GI Stasis, possible Upper Respiratory Infection

[bengal77]

Lily has been sick for about 6 days now. It started last Tuesday when I noticed that she hadn't touched her hay throughout the night. I thought it was a fluke, until she continued to stop eating her hay and her poops dwindled in size. By Wednesday night she was in a poor way, barely drinking or eating and she started to have diarrhea. I took her to the vet, who prescribed her an antibiotic which she has nearly finished.

When he examined her he checked her mouth (abscess free and her teeth are fine), her temperature and heart rate (running a slight fever), and her stomach. He said that she had fecal pellets in her colon, and that he didn't notice any blockages that he could feel. As far as I can tell this seems to be a GI/upper respiratory infection, which I'm hoping the antibiotics will take care of. 2 days after the start of her medication she started to really improve, now she seems to be doing worse again.

She is eating her pellets and some papaya, but little hay or greens. I've tempted her with parsley, mint, basil, romaine, pineapple, and papaya. She eats a little, but not as much as usual. And she will only eat a tiny bit of hay. I'm trying to encourage her to drink more water, but I think I'm going to have to start syringing it to her soon as she's not drinking as much as she should. She's lethargic and hides instead of running around like usual, and when stressed she wheezes.

Is there anything else I can do that will help? The vet has said to just give it time and keep encouraging her to eat and drink, and to give her papaya to help break up any fur in her GI tract. At first I thought that it was a stomach bug, now I think it's actually a URI as her eyes have a bit of watery discharge and her breathing becomes labored when I catch her to give her the antibiotics.

 

[bengal77]

Also:
Lily is a three year old spayed female, mixed short hair (Himalayan mix?). She normally eats 2 tsp of Oxbow pellets a day, 1 cup mixed lettuce/herbs, and is free fed timothy hay.

 

[Sweetie]

Pineapple juice, freshly squeezed, will help any blockage of fur break up. Also you can give canned pumpkin, I cannot remember if it is suppose to be pureed or not. Critical care will also giive her more fiber. She needs a lot of fiber to help with any blockages that she has as the fiber will push things along. Also lots of water, syringe it if you have to. The pineapple juice cannot be canned. It has to be from a fresh pineapple, squeezed using a juicer.

 

[Sweetie]

You can give watermelon in a pinch for hydration. Do not give iceberg lettuce, it contains too much water, and will cause more problems.

 

[Must_Love_Pets]

I would syringe feed non flavored pedialyte and also keep giving papaya. I would also try some jello, syringe feed it before it gels. The sugar can stimulate appitite and sooth the tummy as well. Do you have access to a willow tree? Willow is a great natural aid for pain.



ray:

 

[pamnock]

I use Nutri Cal for dogs as a supplement for rabbits off their feed. It contains a lot of calories, protein, vitamins, and mineralsthat your rabbit is going to need for fighting the infection,and very little needs to be given (less stressful for rabbit and owner!).

 

[Sweetie]

Must_Love_Pets wrote:

I would syringe feed non flavored pedialyte and also keep giving papaya. I would also try some jello, syringe feed it before it gels. The sugar can stimulate appitite and sooth the tummy as well. Do you have access to a willow tree? Willow is a great natural aid for pain.



ray:

Jello has a lot of sugar in it which is not good for rabbits. Sugar can cause more problems than is already happening. The rabbit needs lots of fiber and water to help push along the blockage. Sugar can cause diaherra(sp) in rabbits. Pedialyte will help with hydration and the papaya will also help clear the blockage.

Sugar will cause an imbalance in the GI tract giving the rabbit diaherra(sp) and therefore causing more problems. I would never feed my rabbits any sugar to treat GI stasis or any other problem.

bengal77: I have been through a mild GI stasis with Sweetie and the vet said to give lots of hay and water, also to give freshly squeezed pineapple juice. The pineapple juice is from a pineapple. DO NOT GIVE ANY SUGAR!!!! Pedialyte, flavored or nonflavored, is safe for rabbits. Pedialyte can keep a rabbit hydrated when they will not drink their own water. I will look to see if willow is safe for rabbits. There is a list of safe veggies, fruit and plants that rabbits can have.

