Bun with GI Stasis

[ashbun]

Hi all, let me just say I’m new to the site, so you’ll have to excuse me if I do anything ‘wrong’. 

On Wednesday, I bought a 10 week old rabbit from a breeder about a half hour away. Upon taking him home, despite being rather scared and anxious, all seemed okay. Although, we got ‘Dougie’ at abut 5pm on the Wednesday, and there was no sign of any poop until 11pm, which was just a single and soft dropping. He didn’t eat much, a few mouthfuls of hay and I did hear him quite a few times in the night at his water bottle. On the thursday morning, I noticed his food had been touched, but barely. I honestly didn’t think too much of it, as I had to get ready for school. I let Dougie out whilst I got ready, and he did hop around my room for a good few minutes, before finding a corner to sit for a good half hour. He then retreated back to his crate and to where he seemed to be spending most of his time – the litter box. Upon returning from school, I went through the routine of cleaning up his crate. Replacing newspapers (temporary to the crate until he’s housetrained.), water, tidying up his litter box etc. I did notice a bit more poo in various areas of  the crate, which gave me great relief. However, it was only about three or four, and they too seemed soft. He was eating a bit more hay at this point, but still not much of his food. Again, I just brushed this off as his way of dealing with the stress of moving to a new environment and being away from his sisters. I opened up his cage when I got home from school on thursday night, and he spent most of the evening in his litter box – coming out every hour or so for a few hops around the room or to even just lie on the floor. I remember thinking that surely a young bun should be very active, playful etc? Again, I didn’t think I could really say much as I thought he was just getting used to his surroundings. 

Friday morning comes, and zero poop. I can usually tell he’s urinated by most of the newspapers being stained yellow, but all the newspapers remained clean, covered in neither poop or urine. I checked the litter box, and noticed some mucus jelly-like stuff. I had overslept massively, and really didn’t have much time to think about it. However, it was playing up on my mind at school all day. I got home to find parts of his cage covered in yet more jelly-like mucus. I noticed him munching on some hay, and he drunk some water too. He did come out of his cage and hop about some more too. After cleaning out his cage, I decided to wait and just observe him. By late evening, I noticed after he had snuck back into his crate his litter box was full of yet more jelly-like mucus. I decided to google it, and what I saw instantly made me feel sick with worry. He had no appetite, was acting lethargic and was having troubles pooping – fitting all the symptoms of stasis. I rung the emergency vets, explaining everything. The women explained that it sounded like it was the body’s way of reacting to stress, and if he’s at least eating some hay, drinking a little and moving around – there’s no need to bring him in. They said to definitely bring him to the vets tomorrow, so I spent most of the night awake with worry. Saturday morning, my mum and I managed to squeeze in a last-minute appointment at 1pm later that day. Within a few minutes, the vet had diagnosed GI stasis. She explained that she could feel a lot of build up of poop in his gut, but it just obviously was struggling to make it’s way out. She explained that she was going to give him two injections, one to get the gut moving and one to relief any discomfort he might be feeling. She said that if by Saturday night he still hadn’t eaten, to bring him into an emergency vet. She also gave us some recovery liquid food to syringe feed Dougie every few hours, and some Emeprid to give to Dougie orally by syringe every 6-8 hours, starting at 8pm that night. It was so much for me to take in. She said that because of his age, it was hard to say how long it would take him to get over the stasis – if he even did. When I got home, I made up some of the liquid food and began syringe feeding Dougie. Obviously hungry, he gladly allowed me to feed him. I gave him about 7ml of the liquid food through syringe, before he began to protest. I didn’t want to have to force him, and knowing he had something in him now was enough comfort for me. I put him back in his crate, obviously leaving the door open so he could get the exercise he needs to help get his gut moving. He went straight back to his litter box, where he proceeded to sit looking sick and depressed for another three hours, until i took him out again to syringe feed him a bit more. This time I was only able to give him about 4ml. 

By about 7pm, Dougie had began to eat some hay and was drinking a bit too. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a bit. I offered him some celery, which he took about three or four bites of before leaving it alone. It gave me some comfort. Around 8pm, I gave him the 4ml dose of Emeprid. He hopped around a little after, but it only lasted about ten minutes before he seemed to act lethargic again. 11pm, I gave him some more food by syringe. This time about 4ml again. I hadn’t seen him drink a lot that day, and I knew he had to stay hydrated, so I gave him 2ml of water so I knew he was definitely getting some from somewhere. Midnight, and still zero poop all day. I wasn’t seeing any wee too, unless he was doing it in his litter box where it was being absorbed. 

I woke up this morning hoping things would be a bit better. I’m really worried, because no signs of any poop. Dougie is still acting lethargic, and hasn’t eaten much hay or drank much. The food bowl is pretty much full. I syringe fed him another dosage of Emeprid, 2ml of water and about 3ml of food – he wouldn’t allow me to give him anymore. Is it okay that I’m still seeing no signs of any poop? Should he be more active by now, and eating more? I don’t know what I’ll do if I take him to the emergency vets, as Dougie’s appointment and medication yesterday cost us £90. The emergency vets will be almost double if anything, and right now we just don’t have that kind of money, but I don’t know what else to do if Dougie’s sick. 

Thank you all, sorry for the long read. Just wanted to get all the details in there. 

[Sarita]

Moving to Q&A – also did the vet check for coccidia?

[litheandgraphic]

Coccidia would definitely fit – you may want to see if they can check for that for you.

[ashbun]

Thanks for the replies.
The vet was sure it was simply just a case of GI stasis, but there was no checking for coccidia that I’m aware of. This evening however,however Dougie has been a bit brighter, eating a very small amount of hay but some greens. I also found in the corner of his crate some fresh poop, although it was mainly made up of diarrhoea and some mucus. I’m hoping this is a good sign?

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