Dioralyte

[Leah]

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and could do with a little advice.  I will give you a little history.  I took over a little bunny nearly 2 months ago from my neighbour.  I was minding him while they were on holiday and one day we went to his hutch and he couldn’t stand and terrible head tilt.  Took him to the vet who prescribed baytrill and metacam saying it was an inner ear infection.  My neighbours came back and basically asked if I wanted to keep him so I did and took him into my home.  He was on baytrill for a few weeks and then changed the baytrill to sulfatrim.  He was on that for a week but he started to have a bit of diarrhea so we took him off all meds as suggested by the vet until the tummy got better.  He was doing well and we actually decided to stop antibiotics and my suspicions of him having EC led me to put him on panacur.  Food wise some diet changes have been made and a combination of it all put bunny in stasis.  He was so ill last Sunday we thought he was going to die, we fed him critical care and fibreplex and he is doing well.  Still has small poos and not drinking much although his appetite is great he eats like a horse. I was going to give him Dioralyte to help with the hard small poops and hydration.  He was at the vets yesterday and she listened to his tummy and said she was happy, he had lost a lot of weight as well btw half his body weight in about 2 days and has now put 1/5 of his body weight back on in the last week.  Could someone tell me if this is a good idea and if so what is the dosage of dioralyte (I am in Ireland think it is called Pedialyte in US)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated I love this wee bunny soo much and want to get him to full health again.

Many thanks

Leah xx

[Bam]

Thank you for taking this bun in and caring for him!

Did you ask your vet abpout the dioralyte? There is sugar in itr, which is not all bad because it perks a bunny up, for long term use, sugar is not good for buns though because it messes with the GI microbiota, esp the cecal microbiota.

There are other restorative meds more suitable for bunnies, Protexin (a UK brand) makes Bio-lapis, same company that makes fibreplex. http://www.protexin.com/categories/rabbits/26 There are other types too, Avipro plus is one.

You have done a great job with getting him to reagin some of his weight!

[Leah]

Thanks so much for your reply.  I bought the dioralyte but actually when i took it home my mum thought it maybe wasn’t necessary and might mess up his electrolyte balance so I held of.  I think I will get the Bio-lapis so thanks for suggesting that.

He is doing well like I said eating a lot but when he was really sick I fed him water from a syringe and now he won’t drink out of his bowl only from a syringe so that is the next challenge.

Leah x

[Bam]

Naaw, he’s gotten a bit spoilt then =) I don’t think he really needs ORS if he eats. I’d go for a probiotic instead.

You can dip his greens in water just before serving them, that helps with hydration. When the fibreplex is up, you can start him on pro-fibre rabbit, it has brewer’s yeast same as is in the fibreplex. Live brewer’s yeast (saccaromyces cerevisiae) has been shown to have a postive effect on nutritional uptake and weight-gain in rabbits. It can be found in other brands from other companies as well, but Protexin is what I’m familiar with.

[Leah]

Oh that is great I will order some of that.  He started drinking from the bowl last night so I am feeling very relieved. 

Can I ask you, he was in stasis last Sunday so this is 12 days since, he is eating great and looking better but his poop still hasn’t returned to normal, he still leaves cecotropes which I put down to maybe not needing to eat them as he is on the critical care but his ordinary poop is still really tiny and hard and yesterday it was runny.  This morning there were some that were bigger but mis-shapen, he is still on fibreplex, eating carrots and museli  everyday (I know not ideal but to get him out of stasis we wanted to ensure he would eat something), he eats lots of dandelion leaves but we have never been able to get him to munch hay.  So my questions are when can I expect his poops to return to normal and also is there a limit on how long he can be on the fibreplex?

I really appreciate your help and so does George xx

[Bam]

It can take a month before the poop returns to normal after a bad bout of stasis, but you need to take him off the carrots and müesli. These things are fine when you need to entice a bunny to eat and anything he eats is better than nothing, but it really is detrimental to his gut health in the long run. Carrots have lots of sugar and should only be given as treats. Most bunnies love bunny müesli, but it is like raising a kid on junk food and candy only. It makes bunnies fat, it doesn’t have enough fibre, it does nothing for tooth-wear..

You should slowly wean him on to a healthier diet, although dandelion is great so don’t stop those. First of all you want a mono-forage pellet with a high fibre-content. Oxbow Essential has 25% fibre, Supreme science select has 2 types high-fibre pellets (25 & 32%). Your bun won’t find these pellets as yummy as müesli, but he needs to get on them. And he really ought to eat hay, because hay is the most important food for a bun. Without hay they are sensitive to stasis and dental problems (overgrowing teeth). You might have to try several variants of hay of several cuts in order to find one that George finds acceptable. Don’t buy huge bags for this reason unless you have some other use for hay, of course.

As for Fibreplex, it says “Give for as long as considered necessary or as advised by your veterinary surgeon.” It will get very expensive in the long run though, Pro-Fibre is better suited for long term use. Other probiotics you can give long-term are Benebac or Pro-C or Synbiotic D-C.

[Leah]

Thank you so much for the advice. I will order these products you mentioned. I put meadow hay and timothy hay out fresh everyday for him in the hope that he will start munching and yesterday I ordered three samples of hay from a farmer to see if I can tempt him. I want to take him of the carrots and museli but am terrified he will stop eating again and go back into stasis so I will slowly cut it down, he is still getting the critical care a couple of times a day.

I am relieved that you said that it can take a month for poops to return to normal as I was still worrying. At least he is pooping and eating. Noises from his tummy kind of sound like a stream or babbling brook with the odd pop noise, he has had that popping for weeks even before the stasis. If I think the popping is bad I give him simithicone.

I really appreciate your advice as this is new to me and I want to do the best I can for the wee guy, he has stolen my heart lol. xx

[Bam]

Absolutely change his diet slowly, that is very wise. Buns don’t do well with rapid changes, esp not on to a healthier diet (their gut microbiota needs time to develop, without the proper amount of the proper bacteria they can’t extract the nutrients from roughage and can actually starve even if they eat.)

The babbling brook/ popping noise is most likely gas. It means his intestines are moving, so that’s good, but gas can be painful and cause a bunny to loose its appetite. Simethicone is good for gas, as is moving around and very light tummy massages, but a fibre-rich diet is key here as well.

You don’t need ALL the probiotics I mentioned, just one or two of them. I combined ProFibre and Synbiotic D-C when my buns had tummy trouble earlier this year, our member Gina.Jenny uses another combo of probiotics for her fluffle.

[Leah]

Thanks again.  I will order the Oxbow Essential and will try that and the ProFibre and Synbiotic D-C, I am building up a medicine box for him so I have everything I need on hand if he gets sick again (though fingers crossed he doesn’t).

Thanks from me and Georgie Porge xx

   

[Bam]

Fingers crossed! He’s SO cute! Be patient with his tummy, it can take quite a while for it to become perfect, and it’s better to go slow than try to rush things!

[Leah]

Thanks so much, I will be patient and do my best for the little bun, your advice is so helpful xx

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