Sylar's stasis thread

[roxyroller88]

He doesn't get spring greens, just fresh herbs. I'm pretty scared of giving him anything that might make him gassy. He's still mostly eating Parsley but he has also taken to picking up carrot peelings which he has always ignored in the past. We put them in for Hiro who loves them but now Sy wants them too :/ Confusing boy!

 

[MightyMax]

He doesn't get spring greens, just fresh herbs. I'm pretty scared of giving him anything that might make him gassy. He's still mostly eating Parsley but he has also taken to picking up carrot peelings which he has always ignored in the past. We put them in for Hiro who loves them but now Sy wants them too :/ Confusing boy!

I think you're very wise. Don't want to court unnecessary trouble.

Maybe Sy wants them cos they must be good if Hiro eats them Have to love him

 

[Griffski]

Hi roxyroller .. have been pondering your comment re pellets and although mine seem ok on them (at least through the indoor winter months), I'm wondering if now they
're back outdoors it might be a good time to try drastically reducing pellets (on the basis that perhaps the pellets AND grass combo might be too much for Spartacus ?) and monitor. Did you reduce them gradually over a period ?

 

[roxyroller88]

Yes I did I just cut them down by a few grams a day symar gets none now and we have settled on about 5g for Hiro just to keep his weight up.
My downstairs bunnies get 10g in the morning and the same at nighy. Hard to keep up sometimes!

 

[Griffski]

Yes I did I just cut them down by a few grams a day symar gets none now and we have settled on about 5g for Hiro just to keep his weight up.
My downstairs bunnies get 10g in the morning and the same at nighy. Hard to keep up sometimes!

Thanks RR88 - will try the same - i'd rather they get more grass (and thus more freedom) and fewer pellets than the other way round.. so am going to try for a few months to see how Sparty gets on. Upstairs/downstairs bunnies lol

 

[roxyroller88]

Sylar hasn't been doing so well over the last few weeks. He's been a bit off his greens, some days really enthusiastic and others not so much. His poops haven't looked as good and we've had a few gassy/stasis episodes too where he's refused food and is obviously uncomfortable One last Thursday and another yesterday and I think there was one the week before too. We managed to bring him back with Infacol, Metacam and a bit of emeprid.
He is still pellet free, gets a nice variety of fresh greens and some dried forage daily. I'm thinking of cutting him back to just hay for a few days to see if that helps. The one thing we have never cut out is greens.
*sigh*

 

[roxyroller88]

I've ordered some Pro Fibre, Bio Lapsis and some Oxbow Digestive Support... do you think any of these will benefit him at all? Figured they would be useful for the other buns anyway.

 

[Griffski]

Sorry to hear you're back on the rollercoaster with sylar Your plan sounds good to me... back to basics to reset his intestinal flora

 

[Omi]

When you say greens, do you mean spring greens? I thought you'd decided not to chance these with him?

If you're going to try cutting things out, I would just cut out the "greens", whatever they are. My reasoning would be that if you cut out greens, herbs and dried forage and just give him hay, you won't know what, if anything, has been a problem for him.

I know it's difficult for you to source them, but I would really recommend that you try to find some Brambles and feed those as often as you can.

As far as the three products that you've mentioned go, I've not used any of them so can't really comment on whether they would be helpful to Sy. I can't see that any of them are going to hurt though and who knows they might be beneficial. However, as with cutting out items of food, I would try him on each one individually for a while, so that if he does improve you will know what has helped.

I'm sorry, you must feel quite upset by his recent episodes. Look on the positive side though, you have managed to help him each time

I hope that you find something that helps.

 

[roxyroller88]

When you say greens, do you mean spring greens? I thought you'd decided not to chance these with him?

If you're going to try cutting things out, I would just cut out the "greens", whatever they are. My reasoning would be that if you cut out greens, herbs and dried forage and just give him hay, you won't know what, if anything, has been a problem for him.

I know it's difficult for you to source them, but I would really recommend that you try to find some Brambles and feed those as often as you can.

As far as the three products that you've mentioned go, I've not used any of them so can't really comment on whether they would be helpful to Sy. I can't see that any of them are going to hurt though and who knows they might be beneficial. However, as with cutting out items of food, I would try him on each one individually for a while, so that if he does improve you will know what has helped.

I'm sorry, you must feel quite upset by his recent episodes. Look on the positive side though, you have managed to help him each time

I hope that you find something that helps.

No spring greens, he just gets herbs. Coriander, Parsley, Dill, Mint and Basil but he usually just eats the first three.

Yep! Pretty upset. I'm going to get him checked by a vet to see if anything else is going on but it feels the same as usual. Quiet tummy, discomfort, comes on suddenly etc.

