ruthsrabbits
New Kit
Hello,
So sorry this is going to be long but I could really use some advice, my rabbit Neil hasn’t been eating/drinking like his normal self for almost 2 months now, his poop quality and output is fluctuating but still not up to his normal. He’s a Dutch rabbit, unknown age but we’ve had him since 2023, he has access to a secure outdoor enclosure during the day, his usual diet was unlimited 1st cut Timothy hay, 1tsp of nuggets and dried/fresh forage 2x daily.
First week of May he had his vaccine, at this appointment our usual lovely vet saw some slight spurs on his teeth without any visible soft tissue damage, suggested since he’s not showing any signs of discomfort to watch and wait and book a dental later if necessary. She also thought she could feel a lump in his abdomen so advised us to bring him back in a weeks time for another check to see if it’s still there/changed etc.
At this second appointment (14th of May) no lump could be felt so we thought all was well. Following this he started eating less hay, pooping less, poops were smaller, harder and he started drinking less. At first I thought it could be from the stress of the vaccine and 2 vet visits in the past 2 weeks so gave him the usual potential stasis treatment of (additional to unlimited hay) dried and fresh forage and herbs every couple of hours, everything I offered he’d be really excited for and eat greedily except for his hay/water. He had a similar episode around the same time last year (unexplained stasis, slight spurs so did a dental just to be sure, similar long inconclusive stasis recovery where he’d only really eat and poop at night, but it didn’t go on as long as this episode) and we found syringe feeding him slightly warm (rabbit safe) peppermint tea helped with hydration and digestion so we started doing that again and also giving him a daily bowl of cool peppermint tea as he drinks this more consistently than water.
This went on for days so we took him to the vets where we met another (wonderful and amazing) vet who gave him a really thorough examination, she felt what she described as a lump in his stomach too but when she massaged his stomach it went away so she said it’s likely his caecum. When she examined his teeth she also saw the slight spurs and couldn’t see any sore areas, she took bloods that day and suggested depending on the blood results doing a dental just in case and maybe do some abdominal scans to be sure. So we booked that in for the 4th of June and took him home with metacam and cisapride, again he never lost his appetite for anything other than hay, even though he’s managed tougher foods than hay like dandelion roots, his poops neither improved or declined consistently, just fluctuated without any pattern.
His bloods came back, the lab tester told the vet his neutrophils/white cells were raised and that it could be indicative of e.cuniculi and the vet said we could pursue that after the dental if necessary but he doesn’t have any symptoms of it and it wasn’t brought up again post op so I’m not sure. His dental went well the vet showed us the X-rays, the spurs weren’t bad or causing any damage, his teeth aren’t misaligned but he has some bone density loss in his lower jaw (I think), particularly on his right side which might make chewing hay more painful, I was advised to feel his jaw regularly to check for any lumps/changes.
The vet said to continue metacam and cisapride for 5 days then try pausing pain meds to see if they’re necessary long term for his jaw, I gave him extra nuggets softened with peppermint tea instead of critical care since he would eat them well without having to stress him out syringe feeding him. We saw no real improvement or decline for a week, he slowly started eating more hay but only really in the evening/night, softer hay than his usual but I was grateful for anything, he seemed to be picking up for a few days with much better poops, no pain meds and less supplementary forage but since Saturday he’s dipped again so I restarted his pain meds, gave him another new type of soft cut Timothy hay, his poops have gotten smaller, harder and are more teardrop shaped.
Last night they were smaller still so I offered him some dried carrot tops, he ate some but much slower and didn’t look for the rest around his room, refused to be syringed peppermint tea, offered nuggets and he nibbled a few but normally he’d go crazy for them so I decided to take him to the OOH vet (not my usual vets) to get some medications to get his gut moving again. The vet could hear gut sounds, said his teeth look perfectly fine. She gave him 3 injections, buprenorphine, metaclopramide and one I can’t remember the name of that’s an appetite stimulant and helps with nausea even though rabbits can’t vomit. The bupe (I assume since it did this to my cat after her dental too) has made him spaced out and seems a bit confused. I’ve read that it can make rabbits stop eating well for a while and that seems to have happened since he’s even ignoring his favourites. He has thankfully ate some fresh greens from the garden this morning.
I’ve booked a phone consultation with my vet to see if we can come up with a plan on what to do/explore next but I literally don’t know where to start. I’m tempted to ask for full bloods and some full body scans just to rule out as much as possible as quickly as we can, I don’t want this to rumble on for more months if it doesn’t have to. It weirdly seems to follow after his vaccination both times, could he be reacting badly to that? I really hope not because it’s so vital and it might just be a coincidence but the timing is unusual!
During his stasis last year we were told he has an arthritic knee (not that you’d know from the way he jumps around haha) so could he have an issue with his bone health that’s causing pain in his jaw? Or anywhere else? I read that indoor rabbits that are fed poor diets can develop osteoporosis issues and he was rescued from horrific conditions so maybe his start to life could have led to this?
I’m just at my wits end and super sleep deprived after nearly 2 months of round the clock monitoring, 5 different types of hay, almost every possible leaf/herb, I even watch him on bunny cam while I’m at work haha. I just can’t seem to get him fully back on his feet, I’m desperate to figure out what’s going on so I can help him so if anyone has any ideas/advice what it could be or what I should ask the vet to check I’d really appreciate it!
