Lop not eating or pooping

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KareyV

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Please Help! I have a 1.5 year old Lop that has, up until now been very healthy and extrememly wonderfully friendly with our family including our 2 year old boy.

On Friday evening I noticed that he wasn't eating his carrot. And he wasn't coming over to see me at his cage door. I've moved him into our basement (he lives in our barn with lots of other critters) He has nibbled on a bit of hay (which he has all the time, along with rabbit pellets and carrots). He's drinking a tiny bit and peeing a bit but he's only had about 5 poop pellets since last night.

He's getting more and more lathargic. I've given him a SQ injection of Banamine (.03ml). Is there anything else I can do for him?

I've contacted my cat/dog vet and she's not very familiar with bunnies.

Thanks in advance for any help with my darling Leo, the lop!
 
I'd say get him to a rabbit savvy vet right away. I'm no expert in rabbit health, but maybe he's having stomach issues from having too many carrots? Too many carrots aren't good, as they can cause stomach issues if given in very large amounts. I hope your bunny is okay!!
 
I second taking him to a vet, right away!

Does his stomach feel tight or is it making any noises?
I would give him some simethicone(baby gas drops) 1-2 mL an hour for the first 3 hours then 1 mL every 8 hours as needed. That might help with gas if he has gas. Also make sure you give him more fresh hay and see if he eats it.
 
Welcome to RO!

I'll second the recommendation to see a rabbit savvy vet. He could be dealing with GI stasis, but him not eating or drinking can also be a result of something like tooth issues.
Banamine (flunixin meglamine) isn't commonly used in small animals, although I did read a dosage out of Carpenter's Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents Clinical Medicine and Surgery so I guess it has been used in rabbits.

Rather than giving him carrots, try and focus on pushing hay and leafy greens. Some buns that don't want to eat can be convinced if they're bothered enough by you waving parsley around in their face.

If he's not drinking and not peeing he may be dehydrated. Even your dog and cat vet should be able to give him sub cutaneous fluids which can help get him hydrated again. If he's in stasis he may need some drugs to help get his GI moving again.

Stasis is often linked with gas. Giving simethicone (infant gas meds you can get at a drugstore) hasn't been proven to help, but it can't hurt either. It works by breaking up the gas and can help make them more comfortable. The dose I usually use is 1 cc per hour for the first 3 hours and a 4th dose 3 hours later.

Where are you located? We have a list of rabbit savvy vets and you may be able to find one in your area.
 
You need to get him into a vet right away, especially since this has been going on for several days. If you are not able to then there are a few things you may be able to do to help him until you are able to get him in.

First of all, don't give any more banamine. I've given it to my rabbits in the past and it caused a gut slowdown and caused one of my rabbits to have an upset stomach and stop eating, which is something your rabbit is already having a problem with, and the banamine may only make it worse. Also don't give any more carrots, pellets, or any sugars, starches, grains, or carbs. Give only hay and you can also see if he will eat any leafy veggies like green leaf lettuce or cilantro. But after 2 days of very little food and water, he most likely is very dehydrated and needs electrolytes right away. You can buy unflavored pedialyte and syringe some of it to him slowly, giving him time to swallow, so he doesn't aspirate any of it. You could make a homemade solution if you need to. But get some electrolytes into him right away. If you have any lactated ringers, then you could give that to him sub-q instead, which would be the best thing.

Giving the simethicone right away, as Morgan suggested, may help as well. The later dosing after the first three, is 1cc every 3-8 hours as needed. Also if you have metacam, then give that as well, as he needs something for the pain. Consider when you last gave the banamine though, and wait an appropriate amount of time before giving the next pain meds. If you don't have metacam, then see if you can pick some up from your dog and cat vet, as gas and pain relief are the best things to help getting your rabbit eating again on it's own.

He also needs food in him too. If you have critical care food mix, or can get some, then start syringe feeding him that. If you don't have any and can't get any, then you can get some plain canned pumpkin(not pie filling) and syringe feed that. And try to see if he'll eat some green leaf lettuce or cilantro. It's very important to keep the gut hydrated to help break up the blockage and get the gut moving again.

This article is very helpful in explaining what GI stasis is.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
 
Last edited:
Thank you for everyones replies. They have helped. Last night I held him for an ahour or so and syringed wtaer and vitamins (that's all I have right now). I also gave him Lactulose (laxative) and I swear I smelled him last night while holding him...I think he was actually passing gas. I took the advice and gave him leafy lettuce and after a while, he ate three small pieces (baby green lettuce). I gave him more over night and he ate almost all of it. Then this morning he ate more. He is still upright and fairly bright...though he is definitely lathargic.

He is going in to see my vet this morning. I will keep everyone posted. Thank you again. :)
 
Be very careful with Lactulose. It can help if there's a lot of dried matter in the intestine that isn't breaking up but it also contains sugar that feeds the bacteria that causes enterotoxemia. I have given it to one rabbit but she was also being treated with other drugs to help prevent enterotoxemia.

