Lillabelle not eating

[bunny momma]

Sorry, I did not realize she had gas in her tummy which would be painful. Gas usually accompanies slow gut motility, though I thought her motility was much improved from what I read. Gas can also be from diet.
Try to get some rest.

 

[susie bun]

Continuing to send vibes. Hopefully she will be able to eat a little for herself again soon, even if just herbs.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Sorry, I did not realize she had gas in her tummy which would be painful. Gas usually accompanies slow gut motility, though I thought her motility was much improved from what I read. Gas can also be from diet.
Try to get some rest.

Her tummy felt quite bloated so we thought must be gas? She is pooping fairly regularly but they are small and elongated. Idk what caused the gas but she was really stressed before.

She was better this time. Just opened her mouth and ate it. NWe gave her 100 mls just now and she hardly spat any out. She was hungry after not eating last feed. Just had motility drug and Loxicom as due at the same time so she will hopefully be comfortable for a while now.

I am so happy she ate some syringe feed after last time. Phil also gave her extra water, peppermint leaves, curly kale, sweetheart cabbage, 2 sprigs of parsley and she even managed a little hay!
So happy she has eaten more again! Well done Lillabelle! ❤

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Continuing to send vibes. Hopefully she will be able to eat a little for herself again soon, even if just herbs.

Thank you so much. She was much better in her last feed. Thank goodness she is doing ok now.

 

[Pets mum]

Thats a positive update, good to hear that she ate a variety of stuff, including hay. Really hope that continues, well done Lillabelle

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I just have to say this about Mischief. He has been looking after Lillabelle giving her lots of love ❤

I have been trying to let him out of the pen regularly as he hates being confined to the puppy pen. Well it is a nice big space as 8 panels in our bedroom. Sometimes Lillabelle wants to join him. Sometimes she is struggling so does not want to.

Whenever we open the gate for him he stands there wanting to go out then he looks at Lillabelle as if to say 'are you coming too?' and when she doesn't he will look out the gate then keep looking at her to ask her to come. A couple of times he went and lay beside her as if to think I will stay with you.

He seems to know she isn't well and he does try to give her love.

Lillabelle sat looking out the gate again today. My OH was asleep so she had to deal with me.
So I went and got veggies and she sat and ate loads. I do think she looks out at us to let us know it's feed time. Whether she chooses my OH or not idk but she knows when to tell us she is hungry ❤

 

[InspectorMorse]

I would give her a break from syringe feeds overnight as she sounds to have had a significant input this afternoon. Phil sent me the video of her fast breathing after the syringe feed. The fast breathing is stress related. So I think some de-stress’ time overnight will be of more benefit than more handling/ syringe feeds
Re-assess first thing in the morning by noting what she’s eaten and how much poo she has done.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I think I sent it! I was trying to do it on RU post and messages to your phone but they wouldn't work as file the wrong size, wrong type of file etc

I kept falling asleep as I did it and my OH kept saying 'Go to bed!' but I was worried that you all would be worried about Lillabelle so I felt I needed to post it

I think we sussed she was stressed as we let her go back in the pen to just calm down but I was so tired and it is hard to see it clearly when you are so caught up in counting her poos, trying to get her to eat, looking for signs she is well or not.

I have had sleep but I still feel shattered. As Lils has had a good syringe feed and eaten a few bits herself we have let them out for 2-3 hours to just chill in their usual spot under the bed. And I will probably go back to sleep.

Sorry if I worried you. She is doing much better now and is even 'periscoping' -is that what you call it on RU? We call it meerkating. Well she is doing like a meerkat to look at what we are doing on the bed. And we can hear her running about so she is doing really well. So good news finally ❤

We will give her a last feed later and then all of us can get some sleep. Poor Lillabelle looks absolutely shattered bless her. We have hardly seen her sleep

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I would give her a break from syringe feeds overnight as she sounds to have had a significant input this afternoon. Phil sent me the video of her fast breathing after the syringe feed. The fast breathing is stress related. So I think some de-stress’ time overnight will be of more benefit than more handling/ syringe feeds
Re-assess first thing in the morning by noting what she’s eaten and how much poo she has done.

Sorry IM did you mean give her syringe feeds until we go to bed? And let her go through the night eg 8 hour break? Or did you mean stop feeding from now?
She was good on the feed before last about 4.30pm and had about 80ml. Then she ate lots of herbs after that but we didn't know if you meant from bedtime or now to stop the feeds?

Then at the next feed she got all stressed again. We don't know why. She is pretty hungry when she actually wants the food. I wonder if hungry made her less stressed or is something making her stressed?

We will most likely leave syringe feeds for now and just offer her foods she loves and we have put Mischief out so we can leave food with her for a while and then we will let her out to chill. She just had some more parsley so she is eating herself

 

[InspectorMorse]

I meant no more syringe feeds until the morning.

See how her input and output has been overnight and if it’s been reasonable just try to be as hands off as possible. No making her run about, only pick her up for medicating and let her have as relaxed a day as possible. Only syringe feed again if her output reduces or if she doesn’t eat more than a couple of bits of herbs.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I meant no more syringe feeds until the morning.

See how her input and output has been overnight and if it’s been reasonable just try to be as hands off as possible. No making her run about, only pick her up for medicating and let her have as relaxed a day as possible. Only syringe feed again if her output reduces or if she doesn’t eat more than a couple of bits of herbs.

Ah I see. We weren't sure so we did feed her once before bed. She was hungry and had about 100ml at 12.30am. She has only eaten 4 sprigs of parsley since this afternoon at 4.30pm.The problem we have is that the vet told us to feed her before giving her the metoclopramide to line her stomach (I think?)

