Lillabelle not eating

[twistedtiggerz69]

They were so excited tonight waiting for their 'herbs' supper. They had some Norfolk nettles and Lillabelle was jumping up and down. So lovely to see them eating together like this. We didn't realise how slow her eating had become. Now she is eating so quickly. She has been sleeping a lot today like me

We had to walk around Deal yesterday while Lillabelle had her dental. We walked down the pier, walked around the shops, walked all day! My knees hurt so much today! We especially loved sitting in the lovely park there. We chatted to dog owners and watched the squirrels teasing the dogs. There were 7 squirrels at one point. We left them some nuts

It was such a long day but we were so lucky to get this spot at the other vets. It would have been awful if she had to wait any longer.

We are enjoying watching them snuggled up together. We will get some photos up soon of them now that L's dental is done ❤

 

[bunny momma]

I am glad you got to rest and Lillabelle is eating well! Your walks and the time in the park sounds lovely. Though between your knees and your OH's recent hip replacement I understand why you are both hurting.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Yes we have all been relaxing together mostly. Although we are a bit concerned that she is still showing signs of being in pain. Sometimes she is still fast breathing on and off. And she keeps chewing the skirting board. She is eating very well and goes through her veg and hay super fast. As quick as Mischief which is saying something.

She is still on 3 mls of Loxicom for dogs one dose in 24 hours. Also Metoclopramide 3 mls every 12 hours.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Yes we have all been relaxing together mostly. Although we are a bit concerned that she is still showing signs of being in pain. Sometimes she is still fast breathing on and off. And she keeps chewing the skirting board. She is eating very well and goes through her veg and hay super fast. As quick as Mischief which is saying something.

She is still on 3 mls of Loxicom for dogs one dose in 24 hours. Also Metoclopramide 3 mls every 12 hours.

Have you had the blood test results back and did you get the printout of the details of her dental treatment?

is there any chance the paint on the skirting board has lead in it?

 

[Pets mum]

Just a thought, but even though she's had her teeth burred, it might take a few days for her sore tongue to heal. This happened to one of my bridge bunnies, sending lots more vibes for her xx

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Have you had the blood test results back and did you get the printout of the details of her dental treatment?

is there any chance the paint on the skirting board has lead in it?

I will phone them tomorrow for them as they closed today.

It's not lead paint.

Lillabelle has not been chewing the skirting today. We put some more willow sticks out and she has been chewing them a bit. She is still fast breathing a bit. We wondered if maybe she is getting nervous about being picked up for her meds.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Just a thought, but even though she's had her teeth burred, it might take a few days for her sore tongue to heal. This happened to one of my bridge bunnies, sending lots more vibes for her xx

I did wonder that actually. L has gone 3 weeks with a sore tongue from her burrs which must have hurt her tongue a lot. She is on pain killers for it but it still must be pretty sore ☹

 

[InspectorMorse]

I will phone them tomorrow for them as they closed today.

It's not lead paint.

Lillabelle has not been chewing the skirting today. We put some more willow sticks out and she has been chewing them a bit. She is still fast breathing a bit. We wondered if maybe she is getting nervous about being picked up for her meds.

Don’t let her eat too much willow as she’s on a high dose of a NSAIDs (Metacam).Willow has some NSAI properties.

The cause of the fast breathing could be stress if it happens as you approach her to pick her up or after she’s been handled. But if it happens when she’s just lying down it *might* indicate her lung function is compromised by either an enlarged heart and/or fluid in her chest cavity.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Ok thanks I will speak to vets tomorrow.

I will need to watch her to see when it happens. It is probably stress although we still have the pen up and we ask her to go in there and then pick her up. We don't chase her or anything. Phil just drives her in carefully and I stand by the door so she just goes in and I shut the gate after.

We will know more with the blood tests and I hope she is healthy x

 

[InspectorMorse]

if she only does it when put in the pen it’s almost certainly stress. By now she will know that being put in the pen usually leads to being picked up.

Why is she still on prokinetics?

 

[susie bun]

Good to see some positive updates. What a trooper is your Lillabelle! Continuing vibes from Bertieville.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

if she only does it when put in the pen it’s almost certainly stress. By now she will know that being put in the pen usually leads to being picked up.

Why is she still on prokinetics?

She is not fast breathing anymore really.

Well the vet said to reduce them from 8 hourly to 12 hourly. Her poops are still a mix of medium to small. I will ring vets tomorrow. I had a bad day with pain today and was meant to ring the vets today. I will ring and ask what to do about them tomorrow

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Good to see some positive updates. What a trooper is your Lillabelle! Continuing vibes from Bertieville.

