• 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.

Elderly Bun Maintenance Metacam?

B

Beapig

Mama Doe
Hi everyone,

My elder-bun Hamilton is now 9 years old. For the past couple of years he has had stasis twice a year on average. In the past month, he has had stasis three times. His teeth were recently seen to so I know they are fine, but the heatwave caused a second moult and despite me brushing him daily, I think he ingested a bit of fur. My vet has suggested that due to his age and the frequency of stasis, it might be worth giving him a daily dose of metacam. I'm just wondering if anyone else has anyone experience with doing this? And if so, did it help?

All of the times we have taken him to the vet in the past month, he has been a little bloated but the vet has said that there are still gut sounds and that she didn't feel worried. He has his injections and then comes home good as new. I can't help but wonder if he has some underlying age-related mild pain (like arthritis) that could be contributing to him deciding not to eat? The last time was definitely linked to the fur, as when he finally pooped it was like a felted, matted ball.

Any advice in general for helping keep an elder-bun comfortable, would be truly appreciated.

Thank you :)
 
Hello,

My bunny has been on daily metacam twice a day for arthritis since he was 8 and it’s def helped. He’s now on tramadol and gabapentin as well.

I think daily metacam would help your bun
 
I think if your vet considers that the underlying cause of the Stasis is Arthritis, then it would be worth having a trial of daily Metacam.

However, you said that your vet considered that Hamilton was slithtly bloated when he has been examined recently. It might be worth discussing with her about some daily medication to help with his digestion rather than to provide pain relief. My concern also would be that giving daily Metacam might dull the early symptoms of Stasis, rather than treat it, which might mean that it would get more of a hold more quickly, resulting in delayed treatment of appropriate medication.
 
Thank you both. I'm going to ask her about it again asap. I really appreciate getting a second opinion from other rabbit owners too.
 
I will share my experience, though it may not be relevant (hopefully).

I have had quite a few stasis prone bunnies and several of them made it to 10+ years old. A lot of literature says that tumours in the intestines of rabbits are extremely rare. As part of her "Sudden andand Unexpected Death" study, Frances Harcourt-Brown carried out postmortems and histology on a lot of my rabbits. There is not a lot of information on the condition of digestive system of elderly rabbits as owners don't seek answers for cause of death in a frail elderly same as with a young bun. Nearly all of my elderly rabbits had tumours in their intestines, some had poor appetites/frequently stasis. Tinks was losing weight. The symptoms tie in with the findings.

Last year I had Eclipse, a 7 year old rabbit who had never had a sick day in her life start having stasis every 7 to 10 days. After a couple of months she had exploratory surgery and an intestinal tumour was found to be the cause. She was also losing general condition. At the same time, Barnaby had a marked increase in stasis episodes - he was 10 years old and a 2 to 3 episodes a year bun who had had two surgical blockages. Barns followed the same pattern as Eclipse but had a full blockage the required surgery. He was also found to have a tumour (restricting the intestine).

I hope this isn't the case with your bun but in my experience, it is incredibly common in older rabbits and something to question in relation to very frequently stasis episodes.
 
Bunny Buddy said:
I will share my experience, though it may not be relevant (hopefully).

I have had quite a few stasis prone bunnies and several of them made it to 10+ years old. A lot of literature says that tumours in the intestines of rabbits are extremely rare. As part of her "Sudden andand Unexpected Death" study, Frances Harcourt-Brown carried out postmortems and histology on a lot of my rabbits. There is not a lot of information on the condition of digestive system of elderly rabbits as owners don't seek answers for cause of death in a frail elderly same as with a young bun. Nearly all of my elderly rabbits had tumours in their intestines, some had poor appetites/frequently stasis. Tinks was losing weight. The symptoms tie in with the findings.

Last year I had Eclipse, a 7 year old rabbit who had never had a sick day in her life start having stasis every 7 to 10 days. After a couple of months she had exploratory surgery and an intestinal tumour was found to be the cause. She was also losing general condition. At the same time, Barnaby had a marked increase in stasis episodes - he was 10 years old and a 2 to 3 episodes a year bun who had had two surgical blockages. Barns followed the same pattern as Eclipse but had a full blockage the required surgery. He was also found to have a tumour (restricting the intestine).

I hope this isn't the case with your bun but in my experience, it is incredibly common in older rabbits and something to question in relation to very frequently stasis episodes.
Click to expand...

I hope this isn't the case with Hamilton but I found this very interesting to read about your experiences BB.
 
tonibun said:
I hope this isn't the case with Hamilton but I found this very interesting to read about your experiences BB.
Click to expand...