We have tried to get her to eat something herself but she is turning her nose up at everything. She had 4 sprigs of parsley at 8.30pm and 100ml recovery food at 12.30am. She just lies in the litter tray. I have put green hay on the litter trays to make her more comfortable as they are no longer eating it and both prefer the coarser timothy hay. Just until morning.

We will see how it goes. She poops about 10-15 irregular shaped poops that are a bit wet after she eats. But she is not eating much. She was much more settled for her feed last time and loves her cuddles and having her tummy tickled. She starts to fall asleep sometimes. She is so shattered bless her ❤

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Sorry repeat

 

[InspectorMorse]

I thought you said she had eaten a lot more than a few sprigs of herbs

So I went and got veggies and she sat and ate loads.

She was good on the feed before last about 4.30pm and had about 80ml. Then she ate lots of herbs after that.

Sorry, it’s just hard to give advice when I am not now sure what’s going on with regards to her eating for herself

 

[bunny momma]

When I syringe feed, I usually do it after giving motility meds and before giving metacam.
Her poo will usually be smaller with syringe feeds because the fibers in the feed are shorter. The important thing is that the quantity out is appropriate for quantity in, minus water.
Sending more vibes.

 

[susie bun]

Hope you have all had some rest overnight. Does she like any other herbs? My rabbit is a big fan of fresh coriander.
You are doing your best for her. Do hope she can make a full recovery.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

My OH didn't wake me up! I was falling asleep everywhere again this morning so he told me to go back to bed and he would look after her. But I said to wake me up and he let me sleep. Her motility drug was due at 12.30pm and she has missed it completely! He meant well as I am struggling with hardly any sleep due to looking after L and my pain and am becoming ill. I did need sleep but I wish he had woken me up. We have argued about this but he saw she was eating by herself so thought she didn't need it ☹

We have given it to her now. She has been eating some food. She has eaten today at 3.30pm 2 cavolo nero leaves, nibbled on hay and half a sweetheart cabbage leaf. Then she ate more hay 4-5pm and then she has just eaten a leaf of Cavolo Nero at 6.30pm and I watched her eat that. Then we gave her the meds so we are up to date on them.

She has been eating and pooing today though. Her poops are not as great as I would like but she pooped again just now. They are small and irregular shaped just as you expect a bunny to have coming out of gut stasis.

I thought you said she had eaten a lot more than a few sprigs of herbs





Sorry, it’s just hard to give advice when I am not now sure what’s going on with regards to her eating for herself

The problem has been that she eats about 4 sprigs of herbs and then later 4 again and then she may eat a few veggies but then may go 4 hours not eating again. I thought it may be due to when she had her meds but now she is eating something without her meds??

I have only been posting when she eats something. Idk how much she needs to eat before stopping the syringe feeds. We have been trying to keep syringe feeds going to keep her system moving. When you said to stop them due to her being stressed I thought it was because she is struggling so much with the syringe feeding and so leave her overnight. As everybun says it is a question of weighing up her eating and her stress levels. When I don't hear back I need to think for myself or if I get told something I do it as you have much more experience. I don't challenge it or question it.

We can't afford to get her teeth done tomorrow anyway. We are looking at Tuesday as being the day as we get some money then and I messaged you about this. We will ring the vets and explain everything to her and that she missed a dose of motility drugs and see what she says but it may need to wait a day or 2 so we have a chance to get her eating more?

L does look a bit brighter today
and is lying down sploofing atm. She is not doing well in the pen and looks depressed. She wants to be out. Phil did let her out for a while today under the bed but she is in the pen now so I can monitor what she does. I realise she has to be in there to be near food to encourage eating plus we can see what she is doing. Also if she is with Chief he eats everything so we are having to split them up to feed her. They hate being apart and she does get a bit low when away from him.

Based on what she has eaten today (I have told you everything she has eaten and what time she had it) do we need to syringe feed her in a minute do you think? Sorry if not making myself clear what she eats but I will tell you time she ate it from now on so you know.

I am thinking maybe we should syringe feed her to give her a boost now once her meds have kicked in. She is eating but not anywhere near normal. What do you think? She is drinking out the bowl plus we hold a bottle for her to drink to keep her fluids going.

Sorry my OH loves her but he loves me too and can see I am really struggling. Of course I would rather be woken up to give L her meds but he just thought he was doing the right thing and that L is eating so it was ok to leave me to sleep

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

When I syringe feed, I usually do it after giving motility meds and before giving metacam.
Her poo will usually be smaller with syringe feeds because the fibers in the feed are shorter. The important thing is that the quantity out is appropriate for quantity in, minus water.
Sending more vibes.

Yes she is pooping out what you would expect from a syringe feed plus the veggies she has. It is not a lot but she is not eating much tbh. Thank you for the vibes x

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Hope you have all had some rest overnight. Does she like any other herbs? My rabbit is a big fan of fresh coriander.
You are doing your best for her. Do hope she can make a full recovery.

Thank you. Too much I'm afraid ☹

We have been trying her on coriander and dill but she just turns her nose up at them. Parsley has been all she eats. She normally loves dill and coriander.

She has eaten a little Cavolo Nero today and some sweetheart cabbage but she loves them normally. She loves food normally

We have tried everything we can buy around here. We can't find spring greens anywhere local though atm.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

We will weigh her in a bit aswell to check what is happening. Sorry to everyone that I have sent another  long post. I will try and write less

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

She just ate 6 SS pellets just now at 8pm