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recovering from gi stasis

22 9:52:32

Question
Hi Dana, my bunny eats hay all day long. He eats pellets and bok choy daily and carrots weekly. Timothy hay and never store bought treats. He has been shedding like crazy to the point where i can pull his hair right out. I brush him every day but he is constantly grooming. He became lethargiic and wouldnt eat. I have critical care on hand so i force fed him that and fresh pineapple juice. Nochange . I did this every two hours all nite until the vet opened. The xrays showed a hairball whichi understand is a result of stasis not the cause.but im stumped as to the cause. Vet gave him subq fluids. Metoclopramide and trimethoprim. I was apprehensive about the antibiotic but isaid ok. Xray alsoshowed gas bubble. I asked vet if i can give hime baby gas drops, he said no..but when i got him homje i did it anyway. About four hrs later he pooped and ate hay. Hes been runnin around ever since almost himself again and that was 3 days ago. Now i notice his belly is hanging a lil low but is getting better. He also has been eating his cecals but they r somewhat hairy. My questions are..do i stop him from ea from eating them? R infant gas drops safe? The antibiotic? And how can i stophim from constantly grooming? Idont know how to prevent gas andstop this from happening to him again. To see him suffer breaks my heart. To pick him up and feel him limp..its almost inconcievable to imagine that happeningagain. I called in sick all week cuz im afraid to leave him alone. Also he islicking everything and eating the little bedding i put in his cage, its mostly hay. Pleaseadvise! Thanks

Answer
Dear Denise,

You don't say how old your bunny is, nor what breed.  But this sounds to me like a possible dental problem causing enough pain to trigger ileus.  The constant licking of things suggests he may be trying to relieve the discomfort that way.

If the vet you saw didn't think simethicone (gas drops) were safe for rabbits, I would STRONGLY advise you to find a different vet.  The treatments the vet prescribed are fairly old-fashioned (why give antibiotics--and a relatively old and not very effective one, at that--if there is no sign of infection?), and from what you say no effort was made to check the teeth.  Probably the two most common things that can cause ileus are chronic poor diet (which does NOT sound like the problem here) and painful dental problems such as molar spurs.  Only a very experienced rabbit vet is going to know what to look for in this latter case, so please use this list to find one:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and also read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

You probably already found this, but in case of another emergency:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

The "hanging belly" suggests a lack of tonus/muscle tightness in the abdomen.  We often see a flabby-looking belly in rabbits suffering from ileus or even GI slowdown.  

I hope this will help you get the situation under control and prevent further problems.

Dana