So sorry this is going to be long but I could really use some advice, my rabbit Neil hasn’t been eating/drinking like his normal self for almost 2 months now, his poop quality and output is fluctuating but still not up to his normal. He’s a Dutch rabbit, unknown age but we’ve had him since 2023, he has access to a secure outdoor enclosure during the day, his usual diet was unlimited 1st cut Timothy hay, 1tsp of nuggets and dried/fresh forage 2x daily.
First week of May he had his vaccine, at this appointment our usual lovely vet saw some slight spurs on his teeth without any visible soft tissue damage, suggested since he’s not showing any signs of discomfort to watch and wait and book a dental later if necessary. She also thought she could feel a lump in his abdomen so advised us to bring him back in a weeks time for another check to see if it’s still there/changed etc.
At this second appointment (14th of May) no lump could be felt so we thought all was well. Following this he started eating less hay, pooping less, poops were smaller, harder and he started drinking less. At first I thought it could be from the stress of the vaccine and 2 vet visits in the past 2 weeks so gave him the usual potential stasis treatment of (additional to unlimited hay) dried and fresh forage and herbs every couple of hours, everything I offered he’d be really excited for and eat greedily except for his hay/water. He had a similar episode around the same time last year (unexplained stasis, slight spurs so did a dental just to be sure, similar long inconclusive stasis recovery where he’d only really eat and poop at night, but it didn’t go on as long as this episode) and we found syringe feeding him slightly warm (rabbit safe) peppermint tea helped with hydration and digestion so we started doing that again and also giving him a daily bowl of cool peppermint tea as he drinks this more consistently than water.
This went on for days so we took him to the vets where we met another (wonderful and amazing) vet who gave him a really thorough examination, she felt what she described as a lump in his stomach too but when she massaged his stomach it went away so she said it’s likely his caecum. When she examined his teeth she also saw the slight spurs and couldn’t see any sore areas, she took bloods that day and suggested depending on the blood results doing a dental just in case and maybe do some abdominal scans to be sure. So we booked that in for the 4th of June and took him home with metacam and cisapride, again he never lost his appetite for anything other than hay, even though he’s managed tougher foods than hay like dandelion roots, his poops neither improved or declined consistently, just fluctuated without any pattern.
His bloods came back, the lab tester told the vet his neutrophils/white cells were raised and that it could be indicative of e.cuniculi and the vet said we could pursue that after the dental if necessary but he doesn’t have any symptoms of it and it wasn’t brought up again post op so I’m not sure. His dental went well the vet showed us the X-rays, the spurs weren’t bad or causing any damage, his teeth aren’t misaligned but he has some bone density loss in his lower jaw (I think), particularly on his right side which might make chewing hay more painful, I was advised to feel his jaw regularly to check for any lumps/changes.
The vet said to continue metacam and cisapride for 5 days then try pausing pain meds to see if they’re necessary long term for his jaw, I gave him extra nuggets softened with peppermint tea instead of critical care since he would eat them well without having to stress him out syringe feeding him. We saw no real improvement or decline for a week, he slowly started eating more hay but only really in the evening/night, softer hay than his usual but I was grateful for anything, he seemed to be picking up for a few days with much better poops, no pain meds and less supplementary forage but since Saturday he’s dipped again so I restarted his pain meds, gave him another new type of soft cut Timothy hay, his poops have gotten smaller, harder and are more teardrop shaped.
Last night they were smaller still so I offered him some dried carrot tops, he ate some but much slower and didn’t look for the rest around his room, refused to be syringed peppermint tea, offered nuggets and he nibbled a few but normally he’d go crazy for them so I decided to take him to the OOH vet (not my usual vets) to get some medications to get his gut moving again. The vet could hear gut sounds, said his teeth look perfectly fine. She gave him 3 injections, buprenorphine, metaclopramide and one I can’t remember the name of that’s an appetite stimulant and helps with nausea even though rabbits can’t vomit. The bupe (I assume since it did this to my cat after her dental too) has made him spaced out and seems a bit confused. I’ve read that it can make rabbits stop eating well for a while and that seems to have happened since he’s even ignoring his favourites. He has thankfully ate some fresh greens from the garden this morning.
I’ve booked a phone consultation with my vet to see if we can come up with a plan on what to do/explore next but I literally don’t know where to start. I’m tempted to ask for full bloods and some full body scans just to rule out as much as possible as quickly as we can, I don’t want this to rumble on for more months if it doesn’t have to. It weirdly seems to follow after his vaccination both times, could he be reacting badly to that? I really hope not because it’s so vital and it might just be a coincidence but the timing is unusual!
During his stasis last year we were told he has an arthritic knee (not that you’d know from the way he jumps around haha) so could he have an issue with his bone health that’s causing pain in his jaw? Or anywhere else? I read that indoor rabbits that are fed poor diets can develop osteoporosis issues and he was rescued from horrific conditions so maybe his start to life could have led to this?
I’m just at my wits end and super sleep deprived after nearly 2 months of round the clock monitoring, 5 different types of hay, almost every possible leaf/herb, I even watch him on bunny cam while I’m at work haha. I just can’t seem to get him fully back on his feet, I’m desperate to figure out what’s going on so I can help him so if anyone has any ideas/advice what it could be or what I should ask the vet to check I’d really appreciate it!
