Have you tried different cuts ? She really needs to chew for several hours a day to keep her teeth alright . Let us know how her test results come out . Also during her dental examination were skull xray taken ?
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GI stasis symptoms not going away
- Thread starter Panos87
- Start date
InspectorMorse
Wise Old Thumper
Hay! The Grass Roots
Click here to find out the ideal proportions of a rabbit's diet. Explore the benefits of grass and hay, buying tips and more.
rabbitwelfare.co.uk
Fresh grass is the same plant as hay is before it's dried. So the benefits of grass are the same as those for hay in respect of a rabbit's digestion and teeth.
I understand that fresh grass is the same as hay before dried.
What I meant is that I’ve never heard of a pet shop or someone selling fresh grass. That’s why I said I never heard of fresh grass before. Sorry if I didn’t translate it properly.
Sorry, think it was just as much my misunderstanding of what you had written.
Fresh grass isn't sold in pet shops here either, but a lot of owners, me included, pick it from their gardens and feed it.
I am trying to reply to everyone so that I don’t create a new post every time. Sorry if I miss something.
Yes, we did a dental examination. Nothing was found.
Yes there was an xray. Nothing was found there either. Everything looked normal.
Yes I’ve tried different cuts and types of hay and various botanicals etc. The only thing that she kind of likes is bunnies all natural botanicals with raspberry leaves and cornflower blossoms, and today I was happy to see that she ate a new hay that I’ve never given her before. JR’s dandelion. She seemed to like it.
No she doesn’t make noise with her teeth like grinding. Only when I pet her cheeks sometimes which seems to be something she enjoys, she sometimes makes a little noise with her teeth while relaxing. But it is not something that looks like she is annoying her. She does it when she enjoys the petting.
No she doesn’t really chew on sticks and chew toys a lot. But it was never her favorite thing to do even before the GI stasis. She sometimes did it, and she sometimes does it still.
Yes, we did a dental examination. Nothing was found.
Yes there was an xray. Nothing was found there either. Everything looked normal.
Yes I’ve tried different cuts and types of hay and various botanicals etc. The only thing that she kind of likes is bunnies all natural botanicals with raspberry leaves and cornflower blossoms, and today I was happy to see that she ate a new hay that I’ve never given her before. JR’s dandelion. She seemed to like it.
No she doesn’t make noise with her teeth like grinding. Only when I pet her cheeks sometimes which seems to be something she enjoys, she sometimes makes a little noise with her teeth while relaxing. But it is not something that looks like she is annoying her. She does it when she enjoys the petting.
No she doesn’t really chew on sticks and chew toys a lot. But it was never her favorite thing to do even before the GI stasis. She sometimes did it, and she sometimes does it still.
. However keep encouraging her to eat hay and try to keep hay in different places in her living space not just in one place and provide her with chew toys and sticks even if she doesn't chew much
InspectorMorse
Wise Old Thumper
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We went for the ultrasound yesterday… Unfortunately no improvement from the ultrasound we did a month ago. There are still hairballs blocking the intestine and causing inflammation. It’s not a full blockage since she’s pooping (a bit smaller poops though), but the issue still remains.
So it wasn’t the teeth, it wasn’t behavioral, it was the GI stasis remnants that didn’t improve.
That’s why she’s not so eager to eat or drink.
The vet gave us more meds and supplements, she said that we must be more “aggressive” with our approach this time cause the next step is surgery and in that case we’ll have to go to another vet she suggested because she doesn’t do these types of surgeries due to the extremely low success rates.
So what I understood from her words and facial expressions is that if the approach we follow now does not solve the issue, we are facing bad bad things….
I am angry, I am sad, all bad emotions are flooding in me right now, but I have to focus and do what I have to do. Give the meds, give her water with electrolytes every 2 hours, feed her with the syringe and hope for the best.
The positive thing is that the bunny is active. She is energetic. But to me this is also the scariest thing cause I can’t imagine watching her gradually fall and becoming catatonic. Even the thought of that makes me wanna cry.
Anyway.
These are the news.