Frances HB found it very interesting as well. She talks about writing a paper on it. She had found a tumour in one of her 10+ year old rabbits and it was a first for the histopathologist. My rabbits then became 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. It isn't research that anyone spends any money on, but Frances decided to with the money made from her lectures. I find it fascinating, if not a little heartbreaking. With Esme I put her through surgery for a blockage at 10.5 years old, same with Barnaby. Both died shortly after (Esme one week, Barnaby 24 hours), Obviously, if I had known they had intestinal cancer I would not put them through it... and in future, I will give very careful consideration to how much I put an elderly rabbit through, that is having multiple stasis episodes.
 
I had a middle aged rabbit with an inoperable tumour wrapped round the oesophagus / stomach - rabbit was losing weight for no obvious reason, despite syringe feeding. Turns out the tumour was restricting the amount of food that could enter the stomach. Was PTS under anaesthetic when the tumour was found during an exploratory operation.
 
Last year something similar happened to my Sophie. She had a few stasis episodes in a row, and even when she didn't have stasis, the vet found quite a bit of gas in her stomach on a later unrelated vet visit. She's 11 now, so the vet thought her guts aren't working very well anymore because of her age. She was put on a low dose of Emeprid twice daily to help keep her guts going, and that has stopped the regular stasis episodes, so that could be worth discussing with your vet? If pain could be the cause for Hamilton, if it's making his guts slow down or making him not want to eat, I think it's worth trying Metacam, as it's normally well-tolerated by bunnies. Sophie gets Metacam as well, for her arthritis, but I don't think it's doing anything for her stomach, and if Hamilton's moult was really the primary reason for his last stasis episode, I don't think the Metacam would help any. So, it just depends on the reason, I think. But if Hamilton could be having pain, I think the Metacam is a good idea to try in any case.

Has the vet checked his poop for parasites? Those can cause frequent stasis episodes as well.
 
Bunny Buddy said:
I will share my experience, though it may not be relevant (hopefully).

I have had quite a few stasis prone bunnies and several of them made it to 10+ years old. A lot of literature says that tumours in the intestines of rabbits are extremely rare. As part of her "Sudden andand Unexpected Death" study, Frances Harcourt-Brown carried out postmortems and histology on a lot of my rabbits. There is not a lot of information on the condition of digestive system of elderly rabbits as owners don't seek answers for cause of death in a frail elderly same as with a young bun. Nearly all of my elderly rabbits had tumours in their intestines, some had poor appetites/frequently stasis. Tinks was losing weight. The symptoms tie in with the findings.

Last year I had Eclipse, a 7 year old rabbit who had never had a sick day in her life start having stasis every 7 to 10 days. After a couple of months she had exploratory surgery and an intestinal tumour was found to be the cause. She was also losing general condition. At the same time, Barnaby had a marked increase in stasis episodes - he was 10 years old and a 2 to 3 episodes a year bun who had had two surgical blockages. Barns followed the same pattern as Eclipse but had a full blockage the required surgery. He was also found to have a tumour (restricting the intestine).

I hope this isn't the case with your bun but in my experience, it is incredibly common in older rabbits and something to question in relation to very frequently stasis episodes.
Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing your experiences, they are very helpful. Hamilton has lost quite a lot of condition in the past month, for sure. I thought it was just the heatwaves but now I am thinking that there is something a lot more serious going on. He has generally been a 'stasis twice a year' type bun, and usually bounces back reasonably quickly. This time is certainly different.

I think it's easy to look at a seemingly healthy rabbit and forget how fragile they are. My bridge bun Jellybean went from being very healthy and agile one day, always eating her food, almost never had stasis, to complete failure of her kidneys within 24 hours. I don't think I have the heart to own more rabbits in the future, it is too broken from all of the traumatic things I have seen them go through.
 
Lots of well wishes for Hamilton. Your bunnies have great lives with you. I can't argue with the heartbreak of seeing them get ill & losing them - surrounded by the helplessness I often felt, but I do get so much from sharing my lives with them & couldn't imagine my life without them
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Advanced EC suspected in elderly rabbit
Replies
2
Views
82
dex179
dex179
Moonstone
Older mini lop going off food - probable lymphoma
3 4 5
Replies
83
Views
1K
Moonstone
Moonstone
G
Bunny Not eating 3 weeks HELP
Replies
4
Views
106
a reader of books
a reader of books
Back
Top