Encouraging Rabbit With GI Stasis To Eat

[Abi :)]

Hi Everyone!

This weekend I noticed that Duke was sitting in the corner of his room and refusing to eat which began to worry me, I booked an emergency appointment and took him to the vet immediately. The vet said that he could not hear any gut movement and that Duke had GI stasis, he gave Duke two injections of meds (painkiller and something that stimulates gut movement) and prescribed us the same meds to give him orally for a week. After the vet app Duke began to look better and started moving around and pooing (although they are very small and dark) he has also started to nibble on kale, lettuce and some pellets (not as much as he usually does) but I don't see him eating hay. I haven't taken him back to the vet since our vet said that if he begins to eat it is a good sign and he wouldn't need to be seen again unless he stopped eating again- in which case they would keep him overnight and give him drips. He is usually very excited when I give him fresh hay but now he seems unbothered. I've also noticed that after I give him the meds he refuses to eat and sulks for a while, is there any way to avoid this and get his appetite back?

Do any of you also have any recommendations on how to entice him to eat more hay and food? Should I also maybe buy an alternate hay that he might maybe like more? Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
<3

 

[Mileybun]

Hand feeding tasty hay always seems to help! Perhaps a new type of grass hay bunny hasn't tried before?

 

[JBun]

Is this a new bag of hay, or has anything about his hay changed recently (brand, source, quality, etc)? Have you noticed any odd chewing behavior, drooling, dropping food from his mouth, or anything else that might point to him not eating hay due to mouth pain?

 

[Abi :)]

Hand feeding tasty hay always seems to help! Perhaps a new type of grass hay bunny hasn't tried before?

Hi! Thank you for your response, I'll definitely buy a bag of orchard grass hay since they seem to like that as a treat which should hopefully encourage him to eat more!

Is this a new bag of hay, or has anything about his hay changed recently (brand, source, quality, etc)? Have you noticed any odd chewing behavior, drooling, dropping food from his mouth, or anything else that might point to him not eating hay due to mouth pain?

Hey! Our vet did a dental check and said that his everything seemed fine- Duke did have an issue with his front teeth around a year or two ago but the vet said that it seems to have fixed itself (likely because Duke has been eating more hay since) and that now everything looks completely fine. I will also be booking a specific dental check-up after he has recovered as per our vets advice.

As for the hay, it looks normal to me! I've been sourcing my timothy hay from HayBox for a couple of years now, both Bambi and Duke have been liking it a lot, Bambi is still eating this current batch of hay so I think it is more of an issue with Duke being picky. This morning I saw him nibbling on some which is progress! I will definitely buy another batch of hay and also orchard grass hay since I know they both seem to enjoy that a lot!

Thank you both for your responses