Gut Stasis Help!!!

Question
Our rabbit specialist has been unable to find the source causing Gut Stasis. He was in hospital for 4 days and 3 nights and came home eating, whizz and poos didn't settle into normal patterns until after 3 days at home but reverted in 2nd wk at home during.Now want swallow for vet.  Has suffered not eating/less pooping as temperature fluctuations and fur changing have always caused problems. For many years suffered cecal dysbiosis but with diet readjustment improved. He is white with black ears, brown eyes and black moustach, 4.1kilos, large for a rabbit and 8.5yrs old.

I suspect this may be a mild illness he has always suffered from but age in now taking it's toll. We were sent home with critical care assist feed, cisaspride, zantac and metascam. (spelling may be wrong). Unfortunately I suspect we didn't we didn't address his disinterest in eating soon enough before we had an increase of 15 degrees (Australian metrics) in one day. he went back to the vet for more meds but concern about lack of fluids took him in the next day. He has only pooped mucus with minimal 'poop'. He was like this when we brought him back home from his 3 night stay (he was monitored overnight) but with tender love and care improved to a better bunny than we have seen in years.

After the temp. fluct, while assist feeding him  I became upset because he didn't want it and started to cry, that's when he allowed me to just continue to push in the feed but he refused to swallow, later however after beginning left alone, he ate some poops. Then I took him back to hospital because I was concerned about his lack of fluids (yesterday). Today I was told (by phone) he is no longer swallowing the assist feed for them. i suspect he has had too much harassment.

The cost of testing, hospital fees etc has come to a point where we can no longer afford to have testing etc continued. Do you have any inspirational ideas about how we can help him, before we lose him. We are bringing him home on the basis that this has become too stressful.

Answer
Dear Claudine,

In all this, has anyone thought to check his molars for spurs?  This is by far the most common non-dietary cause of inappetence and GI stasis in rabbits, and it's important that you have a vet who knows how to do a deep oral examination to find any dental problems and file them.  This can have very quick results and improve your rabbit's quality of life immensely.

You don't mention if other diagnostic tests have been done.  Radiographs of the head, chest and abdomen to look for sources of pain, such as tumor, abscess, calcification of kidneys or a bladder stone or sludge?  Blood draw for CBC and chemistry, to check for cryptic infection and organ function (particularly liver and kidneys)?

Please read:

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

and

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

and

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

This will help you know what questions to ask the vet.  It sounds as if the vet knows what to do to help reverse ileus, but--unless you're leaving things out of this email--not at digging down to find out what's *triggering* the ileus.  There is some cryptic health problem that needs to be addressed, or this will be chronic.

He also desperately needs analgesia.  Metacam is okay, but we've found that Banamine (flunixin meglumine) and pediatric simethicone suspension are very helpful.  Shallow enema is *miraculous* at getting a gut jump-started, and I've come to think that this is the single best way to get a gut going for the short term, and just to make bun feel better.  Instructions are in the ileus article above.

I hope this helps.

Dana