I was advised to give Sub-Q. Is this necessary when my bun is eating & drinking well?

Question
Thursday January 14th, my bun was not well.  Diag: not eating, closing eyes, meatloaf position, not moving around much at all & she wet on my sofa (she never wets anywhere but her litter pan).  She is a free range bun 24/7.  No children in our home to drop any bad foods for her to get ahold of.  She is fed well daily, I am out of work & home all the time with her.  She gets greens, Timothy hay, & 2 tbsp Oxbow pellets per day. Fruits and veggies as treats.  She has had many brussel sprout leaves the last 2 months from our garden.  On Thursday, she was fine 8am, sleeps few hrs, then at 2pm she was up & I noted she was sick.  6pm I took her to the vet.  I took her in because she is having these spells about every 30 to 60 days it seems in the last few months.    I have not taken her to the vet before due to the cost.  We have a dog who was snake bit in Aug. & she has had problems since & has run up our vet bill very high.. and my husband and I have both been out of work  for a long time due to the economy.  I decided to put on credit card & take my bun Thursday because she was sick Dec 18 too... so I am worried & feel it is time I must take her in.  My vet is not listed on the HRS rabbit list.  My vet checked her teeth first, then her droppings (I took her litter pan with me).  No teeth problems. Xray was done of molars too.  No parasites in stool.  Then he did Xray of her stomach.  He feels she has a hairball.  He showed me the Xray & tried to explain his findings to me.  He said her stomach is enlarged.  His prescription for her was to take her home & give her 5cc pineapple juice twice per day, and plenty of roughage, hay and water.  He said the juice will dissolve the hairball & of course the roughage to keep things moving.   When I got her home from the vet, she began eating some.  I bought fresh pineapple & have been giving her the juice. Friday and today, she is acting normal and eating great.  She never did stop having bowel movements, some were tiny Thursday night when she was sick ...but by Friday morning she had normal droppings in her litter box.  Friday & Sat again normal litter box droppings. I did get on a rabbit forum when I returned from the vet and told them what my vet prescribed.  On this forum, some advised me to also give my bun Sub-Q fluids and Critical Care.  I was not familiar with this, but looked up.  I do not have funds to return to a rabbit savvy vet.  Only one in my small town & she was not available late Thursday evening, so this is when I decided to see my regular vet.  He is an excellent vet with dogs and cats.  The rabbit savvy vet in my town is very very expensive.  Even some wealthy friends of mine have switched to my vet for their dogs due to the high cost fees of vet (the only rabbit savvy vet in our town).  My question is, since my bun is eating well and drinking well ...does my bun need the  Sub-Q fluids and critical care?  I am feeding her more red leaf lettuce and parsley, sprinkling these with water, I also put unsweetened apple juice in her water to get her to drink more water .. and she is drinking the pineapple juice too.  She is also eating pineapple chunks. Another question is will I see something in her litter pan ... if she passes a hairball such as something larger ?    Also please note .. Today, I believe she went pee on my hardwood floor about 15 feet from her litter box.  She has never done this before.  She is eating well and moving around today.  I have noted one difference today .. she is not jumping up on a platform to eat where I often put her food ... so I am setting her food on the floor so she does not have to jump.   ONE more thing that may be of importance .. she got sick Dec 18th too... same, not eating, I thought it was gas.  I massaged her tummy for a long time & watched her close & she got better after about 6 hrs.  On that day .. she passed clear jelly looking regular size stool pellets.  Not small like cecum.  There was not a large amount of mucus around them ... about 8 clear jelly looking round balls (size of her normal poo) and they were stuck together I assume because they were of a mucos type substance.  I had never seen her pass anything like this before.   I have not seen her pass anything like this ... this week when she has been sick again.   Thank you in advance for your time and suggestions.   ~ Jan ~

Answer
Dear Jan,

I would get a second opinion from a more experienced rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

If the vet is diagnosing "hairball" and prescribing pineapple juice, then s/he hasn't been updating his/her rabbit medicine since 1980.  Time for a new vet.

Please see:

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

and

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

If she stops eating and pooping altogether, see:

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

The new vet will be better able to help.

Dana