 

[MightyMax]

No spring greens, he just gets herbs. Coriander, Parsley, Dill, Mint and Basil but he usually just eats the first three.

Yep! Pretty upset. I'm going to get him checked by a vet to see if anything else is going on but it feels the same as usual. Quiet tummy, discomfort, comes on suddenly etc.

Has there been any change that might have stressed him?

I'm sorry to hear this. He seems to have been doing well on his herbs, hasn't he?
How long has he been stasis free?

 

[roxyroller88]

He's been pellet free since Feb and he has been pretty good since then. We've had the odd little incident but all spread out and he bounced back much quicker than the last 3 times.

Last week some kids were in our garden throwing stones at the drainpipe by their bedroom window we quickly sorted It out but the other two times there was nothing obvious that could have stressed him out. I'm going to speak to the o/h and make sure that he hasn't started sneaking him any treats but god knows.... He's moulting a bit at the moment?

 

[thumps_]

He's been pellet free since Feb and he has been pretty good since then. We've had the odd little incident but all spread out and he bounced back much quicker than the last 3 times.

Last week some kids were in our garden throwing stones at the drainpipe by their bedroom window we quickly sorted It out but the other two times there was nothing obvious that could have stressed him out. I'm going to speak to the o/h and make sure that he hasn't started sneaking him any treats but god knows.... He's moulting a bit at the moment?

I'm really, really,sorry to hear that Sylar is still having problems.
I would expect that if something external was stressing him out badly enough to affect GI motility, he would be running to a safe place & stamping warning stamps.

It seems to me that we are looking for something very intermittant.
Yes, accessing "inappropriate" food is high on the list, but not the only factor.

There are 2 very outside possibilities which come to mind. Both are very rare & I don't know how a vet would detect them without ultrasound when he's in stasis.
The bowel can kink for a few mins on a band of fibrous tissue (adhesion) or if he's been born with the small bowel connecting to the caecum at the wrong angle. We can get a clue that this sort of thing is happening because the blood glucose is much higher than happens with other causes of stasis. (Francis Harcourt Brown) (I don't even know whether you can test a rabbit's glucose level at home as you can for cats.)
Both of these usually cause much more severe symptoms, & more severe stasis episodes so please don't let me alarm you. I'm just scraping the barrel of my very limited knowledge.

My heart is with you both.

 

[MightyMax]

I'm really, really,sorry to hear that Sylar is still having problems.
I would expect that if something external was stressing him out badly enough to affect GI motility, he would be running to a safe place & stamping warning stamps.

It seems to me that we are looking for something very intermittant.
Yes, accessing "inappropriate" food is high on the list, but not the only factor.

There are 2 very outside possibilities which come to mind. Both are very rare & I don't know how a vet would detect them without ultrasound when he's in stasis.
The bowel can kink for a few mins on a band of fibrous tissue (adhesion) or if he's been born with the small bowel connecting to the caecum at the wrong angle. We can get a clue that this sort of thing is happening because the blood glucose is much higher than happens with other causes of stasis. (Francis Harcourt Brown) (I don't even know whether you can test a rabbit's glucose level at home as you can for cats.)
Both of these usually cause much more severe symptoms, & more severe stasis episodes so please don't let me alarm you. I'm just scraping the barrel of my very limited knowledge.

My heart is with you both.

I have known rabbits to have their blood glucose level to be taken by their owner at home. I don't think it's something everyone would want to do, but it's possible. Parsnipbun has a blood glucose measure at home, or used to ...



Also, I think moulting *does* have an impact on a rabbit. It causes stress and uses more calories. In addition of course there is the ingestion of hair.

I tend to feed an extra bit of high fibre food to a rabbit going through a big moult.


..... and hello thumps :wave:

 

[thumps_]

I have known rabbits to have their blood glucose level to be taken by their owner at home. I don't think it's something everyone would want to do, but it's possible.

Also, I think moulting *does* have an impact on a rabbit. It causes stress and uses more calories. In addition of course there is the ingestion of hair.

I tend to feed an extra bit of high fibre food to a rabbit going through a big moult.




..... and hello thumps :wave:

Thank you for the info MM
Also, yes I'm incomlete agreement re moulting & it is classed as one of the multitude of rabbit stresses - a rabbit has to increase calorie intake by 40% to moult.
Perhaps not applicable to Sylar, & very difficult to see in a completely black rabbit, I have noticed that they tend to stop moulting if they cannot increase calorie intake sufficiently. Very strikingly seen in Thumper who sometimes had moult lines from 3 different seasons.(Not on my siggy though - must have been the sow thistle year:lol
My apologies, my brain needs a good oiling.:lol:

 

[roxyroller88]

I'm really, really,sorry to hear that Sylar is still having problems.
I would expect that if something external was stressing him out badly enough to affect GI motility, he would be running to a safe place & stamping warning stamps.

