Bunny won’t eat & behaving oddly

[radiatorbunny12]

Behaving normally before all this, slightly lazy during the day though possibly.

So she was behaving oddly on Saturday morning, I gave her her dinner quite late around 11pm and when I woke up it wasn’t fully eaten. This was odd as she has a big appetite for everything green. I look around her pen and can’t see her anywhere, turns out she is hiding at the back of a cardboard box in the dark. When I try to pet her, she likes it but doesn’t move. Normally when I put pellets out for her she runs around my feet going crazy and binkying but she doesn’t do anything today. Fur is fine, no bugs. Teeth and nails look fine. Breathing is normal. Anyway, I put the pellets out for her, slightly worried, and leave, telling my mother to watch and see how she is.

When I get back around 12.30pm, I see bunny is in the same position and nothing is eaten. At one point she slowly jumps out of the cardboard box and walks around a bit before lying down in another place under a desk. After a while, she goes back to cardboard box.
Her positioning throughout all of this has been VERY relaxed; legs out behind her, stretched out, paws tucked up under her dewlap. But yeah, she’s been super lazy and tired looking. She has also been shaking and her heart beating very fast. She seems quite panicky. I call the vet immediately and an hour later arrive and tell the vet everything. She examines bunny and says that she’s most likely in pain and something has just gone wrong in her tummy and as bunny tummies are sensitive it really could be anything. She hadn’t eaten anything new lately apart from two cobs of corn in around a four day period (didn’t remember about the corn until today so I didn’t tell vet). The vet gives her two injections, one painkiller and something else/another painkiller. One was called boop and  the other began with an m. 

Go home, she angrily digs her carrier box but other than that doesn’t do much. Cleans herself. Goes back in the cardboard box and hides her face with blanket. Still won’t eat. I leave it a few hours. Go back, same position. Watch for a while and bunny goes to water bowl and drinks. Hurrah! Still not eating or pooping though (or even peeing). Mix up pellets, kale and water into a paste and put in syringe. I hold her and get my mum to feed her two syringe-fulls of this paste. She unwillingly eats it. We only did this because the vet said her stomach didn’t seem too full, it was normal-ish, and we need bunny to poop. Bunny drinks more water and sleeps the whole night.

Okay so on day 2. This is today. Vet was hoping she’d be better by now (hoping last night). Wake up to find water spilled around water bowl and bunny laying in the water. She has been doing this a lot, just relaxing next to the water bowl. Is she too hot? Still won’t eat but I think she has been drinking. No poos as far as I can see. Still seems exhausted but is loving cuddles and massages. I don’t think its gas either I have tried massages for that, doesn’t seem to be working. She has peed!! Hallelujah! But no poos so still super worried. Pee seemed quite dehydrated and smelled. Yellowy/brown colour. She has also been kicking up her legs like she is flicking dirt at me sometimes (normally after I try to feed her to be fair).

Anyway I’ll most likely be going back to the vet today. Anyone have any ideas? I’m so worried about her and don’t know what to do as vet yesterday doesn’t seem to have changed anything. I think its the corn? It was dry corn that said it was okay for bunnies and I hung it up so she’d have to exercise and stand up to get it. Maybe she ate too much too quickly? Please help. 

[Bam]

It sounds rather a lot like a GI blockage and it could be the corn. Corn is not safe for bunnies but they still sell it in pet stores and that’s more than sad.

For a blockage, you need to get her hydrated. That is key. Your vet can give her subQ fluids. Sometimes even IV fluids are needed. You can give her water by syringe. She also needs pain-control, metacam (meloxicam) is the one most used with bunnies. Pain control is really important. You don’t use a motility drug (prokinetic) if a bun has an obstruction, that can makes things worse. As a last resort surgery to remove the blockage can be considered, but that is a very last resort.

http://www.vettimes.co.uk/article/managing-gi-stasis-in-rabbits/

I think you need to take her back to the vet or to another vet. This is a very serious condition. Please keep us posted. You can give baby gas drops simethicone to help make the inside of the gut a bit slippery so things can pass through with more ease, it’s a gas med and there is likely to be gas in a situation like this.

[Q8bunny]

Did the vet check for or even mention a blockage or stasis?

Please let us know how it goes today and (((((healing vibes))))) for your bun.

[Q8bunny]

Gah! I’m ready to murder my internet provider.

Double posted again and bam’s post didn’t even show.

(((get well, little bun)))

[Bam]

Q8. I delete double-posts when I see them so don’t worry about that =)

Q8 is very right, forgotmylastone, do your vet seem bunny-savvy? Some vets just aren’t very experienced with bunnies and then you might want to try and find another vet.

[BB Administrator]

Forgotmylastone — Looks like some code from cutting and pasting word was transferred over. I fixed it but be sure to clear formats if you can before pasting

Helloworld!!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Did your vet do any treatment or just the exam?
i agree with Bam completely-you need to go back, or to another. your bunny needs fluids, pain medication, possible xrays to rule out a blockage and motility drugs. No poops or eating for even a day is a really serious issue, and it doesn’t sound like your vet is experienced enough with rabbits, if they didn’t do any treatment.

[radiatorbunny12]

Apologies since this is about half a year later… Just was looking at this and realised I didn’t reply! Not sure if the correct etiquette would be to leave this, but I’d like to thank everyone for their wonderful advice. Bunny got back to normal in the next day as we gave her lots of fluids. She is absolutely fine now and we have just started bonding her with a new friend!

Very annoyed that pets at home would sell something as rabbit safe when it is clearly not.
Anyway, apologies for such a late post and thanks again for the help.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Glad to hear all turned out well.

[Bam]

Thank you for the update! So glad she got well!!

It really is a shame that pet stores sell stuff that isn’t bunny safe or bunny appropriate at all.

[Sr. Melangell]

Posted By bam on 10/03/2016 3:47 AM

Thank you for the update! So glad she got well!!

It really is a shame that pet stores sell stuff that isn’t bunny safe or bunny appropriate at all.

I can’t agree more bam, I bought Olly a plastic tunnel from the pet shop, they said it was safe plastic and if he ate some he would be OK, Olly chewed it and ate some and got GI, I told the people in the shop that it nearly killed my boy, they tried to make out I had fed him something I should not have, we care about our bunny children, people in shops care about children, babies toys and foods, so why isn’t this safety being done in pet shops for buns?

[Sr. Melangell]

Posted By forgotmylastone on 10/02/2016 3:24 PM

Apologies since this is about half a year later… Just was looking at this and realised I didn’t reply! Not sure if the correct etiquette would be to leave this, but I’d like to thank everyone for their wonderful advice. Bunny got back to normal in the next day as we gave her lots of fluids. She is absolutely fine now and we have just started bonding her with a new friend!

Very annoyed that pets at home would sell something as rabbit safe when it is clearly not.
Anyway, apologies for such a late post and thanks again for the help.

I do wish Binkybunny would send things to the UK, we know that BB would NOT send anything that is dangerous.

[Author]

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