wool block?

Question
QUESTION: Dear Lee,
I am sorry about bombarding you with questions. I do my own 'research' and take Ted to vets but I have been having problems for the last two months.
Ted had a gastrotomy 2 months ago. I thought he got a blockage because of lack of hay eating (although I offer every kind of hay under the sun) maybe because of dental problems. He has had 3 (!) dentals in the last 2 months. The last dental was about a week ago. He had been less keen on hay again and was making chewing movements with his mouth so I thought his teeth were hurting. The vet who did the last dental said his teeth were ok and he just removed 2 tiny spurs. Since then and even before the dental he has been producing too few and small hard droppings. I was told that there was a lot of loose hair on him. I now think that he may have 'wool block'. I have been pestering him with water and diluted apple juice thinking he is dehydrated and he does eat parsley and bit of hay (hard to get him to eat anything but alfalfa), I have stopped giving him any pellet food and I give him wet herbs which he devours. I also give him small bits of papaya. But the droppings have not improved. I was thinking of asking vet tomorrow to give him a) sub-c fluids, b) gut motility drug, c) pain injection. Is that right??? If yes, should I go to vet twice a day for a couple of days with the same treatment? I don't want to give Ted more stress but I am worried that if I do nothing he will have to be hospitalised again which is worse. Please help! Many thanks.
Best wishes,
Diane

ANSWER: Hi Diane,

first, I think you need to make sure you are getting your stress out.  Ted could very well be stressing out partly because he's picking up your stress (over him).  Rabbits are very empathetic and pick up our nervousness and anxiety and it could wind up affecting him in a physical way, too.

I think you need to give him probiotics.  Bene-bac, in the 15 mL feeder syringe.  Give a pea-sized portion every day to help replenish his good gut bacteria.  The probiotics in this version of Bene-Bac are in a mild sweet fat base, so that the probiotics can survive the acids of an animal's stomach.  That's what makes this work good for rabbits.

See in the past sometimes people got lucky if they had another healthy rabbit and somehow managed to grab some of their cecal pellets and give them to their sicker rabbit, in the hopes of repopulating the gut and giving certain vitamins back to them.

Rabbits normally drink anywhere between 2-5 ounces a day depending on temperature, activity and size.  You can measure how much he drinks and see what is normal for him.

If he is shedding you can make a point during these times to groom him and remove excess fur from him so he does not have to ingest so much.

Stool size is really dependent on a couple factors: water, hay intake, and gut bacteria.  But 95% of a fecal pellet is digested hay fiber so if he's not eating hay like normal because of a variety of teeth/tooth related problems, he won't have the same volume going through him, and if he's been on antibiotics the gut bacteria won't be normal either.  Given this, it isn't unusual to see fecal pellets that aren't normal.  You've also take away his pellets so now that's more food not being processed into fecal pellets.  I'd say keep the pellets, these are easy to eat because they turn to dust.  They also encourage water drinking because they are drier and will make him thirsty.

If he was seriously dehydrated he would have balance problems, he couldn't hold himself up, he wouldn't move, he would not be interested in eating at all.  If you see him drinking on his own, he's okay.  Measure out his water (via measuring cup) in the morning from all his water sources, and the next morning measure them back into the measuring cup and see how much water he drank during the 24 hours.  You can do this across several days to get an average.  This will give you a general idea of what normal water intake is for him.  In the meantime if he is tooth crunching he's in pain and pain meds would be right, but obviously if he's in pain something has to be done to get him out of whatever's causing him pain.  From what you say I don't think he's in pain if he's excited to eat and drinking on his own.  Get the Bene-Bac as I describe and start to replenish his gut bacteria - you can get it online if the vet or pet supply stores around you don't carry it.  And stay on top of his tooth problems because they directly affect his hay intake and hay should be the thing he eats the most of all the time.  Hay is one of the three critical components to good gut health and his overall health.  Water and good gut bacteria being the other two.





---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear Lee,
Thanks very much for your response and your patience. You are certainly right about my stress levels...
I gave Ted Fibreplex (which is like Bene-bac)for a few days (2 tubes) but not sure that did any good. I have some Bio-lapis (pro-biotics) which I could try but he doesn't drink. I suppose I will have to try sprinkling it on wet veg?
I have seen him eating some cecotropes and he eats some herbs and a bit of hay but not nearly enough (perhaps he feels full from wool block?). I am terrified that he is getting more and more blocked up and will end up going into full blown gi stasis. I could try reducing the veg (to encourage more hay eating) but since he doesn't drink surely that would make him worse?
Should I drag him to the vet (again!) and ask for sub-c fluids? Gut motility drug? There are droppings but very few, infrequent and mostly small and hard.
Thanks again for your help!
Best wishes,
Diane

Answer
Hi,

this may be getting to a point where I don't feel comfortable advising because I'm not there and I'm not a vet.  I think I've pretty much covered what I'd do from a pet owner standpoint.

Fiberplex sound like there's fiber in it.  The Bene-Bac has none.  It's just pure probiotics.

He won't eat at all if he's blocked, please know this.  If his stomach is blocked, or his cecum was blocked, he will not want to eat anything, he would have no room for it.

I have stated what I think the obvious problem is, and best probable solution is prior.  You will not get any normalcy, I believe, until there's a final solution to his teeth problem.  I personally believe given your statements the offending teeth need to be removed.  You need to find a vet that believes and does this work with a high success rate.  Keep looking if you are not satisfied but realize you are on the clock.

I would not reduce veggies.  It's one of the few things he looks forward to and seems to eat without too much trouble.  They have vitamins and minerals he needs plus a little water.  If anything I might increase them right now.  Especially if he normally gets parsley, which is good for the stomach.

If you believe he's not drinking enough (not in the 2-5 ounces a day range) then give him lactated ringer solution via sub-q fluids.  He's not is serious danger if he's still expressing interest in foods and otherwise moves around normally and interacts with you.  

If you are worried about a partial blockage (and that is what it would be because he is passing pellets, a full blockage, nothing comes out) get to a vet with a working xray.

From what you are saying his hay intake is down because of his teeth.  AS they get worse, his hay eating goes down, which will affect his output AND drinking (less thirsty).  If his previuos wounds in his mouth are still healing but they cause him pain this will affect his eating too.  Metacam can help him overcome the mouth pain to eat more (to a point).

You will not get a final solution to this problem and have a chance to get him back without truly solving the teeth problem.

I believe I've about said all that I can say about this, as far as what I'd do in your shoes.  Let me know how things turn out.  I'll keep praying for you and Ted.