Gurgling noises, hunched awkwardly

SketchaMPM · Nov 3, 2010

Honey is a 1 yr old female mini-Rex weighing 3.5 pounds.

Last night she went from playing and hopping to suddenly hunching down and refusing to eat. No vets were available so we rushed her to Manchester Emergency Animal Hospital. They said she looked "great" and had no noticeable symptoms of anything but sent us home with baytril as a precautionary measure. We gave her a dose that night.

This morning she is worse.

She still won't eat ANYTHING, she won't drink water and she hasn't gone to the bathroom. She keeps laying down or hunching only moving to squirm uncomfortably. I'm also hearing gassy gurgling noises coming from her stomach.

I spent all morning googling and kept getting four common possibilities: gas, gi stasis, obstruction or bloat. I pray that it's not bloat. My vt isn't answering her phone and no local animal hospitals will see rabbits.

Any thoughts? Please I can't lose her. We just lost two family members and lost our other rabbit last year. Any insight will be appreciated.

Thank you

Luvmyzoocrew · Nov 3, 2010

I have no advice for the baytril, or blockage, but if it is gas you can give her some Smithecone (sp?) baby gas medicine or gas x.

My charger had gas just last week and what i did was give him a 1/2 of an extra strength gas x tab crushed and mixed with a tiny bit of water and syringe fed it to him, once an hour for two hours, was told i could give him as much as three doses if he wasnt better. I also massaged his stomach, and put a heating pad on his belly, and rubbed, rubbed, rubbed. Circular motions from the top of his stomach to his tail. The good think i had going for me was that he was still pooping, so maybe you could try that.

Nancy McClelland · Nov 3, 2010

Sounds like a gas problem to me too.

ray:

tonyshuman · Nov 3, 2010

I agree, sounds like gas in the intestines. Does her belly look distended or feel hard in the stomach area (right below the ribcage)? That would be bloat, which should be treated by a vet. Gas can be treated at home yourself. The gurgling noises are common with gas.

Give her some simethicone. For dose: http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rx/drugcalc.html

A baby gas med formula (liquid) is easy to give--usually 1ml/hr for 3 hours in a row will do the trick. Additional options are the tablets--fruit flavored ones are said to be very palatable for the buns. Make sure the only active ingredient in the medication is simethicone--we don't want any antacids in there as well.

Offer her some dioralyte/pedialyte (infant rehydration drink), canned pumpkin puree if you can find it (if not, squash baby food is a good substitute), and some pain meds, like ibuprofen or aspirin--but only give pain meds if you can get her to eat something. The dosing for ibuprofen and aspirin is also on that same website. I also like to give 5mL of liquid orally via feeding syringe per hour with the simethicone, but if she'll drink on her own you don't need to force it.

Offer new hay and lay out all her favorite non-sugary non-carbohydrate-y foods in front of her to tempt her to eat. Gas can be caused by bacteria that thrive on simple sugars and carbs.

If you can, get a probiotic in her that is not milk-based. I think in the UK they have Fibre-Plex and Bio-Lapis that are probiotics for bunnies, but I'm not sure. Here we use Bene-Bac or ProBios. A human probiotic is also good, like dried acidophilus capsules--just make sure they're lactose free.

Don't give the Baytril. It can upset the good bacteria even more in a gas situation.

SketchaMPM · Nov 3, 2010

Thank you for your feedback everyone!!

So we found a rabbit doctor and dropped Honey off this morning, it looked pretty serious. We were told to expect a call later today letting us know how serious it was.

Vet tech just talked to us on the phone " Honey is doing better. She finally ate and she is hopping around the room saying hi to everyone. Come in at 5 and we'll discuss continued treatment".

I'm so happy I could cry. Losing Tulip last December was devastating. We finally picked up the pieces and found little Honey at an animal shelter. If we lost her too...I don't know what I'd do with myself.