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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Bunny in GI stasis please help me !!

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    • meobunny
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        Hi there. I have a 2 year old female lionhead bunny and she is so special for me I feel her like my own family. She really shows me full affection and I always do my best for her. Eventhough she was perfectly fine, yesterday morning I had found her sitting in a ball-like position and not touching her food or water. I also haven’t seen poops in her litterbox. So I managed to take her immediately to the only vet that is specialized in rabbits here in my country in order to check her cause I was seeing her suffering from the pains. He checked her and he told me that he is not seeing anything wrong with her teeth or any other serious matter, and that he believes that my bunny is having GI stasis from the hair she is swallowing. He put an injection into her(which I don’t know what it is) and he told me to give her 5ml simethicone (125mg chewable simethicone dissolved into 5ml water) every 6 hours, a lot of pineapple and warm towels placed on her tummy. I did this as soon as we returned home but I haven’t seen her being much better. So I also offered her watery parsley which is her favourite veggie and she ate some of it last night. I have also massaged her belly and she started making some poops again and also eating her pellets and some parsley again. Today in the morning she was looking fine again but now she seems again that she has a lot of pains in her tummy and she is not pooping or eating her veggies. I offer her unlimited hay but she is not touching it. The only thing she seems to want to eat right now is her pellets(which are timothy hay pellets without any seeds or dry fruits into them). What I would like to ask you is: what do you think about the advice that the vet gave me? I really feel that here in this amazing website you are far more aware about bunnies than anyone else, especially in my country.I would really like to help my bunny in any way I can, I cannot stand seeing her suffering. How do you believe I should proceed in order to help her? 5 months ago I lost my beloved guinea pig from cancer and I was really devastated. I really do not want to loose my bunny also. I would love to have an advice from people in here. I would also like to ask you what should I feed her now that she has this problem and she is not interested into her regular food except her pellets? Thank you in advance for your time and I apologize for my bad english! 


      • Muchelle
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          Do you have any way to know what medicine she got an injection of? Is she drinking by herself?

          Belly rubs are absolutely welcome, as well as simethicone. I wouldn’t know about pineapple, but since fruit is very sugary I wouldn’t give her too much of that. She needs water and fibers right now.

          Since she’s not eating, the best is to force feed her with Critical Care (or similar) or if you don’t have ways to find it you can put some pellets in a bit of water to make a liquidy paste that you can inject in her mouth with a syringe that has a large nozzle. You can find videos on youtube if you need visuals about how to do it, basically you need to insert the nozzle behind her front teeth, aim it towards her cheek (NOT towards the throat) and gently press the paste little by little.


        • Gina.Jenny
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            If she will eat pellets, I would allow her more of them for now, as getting food through the tum is important. Wet greens are good, if she will eat any, as they get water down too. Some plain porridge oats might be worth trying?

            Keep using the simethicone, it can really help. Its made a huge difference to my bun Jenny a few times. And gentle tum massages after.


          • meobunny
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              Thank you so much for your superfast reply. She is now drinking water on her own and she is also eating pellets on her own and she asks for more pellets but she is not touching her veggies or her hay. Do you believe the simethicone dosage is ok for her? She told me to give her 125mg dissolved in 5 ml water, every 6 hours. Thank you again for your time and reply.


            • Gina.Jenny
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                If she wants pellets, and is drinking water with them, I would let her have more, and I would stick with the simethicone dose the vet gave. I would offer plenty of pellets until she is eating normally and producing plenty of poops.

                The injection was possibly something to get the gut moving.


              • Muchelle
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                  If she is eating enough pellets, encourage her what veggies do you usually give her? Do avoid veggies that may cause gas (like broccoli, cauliflower, etc).
                  Also brush her as much as you can to make it so that she swallows as little hair as possible.. if you don’t already have it, a cat hair brush will do just fine.
                  Is she spayed? Was she pulling her fur out? Or is she just a huge fluffball?

                  Sadly, I had liquid simethicone, so the concentration was totally different. But it seems plausible to give one whole tablet to the bun since they have a pretty fast metabolism.


                • mango
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                    Hi Meobunny,

                    Its a really good sign that she eats a little bit and poops a little bit. You’re on the right track with tummy rubs and simethicone. The injection was probably subcutaneous fluids which is great because hydration is important.

                    As others said, try to get her to eat wet fresh herbs or leafy greens such as mint, dill, basil, cilantro, romaine lettuce, spring lettuce. Soak pellets in water to soften if she will eat even more that way. A little bit of soft banana or pure pumpkin (canned, but check ingredients to make sure its *just* pumpkin) mashed in with softened pellets might tempt her even more. Plus, wetting the veggies, herbs and pellets will help with hydration if she isn’t drinking enough.

                    I wouldn’t bother with pineapple, as its a myth that it dissolves hair and the high natural sugars can upset her belly even more. Its also a bit of a myth that hairballs cause GI stasis.

                    If you can get Critical Care (with a large feeding syringe) and Metacam from your vet, that could be helpful. The Critical Care is really only if she won’t eat at all but it would be good to have on hand, just in case. The Metacam will help with pain, which will help her eat more too.