Good luck at the vet today!
 
Best of luck. If you don't have a rabbit-savvy vet I would look into finding one locally, as well as an emergency vet in the area that will treat rabbits. Here's a list we have:
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f21/

Usually lethargy is a later stage of stasis that indicates a necessity to see a vet ASAP, as well as not having eaten or drank for 24 hours. Not eating or drinking or pooping for 12 hours should be a warning sign to start some of the things others have mentioned. It's good to give a pain med, but I wouldn't use Banamine again. Also, most pain meds are damaging to the stomach lining, so you don't want to give them unless there is food in the stomach.
 
Sounds like everyone has already given great advice, hope you got him in to see a rabbit vet to sort things out! Please keep us posted, hoping for the best!
 
Leo saw our vet today. We do not have any rabbit savvy vets in this area, unfortunately. But my small animal vet is extremely perceptive and will spend a great deal of time researching to find solutions. After a very thorough examination, we found the following:

Heart and pulse were normal
Gut sounds were normal. Plenty of mobility and she felt about 10 normal sized fecal pellets near the end of the intestine (cecum I think). They didnt' feel abnormally small or hard
Ears were waxy but she couldn't find any inflamation
Teeth are excellent
Temp was low 97.5. This is the only flag that we found
He was well hydrated

She sent us home with nothing until she could look into it further. She wasn't able to find anything other than we suspect possible inner ear problems??? But she wasn't able to see the inner ear. She suspected that as he is still having random balance issues.

I picked up some Metacam and simethicone. I had only given him the Banamine as that's all I had on hand over the weekend (I have horses and goats). I gave him the Metacam and the simethicone tonight. He was reasonable eager to eat his greens (dandilion, cilantro, curly parsley) and his fresh grass hay. I am guardedly optomistic that he might be okay. But I'm still worried about the balance issue and the root of why this all started.

Thanks again for everyone suggestions. I will post again in the AM.
 
I'm glad you were able to get into the vet. An ear infection could definitely cause a rabbit to stop eating. If that's the case then I'm sure your vet will put your rabbit on antibiotics, and hopefully that will clear everything up and get your bun feeling better again. I'm sure your vet will do the research, but I just thought I would mention that there are certain antibiotics that should never be given to rabbits, like amoxicillin. And penicillin should never be given orally. Baytril is the most common antibiotic given to rabbits. Here's a list of antibiotics that are dangerous to rabbits, in case you need it.

http://www.medirabbit.com/Unsafe_medication/dangerous_antibiotics.htm
 
Glad he's eating again. Does he have a hard time standing up? A head tilt? I didn't see anything previously noted about balance issues. That's definitely a concern, and can be caused by a number of things. Most bunnies won't have appreciable wax in their ears unless there is a problem, such as mites or an infection. It's a bit harder for lops to clean their ears so sometimes they will have wax. Here are some possible causes of head-tilt, if that's one of his symptoms
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/head_tilt.htm
and more info on ear infections:
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Otit/otitis.htm

edited: Duh, the title says he is a lop.
 
Leo update: Leo is eating pretty well now. Pooping pretty normal. But he still has the mild head tilt and occational imbalance. So after reading as much as I can handle and consulting with my vet, we are treating him for an inner ear infection and have started him on Baytril along with the Metacam. Without running up hundreds of dollars on my vet bill by blood work, xrays and surgically inspecting and collecting any inner ear samples we agree that this is the best approach.

Thanks again for everyones help and advice. I'll post how he is doing in a couple of days. Fingers crossed for Leo my Lop.
 
Yes, thank you Molly. That was the question I forgot. Where do I find probiotics for bunnies? I have horse and goat probiotics. Would the horse ones work? Their systems are pretty similar (single stomach, grazers).
 
Horse and goat probiotics are usually fine. ProBios is good for buns, and is identical in active ingredients to BeneBac, which is sold for pets including bunnies. I'd give about a gram a day. You should see improvement in the balance issues within a few days, otherwise a different antibiotic or additional diagnostics will be needed.
 
I just wanted to update everyone interested on Leo's current state. I am very happy to report that he seems to be getting back to normal. Saturday night was the last dose of Metacam and he is still on 2x daily dose of Baytril orally. He is eating well now (greens and hay mostly...not a lot of pellets which I am learning is for the best). I flushed his ears once with an ear wash and it threw him into a tail spin. He was flopping around and spinning in circles. This confirmed to me that it was his ears that was causing the problems.

His head tilt is almost all gone now and he's eager to eat when I go to see him.

The really good news is that his new 2-storey bunny condo that I am having built for him is almost complete. It is 7 feet long and two storeys. Once he is well enough I am hoping to have him neutered so he can live with my other lop Daisy in the new bunny condo. Come on Leo, get better. :)

Thanks again for everyones help. I'm so glad that I found this group. I have a similar group that I look to for advice with my goats and with the lack of bunny and/or goat savvy vets in my area it's helpful to find some helpful advice.
 

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