poopy issues

[Sammybunny]

I took him to the vet today. He is in pain, poor guy. He keeps shifting position and is pretty lethatrgic. The vet felt his belly and he has a lot of gas. We opted to do another xray since the last one was tuesday. Well he had tons of gas, but is not blocked the vet said. There is some food material that may have hair and what not that we want to work out, but he said that he is in the beginning stages of gastric stasis.
He got Sammy on a bunch of treatments now. We are on Metacam for pain, Baytril for infection because of the mucus, Metacloprimide to get his gut working again. We are still doing benebac and SQ fluids. He also wants me to pushmore oral fluids to get the fecal material hydrated to pass. He wants me to get some canned pumpkin and veggie babyfood to also give. I also gave an enema a little while ago. He did start grinding his teeth quietly but I haven't heard anything recently. He did drink from a bowl when I put it in front of him, but he's not eating much today. I did entice him with a little kale but he wasn't to enthused. He has gone in the litterbox like he has to go, but nothing is really produced. I hope I'm doing everything right. I feel so bad for him.

 

[tonyshuman]

We usually don't like the use of gut motility drugs, but in this situation I think it's time. He's been not pooping for quite a while and you did the x-rays. All the other treatments didn't do it, so this is the next step. I hope this is that last thing he needs to get back to normal!

 

[Sammybunny]

Yeah I knew about the motility drugs, but nothing else seems to be working. I just took his temp now and it is 101.8. He drank some water and pedialyte that I gave him. He picked up a kale leaf but dropped it. I gave him some mint which he likes and ususally helps with tummy issues, but he won't touch it. He is really mopey today. I just don't know what else to do, I also don't want to stress him out by watching his every move, but can't help it either. right now he is sittint in his hut looking uncomfortable. I tried to massage his belly but he didn't want that. How long til the metacloprimide starts to move stuff out? and I sure hope the metacam starts doing its job.

 

[Maureen Las]

You still need to get the fluids in and also simethicone and benebac. ..did you try fresh squeezed pineapple juice ( must be from a fresh pineapple) ; you can give a few ccs of this ever 6 hrs or so.
right now it seems as if you are doing most everything that you can

How is he?

 

[Sammybunny]

Well he pooped this morning or last night. Everywhere. That is good the bad is that it is very soft almost runny consistancy. He seems happier this morning. He came out and hopped about abit. The bad thing is that he is leaving smooshy poop everywhere which he doesn't normally do. I cleaned his butt and gave him his treatments. He did eat and drink so hopefully things are on the mend.

 

[tonyshuman]

Since he has pooped, it may be time to stop the gut motility drugs, especially if you can see a big bunch of fur in his poop. I agree that hydration is still very important. With some diarrhea, you want to make sure there isn't a lot of sugar in his diet--I do think the diarrhea is from the motility drug, but just in case, try to keep sugar to a minimum--just veggies, hay, bene-bac, water. I know Maureen is a big fan of pineapple juice and it can be good for stasis, but I think in this case the extra sugar might send his gut more toward the diarrhea side.

 

[Sammybunny]

I was thinking it was the motility drugs too. He only had one dose last night and then this morning. I don't think I am going to do his afternoon dose and see what happens. I am supposed to give it three times a day, but since he's pooping I don't think that that much is needed. I looked closer at the stool and it isn't cecals but regular fecal stool. There wasn't any mucous in it, but he is leaving it everywhere. I am going to send a sample to the lab on Monday, which I wanted to do a long time ago but didn't have a sample.
Right now Sammy is resting comfortably. I did give him some SQ fluids despite the fact that he is drinking just because of possible fluid loss from the loose stools. His temp is back at 103 which is better than yesterday when it went down to 100. I am wondering if he does have a bacterial infection couldit be contagious to my other rabbit? I haven't seperated them because she is comforting Sammy, but I don't want her to get sick too. I'm trying to push hay but he still doesn't want that too much, but he ate kale, mint and some parsley. He also ate a little alfalfa which I know isn't the greatest but he's stubborn. He drank some pedialyte from his bowl, and isn't nearly as uncomfortable today as yesterday. He is grooming his butt a lot because I bathed his butt and probably because he doesn't know why he is getting messy bottom. Oh I hope we are through the worst of it. I wonder if I should continue the metacam if he seems to be feeling better? It just seems so sudden to go from no poop to runny nasty poop over night. I did give him a lot of treatments yesterday evening so don't know what really is the culprit. Could the Baytril do it? We put him on Baytril because of the mucous, but may switch him to metronidizole depending on his fecal test.

 

[tonyshuman]

I wouldn't worry too much about something being transmitted from one to the other because it's probably too late to keep her from being exposed. You can stop the Metacam but he may still be in a lot of pain.

