Seriously, how long does stasis recovery take???

[Jenk]

My stasis-prone, 4.5-year-old Mini Rex, Emma, has been on motility drugs quite a few times during her life. She's currently on Cisapride and Metoclopramide--and I'm supposed to have started weaning her off of them today; but she's still not eating hay and producing fecals as I like to see before stopping the meds.

She started the meds. on 11/10; so I'm confused about how/why she's not showing more improvement by now. I've been syringing her Critical Care to make up for the pellets I've not been feeding her (due to stasis), as well as for the hay she's not been eating with gusto.

She had a urinalysis; it was normal. (One urinary-related symptom appeared recently; it seems secondary to the digestive issue, not the other way around.) Digital x-rays showed food moving along her digestive tract and a normal amount of gas. The vet said Emma's cecum looked "a bit flaccid" and that the food in her stomach was turning a bit dry. (I've been syringing her 15-30 mL's of water and/or Critical Care daily, plus giving her as many as 80 mL's of sub-Q's; I can't understand why the food in her stomach wouldn't be better hydrated.)

The x-rays also showed no signs of sludge or stones. Emma's kidneys and bladder look absolutely fine.

The vet noted that Emma's gut sounds weren't as active as is ideal, although she did have gut "okay" gut sounds when he examined her yesterday. (Note: The vet who did the urinalysis and x-rays isn't the one who put Emma on motility drugs on 11/10.) He also noted that Emma's mouth looked normal.

I've been on pins-and-needles since 11/10, wondering why Emma's not bouncing back more quickly. (I admit that she took a full month to bounce back from a stasis episode this past spring.) Frankly, I'm scared to stop the motility drugs, since she's not producing normal-sized (nor a normal quantity of) fecals and tomorrow is a holiday; for those reasons, I don't suppose I'll stop them tomorrow.


Jenk

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Rory goes through this usually at least once a year when he's shedding (though he actually hasn't had this in over a year now!). I can brush him 5 times a day- once I actually brushed him so much that he got a bald spot- and it still happens. In all honesty, it usually takes him about a month to recover, with or without meds. It just takes him a long time to get back to normal. When he gets like that he often won't drink water or eat hay and he gets his liquids from veggies like cucumbers and wet greens. He's a very stubborn bunny and will not accept anything from a syringe. He always slowwwly goes back to normal though and starts drinking more and eating hay. I check him for dehydration (I keep stuff on hand for sub q fluids) every day and make sure he gets lots of exercise. Sorry if this isn't a very helpful answer, just want to say that it can take quite a while for a bunny to recover.

Will she eat pellets? It would probably be less stressful for her to eat pellets than be syringed the Critical Care. I've tried syringing Rory critical care on one occasion and it was very stressful for him. If I recall, Emma's tummy is very sensitive to veggies so she probably wouldn't go for the cukes and wet salad greens, which was hugely helpful to Rory. Will she eat canned pumpkin? I know it has lots of fiber and of course liquid too.

 

[Jenk]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

Rory goes through this usually at least once a year when he's shedding (though he actually hasn't had this in over a year now!). I can brush him 5 times a day- once I actually brushed him so much that he got a bald spot- and it still happens.

Emma isn't even shedding heavily yet. I mean, we're getting very little fur off of her when we brush her with the Zoom-Groom and our moistened hands; that's not the cause this time. And this past spring, I brushed Emma until she had two bald patches, one on each side.

In all honesty, it usually takes him about a month to recover, with or without meds. It just takes him a long time to get back to normal. When he gets like that he often won't drink water or eat hay and he gets his liquids from veggies like cucumbers and wet greens. He's a very stubborn bunny and will not accept anything from a syringe. He always slowwwly goes back to normal though and starts drinking more and eating hay. I check him for dehydration (I keep stuff on hand for sub q fluids) every day and make sure he gets lots of exercise. Sorry if this isn't a very helpful answer, just want to say that it can take quite a while for a bunny to recover.

Emma isn't normally fed a ton of greens--she actually gets a tiny, treat-sized amount--so I'm scared to just throw more of them at her right now, since her system isn't normally accustomed to many of them. (Stasis seems like a tricky time to try something new, outside of syringing water and/or Critical Care.)

I know that checking a rabbit's scruff is deceptive, since the digestive tract dries out before that external sign of dehydration shows. Do you watch Rory's eyes for proof of dehydration (i.e., when they go "flat")? I'm a bad judge when it comes to gauging when I should give sub-Q's to Emma. (It doesn't help that digital x-rays taken on Tuesday showed that the food in her stomach was turning a bit dry--in spite of the water and Critical Care I'd syringed her up until that point.)

