may tempt her to eat.
Getting her to move around a bit more will help get her guts moving as well, but don't stress her any more than is really necessary.

Keep a record of the drugs and food she's had (time, amount), and any output. It helps to keep things at regular intervals, especially when you are really worried and tired from night time feeds. Hopefully she will produce some poo by lunchtime, if you can get her to take the Critical Care.

I would definitely recommend warm water - sometimes I think the fluids are more important than the food in moving things along. Also, if you have any peppermint tea in the house, that is really good for bunny guts (obviously cool it down first, then syringe it in).

Both of the above gave you good advice.
Shimmer is right they need food to get output, and Sarap's suggestion to get fluids is important if a bunny is not drinking making fecal material hard/harder to pass.
Did vet administer any fluids?
Make sure your bunny retains their body temp too, and pain relief is adequate.

Sending vibes.

Thank you everyone for your help. Betty is hopping around, eating hay and has pooped this morning! I’m so relieved

So pleased to hear Betty is better this morning.

Brilliant update Well done Betty.

Good work getting Betty to improve.

Oh, I'm so glad Betty is feeling better.

I'm glad she's feeling better today.

I would keep a close eye on her input / output for a few days, and carry on with the meds as well. Stasis can take a while to fully recover from, and it's not worth risking her deteriorating suddenly.

Thank you to everyone! She’s doing well, I went to the vet today and picked up more probiotics. She told me to keep up the meds for 8 days, keep her on hay for a couple of days and introduce greens slowly, one by one. She thinks I feed her too much fresh food as I give her forage every day as well as romaine, fennel and other greens. My other rabbit seems to tolerate them but I’ll decrease his too just to be safe.

Fantastic news, I’m so pleased x


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