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Forum DIET & CARE Cause of my rabbit’s GI stasis

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    • BunnyHelper83
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        As many of you will remember, my rabbit sadly died of GI stasis about a month ago now.  I received a lot of wonderful messages on this forum for which I will always be very grateful.

        I have been inevitably thinking a lot about what potentially could have caused this GI stasis.  At the time, there were obviously a number of ideas about what it could have been.  However tonight something just occurred to me which didn’t (and should have) at the time:

        I have always kept a record of when my rabbit had a GI stasis poo.  The last one was last year at the end of August 2016.  This occurred after a short but fairly intense heatwave in the UK (where I live).  My rabbit’s GI stasis that killed her(beginning June 2017) begun according to the photograph date of her first GI stasis poo just around the time of a very intense heatwave which had never been seen before in my country (most consecutive number of days above 30 degrees celcius).  it also contained the hottest June day for 40 years. 

        Seems likely that this could have played a part in her death and could well have directly been the cause.  I think its important other people realise that heat can kill rabbits even if this was not actually the cause of my rabbits death.   


      • jerseygirl
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          Im sorry for your recent loss, BunnyHelper83.

          Thanks for posting about this. I think it is possible that big fluctuations in temperature could certainly trigger illness, especially for particularly sensitive rabbits. It’s strange, as some have iron guts, can get away with eating things they shouldn’t or live for years on a bad diet, yet others will have an episode just after a small fruit treat or a green they cannot tolerate. Like people, I suppose.

          GI stasis can be so confusing as it’s so often a symptom of something else, not a stand alone condition. It’s also often the 1st clue we get that something is going on. If we were to describe an illness timeframe on a scale of 1-10, 1 being rabbit is normal, 10 being rabbit is gravely ill, there may be undetected things happening all the way up to 6 or 7. Then by 8, we seeing gi stasis and by this point, things can escalate very quickly. I cannot think of a better way to describe this but I hope that make sense to whoever reading. :p

          With my rabbits that have passed, Ive spent a lot of time going over what may have been the cause of them becoming so ill. I suppose its part of grieving? Trying to make sense of things? I can never truly know what was happening inside them and I don’t think a post mortem would have given me very conclusive answers either. All we can really do is continue to educate ourselves on how to best prevent them becoming ill as best we can, recognise when they are ill and get appropriate care and recognise that even in doing these things, we can’t always save them. 

          Hindsight has help me see that I can cherish the time I did share with them though, that I was blessed to have them at all, however long that was, and nothing can take that away. 


        • BunnyHelper83
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            Thanks for the reply Jerseygirl.

            Ultimately I have formed a sort of opinion that rabbits may not be very easy pets to keep and that it may not be a good idea to keep them although I may have had bad experiences. Certainly cats and dogs seem hardier animals although cats seem to get killed by cars quite a lot.

            I am sorry to hear that you have had rabbits that have passed due to ill health. When I was a child I also had a rabbit before who died on the way back from the vets after having her teeth cut. She was a hutch rabbit so the whole experience must have been too much for her. I think you did the right thing to go over what caused her death but ultimately its very difficult with rabbits. I think that Rabbits may not make very good pets but since these domestic animals exist it is better that someone with a mentality like yourself care for the rabbits than they go to a child who just wants a cuddly toy in a hutch although my view is that this is in some way a better existence than that of a wild rabbit.

            I feel that I must learn to cope with what happened in my particular case. I could have paid more attention to her environment although we did ensure a lot of things to be honest e.g. we made sure she was eating rabbit friendly foods. But like it would have helped if I had checked as well as the other people in my house about the rabbit’s litter tray but I was unable to do a lot of things last year and it wasn’t high on my priority list as I would never have imagined that it could be lethal. Additionally I knew from advice on the world wide web that it is important to prevent a GI stasis occurring after the first time it occurs. I just think that I believed it was never going to kill her so I never did a review beyond her diet i.e. making sure she had lots of the correct type of hay, she had plenty of water and other things to do with diet.

            .


          • joea64
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              It seems to me, from my reading on the subject, that GI stasis is neither universal nor inevitable in pet rabbits, and that there are four things that owners can do that, taken as a whole, will greatly reduce the risk of GI stasis ever occurring:

              1) Healthy diet, based firmly on fresh grass hay and water, augmented by rabbit-suitable green vegetables and a small daily amount of pellets and a modest quantity of healthy treats;
              2) A healthy, calm living environment where the rabbit’s habitat, particularly their litterbox, is cleaned regularly, environmental and climatic factors (especially temperature) are kept stable, and stress is kept to an unavoidable minimum;
              3) Daily opportunity for exercise/play outside the habitat, intellectual and physical stimulation, and socialization with humans;
              4) Regular care by a veterinarian knowledgeable about the health issues of rabbits.

              All these, working together, will promote an overall environment for the house rabbit in which the likelihood not only GI stasis but other common medical problems occurring is greatly reduced even if it can’t be altogether eliminated.


            • Bam
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                Heat can absolutely have an impact on a bunny’s health. But I’m thinking if it had anything to do with your bunny’s sad passing, it was just as a contributing environmental factor. She was sick for a whole month. I remember thinking there probably was some really grave underlying cause, something that didn’t have to with heat or cooking odors. Your vet suggested cat litter, but an impacted cecum would’ve been seen on x-rays and a rabbi vet can also feel it with their fingers.

