Briar won't eat

Rayen · Aug 3, 2009

So last night was fine, she was eating like a pig and running around being bad as is the norm for her.

This morning my mom came in and was giving them some dried apple as she normally does, one each (they're about the same density of a raisin) and Quinn ran up and took his all easily. Sometimes Briar is asleep and doesn't notice so we went to try and give it to her, she loves them. She wouldn't take it. So I figured maybe she just didn't want it right then and I went to go get her pellets. She has never declined pellets before. She shoved the dish away and tipped it all over the place. Another weird thing for her was that she sat still when I went to pet her and even let me pick her up to check her over. She's not grinding her teeth that I've seen, I listened to her stomach and didn't hear anything, checked her teeth and they don't seem to be overgrown (but I don't really know what overgrown teeth look like).

So I went looking in the litter box, and there seemed to be a bit less than what was normal for them both. I dug around and found one piece that had something in it. It looks like a bit of carpet fuzz. If anyone remembers, I was talking about looking for new flooring for the cage because she rips and destroys it, but usually it's all over the place and I've never seen anything else in her poo to say she's been eating it.

I have her in the smaller travel cage right now with only hay, water and a litter box. I'm hoping she'll get over her hissy fit of being in the small cage and use the litter box eventually so I can tell if she's pooing/peeing still. I have no idea if she's acting lethargic, usually she just lies there on her top level all day long anyway. She'll still run away and has been trying to escape from the smaller cage when I open the door, so she's not really acting strangely in that sense.

I'm sure the vet will love to hear that I'm coming in for what seems like my monthly visit with the rabbits. Ugh, and it's some holiday today too, so I doubt I'll be even able to get in until tomorrow. Yay.

So I guess the question is, is there anything I should be looking for? Anything I should be giving her? Should I move her out of the small cage and let Quinn have it so she's not as stressed out and might actually use the litter box?

tonyshuman · Aug 3, 2009

Well, movement sometimes helps with GI slowdown, so letting her run around would be good if you could still keep an eye on her poop separate from her buddy.

It sounds like she may have eaten some carpet and has GI slowdown or stasis from that. The most important thing in GI slowdown or stasis is hydration. Add some apple or cranberry juice to her water (dilute the juice at least 4x), or a drop of vanilla flavoring. Offer in a bowl and a bottle in case she prefers one over the other (I had Tony for at least a year before I figured out he prefers a bottle). If she still won't drink, syringe-feed her 10-20 mL of water or unsweetened Pedialyte (electrolyte drink for children with diarrhea).

I'd also listen for gas sounds in the stomach. Gas is less likely, since she probably has indigestible carpet blocking part of her intestines, but it's possible. If you hear gurgling, give simethicone (mylicon is the name here in the US) 1mL/hr for 3 hrs. Also offer her a warm rice sock (dry rice in a sock, microwave 2 min), and do tummy massages. You can use an electric toothbrush or massager to help with this. If you don't want to do that (she won't let you touch her tummy), a car ride can help with gas, and so can being on top of the washing machine during a spin cycle.

Offer her these foods: canned pumpkin, fresh pineapple, hay, wet greens (dandelion if you can get them and know they're clean, if not--parsley). Don't worry if it takes her a little while to eat. If she doesn't eat within 24 hours from when you first noticed her not wanting to eat, she needs to go to the vet.

I'd also give her Bene-Bac and meloxicam if you have them.

If it's a tooth problem, which I don't expect, because with tooth issues the rabbit usually stops eating only one type of food, not all food entirely, you wouldn't be able to see yourself. The teeth in the cheeks are usually the culprit, and it takes a vet's dental instrument to see them well.

aurora369 · Aug 3, 2009

Tonyshuman has given some really great advise.

Hydration is definitely number one priority. Find some sort of watered down juice that she enjoys, but always offer regular water as normal.

I would also advise against any gut motility drugs. With the suspected cause of this stasis being ingestion of carpet fibers (which means blockage), giving a gut motility drug is a huge risk for intestine rupture. Not to mention that gut motility drugs are painful to begin with. You'll be better off sticking to hydration and pain medication.

--Dawn

Rayen · Aug 3, 2009

I think she's starting to feel better. I just saw her eat some hay and she's showing more interest when I put things into her cage. She's not acting all that strangely either, she's still running around and and lying all spread out on her top floor. She'll come up to the front of the cage to see what I'm doing and still kicks me when I try to pick her up and thumps and kicks when I put her down. (she's not exactly the most loveable rabbit in the world, we like each other from afar)

I still haven't seen any poo/pee really though. I saw a few random pieces, maybe 2-3 lying around the cage. One had a bunch of what looked like her hair in it. I'm also not sure of how much she's drinking, I gave her about a mL of water with a syringe a little while ago just in case. I put the apple juice in her water and she seems interested in it, but apparently not enough to drink it. She sniffs it and gets some on her whiskers then cleans her face and licks her lips. I gave her some pineapple and some pumpkin too, which she hasn't eaten yet either. She looks interested in the pineapple and completely ignores the pumpkin. (which is fairly normal since she's never had pumpkin before and only rarely has some pineapple because I hate the stuff)

Here's hoping she feels better! Poor little girl.

dquesnel · Aug 3, 2009

Hi there, I would suggest more hydration if you have noticed she does not appear to be drinking much. In the case that you suspect hair/carpet fibers in her gut, hydration will help enormously and it may be starting to already. With a gut full of hair and carpet, they may not present signs of pain as much as they present signs of 'fullness'. Feeling full and not hungry also takes away the desire to drink, so she is most likely not drinking much on her own and needs help there.

Does she eat wet vegetables? If it is a part of her diet I would offer her whatever variety she usually takes. The hydration will help the gut to pass whatever may be in there at the moment. Sometimes it takes a while for proper fecals to be passed again, since the contents of the gut have a loooong way to go to get out.

Rayen · Aug 3, 2009

She's starting to poop again! She was sitting in the litter box for a little while and then there was a fairly decent sized pile when she left. I didn't see any that had more hair in them. I'm going to make sure to give her more water if I don't see her drinking any. She ate a little more hay too.