We also thought about contacting a groomer to see what can be done to avoid ingesting even more hair since she is extremely furry and even though we brush her all the time, she still sheds and swallows hair cause she is cleaning herself all the time. Doctor said that cutting her fur will affect her psychologically, but we can give it a shot.
If you have any experience, advice or whatever considering the grooming or anything else, please help.
Once again thank you all so much for the advice and support!! We appreciate it more than you can imagine!!
So it wasn’t the teeth, it wasn’t behavioral, it was the GI stasis remnants that didn’t improve.
That’s why she’s not so eager to eat or drink.
The vet gave us more meds and supplements, she said that we must be more “aggressive” with our approach this time cause the next step is surgery and in that case we’ll have to go to another vet she suggested because she doesn’t do these types of surgeries due to the extremely low success rates.
So what I understood from her words and facial expressions is that if the approach we follow now does not solve the issue, we are facing bad bad things….
I am angry, I am sad, all bad emotions are flooding in me right now, but I have to focus and do what I have to do. Give the meds, give her water with electrolytes every 2 hours, feed her with the syringe and hope for the best.
The positive thing is that the bunny is active. She is energetic. But to me this is also the scariest thing cause I can’t imagine watching her gradually fall and becoming catatonic. Even the thought of that makes me wanna cry.
Anyway.
These are the news.
We also thought about contacting a groomer to see what can be done to avoid ingesting even more hair since she is extremely furry and even though we brush her all the time, she still sheds and swallows hair cause she is cleaning herself all the time. Doctor said that cutting her fur will affect her psychologically, but we can give it a shot.
If you have any experience, advice or whatever considering the grooming or anything else, please help.
Once again thank you all so much for the advice and support!! We appreciate it more than you can imagine!!
Firstly I am so pleased that you had the ultrasound. I can well understand how you are feeling both angry and sad. BUT, and this is an important but, you now know what you are dealing with and so you can concentrate on treating that. She also won't be moulting forever and so, in time, the problem should become easier.
Whilst she is still moulting though, I would concentrate on trying to minimise fur, which is being shed. I have no experience of rabbits with long hair. Mine have always been short-haired. But I have noticed that if you wet your hands and rub them over the bunny, after grooming, it does prevent some fur being shed.
Could you itemise the medication plus dosage that she is now having per day? There are people here who could maybe suggest different medication or additions to her medication for your vet to consider. Also how much syringe feed she is getting per day.
Being active is also a big positive as moving around will help her digestion. It also shows she is feeling reasonably OK in herself.
Hope that she will start to show some improvement soon
Whilst she is still moulting though, I would concentrate on trying to minimise fur, which is being shed. I have no experience of rabbits with long hair. Mine have always been short-haired. But I have noticed that if you wet your hands and rub them over the bunny, after grooming, it does prevent some fur being shed.
Could you itemise the medication plus dosage that she is now having per day? There are people here who could maybe suggest different medication or additions to her medication for your vet to consider. Also how much syringe feed she is getting per day.
Being active is also a big positive as moving around will help her digestion. It also shows she is feeling reasonably OK in herself.
Hope that she will start to show some improvement soon
Firstly I am so pleased that you had the ultrasound. I can well understand how you are feeling both angry and sad. BUT, and this is an important but, you now know what you are dealing with and so you can concentrate on treating that. She also won't be moulting forever and so, in time, the problem should become easier.
Whilst she is still moulting though, I would concentrate on trying to minimise fur, which is being shed. I have no experience of rabbits with long hair. Mine have always been short-haired. But I have noticed that if you wet your hands and rub them over the bunny, after grooming, it does prevent some fur being shed.
Could you itemise the medication plus dosage that she is now having per day? There are people here who could maybe suggest different medication or additions to her medication for your vet to consider. Also how much syringe feed she is getting per day.
Being active is also a big positive as moving around will help her digestion. It also shows she is feeling reasonably OK in herself.
Hope that she will start to show some improvement soon
Thank you so much for the advice and support!
Yes it is an important “but”.
That’s what I was discussing with my girlfriend yesterday, which is in a much worse shape than me.
Apart from all the anger and sadness and all the bad feelings, I do feel 1% relieved that at least we know what we are dealing with and we have precise directions on what to do.
