Hi All,
My poor Honey has been in stasis this week. It started Saturday–by mid-day, she was sitting in their condo, hunched and looking at the back wall. Typically when we go into their “area” (tall, dog-size ex pens set up around the condo we made them), Honey and her sister Luna do bunny 500s around our feet. She didn’t even acknowledge us. I tried to hand fed her hay and she turned up her nose. I did get some very wet green leaf into her and we started using gas drops. That evening when it was time for greens, she ate again but later only ate a few pellets when it was time for bed (we give them pellets to lure them into their condo at bedtime then close them in for the night). Luna was crazy and happy for pellets (as usual) but Honey was not.
Sunday was worse–she wasn’t drinking any water or eating anything we tried to hand feed her, so off we went to the emergency vet. We came home with subq fluids, a pain med, a motility med, and critical care. Fluids and meds are every 8 hours (4 pm, midnight, and 8 am). She is showing some improvement–definitely more fight to her when we try to bunny burrito her (ha!) and I’m finding more fecals (though quite small still).
This past spring, Luna had a day when she was “off” and not eating, but giving her a bunch of wet greens worked and she was back to herself the next morning. This is our first bout with real stasis and boy oh boy is it stressful!
I just wanted to share with other bunny folks because no one local to me is into house rabbits and they seem to think my husband and I are crazy for setting our alarm to wake at midnight and care for her.
Oh–one question, though. Both girls are shedding like crazy and not only does Honey hate to be brushed, the small slicker brush I have doesn’t seem to work well (which means I probably get less fur off her than needed in the limited time she gives me to brush her). I find it almost works best to pluck the loose fur myself, but she hates this, too. Does anyone have a favorite type of brush? Ideally, I want one that works well so I can get some good swipes in when she’s healthy and eating her greens or pellets. (They love their greens and pellets enough to let me do this while they eat. Luna will let me do it almost as much as needed but Honey will actually forsaken her yummies and hop away from me after a 2-3 swipes, so it’s best if each swipe is as effective as possible, LOL.) I don’t know if this is the cause of her stasis, but I want to make sure it’s not a factor going forward.