                We can’t know. I had a bunny pass from an unknown cause. I still often think about what could have caused it. It’s pointless though, I know I’ll never get any answers. But we humans always want explanations, we want to make sense of things.

                I’m sorry your girl didn’t pull through. I hope one day you’ll open your heart to another rabbit, because you seem to be a very caring and conscientious person, the kind of person a bunny really could need.

                Rabbits are very frail animals. Rabbit medicine isn’t as advanced as dog medicine. It’s gotten a lot better in later years though, and the UK has some of the world’s best rabbit vets, but bad things still happen to good rabbits and good people, not everything is in our hands.


              • joea64
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                  @bam raises a key point. We sometimes forget that it’s only in the last 40 years or so that keeping rabbits as indoors pets has become really widespread; up through the 1970’s, the received wisdom was that they needed to be housed outdoors. Several of the older books in my library recommend outdoors housing as the best option for pet rabbits. It’s also only been in the last few decades that safe anesthesia of rabbits for surgery, leading to spaying being practicable, thus enabling successful bonding of altered pairs/groups to take place, has also been a reality. It’s not just rabbit medicine that’s still in active development; the keeping of rabbits as house pets is still, in a sense, in its infancy. The basic principles are pretty well-known but we’re still working out all the details.


                • LittlePuffyTail
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                    I’ve had 2 bunnies pass away from unknown causes. One I suspect was GI stasis but there were no bunny vets available to help and she sadly passed. It’s hard, especially, not knowing.

                    I agree. Bunnies are difficult pets, for sure. My Bindi is 10 and has cost me thousands of dollars in vet bills and so much stress due to him being unwell. Some bunnies are super sensitive and frail while others go for years with no problems at all. But I think, even the more fragile ones, are worth it. I wouldn’t trade my Bindi for any other bunny.

                    I hope, now, even with knowing what you, that you’ll let a bunny in your life again someday. (((hugs))))


                  • DanaNM
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                      So sorry for your loss.  My Bunston passed away from unknown causes very suddenly about a year and a half ago. We thought it was stasis, and it did coincide with a heat wave, and he had been molting heavily. But then he passed some very normal looking poops right before he passed. All of this happened on a Sunday and our emergency vet doesn’t see rabbits… I have gone over the whole thing over and over again. Our vet thought he may have looped a part of his intestines… but we’ll really never know. 

                      Rabbits are fragile creatures, but in that I think they teach us a lot about how precious life is. Something about earning the trust of a tiny prey animal is just so rewarding.. 

                      I agree that we learn more and more about their care all the time. The same progress happened with cats. Until pretty recently they were medically treated like small dogs… when obviously there are some important differences! 

                      . . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  


                    • joea64
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                        Question to all: Do you think that being in a bonded pair or group, able to enjoy the continual companionship of other rabbits, makes it less likely for a rabbit to suffer GI stasis or other such issues, in conjunction with other measures such as hay-centric diet and ample attention and interaction?


                      • Deleted User
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                          I didn’t know that actually heat might be the cause of death of rabbit. Thank you for posting.


                        • DanaNM
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                            Posted By joea64 on 8/30/2017 9:13 AM

                            Question to all: Do you think that being in a bonded pair or group, able to enjoy the continual companionship of other rabbits, makes it less likely for a rabbit to suffer GI stasis or other such issues, in conjunction with other measures such as hay-centric diet and ample attention and interaction?

                            Hmmmm, I don’t think so….I know of plenty of cases of happily bonded buns getting stasis. Bunston was bonded (he’s the little brown guy in my profile pic) and had plenty of exercise, interaction, and a good diet. He was also about 9 though, so getting more senior, and we don’t really know what the cause of his death was.  I fully think that bonded buns are usually happier, but honestly sometimes it’s harder to track poops when you have two buns in the mix. 

                            I can imagine mental well being feeding back in to physical health, but I don’t think being bonded protects buns from getting stasis or other illnesses, if that’s what you mean. There are also probably lots of other factors confounded with that…. I think most people with bonded pairs are on average more rabbit-savvy people, so they probably have more knowledge of proper care than the average person who buys a solo pet store rabbit for their child…. 

                            I have heard of buns that lose their partner getting stasis though, as they can become very depressed.  

                            . . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  


                          • BunnyHelper83
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                              Thanks for all these replies, just had the chance now to read them all. It is heart-wrenching to hear the accounts of the rabbits like Bunston, I can only too well remember feeling very frustrated that no local vet would open on a Sunday, it seems very impractical. Additionally, it was very annoying that many of these rabbits vets don’t offer the option of a home visit because Rabbits clearly get stressed by these visits. In fact my first rabbit died prematurely (that must be nearly 20 years ago now when I was a child) and that was due to stress from travelling (she had a heart attack in the car after having her teeth reduced in size).

                              I am sorry if my comments may have made some of you concerned about your own rabbits but it is probably better to know what we are up against for the benefit of the bunnies.

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                          Forum DIET & CARE Cause of my rabbit’s GI stasis