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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
› Forum › THE LOUNGE › Momo possibly sick again
Tonight I noticed Momo acting exactly the way she was when she had that gas issue a month or so again and we had to take her to the emergency room. Since I had Critical Care already, I force-fed her some (which took an hour, since she didn’t want it) and then made her drink water. I put her in an x-pen so I could watch her tonight, and she’s just sitting in her litter box. Her ears are up, as if she were interested or happy, but she’s still breathing fairly quickly. When I was showering off the mounds of fur, Stan said that he saw her drinking water from the bowl I put in the x-pen. I put some Rescue Remedy in the water to calm her down some, hoping that would help. I also massaged her stomach a little, and very gently.
Obviously if it gets worse, I’ll take her to the emergency vet, but otherwise I’m going to watch her tonight and take her in tomorrow morning.
What I want to know is… why is this happening? She didn’t have a single health problem for the entire first year of her life, and now she’s had this twice in one month. I haven’t changed her diet, and there isn’t anything new in the room that she might have eaten. I spend a lot of time with her, so I usually know if she’s up to something.
Is there some reason why this would start happening for apparently no reason? Could it be a parasite? I’m sick with worrying.
Thanks, guys.
Aw no Momo!! I hope she feels better soon! {{{{vibes}}}}
Thanks Lintini. I keep looking over to her. I’m gonna stay up as long as I can to make sure she’s okay. I just don’t understand this, and I’m scared.
I’m not trying to scare you or make you worry more. Just sharing what happened with Eddie in case it can shed some light on Momo’s illness.
Eddie would get bouts of gas every once in a while. Not twice in one month. If he had, I would’ve taken him to the vet. But in hindsight, I wonder if his bouts of gas were due to the huge blockage in his stomach. I have no idea if that is the case or not. But he was gassy off and on the weekend he got really sick. And his blockage was probably due to the non-food stuff he ate over the 3 years – carpet, bits of plastic, etc.
I have no clue if this is the case with Momo at all. But even if she starts feeling better, I would still take her in for a check up just to make sure. However I am paranoid after what happened with Eddie, so I might be overreacting to everybunny’s tummy problems.
Oh yeah, I’m planning on taking her in first thing in the morning, even if she’s normal by then.
I was thrilled to see some pretty good-looking poops in the x-pen just now, and I bagged them up and put them in the fridge for parasite testing tomorrow.
She’s acting more and more normal and even seems to want to play a little. She’s also been drinking water, which is a relief.
The x-rays they took when we had her at the emergency vet didn’t show a blockage, but did show some gas. I just gotta figure out what is causing this.
Thanks for telling me what happened to you. I’m sure it was painful to think about, but it can only help me to know more.
Oh good I am glad to hear she’s doing better. What type of parasites could cause something like this?
That’s the problem… I have no idea! I just keep racking my brain to try and figure out what it could be, and figured I’d get her tested just in case. She did have earmites recently, but we treated them. And that wouldn’t cause a GI problem, right?
I just can’t think of anything that’s changed since before the first incident about a month ago. I don’t want it happening again.
My Dad and stepmom visited this weekend and Momo gets horribly stressed around people she doesn’t know. They only came to our apartment twice, and only for a hours each, but could that have caused enough stress to make her have this problem?
I’m sorry I’m posting so much. I’m spazzing out.
Okay, now I’m noticing that she’s drinking a lot of water… what does that mean?
No need to be sorry. I’m just sitting here standing around in WoW and petting Bun. Always here to help or a shoulder to lean on
I know what you mean about stressing out with people they don’t know …I can hardly lure Bee and Indy out from under my bed if any stranger comes into my room they don’t know.
She’s STILL drinking water. She’s practically guzzling it. I put some Rescue Remedy in there… do you think maybe it’s just tasty?
Could the stomach problem be cause by dehydration, and now she’s super thirsty?
I’m really grateful you’re online :- /
Well if she wasn’t drinking earlier and feeling ill, and now feels better I would imagine she would be drinking a lot. My rabbits drink a lot of water. I’ve never had Rescue Remedy, what’s it smell like?
I know Moose gets stressed by visitors he doesn’t know. Silly sensitive man. Maybe Momo just wasn’t pleased with the company. Hope she feels better!
It kind of smells like flowers…
I keep a bowl of water in their litter box and I change it daily. Maybe it was just too far away or something, and I should have another one next to their food from now on, to make sure she drinks more of it.
I’m hoping that this problem is as simple as dehydration.
Thats a good idea, I do the same. Lots of water dishes! I love the ceramic carrot ones
She’s starting to act more and more like herself. She’s even nosing Remy through the x-pen and hopping around and staring at me like “Why am I in here by myself?”
Awww
Still doesn’t want to eat, but I’m hoping that follows soon.
oh goodness gracious, she scarfing now. Eating everything in sight… veggies, pellets, hay… even the last little bit of critical care.
WOOSH. Deep breath.
yay!!!! Go get some sleep!
Almost… a little more looking : P
okay okay *twiddles thumbs*
Thank you so much for being there for me : )
No worries <3 What's she up to now?
Well, I let her out of the xpen and now Remy is chasing her around the room.
phew…
That sounds about right
I’m going to get to sleep now, I am really glad she is doing so much better! Tell her to stop worrying you!!! Arrghh! And us too!
Indy just ran a few bunny 500 laps, he must be glad she’s feeling better too!
LOL Please thank indie for me!