She is a toughie that's for sure. Thank you to you and Bertie

 

[Pets mum]

Glad to hear Lillabelle is not fast breathing now, that's a positive, look after yourself too xx

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Yes she just did a huge flop. Third one in 2 days. She is more relaxed now.
Sometimes she jumps on the bed and she is actually coming up nearer us recently. She will lie down next to us for strokes and she loves it. She is a real softie really ❤

My OH always picked her up through her GI stasis and held her while I fed her. She has changed so much now. She has always been a nervous rabbit and hated being picked up and did this growl that sounded like a giant angry bee and she would bite and kick us.

Well she no longer does that noise. Typical girl she loves my OH. He has been very very gradually showing her we mean no harm. Well gone is this scary rabbit that bit me. Since her syringe feeds I can now stroke her and feel her belly, chest and she even lets me tickle her under her chin. She has changed so much.

It has been since the syringe feeds. I feel she knows we won't hurt her now and trusts us more and she loves her strokes now and she comes to us so I think it is ok. She is no longer fast breathing and is so much more relaxed with us.

She hates the Metoclopramide though. She gives me this look that says 'you can try' She loves her Loxicom. She is totally fine when we give her that. But we cannot get her to take her Metoclopramide. We have tried so many ways to get her to take it. She just spits it out every time with a look like 'told you so'

We have resorted to buying apple juice today. We thought add a little but the vet is like 'just give it to her in smaller amounts.' But we have tried that. She said no to us using a banana. Would a teeny bit of AJ be that bad? Surely we need to get the meds in her? We are worried in case that is why she has some really tiny poops in with the good size ones.

The vet was adamant give it to her exactly the right time. It's vital doses are not late. She said you cannot reduce it quickly. We worry this it is bad for her as she spits it out. The vet is really scary. I don't want to tell her we can't get her to take it

 

[katbun]

As someone with stubborn bunnies, I often use little bits of apple juice or apple puree to trick my buns into taking meds. Right now I'm dipping the syringe in diluted blueberry juice to convince joey to eat a some critical care. I've never seen any side effects from this, it seems to me that little extra sugar is worth it to get the meds into them, after all isn't that why they love meloxicam?

Anyway someone else may come and say why this is bad for them, but that's my take. I've mentioned that I do this to vets and they've never had a problem with it. Did the vet say why not to use banana? Maybe there's some clinical reason you can't use fruit, or it interacting with Metoclopramide or something? If the vet explicit said no to fruit, you probably need to figure out if there's a medical reason or if it's her personal opinion that you 'shouldn't need to'.

As a suggestion for how to use the apple juice sparingly, I've found that a small amount of pure apple juice at the end of the syringe, followed by the meds, works a lot better than mixing the meds with the AJ first (so suck up the correct dose of meds into the syringe, and then a little AJ into the same syringe, so the bunny tastes the AJ first). And if you think you can get away with it, I do one or two syringes a day with just AJ (I'm talking like 0.2ml) so that that taste isn't always followed up by a bad one in the bunny's memory and you can keep the trickery going longer.

Good luck!

 

[InspectorMorse]

I don’t understand why she’s still on metoclopramide ?

 

[bunny momma]

I heard of tapering off motility meds after stasis, yet once the bunny is eating normally it is rarely continued after a few days.
Your bunny was on it for a few weeks, so perhaps your vet believed her system became dependent on the motility meds (not sure if this is possible);, hence the recommendation to taper off them over a longer period.
IM may have references that compared pros and cons of tapering off to stopping motility meds abruptly.

 

[InspectorMorse]

I heard of tapering off motility meds after stasis, yet once the bunny is eating normally it is rarely continued after a few days.
Your bunny was on it for a few weeks, so perhaps your vet believed her system became dependent on the motility meds (not sure if this is possible);, hence the recommendation to taper off them over a longer period.
IM may have references that compared pros and cons of tapering off to stopping motility meds abruptly.

In humans stopping metoclopramide immediately can cause withdrawal symptoms if it was used over a long period of time, ie weeks and at high doses. But AFAIK it shouldn’t be a problem if the Rabbit was only on it continuously for a few days. Which I don’t think L has been as mostly she’s refused to swallow it.

If input and output is now normal I would want to ask the Vet why they feel it to be necessary to keep giving it.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I missed vets yesterday when they called. I rang them a couple of times this week but waiting for our vet to ring back. So annoying but she lm to ring on Monday.

My OH stopped her Metoclopramide 2 days ago before he told me Luckily it sounds as if she will be ok without.

I will let you know what the blood test says