Sunny is not eating... again...

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TaylorKat

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Sunny did not eat his breakfast this morning and is sitting in the same position, sometimes grinding his teeth. He is shedding extremely bad also. He ate his food last night along with a huge thing of hay. Help?




***Last time this happened it turned out to be a hair ball, because he was not eating enough hay. The previous time, it was my fault- I was giving him way too many pellets and almost no hay. Now he gets 1/4th cup of pellets twice a day with unlimited hay and a few treats a day.
 
Grinding his teeth is a sign of pain; the pain is most likely why he's not eating. It's a medical emergency if a bunny goes 8-12+ hours without eating, drinking, pooping and/or peeing... however, even if it hasn't been longer than that, I would skip the home remedies and get him to the vet immediately if at all possible since he's clearly in pain.

If an immediate vet visit just isn't possible for whatever reason AND he seems to be pooping at least some (which means he doesn't have a total blockage), then you can try some at-home remedies to tide him over until you can get him in:

You can buy a syringe at any grocery store. If you have critical care food (comes from vets), you can syringe feed that. If you don't, you can make a pellet slurry - take some pellets and add water or pedialyte; microwave. Let sit for 5-10 mins so the pellets can "fluff", then mix together (breaking up the pellets as much as possible); add more liquid if needed to get it to a good pudding-like consistency for syringe feeding (using a food processor (before adding liquid to the pellets), a blender or a mortar and pestle (again, before adding liquid) will make it easier to break up the pellets). Critical care will work with a syringe as-is but with the DIY slurry, you may find it necessary to cut the tip of the syringe off to make the opening larger.

You can also offer a little bit of canned pumpkin (PLAIN stuff, not the pie filling kind) and/or some fruit or squash flavored baby food... not a whole lot, as these foods are sugary - maybe 2 tsp or so. If he won't eat the pumpkin on his own, you'll need to water it down with water or pedialyte in order to easily syringe feed it. These things could also be mixed into the pellet slurry or critical care to make it tastier.

You should syringe water or pedialite if you're worried he might not be drinking enough and/or if you're feeding pellet slurry/critical care.

When you syringe feed a rabbit food or liquids, you want to aim for the gap between his front incisors and back molars and always squirt the food/liquid in sideways - never straight back - to make sure he won't accidentally inhale it. Remember to give him time to chew/swallow. I find it easier (especially with liquids) to have the bunny wrapped in a towel, as things can get pretty messy.

Here's a great video showing how to syringe feed - [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGZVYVm5Bg[/ame]

You can also offer pain meds to make your bunny more comfortable - metacam/meloxicam if you have it (bunny painkillers); baby aspirin or low-dose aspirin if you don't. [Don't forget to mention the amount(s) of pain medication and time(s) given to the vet if you end up going.] This website has dosing info for pain meds - http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

Simethicone (any brand of over the counter baby gas medicine) can also be given. it may or may not help depending on the cause of the GI stasis, but it's *incredibly* safe for rabbits so it definitely can't hurt. You can give 1-2 cc every hour for 3h, then 1 cc every 3-8h as needed if it seems to be helping.

Probiotics are also very helpful for tummy troubles (stuff like benebac/probios) - you can sometimes find them at pet stores or feed stores; failing that you can buy them online. Do NOT give yogurt containing probiotics, as rabbits are lactose intolerant, plus the extra sugars can make stasis worse.
 
Can you get him to a rabbit savvy vet? I believe twelve hours without eating is considered an emergency.

I'm not very experienced with GI issues but hopefully someone will come along soon that can be more help, Imbrium or JBun.

Does your bun get veggies? What kind, how often, how much?

Does it have a water bowl or water bottle? Buns tend to drink more water from a bowl than a bottle and I believe it is important to get plenty of fluids to help keep the gut contents hydrated and moving well.

Have you tried giving him some simethicone (baby gas drops)? They are often recommended when a bun has GI issues and should not hurt. I don't remember the exact dosage but will look through old posts.
 
Jinx! Looks like we cross-posted, heh... always better to have multiple people jumping in on stasis issues than no one at all, though!

As a note, even though the stasis episodes haven't shared a common cause, I'd say three bouts of GI stasis (especially if they haven't been that far apart) is enough to consider him prone to stasis - once he's healthy again, you might look into cutting sugar out of his diet as much as possible and/or reducing pellets even further to really push hay in order to reduce his chances of stasis in the future. The typical recommendations (as far as pellets, veggies, etc.) work for most, but stasis-prone bunnies often do better with a more specialized diet that isn't ideal for most. (JBun is really the one to help you troubleshoot long-term diet specifics; since that's not a pressing matter, I'll leave it for her to get into.)

I hope he feels better soon!
 
Sorry I had to go to work! I called my vet and he said to give him the meds that I had at home for him- simethicone, 81mg aspirin, Metoclopramide, and Trimeth/Sulfa Supsension. He has eaten a good bit of kale and parsley, a little hay, and a few nibbles of pellets. He has also pooped a little bit, and some of them are strung together by hair.
 
I am glad to hear that he is eating and pooping. Moisture from the water and from the veggies should help keep the gut contents wet so they can move through which is especially important when shedding since they tend to ingest hair when grooming themselves.

You can rinse the greens with water so that he will get more moisture. You may also want to start brushing him when he is shedding so he ingests less hair.
 
I'm glad the meds worked and he is feeling better :)

You may want to consider leaving a water dish for him to drink from. For a stasis prone bun, fluids are very important, and rabbits tend to drink better from a dish.
 

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