And thank you, Lintini : )
Your problem sounds almost exactly what happened with Stormy off and on again for the first few years I got him. Frequent tummy troubles with no apparent reason. He would go from being fine to not wanting to eat or do anything. Sometimes a couple of doses of simethicone would do the trick, sometime a late night at the emergency. And when he felt better, it was very sudden, he would just bounce back as quick as he got sick. It has approved a lot since I got a VERY rabbit savvy vet who worked with me on changing his diet as there was no other apparent cause. He would just get gassy all of a sudden. It was so frustrating, I know how you feel. What is Momo’s diet like? Maybe this is something that is more common with Rex type bunnies.
Ask the vet to check her teeth – sometimes when rabbits drink alot of water, they are soothing their mouth. I would just have the vet do a thorough physical examination.
Well, she was just in the vet a month ago to get treated for ear mites (yuck) and everything else seemed find.
For dinner they eat:
Couple of leaves of bok choy
Handful of cilantro
One small carrot to share
and in the morning they share 2/3 cup of Oxbow Timothy pellets.
This has been their diet for almost a year… I just don’t get it!
I was giving Stormy 1/8 cup pellets a day and my vet told me to reduce this. I reluctantly did, now he only gets about 2 TBSP pellets per day, what the vet describes as “croutons” on his salad. I give him more lettuce and hay to fill the pellet void. I have had a lot less stasis problems with Storm and Bindi since I started this.
We have a wonderful vet who is going to call me tomorrow and answer all my questions. I’m definitely going to ask him about this. If I need to take them off pellets, then I will, very gradually. I just don’t want this happening again. It scares me so much.
She’s back to her old self again today, thank goodness.
Hope you have some answers from the vet. Keep us posted.
phew! Well, apparently I’m doing things right, and I’v been giving them even less pellets than is recommended. The vet said that once a bunny gets gas/stasis, that bunny is almost definitely going to get it again. Terrific news! He also said that whenever they’ve checked her teeth, they seemed just fine and normal, so that’s not it.
I can pick up more Critical Care from them, as well as something called Reglan, which is supposed to be very effective. So I am PREPARED for the future… I’m going to hope and pray that this doesn’t become a frequent event. Mama’s nerves are fluttering…
I might give them a few less pellets, just in case, and I’ve given them an extra bowl of water almost in the middle of the room. They can’t miss it!
What’s weird is that I’ve never seen the “string of pearls” that I’ve heard about with GI issue buns, and even the night that she had the symptoms, she was still poopin like a champ. Or, at least, she was after I wrestled with her for an hour and 1/2 and force-fed her critical care and water and massased her stomach. You should have SEEN the fur on me… blech. Does anyone else think that Critical Care mush looks like a cow patty?
You guys are so amazing and wonderful to help me through this. I was scared!!
Oh, and Lintini, I ended up going to bed at 4am, lol.
Reglans a motility drug and is often used in stasis. Maybe Momo would benefit from some bene-bac too?
Did you try and simethecone at the time?
No… because I don’t know what that is O_o
When it happened, I force-fed her critical care and water with some Rescue Remedy in it. I also massaged her stomach gently and put her in an x-pen to watch her closely, in case I needed to bring her to the emergency vet.
What is simethecone?
Simethicone is the active ingredient in anti-gas meds like Gas-X. (You can give baby gas-x)
See more here: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html toward end of article. Also here: http://www.mybunny.org/info/gi_stasis.htm
It’s *sometimes* helps with the gas and has them eating again. Not always but it doesn’t hurt to try it and you can’t really overdose them on it.
When I call to pick up the Reglan and more Critical Care, I will absolutely ask about this.
I seriously don’t know what I’d do without this site. You guys are such sweet friends.
Remy and Momo are doing the Bunny 500 at the moment. I think they know we’re talking about them : D
Phewwwwwwwwwww
You vet may be for or against it. It’s one of those “we don’t really know if it works” things. Still good idea to run it past your vet.
Edit: Oh, and it’s non prescription. You can get it at a drug store. Like buying Tums, antacids etc
Thankfully, we’re lucky enough to have a great vet. Sagecat and the Colorado House Rabbit Society told me about him, and he’s been absolutely wonderful!
I have to agree that once a bunny gets stasis, they’ll get it again! I just think some rabbits are more sensitive than others.
I’m glad you found a great vet, that is so important!
When I’ve dealt with gas/stasis, often a couple of doses of simethicone does the trick and perks them right back up. You should definitely have some on hand. You can’t know for sure if it will work, but it can’t hurt to try it. I use Ovol, it’s a pink box with a baby on it. The dosage I go with is 1cc every hour for 3 hours and then every couple of hours thereafter. For me, when it works, I usually don’t need more than 3 doses. It comes with a little eye dropper that is handy for bunnies.
I’ve definitely heard the name around the site a lot, and I always wondered about it. Where do you get it?
Just at the drugstore. Walmart probably has it too. It’s in the digestive medicine section. If you can’t find it just ask the pharmacist for “simethicone for babies”. There are a few different brands. As far as I know they are all bunny safe.
Why thank you, m’dears!
I should really lay this thread to rest, but I had *one* more question!
Our vet said that the best way to tell if something is wrong with our buns is by taking their temperatures. Do any of you do this? I know I would need to buy an unbreakable, plastic thermometer, and then stick it in their… well, y’know.
Is this difficult? Could I hurt our buns by accident doing this?
There’s actually a link to a “How To” guide in that 1st article I linked in my post above. Just scroll down to sub heading “Monitoring Body Temperature”.
It’s specifies it’s a good idea to have your vet show you how first. Good idea me thinks!
Scary, I’ve never done that before either
Yeah… I sure wouldn’t want anyone doing that to me! But if it’s a good way to monitor bunny health…..
› Forum › THE LOUNGE › Momo possibly sick again