Now both bunnies are sick :( Please help!

[Meg]

Hey guys.  I’m so sad because now both my bunnies are not eating or pooping well.    Just two nights ago they were both fine.  Then yesterday morning my 5-year-old bunny girl Athena wasn’t eating anything; while Teddy, my 4-year-old-boy, was chowing down on everything with gusto.  When she wasn’t better in an hour or two, I brought both bunnies to the vet (since they go everywhere together).  Athena was diagnosed with stasis and I’ve been treating her since then.  (The vet gave us Critical Care, Reglan, Metacam, and metoclopramide.)

 

But ever since we got back, Teddy hasn’t been eating that well, and as of the last 6 hours or so he seems to have stopped pooping!    Both bunnies were picking at hay last night and Teddy even ate a sprig of parsley.  And they both ate treats.  But today Teddy will only accept his favorite treats, and no other food.    I tried to get him to eat some Critical Care on his own but he wouldn’t, so I just syringe-fed him 20 ccs.  

 

But I don’t know what the right thing to do is!!  I read that you shouldn’t start force feeding unless you’ve verified there isn’t a blockage.  But I don’t want to make these buns go through another trip to the vet (which is far away and takes a long time), especially since it upset Teddy so much in the first place. 

 

What do you think?  Should I continue syringe-feeding him Critical Care?  Should I do simethicone too?  Also, I normally wouldn’t dream of giving meds for one patient to another but… should I give him any of Athena’s meds?

 

I’m also concerned about hydration.  I called the vet to ask for sub-Q fluids for home care and they said they don’t give that out to patients and also they think the Critical Care will provide enough hydration.  I also asked if I should do Pedialyte and they said no.  Is there anything else I should be doing?

 

Please help!  We went through stasis with Teddy just once, years ago, and it was in a different state with a different vet.  So I am feeling so in the dark about all this.

 

Thanks!!!

[Bam]

Simethicone is harmless so you can give that to your other bunny as well. You should use separate syringes for each bunny though. Critical care is also harmless. They’re not prescription-medicines.

Try and do tummy-rubs on them as described in this article: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

Read the whole article, it’s good and informative.

[LittlePuffyTail]

How are your buns doing today?

[Meg]

Yesterday was similar to the day before, but last night Athena started eating greens AND Teddy did a flop! And Athena ran over all excited for hay this morning. I was sooo thrilled. Then neither has been eating or pooping much since then today. :/ I am feeling exhausted and sad. But anyhow I just gave them another round of meds, simethicone, and Critical Care.

So here’s my question: given that taking them to the vet again for Teddy to be examined is not an option (because I’m convinced that’s what upset him to the point of starting hypomotility in the first place, and I will not risk it again), what should I do with the remaining medicine? I have just a couple days’ worth left. Should I divide it equally between them, or give more to Teddy? Or should finishing out Athena’s dosage be the priority? I don’t know enough about how these meds work to know what should be ideal.

Thanks for your help!!

[Bam]

You really need to ask your vet if you can split the prescription medicines between them. Perhaps the vet will prescribe more meds for you if you call them and inform them of the situation and tell them about Teddy’s upsetness. Then they’d perhaps not think it’s a good idea for Teddy to come in and you could just keep giving meds at home and come in only if the situation gets unmanageable.

The long clustered cecal you saw was probably long clustered cecals, cecals would build up too when there’s hypomobility. So Athena seems better, that’s good news.

[Author]

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