Will she eat pellets? It would probably be less stressful for her to eat pellets than be syringed the Critical Care. I've tried syringing Rory critical care on one occasion and it was very stressful for him. If I recall, Emma's tummy is very sensitive to veggies so she probably wouldn't go for the cukes and wet salad greens, which was hugely helpful to Rory. Will she eat canned pumpkin? I know it has lots of fiber and of course liquid too.

She does eat pellets, but I'm starting to wonder how well she digests them. When not in stasis, she only gets 1 Tbsp. per day. Now that she's dealing with stasis, though, I'm scared to feed them to her, since she's not consuming nearly enough water to help digest pellets well.

Emma, like Zoe, takes CC from a syringe without much hassle. Even if she's fussy and doesn't really want it, she still takes it. I needn't restrain her, so I don't think she's being overly stressed by the syringe feeding.

Emma's poops change a lot depending on what she's eaten 4-8 hours' prior. With greens, they tend to turn smaller and darker. Right now, she's not eating nearly her normal amount of hay, which really helps her to move fecals along. Gosh, I hope she starts returning to normal soon; this nursing her everyday for a month at a time--several times per year--is tiring me out.

Jenk

 

[mybunnyau]

Try feeding her some fresh pineapple. Apparently the juices in fresh pineapple has an enzyme which aids in breaking down blockages. It has been a debated question whether canned pineapple works. Some say it does, others say it doesn't due to the enzyme being destroyed during heating process.

I had a bunny that use to suffer from this. I took away his pellets and fed him only on pineapple and some fresh fruits. Also gave him human-use baby wind drops called "Infacol". I am sure they must be in some pain when they can't go to the loo. I also gave him kids-strength gastrolyte to help hydrate him. I only gave him some of this once every couple days, but periodically during the day I syringed more pineapple juice down his neck.

It took me a few days to catch onto the signs that he was distressed, but just two hours after the first dose of infacol, he started showing improvement - more alert and happier looking. Within 3 days he was pooping and getting back to normal. From then on, I made fresh pineapple apart of their weekly diet, and never had another problem.

Its worth a try, and if it doesn't work on Emma, it won't do her any harm, either.

 

[Jenk]

mybunnyau wrote:

Try feeding her some fresh pineapple. Apparently the juices in fresh pineapple has an enzyme which aids in breaking down blockages. It has been a debated question whether canned pineapple works. Some say it does, others say it doesn't due to the enzyme being destroyed during heating process.

I've been giving her Bromelain, the enzyme found in pineapple. I purchase it in powder form from a health-food store. I mix 1/8 tsp. with water and syringe it to her. Thankfully, she likes the flavor of it.

I had a bunny that use to suffer from this. I took away his pellets and fed him only on pineapple and some fresh fruits. Also gave him human-use baby wind drops called "Infacol". I am sure they must be in some pain when they can't go to the loo. I also gave him kids-strength gastrolyte to help hydrate him. I only gave him some of this once every couple days, but periodically during the day I syringed more pineapple juice down his neck.

You stopped feeding your bun pellets entirely? And did you feed him any leafy greens, or just fresh fruit?

I'd be too nervous to give Emma fruit--or much of it. As it is, I'm nervous to be feeding her as much greens as I am. (I'm now feeding her 1/2 C. of Romaine in the morning and about 3/4 C. of Romaine with a little green-leaf lettuce, parsley, and cilantro in the evening. It's a big increase for her, and I've been hearing some gut gurgles coming from her.)

It took me a few days to catch onto the signs that he was distressed, but just two hours after the first dose of infacol, he started showing improvement - more alert and happier looking. Within 3 days he was pooping and getting back to normal. From then on, I made fresh pineapple apart of their weekly diet, and never had another problem.

Did you end up feeding pineapple daily, or did you feed it a few times per week?

Its worth a try, and if it doesn't work on Emma, it won't do her any harm, either.

I agree but will likely stick with giving Emma Bromelain, rather than fresh pineapple; it's much easier to get the powdered form of the enzyme rather than buying fresh pineapple.


Jenk

 

[mybunnyau]

Yes I did stop feeding his pellets, but only while he was ill with the stasis. Once he was back to normal (about a week or less) he had his pellets back and all his other favourite treats. I wanted him to eat the pineapple which is the only reason I took away everything else.

I didn't feed the pineapple daily. Only once a fortnight, otherwise it went to waste because I didn't have enough bunnies to use even half a pineapple.

You're already on the right track with the bromelain. I didn't know that was the same thing. Don't let her decide if she likes it or not....haha.....just do it, she needs to get better.