We are not in the trial and error spectrum and guessing. It is a bad situation, but at least we know the situation.
Her weight is 2,2 kilos.
Right now she is taking
Primperan syrup (metoclopramide) 0,45ml two times per day for 4 days
Tagamet syrup (simetidine) 0,45ml two times per day for 5 days
Electrolytes dissolved in water 10ml every 2 hours during the day for 3 days
Meloxydil 1,5mg/ml (meloxicam) 0,5ml once a day for 3 days
Baytril 10% (enrofloxacin) 0,1ml once a day for 7 days
The syringe feeding depends on whether she eats and how much she eats. We adjust it accordingly.
Right now we are giving 1,5 small scoops of emeraid sustain (I think that’s 7,5ml) and a teaspoon of bunny’s gastroplex (we mix it with the emeraid paste) 2 times per day. But I think we need to increase it to 3 times per day cause I don’t see her eating much of her pellets.
I hope so too!!!
InspectorMorse
Wise Old Thumper
I am sorry that the U/S did not show any improvement but am somewhat confused too. Did the Vet specify exactly where in the GI tract the hairballs are?
Do you know the names of the medications prescribed?
I would not take her to a Groomer at this stage. It would be a stressful experience for her and stress of any kind will exacerbate gut motility problems.
What grooming tools do you use? Brushes are not much help for Lionhead fur types.
I don’t think a full clip is appropriate and I agree with he Vet on this one, that doing so could have a negative psychological impact on her. Another stress she does not need right now.
Do you know the names of the medications prescribed?
I would not take her to a Groomer at this stage. It would be a stressful experience for her and stress of any kind will exacerbate gut motility problems.
What grooming tools do you use? Brushes are not much help for Lionhead fur types.
I don’t think a full clip is appropriate and I agree with he Vet on this one, that doing so could have a negative psychological impact on her. Another stress she does not need right now.
InspectorMorse
Wise Old Thumper
I have just seen your latest post with a list of the meds.
I think it would be beneficial to give cisapride as a prokinetic as well as the metaclopromide. I don’t know if cisapride is available in your country?
I am assuming that the Vet feels that there is a bacterial infection involved given that the antibiotic enrofloxacin has been prescribed ?
I think it would be beneficial to give cisapride as a prokinetic as well as the metaclopromide. I don’t know if cisapride is available in your country?
I am assuming that the Vet feels that there is a bacterial infection involved given that the antibiotic enrofloxacin has been prescribed ?
The hairballs are in the small intestine. I don’t know anything more specific than that.
I listed the medication in my previous post.
Thank you for the advice about the groomer. But she just needs to stop ingesting hair all the time. That’s why we thought about that.
The brush we use is this one
Slicker brush Small animal Premium Care | 1030212 | Flamingo Pet Products
This nifty brush with a handle is just the ticket for small critters! The flexible pins untangle knots in their fur while giving their skin a soothing massage for improved blood circulation. Crafted from plastic and featuring a rubber handle for a solid…
www.flamingo.be
It does remove a lot of fur! A lot!! Much more than any other brush we’ve tried.
But if you have another brush to suggest, please do!!
I googled it and I don’t think it is available in my country.
I asked about the antibiotic and she said that since the hairballs cause inflammations over and over again she wants to prevent a possible septicemia. At least that’s what I think she said. My brain was mush during all this.
I do trust her as a vet. She is one of the very few vets in my country that has expertise on rabbits and exotic animals. So I just follow her instructions.
I wish I knew her sooner cause all this would have been prevented since our old vet proved to be totally clueless about rabbits.
I use double sided metal dog combs for my longhaired rabbits. I've never found a brush that will get right down to skin level, and some grooming tools are not suitable for a rabbit's thin skin.
This type:
It might be worth asking a groomer what tools & brands they would recommend - I found that the newer combs don't seem to be as good as my ancient ones.
This type:
It might be worth asking a groomer what tools & brands they would recommend - I found that the newer combs don't seem to be as good as my ancient ones.
Thank you!
I do have a comb like that and was scared to try it cause as you said rabbits have really thin skin. But I may give it a try with a lot of caution.
