chronic stasis problem

[Aki]

Hello, so I’m trying my luck here as there seem to be some GI stasis specialists on the forum. Sorry, it’s going to be pretty lenghty : Aki is almost 7 year old. She never had any issues before last december. She then had GI stasis, but it was just after I had a tree cut in my garden (in front of the rabbit’s room) so I thought it was the stress. She got the metacam / emeprid (reglan) / water / fibreplex treatment and was fine after 24h. No problem after that, but on Sunday 3 weeks ago, I found her looking in pain and not eating again. I gave her Emeprid (Reglan), Metacam and water. After 24h, she was passing some small poops, eating a bit, and didn’t seem in pain anymore. I stopped Metacam and gave less Emeprid as she was eating leafy greens and passing a decent amount of poops (small, misshapen and dry but still). After 2 days, I stopped Emeprid and gave Fibreplex (fibers and probiotics) to try to coax some bigger poops out of her. On Saturday, I talked to Aki’s vet who told me to give Emeprid again as small poops meant that the system wasn’t OK. I gave Emeprid 3 times on Saturday and tons of grass (that, she ate). By evening, she was fine, eating hay and pooping like normal. Considering she’s easily stressed, I reduced the Emeprid to twice on Sunday and stopped on Monday. She continued to behave normally, eat everything and poop. On friday morning I noticed a smaller poop outside of the litter box but I wasn’t that concerned because there were lots of bigger ones (Aki lives with another rabbit so it’s hard to know who poops/eats what) and that she was acting normal. Thinking back, I saw her twice in her litterbox just standing there not eating hay like she normally does when she’s pooping. So maybe she was having trouble pooping. In the evening, I saw her eat lettuce and parsnip no problem when I gave them their dinner. The next morning she seemed uncomfortable and refused to eat. I gave her Metacam and Emeprid. One hour later she was back to her normal self pooping normal (maybe a little on the smallish side ? I’m not sure at that point… ^^’) poops and eating dandelions. I still took her to the vet, thinking she might have an underlying problem I hadn’t noticed. He looked at her teeth, eyes, ears, stomach, bladder (ultrasound), listened to her heart, weighted her… And she’s absolutely fine – beautiful clean fur, clean eyes, not deshydrated, no blockage, the stomach wasn’t even full, perfectly aligned teeth, no wounds on the cheeks or tongue… The vet complimented me on her stellar state. She even GAINED 50g since December.  He told me that her guts were just a little slower than they used to be because my rabbit was getting older and that I could just give Emeprid until she was stable and offer her a variety of hay piled on the floor for easy access. I gave Emeprid from Sunday till Thursday afternoon, she was fine eating and pooping. I then left for a business trip and came back yesterday night. She’s still eating and acting normal but I found some small poops which makes me think that we’re going toward stasis again. I’m completely stumped. I don’t want to give her Emeprid all the time as I know that it’s not a good idea, but what could be the problem? Everytime, she’s acting and eating like normal but about 5 days after stopping the Emeprid, we have stasis again. That’s been going on for 3 weeks now. Does that mean the system never got going again and that it was just working of the Emeprid? She doesn’t have gas, her stomach was mostly silent, I never felt any gas in it while massaging it. She eats only what I give her (the rabbit’s room doesn’t have any carpet or anything that a rabbit could eat except for a cardboard house that I don’t think she eats), the same thing she’s been eating for 7 years : tons of hay (3 different kind, with oxbow, second crop and the regular timothy she normally eats), vegetables with lots of leafy greens and just 4-5 pellets as supplement. I took to give her grass from the garden too to encourage to eat more fibers.  Nothing changed in her environment. She has been getting on well with her husbunny for 3 years and they interact like normal. She’s not in pain except for when the stasis sets in, but one dose has done the trick everytime : as soon as the Emeprid kick in her stomach empties and she’s back to normal. She runs, washes herself and stands on her hindlegs so no arthritis. The vet ruled out the urinary infection considering her vent area is clean and there is no signs of pain. So , what is it? What am I missing? I’m so frustrated I feel like crying. I mean, 7 years is not that old… I would be grateful for any thoughts, suggestions…

[jerseygirl]

Welcome
I’m sorry you are facing this with Aki.

 

I mean, 7 years is not that old.

I don’t think of that as old either, but rabbits are considered seniors after 5 years of age. 

 

I still took her to the vet, thinking she might have an underlying problem I hadn’t noticed.

I agree with you. I wonder if just a dose of metacam would turn her around? That might tell you if it is an unknown source of pain being the root cause. It might come down to her being on a maintenance dose of metacam, daily.

Did the vet say whether ultrasound would pick up on ulcers?

Has she had the teeth examined while sedated?
 

Has she always had normal round poop when she is well?

What is her water intake like?

[Aki]

Hello,

thank you for replying.

The thing is that she doesn’t seem to be in pain except for when her belly is full because of the stasis. As soon as she poops, she runs around, stands on her hind legs and seems just fine. When she’s not feeling well she stays hunched and it’s very visible so I don’t think she has a chronic pain issue or maybe she hids it really well? I thought about arthritis, of course, but she jumps in an out of the cage and litterbox and washes herself with fluid movements.

Rabbits can have ulcers? I never heard of that. That might be something to explore, my vet didn’t speak about that. I’ll do a search.

Her teeth were examined by putting something with a light and like a magnifying glass (I guess?) in her mouth while she was awake and palpating her muzzle / jaw. She was surprisingly docile. I asked the vet about examining her teeth while sedated but he said that if there was a problem somewhere the rest of her teeth wouldn’t be so perfectly aligned and that the fact that she still ate her hay and harder things just with some Emeprid meant that it couldn’t be a tooth problem because otherwise she would be in pain and not eat without Metacam. He said I would just have an anesthesia for nothing and that it wasn’t recommanded at her age.

This vet is clearly the most knowledgeable in the city (I tried the others before and was not impressed) and he’s got machines to do x-rays, ultrasounds and stuff. I would rather have the opinion of a rabbit specialist but the nearest one is like 200 km away and I don’t own a car. He comes from a good vet school, I checked ^^’. Maybe he knows what he is saying but I can’t help but have doubts (doubting is an awful thing).

Yes, her poop has always been perfectly round with clear traces of hay in it. She never had any health issue before last December (and I really think the bout of stasis at the time was caused by the stress – 2 guys she didn’t know took all day to cut a tree just in front of her room and Aki is a really skittish rabbit, she hates strangers to begin with). 

She drinks well, her intake doesn’t seem to have changed from before – I put the water in a water dish for easy access and I give wet vegetables everyday for dinner: usually 2/3 leafy greens 1/3 “hard” vegetables but more like 90% leafy greens these days as I think it’s better to keep her guts hydrated and moving. I stopped carrots as I read sugary vegetables weren’t recommended for stomach problems. I’ve also been adding a big handful of wet grass to the mix for the past 2 weeks, I sometimes give a small handful of wet grass in the morning as well as she seems to like it better than hay. She never stopped peeing even during the days when she wasn’t eating or pooping. On the ultrasound, her bladder was completely normal. The vet said she wasn’t deshydrated at all.

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