Hello everyone,
This is my first post and the reason I've registered here is to write this post, because I want to know other people's opinion from different countries.
I'm a bit lost here, don't know what to do:
I have two sterilized bunnies (a female and a male both of them are around 3-4 years old). The female is a dwarf lionhead bunny.
The female one has GI stasis on a weekly/bi-weekly basis since 2019 august.
So now we have a motherload of paper regarding vet examinations due to this.
Feeding:
Hay ( I mix 2-3 types together), water. Pelletts in the morning and in the evening. Nothing more. No fruit or any other kind of vegetables, not even a tiny bit.
They are 24/7 roaming inside the living room without being locked inside the cage. There are no plants or any kind of stuff they can accidentally eat.
We had both of them examined by multiple doctors (Male = excellent condition) and one of the doctors came to a verdict that something is not right with her gut because when she touched just a tiny bit the bunny would immediately "move away ". We did an ultrasound examination on her and found that there is a gut thickening.
So we went back to the doctor and she recommended to feed quamatel mini tablets 2x a day (1/8 of the actual tablet). (assuming that this is only an inflame and not a tumor)
So I fed her 2x a day by wrapping the tablet inside a basil leaf. From this point on I would say that the symptoms for the GI stasis (if this gut thickening was the root cause) should happen at a constantly decreasing rate…..but no. We did a checkup on her gut with ultrasound again 4 weeks ago= they weren't able to observe the thickening anymore. 2 weeks ago I took her back to the vet (due to annual RHD2 injection) and she examined it= the bunny is in excellent condition, even when touching her guts she no longer "moves away".
And yet, 2 days ago= ileus….she is right now in the hospital and I'm waiting on her to recover. This was the worst one so far. They even considered performing a surgery.
I'm really convinced that:
-This is a tumor and they just failed to locate it via ultrasound the 2nd time.
-Something else is amiss here that we fail to detect
Facts:
-Multiple doctors (qualified bunny/exotic vets) examined her (at least 3)
-We don't have any other pets
-We even set up security cameras so we can check precisely when was the last time they ate
-The way we were able to detect that something is wrong is that she didn't accept the pellets when offered
-The problem comes really suddenly: 30 mins ago she actually accepted the pellett, 30 mins. later not.
-I groom them on a daily basis with furminator, and I also had the female's mane cut so she doesn't eat that much fur. Sometimes the grooming lasts 30 mins per bunny, some days only 5 minutes (depending on the amount of fur they are shedding)
-Feeding wise: the hay is on the ground, they don't even have to take it out from a feeder. Water wise: using a mortar bowl.
Any ideas? Please ask anything, and feel free to tell me that I'm wrong, doing something wrong. My main purpose with the post is to have a healthy bunny.
Thank you!
This is my first post and the reason I've registered here is to write this post, because I want to know other people's opinion from different countries.
I'm a bit lost here, don't know what to do:
I have two sterilized bunnies (a female and a male both of them are around 3-4 years old). The female is a dwarf lionhead bunny.
The female one has GI stasis on a weekly/bi-weekly basis since 2019 august.
So now we have a motherload of paper regarding vet examinations due to this.
Feeding:
Hay ( I mix 2-3 types together), water. Pelletts in the morning and in the evening. Nothing more. No fruit or any other kind of vegetables, not even a tiny bit.
They are 24/7 roaming inside the living room without being locked inside the cage. There are no plants or any kind of stuff they can accidentally eat.
We had both of them examined by multiple doctors (Male = excellent condition) and one of the doctors came to a verdict that something is not right with her gut because when she touched just a tiny bit the bunny would immediately "move away ". We did an ultrasound examination on her and found that there is a gut thickening.
So we went back to the doctor and she recommended to feed quamatel mini tablets 2x a day (1/8 of the actual tablet). (assuming that this is only an inflame and not a tumor)
So I fed her 2x a day by wrapping the tablet inside a basil leaf. From this point on I would say that the symptoms for the GI stasis (if this gut thickening was the root cause) should happen at a constantly decreasing rate…..but no. We did a checkup on her gut with ultrasound again 4 weeks ago= they weren't able to observe the thickening anymore. 2 weeks ago I took her back to the vet (due to annual RHD2 injection) and she examined it= the bunny is in excellent condition, even when touching her guts she no longer "moves away".
And yet, 2 days ago= ileus….she is right now in the hospital and I'm waiting on her to recover. This was the worst one so far. They even considered performing a surgery.
I'm really convinced that:
-This is a tumor and they just failed to locate it via ultrasound the 2nd time.
-Something else is amiss here that we fail to detect
Facts:
-Multiple doctors (qualified bunny/exotic vets) examined her (at least 3)
-We don't have any other pets
-We even set up security cameras so we can check precisely when was the last time they ate
-The way we were able to detect that something is wrong is that she didn't accept the pellets when offered
-The problem comes really suddenly: 30 mins ago she actually accepted the pellett, 30 mins. later not.
-I groom them on a daily basis with furminator, and I also had the female's mane cut so she doesn't eat that much fur. Sometimes the grooming lasts 30 mins per bunny, some days only 5 minutes (depending on the amount of fur they are shedding)
-Feeding wise: the hay is on the ground, they don't even have to take it out from a feeder. Water wise: using a mortar bowl.
Any ideas? Please ask anything, and feel free to tell me that I'm wrong, doing something wrong. My main purpose with the post is to have a healthy bunny.
Thank you!