 

[Maureen Las]

I agree not to give pineapple juice with diarrhea type stool butI would give benebac.
I actually don't know why he would have diarrhea from one dose of metoclopromide

you mentioned giving him an enema (Gasp..... faint :shock
Did the vet tell you to do this; did the vet do it himself. I have heard of this in very rare occasions but it isn't anything that should be done routinely

Please keep us updated ; this doesn't appear to be routine stasis

 

[Maureen Las]

..also wanted to suggest to stay away from collards , kale, (cruciferous? )greens right now as they are often very gasey. i would stick with greens like parsley and the mint is OK

 

[Sammybunny]

Yeah I don't think that I am going to give this evenings dose of metacloprimide. The stools are pretty loose but you can see that they are kinda formed into pellets, but they smear when touched. Yes I did the enema, I have done them before, without this happening, so I believe there is something more going on. The enemea was basically just warm water with no additives. He is eating and drinking, still a little mopey but not looking like he is in severe pain like yesterday. I gave him another butt bath and used the hair dryer on low and he loveed it. As I was rubbing the hair to seperate it he was licking my hand, something that he never does. Maybe in the end I'll have a bunny that likes me. I don't think I am going to stop the metacam yet, I did hear a little tooth grinding, but it may have been happy tooth grinding because it was quieter than the other times, and Charlotte was grooming him at the time.

 

[Maureen Las]

I think that Randy would suggest possibly trying to get a script for Flagyl ( metronidazole)which has anti-inflammatory properties and is also good effectivie against clostridium ..and change from baytril which most likely is not helping

If your rabbit got into bird seed and also has a sensitive GI tract I guess something like this could occur but it may also be helpful to run a fecal float on him

 

[Sammybunny]

He seems happy right now. He jumped up to his sleeping level and is resting. The poops are starting to look more formed, but are still very soft when wiping them up. He ate and drank some more and his treatments are due at 9:00PM. I will be giving him the Baytril for now and the metacam to keep on top of any pain. I will feel his belly and give simithicone if needed. I will probably do more SQ fluids just because of the looser stools as well. If you guys think I should I can get the flagyl at work. I can figure out the dosage from the drug formulary at work. Since I work at a vet I have access to most of the drugs necessary. The only reason i went to another vet is because my boss isn't rabbit savy and felt more comfortable refering to a collegue.

 

[Sammybunny]

I think Sammy is feeling a lot better. He is eating more like his normal self. He ate a little hay and more parsley and mint. I gave one romaine lettuce lef which he grabbed eagerly and he drank some more water. Poops are still soft but have more shape. I didn't give the reglan, and gave a smaller amount of the metacam. He was even digging and shredding his phone book like he normally does. He does still rest a lot but I think I am seeing an improvement.

 

[Sammybunny]

Well Sammy is about the same. Maybe a little brighter as he fought me more when giving his meds and butt bath. There were soft poopies all over the cage this morning so I totally cleaned everything out. He still isn't totally himself though. His belly was a little gasy this morning and I could hear his tummy rumbling so I gave him some more Simithicone. He did eat quite a bit of parsley, mint and romaine lettuce. I saw him even eat a tiny amount of hay. what I'm worried about though is that he went to the litter box a couple times since being back in his cage and there would be pee but no poops. He did drop a few soft stools around the cage as he is hopping around, but I'm worried that he is going to stop pooping again because I stopped the reglan. This is so frustrating.

 

[Maureen Las]

I think that you need to get the stool analyzed for parasites .
I agree that this soiunds frustrating
can you go back to the vet tomorrow ? I still think that flagyl (metronidazole) is a better choice than baytril



just hang in there with him ; I understand how frustrating it is but the puzzle is not complete yet ;

 

[Sammybunny]

Yeah I am going to check back in with the vet tomorrow. I am going to send a fecal sample out stat tomorrow when I ge to work so hopefully we will have the results by the end of the day. I can easily switch him to flagyl today because I have already figured the dosage out last night. I can just go to work and pick it up. I agree that the baytril isn't doing anything, and who knows it may be contributing to the diarrhea. I believe at the very least his gut flora is all messed up. I have continued on the benebac. I'm wondering if ne may have clostridium building up gasses in his tummy, or even coccidia can cause diarrhea and badness. The flagyl will work on the clostridium and inflammation. I just worry about getting him even more out of wack on his gut flora than he already is.

 

[Maureen Las]

I don't think that the Flagyl will do any harm... I am wondering if he does have a GI parasitic infection ..but then where would he have picked it up.? There are no new rabbits and they are indoors right?

 

[tonyshuman]

I think you have good ideas on what to do. I have heard of mites coming in on bunny owners' shoes, so it could make sense that coccidia came in that way. I think the Flagyl is good to use and won't cause problems, as long as you have a probiotic in the works.

 

[Sammybunny]

Well this evening he is about the same. The diarrhea has tapered off, but I think pooping has as well. He feels a little more gassy to me than earlier. He did drink from a syringe a bunch of pedialyte. I am going to start the flagyl and see how that works. I just want the poor guy better. I know he isn't thrilled with all the attention, but is being a good sport about it. I wnat to get to the bottom of this so it can't happen again. I wonder if he had a low lying infection for a while? He has had soft stools in the past, but they cleared up with hay and veggies. Who knows...