• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

  • 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.

Post-stasis feedback appreciated

MiniC

MiniC

Wise Old Thumper
Unfortunately Poppy had to spend last night in the vet hospital, as she wouldn't eat her dinner and had some high blood glucose levels, suggesting a bit of a blockage.

She's started eating the exciting stuff again, not passing poos yet, but the hospital was happy enough for me to take over her care at home. She's been discharged with some metacam, but now I'm home and have had time to think about it, I'm remembering their usual vet used to send us home with Fibreplex and/or critical care food, so I'm wondering if this has been an oversight or if I should be trusting their judgement?

Also supposed to be going to a wedding on Friday with a night away, and don't know what to do about that yet :?
 
Sorry to hear she's been unwell.

I would expect some gut motility meds if she's not passing poos yet and possibly they should have given her some fluids while she was in

Did they find a cause? Critical care if she's not eating enough herself is needed but they may have assessed she was eating enough I guess.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk
 
Usually prokinetics are needed for a few days after an episode of gut stasis, as well as pain relief. Do you know what her blood glucose level was ? Did they do an abdominal X-ray ? Fluids, either IV or SQ are usually essential.

It’s a good sign that she is now eating something for herself. I assume they syringe fed her at the Vet ? Whether to continue syringe feeds now really depends on what has been given over the last 24 hours and what her abdomen feels like on palpating it. Obviously food needs to go in for poo to come out. But if she has had syringe feeds at the Vet and there is still no poo I would be reluctant to do more syringe feeds.
 
So her glucose level was 15.8 last night (8pm-ish), but it had normalised by midnight (<15), don't know what it is now. She was given IV fluids overnight.

She was given gut motility meds again before we picked her up. At that point, they said she was nibbling on veg, her gut was palpating as normal, sounded a little slower but there were noises. Temperature, heart rate and breathing were all normal. Because she was showing less pain, they said it didn't feel necessary to do an X-ray.

No cause found, although I have some new rugs in their room, so maybe some fluff from that? I think she had a little less hay than usual the days before (hard to tell as they dug so much out, all over the floor), and they maybe were a bit dehydrated with the weather change?

Do you think I should source some Fibreplex for a few days (on the basis it wouldn't hurt?)
 
Fibreplex won’t do any harm but might not do much good. Personally I would ask the Vet if keeping her on prokinetics should be done until her poo output returns to normal. I have never known this not to be done unless the Rabbit is fully obstructed, which would be a surgical case. It does not sound as though that is the issue for Poppy, but she does appear to need additional help to kick start her gut motility.
 
For now, I've just to keep an eye on output, but I guess I'd need to go back if she doesn't (although I don't know what sort of timeframe to give her). How often would she need the prokinetics? Her last dose was at 12 today.
 
I would expect you to have been given gut motility meds for a couple of days too...

Personally, I'd always go for peppermint tea rather than Fibreplex. I actually have some (Fibreplex) you can have, but no guarantee when it would get there, so probably not much use.
 
MiniC said:
For now, I've just to keep an eye on output, but I guess I'd need to go back if she doesn't (although I don't know what sort of timeframe to give her). How often would she need the prokinetics? Her last dose was at 12 today.
Click to expand...

Usually every 8-12 hours until output returns to normal.Preferably Metoclopramide and Cisapride or Ranitidine if the Vet can obtain it.
 
It's ok, I've ordered some Fibreplex from Amazon now, so I can guarantee it'll be here tomorrow now.

But I've remembered the emeprid now too, that's something out regular vet would normally have sent us away with.

I'll give her half an hour, and if she's not nibbled on any food at home or used the loo, I'll call her regular rabbit savvy vets for a second opinion. I'll hope they'll prescribe some stuff over the phone, I don't want to stress her out with a trip to see them too (it's an hour round trip).
 
MiniC said:
It's ok, I've ordered some Fibreplex from Amazon now, so I can guarantee it'll be here tomorrow now.

But I've remembered the emeprid now too, that's something out regular vet would normally have sent us away with.

I'll give her half an hour, and if she's not nibbled on any food at home or used the loo, I'll call her regular rabbit savvy vets for a second opinion. I'll hope they'll prescribe some stuff over the phone, I don't want to stress her out with a trip to see them too (it's an hour round trip).
Click to expand...


I think you might have a problem getting the second Vets to prescribe medication to treat a condition that another Vet Practice is currently over- seeing. Not without examining her again anyway.
 
I don't have any advice that hasn't been given by the others, but I wanted to send Poppy a lot of vibes. I hope she'll feel better soon and will start pooping, and I hope you can figure something out for Friday. Hopefully she'll be better by then.
 
I'm quite worried about her now, she's no different than when I took her to the vets last night, as far as I can tell. I allowed more than enough time for her to calm down from the car journey, but she's still refusing herbs, treats, I've even tried apple.

I have called our vets and said I'm after a second opinion about the medication I've been sent home with, and that I'd like to avoid bringing her down if I can because of the stress, but I've been waiting for a call back for 80 mins :( and they close in an hour, so we're running out of time if we need to get down there.

Her ears are cold, when I tried full body strokes she looked uncomfortable and shuffled away (walking not hopping). She slept in the litter tray for a bit but no output and I haven't seen her drink anything since she came home. She's really sick :(
 
I'd call the rabbit vet back and ask if you can bring her. It sounds like she may need some more support to recover.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk
 
Personally I would get her to the Rabbit Savvy Vet if you can. It sounds as though she needs more intensive care ie IV fluids, incubator, IV meds and a recheck of blood glucose plus possible abdominal Xray. If she has a partial blockage it needs to be kept hydrated (by fluid therapy both orally and IV) or it could move through the intestines a little but then get stuck again. The more dehydrated an impaction becomes the less likely it is to break down and pass through. I would get her onto a heat pad. If she feels very cold to touch this is indicative of shock.
 
Our vet asked us to bring her in, so she's had another injection and I have emeprid for home now, as well as some critical care food.

Poppy has some teeth spurs, they suspect it's compounding the problem, so she's to go in tomorrow to have them burred down. Hopefully that will tempt her to eat.

It's probably why her gut has slowed down, she'll be eating less hay, then not had enough to encourage undigestibles through her system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Bunny still isn't right following vet stay
Replies
17
Views
260
a reader of books
a reader of books
X
Stasis stress!! :( Day 5 - still no poops!
2
Replies
27
Views
819
xEMMAx
X
P
Bunny still off food and hay, drooling and teeth chattering
2 3
Replies
49
Views
986
twistedtiggerz69
twistedtiggerz69
Back
Top