It seems to me that we are looking for something very intermittant.
Yes, accessing "inappropriate" food is high on the list, but not the only factor.

There are 2 very outside possibilities which come to mind. Both are very rare & I don't know how a vet would detect them without ultrasound when he's in stasis.
The bowel can kink for a few mins on a band of fibrous tissue (adhesion) or if he's been born with the small bowel connecting to the caecum at the wrong angle. We can get a clue that this sort of thing is happening because the blood glucose is much higher than happens with other causes of stasis. (Francis Harcourt Brown) (I don't even know whether you can test a rabbit's glucose level at home as you can for cats.)
Both of these usually cause much more severe symptoms, & more severe stasis episodes so please don't let me alarm you. I'm just scraping the barrel of my very limited knowledge.

My heart is with you both.

Well... Molly did keep him in and his blood glucose was checked regularly and he also had an ultrasound done too... hopefully she would have picked up on something like this but she said everything looked fine in his guts... but at the moment I'm open to any suggestions.
He's full of beans tonight

 

[roxyroller88]

He definitely gets more stroppy when he moults so I suppose it's a possibility. I don't know I'm not ready to stop investigating yet.
He was trying to put his claws out again recently... And even weirder he was biting off Hiro's nails too... :/ I don't know if this is just a weird coincidence or if he is trying to tell us something!

And yes... Hello Thumps!!!

 

[thumps_]

He definitely gets more stroppy when he moults so I suppose it's a possibility. I don't know I'm not ready to stop investigating yet.
He was trying to put his claws out again recently... And even weirder he was biting off Hiro's nails too... :/ I don't know if this is just a weird coincidence or if he is trying to tell us something!

And yes... Hello Thumps!!!

Hi roxyroller88 - You're both always remembered here.

Trying to bite out the nails is unusual behaviour. It can be "normal" to bite back the dew claws - front legs at the inner side - used for grooming.
The only time I've heard of a rabbit trying to bite out the nails on his paws is when they're painful - or more precisely when the foot is painful.
Others have far more experience of more rabbits than I do. Just wondering whether we have a "lead in?"

 

[roxyroller88]

Hi roxyroller88 - You're both always remembered here.

Trying to bite out the nails is unusual behaviour. It can be "normal" to bite back the dew claws - front legs at the inner side - used for grooming.
The only time I've heard of a rabbit trying to bite out the nails on his paws is when they're painful - or more precisely when the foot is painful.
Others have far more experience of more rabbits than I do. Just wondering whether we have a "lead in?"

I can't remember which foot it was but I'm pretty sure it was one of his back legs. Quite a long time ago he actually pulled a claw out, we found it in his tunnel but there was no blood/limping etc and we never saw him do it again!

It's just weird because when Hiro was poorly the other week, Sylar was chewing Hiro's nails too. He bit one of them right back. He wouldn't leave his feet alone!

 

[MightyMax]

Hi roxyroller88 - You're both always remembered here.

Trying to bite out the nails is unusual behaviour. It can be "normal" to bite back the dew claws - front legs at the inner side - used for grooming.
The only time I've heard of a rabbit trying to bite out the nails on his paws is when they're painful - or more precisely when the foot is painful.
Others have far more experience of more rabbits than I do. Just wondering whether we have a "lead in?"

You're absolutely right thumps - it is unusual behaviour for a rabbit to chew off it's nails. It's even rarer for a rabbit chew off it's mate's nails! Though someone will come on here and tell me they see it all the time :lol:

It could be a fungal infection, or a bacterial infection causing irritation. Sarcoptes burrowing mites can cause itchiness and pain between the toes.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/Mange/Sarcoptes.htm

If it is a fungal infection, and it's a reasonable thought, it would take quite a while to clear up. But that wouldn't apply to him biting Hiro's nails, not unless Hiro had asked him to :?


Self mutilation through boredom could be another cause .. as can stress and anxiety. An occasion of fear can do it too.
Check that there's nothing hiding in the paws that might be irritating - for example a grass seed. And of course keep the nails short.


This is a good article with a few causes/reasons for what you've described:

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Mechanical/Mutilation/Selfmutilation.htm

Another article - of limited usefulness probably, but I like it because it features a cute rabbit wearing a pink T-Shirt

http://www.catexpert.co.uk/other-animals/rabbits/rabbits-which-chew-their-feet-or-body/