vet closed--lethargic bunny with swollen stomach HELP

[hsmith]

Hi, I have a female Rex (Gypsy) who is now about a year and a half years old. Yesterday evening, at about 10, I noticed that Gypsy was laying flat under the bed and when I went near her she wouldn't move but just laid there (this is very unusual for her she usually will hop away) This morning it was the same thing except now her stomach is very extended, I can hear her grinding her teeth, and she lays flat with her feet out towards the side. She has done this all day. Her stomach is soft so I have tried massaging it and she will drink water from a syringe. I also noticed her ears are cold so I laid with her and wrapped her up in a blanket. Since this happened Saturday night and now on to Sunday my vet's office is closed and the emergency number in the area does not see rabbits. I'm reading all these horror stories about rabbits suddenly having this bloated stomach and then dying and I am very worried about Gypsy making it through the night. Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do or keep doing to make her feel better and make sure that she makes it until I can get in to the vet tomorrow morning?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Get some Simethecone ASAP and get into to the vet tomorrow morning.

 

[LakeCondo]

Yes, it can be found among supplies for infants & young children at many stores.

Also massage can help too.

 

[JBun]

The dosage for simethicone infant liquid suspension is 1-2cc every hour for 1-3 hours, then 1cc every 3-8 hours as needed. This hopefully should help some as long as she doesn't have a complete blockage. If she responds well to this you could try also syringe feeding her some canned pumpkin( the plain kind, NOT the pie filling kind). Always be careful syringe feed cause you don't want her to aspirate anything. If she's lethargic when you're giving her the simethicone then I don't know. She needs to be alert enough to swallow so she doesn't aspirate. If you have any metacam, that could help with the pain, I think baby aspirin can be used too but I don't know dosage, maybe someone else on here knows. If you have some oxbow critical care that could be syringe fed to her, but this is only if she doesn't have a complete obstruction and if she's alert enough to be eating anything. But if you really can't get her to a vet til tomorrow then simethicone and pain meds may be the most you can do for her.

 

[sparkly]

simethicone is the schmick! i've just had a harrowing few days, and some simethicone is the thing that has just brought my bunny to eating himself! unless it's a coincidence, from all the tlc, but 20 minutes later he's eating dry hay feed, with seeds.hasn't touched anything this solid or dry for 5 days.i recommend massaging, sweet talk, getting an electric blanket throw and rubbing the back, tummy, loving, as well. don't forget fluids! fluids!

 

[lindemanbunnylover]

Did you think of bladder sludge? My bunny was diognosed with it today.

 

[Imbrium]

JBun wrote:

The dosage for simethicone infant liquid suspension is 1-2cc every hour for 1-3 hours, then 1cc every 3-8 hours as needed. This hopefully should help some as long as she doesn't have a complete blockage. If she responds well to this you could try also syringe feeding her some canned pumpkin( the plain kind, NOT the pie filling kind). Always be careful syringe feed cause you don't want her to aspirate anything. If she's lethargic when you're giving her the simethicone then I don't know. She needs to be alert enough to swallow so she doesn't aspirate. If you have any metacam, that could help with the pain, I think baby aspirin can be used too but I don't know dosage, maybe someone else on here knows. If you have some oxbow critical care that could be syringe fed to her, but this is only if she doesn't have a complete obstruction and if she's alert enough to be eating anything. But if you really can't get her to a vet til tomorrow then simethicone and pain meds may be the most you can do for her.

:yeahthat: pain killers in addition to simethicone would likely help her quite a bit... metacam/meloxicam if you have it; otherwise baby aspirin or low dose aspirin. here's a website that has dosing info for painkillers for bunnies:
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

just noticed this topic is like three weeks old... any update on the bunny? I hope everything worked out ok!