 

[bengal77]

Lily was doing much better with the course of antibiotics, but now has taken a severe turn for the worse. She is now refusing to eat or drink on her own at all, and has developed a case of head tilt. She barely moves, and has not eaten any hay in over a week now. I'm going to be taking her back to the vet as soon as I can. Perhaps her vet who specializes in rabbits will be able to do more than an urgent vet. I'm going to pick up some critical care, and have been syringing her unflavored pedialyte and fruit/veggie babyfood.

She has had a bit of diarrhea from the start, but I think that's because she hasn't touched her hay and is getting mostly liquids. I've noticed that after giving her some pedialyte and baby food that she perks up and seems to feel better, but then as her GI tract gets stimulated it must hurt a bit because she starts to grind her teeth form the pain. I'm hoping her vet will have more of an answer.

I tried to find canned pumpkin and just could not find it anywhere. It must be something they only carry seasonally here in Florida.

 

[ra7751]

Was asked to look at this thread. Couple of questions. What antibiotics is being used? Many oral drugs...especially sulfa (like Bactrim, SMZ, TMZ, Sulfatrim, et.) or Ciprofloxacins (Baytril, Cipro and Zeniquin) can cause loss of appetite and a somewhat lethargic action. Are supplemental fluids (sub-q or IV) being adminstered? If not, I would certainly request it. Rabbits get dehydrated quickly. LRS is a life saver when administered correctly.

Now for a couple of comments. Jello or anything with sugar is absolutely inappropriate for any GI issue and especially so in hind gut fermenter digestive systems. Nutri Cal can add vitamins and minerals but any gel type formula (including cat type hair ball meds) can slow a gut by impacting ingesta especially in a dehydrated gut.Outside ofdogs and cats, I only use Nutri Cal in raptors (hawks, owl, eagles and such as they are obligate carnivores and NutriCal is made for carnivores...not herbivores) As far as the teeth and abscess.....it is physically impossible to "look" at the teeth without doing bilateral radiographs. Abscesses are usually related to impacted roots and may not be visible by just looking.

I would certainly make every effort to get your rabbit to a qualified vet as soon as possible.

 

[bengal77]

I believe the urgent care vet prescribed Baytril, .4C given orally twice a day for a week. She finished the course yesterday morning. What worried me is that she was still eating and drinking on her own, then stopped quite suddenly and starting showing head tilt and began grinding her teeth. I have a rabbit savvy vet not too far away who I am going to call in the morning and see if they can squeeze me in. She is not getting any sub-q fluids at the moment, though I am syringing pedialyte to her every few hours with some pureed fruits and veggies. I'm hoping to get the critical care tomorrow afternoon to help her get some more fiber in her gut.

 

[Sweetie]

I just sent this thread to Randy to see if he has anything to offer. He has got rabbits out of stasis, severe cases before. We will see what he says.

 

[Sweetie]

I would stop the fruit and veggies. Just give the pedialyte and give her fiber, like lots of hay.

 

[bengal77]

She has always been free fed hay, but refuses to eat it right now and has barely eaten any in a week now. I have no idea how to encourage her to eat her hay, but I'll stop the veggies and fruit and just stick to fluids until I can get her on the critical care.

 

[Sweetie]

Is there any type of hay that she will go nuts for?

Yes, hydration before nutrition is always best when rabbits go into GI stasis or any other illnesses.

Once I figure out how you can encourage your rabbit to eat hay while going through this, I will let you know.

 

[WhatTheRAWR]

She really needs fibre so you may have to switch her to alfalfa hay or hay products to get her to eat SOME hay. You'll have to cut out anything else (greens, etc) that are higher in calcium to offset problems.

Does she like nibbling on wood items? IF so you can give her chew blocks, wicker balls/mats, and seagrass balls/mats. Dried apple twigs are favorites for lots of rabbits.

Hope this helps