                    I went through a GI stasis scare recently and posted it earlier today. You can read about here, along with helpful replies:

                    https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/150397/Default.aspx

                    Here is some other helpful info:

                    https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/136672/Default.aspx

                    http://rabbit.org/gastrointestinal-stasis-the-silent-killer-2/


                  • meobunny
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                      Thank you both so much for your super fast replies and all the help that you give me. I will follow your advice and I will offer her plenty of pellets since she is also drinking a lot of water. The veggies that I give her are mostly parsley, 2-3 pieces of carrot per week, sometimes but in more rare cases 1-2 romaine lettuce leaf per week(these are the veggies that the vet suggested me that she should eat). I also offer her unlimited hay and timothy hay based pellets which she adores. If you believe I should change something in her diet I would be grateful to hear your advice. I am brushing her every day with her hair brush but even with this when she is shedding she is licking herself all the time so it seems that she swallows a lot of fur. She is super fluffy


                    • meobunny
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                        Thank you so much for all the advice and the links. I will read them straight away. I will also follow the advice and I really hope that she will be back to normal cause it is really painful to see her suffering so much with all these pains. Thank you again so much for all the help


                      • Muchelle
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                          You can give her more salad (avoid iceberg) daily if she likes it. My bun’s current diet is 2 slices of fennel and 3 leaves of lettuce at night + a piece of celery in the morning + unlimited hay and some hay pellets. He’s a 2 years old, 2kg bunny. Keep the carrot to small doses because it’s very sugary and just like fruit it can cause problems. I usually feed him either carrot or fruit every 10 days or so, but I am being strict with his diet

                          If you are sure the GI is caused by fur, I know of other people giving maltose paste (usually for long haired cats) to help the fur pass without creating a ball. But since I have no first-hand experience, I’d wait for more experienced members of the forum to comment on this, or ask the vet. If she lets you, do brush her against the direction of the fur to grasp all of that tricky underfur. I also have a very fluffy one and that’s the only way I can manage to strip all the dead hair off him (he doesn’t approve of this method of brushing… but gotta suffer to be pretty!)

                          Keep us updated on her progress!


                        • Jessica
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                            I own Angira rabbits so super fluffy, and wool block is a major concer Here are a few things that really help with keeping the loose fluff under control. Brush daily with a soft slicker brush, then comb through her with a fine tooth comb. This will pull out all the loose hair. I gave my previous angora one papaya tablet three times a week and cat hairball remedy twice a week during high shed times.


                          • Gina.Jenny
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                              Most buns do best on a good balance of greens each day. Parsley is good, but you could maybe try some others, mint is good for settling tums. Dandelions are really good for buns tums, fresh or dried. Podge has tummy issues, the best thing for him are fresh dandelion stalks. Carrot is best kept as a rare treat, but if you can get carrots with the tops on, the green leafy carrot tops are great bun food and have never upset any buns tums of mine


                            • meobunny
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                                Thank you all of you so much for all the advice you gave me I will follow each one of them! Just to give an update about my bunny’s condition today. I have continued the simethicone dosage of 125mg dissolved in 5 ml water every 6 hours. Today in the morning she ate a few pellets and only 2 bites of her parsley and then she stopped eatting. Now she looks that she is in pain again and for the last 3 hours she didn’t poop. I continue giving her massage and I feel that her tummy is a little bit harder than usual. When do you believe I will see improvement and she will return back to normal? I am extremely worry about her eventhough I believe she looks a bit better than the first day that she had this signs. Thank you again so much for all the help. I am more than grateful. I am also very sad to know that here in my country there are no vets that are experienced in rabbits rather than the one I have already took her. 


                              • Gina.Jenny
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                                  is she warm enough ? poorly buns can develop hypothermia due to lack of food and being inactive


                                • Vienna Blue in France
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                                    Hi there. It’s very important that she eats, so if she is eating, pooping then not eating not pooping and then it starts again, is it possible that there is a partial-blockage which isn’t totally disappearing but more like being moved each time and then blocking / unblocking?

                                    It’s vital and good you are keeping a close eye on her.

                                    Don’t hesitate in taking her back to the vets if you think you should – it sounds as if your vet is OK. can you try and make her active / move too… does she come when called? So you could move her like that – physically moving around helps the gut move too.

                                    Or keep massaging (check out the “bottom upwards” method on youtube by Howcast with Mary Cotter)


                                  • meobunny
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                                      Thankfully she is not cold today she is in her normal temperature and I am checking her all the time. Now she has eaten some pellets and she pooped a little bit. She looks active and when I call her she is coming next to me and she is moving around the house. I will continue the massage, the simethicone and I will make her move around by calling her and I hope she will be back to normal. I would like to thank you all for once again for all the help and the super fast replies. You are all so helpful there are no words to describe how thankful I am. I will keep you updated with my bunny’s condition!!


                                    • Vienna Blue in France
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                                        Yes please !! We look forward to it
                                        Of course you could keep some sort of a food diary to see if there is any pattern to the épisodes. Anything specific that she is reacting to…


                                      • meobunny
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                                          Hello again. Today my bunny looks much much better. She ate all of her parsley and she was keep asking for more and more pellets. She also ate some of her hay and drank a lot of water. She is resting into her normal relaxed position and until now she didn’t show any symptoms of pains or discomfort. She was running around the house whenever I was calling her, she looks active and she also made more poop than yesterday. She is asking for food all the time especially her pellets. Thank you all so much for all the great help that you gave me. I really hope that she will be fine eventhough I am still a little bit stressful. The vet told me to continue the simethicone dosages for another two days. I will keep you updated for further news according her condition. I hope everything will be fine now and she will also be fine tomorrow. I will follow all of your advice in order to avoid having the same thing happening to her again. I really feel very confident according my bunny’s health as soon as I found this amazing website. Thank you all so much.


                                        • LittlePuffyTail
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                                            How is your bunny doing now?


                                          • meobunny
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                                              Thankfully my bunny is back to normal now. She is pooping normally again and she is very active and happy. I was really really sad to see her in pains a few days ago and I was super scared for loosing her.But thankfully now she is a happy bunny again!!  Thank you all for once again so much!!! 


                                            • LittlePuffyTail
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                                                Glad to hear it

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                                            Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Bunny in GI stasis please help me !!