GI stasis is caused by a diet that lacks fiber. If your rabbit has already gotten stasis twice, it doesn't make sense to continue the diet that caused him stasis. Don't depend on people who are trying to sell you a product tell you what a proper rabbit diet is. Go on house rabbit society website and read about the proper diet a rabbit should have. Trust me you don't want to do something you will regret. That's what Happened to me. I listened to (stupid) people tell me what's proper for my rabbit and my rabbit died a very painful traumatizing death from stasis. Do your own research from a professional website that knows rabbits. These professional rabbit websites are reliable, they are rabbit savy veterinarians that have done actual research in this stuff. Stop feeding your rabbits pellets and give him hay.
What should I feed my rabbit. conflicting information
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As a bunny mommy you need to do what's best for your bunny. Not what your bunny likes best. It doesn't matter if your bunny likes pellets better than hay.
A 2 year old child loves cookies and chicken nuggets. That doesn't mean he should eat cookies and chicken nuggets. Kids need to have fruits and vegetables and healthy food to grow into healthy kids (even if they don't like them).
Rabbits need hay to have a healthy working gut. Rabbits do not need pellets. In the wild rabbits eat hay, grass, and veggies. Trust me, if you stop giving your rabbit pellets, he will start eating more hay.
A 2 year old child loves cookies and chicken nuggets. That doesn't mean he should eat cookies and chicken nuggets. Kids need to have fruits and vegetables and healthy food to grow into healthy kids (even if they don't like them).
Rabbits need hay to have a healthy working gut. Rabbits do not need pellets. In the wild rabbits eat hay, grass, and veggies. Trust me, if you stop giving your rabbit pellets, he will start eating more hay.
Happi Bun
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Who told you Walmart has veterinarians? That is false.
They definitely do not send anyone to vet school. The employees you encounter in the pet section are normal store employees. They have no special training in animal care, nutrition, or veterinary medicine.
When it comes to live animals Walmart only sells fish and they abuse/neglect them horribly. I have pictures of filthy Betta fish cups with decomposing corpses right there on display for all to see. Some Walmart stores don't even sell fish anymore because of all the complaints and petitions to get them to stop. They offer horrible advice to people looking to buy fish or start an aquarium.
So please, please don't take any advice regarding pet care from walmart employees. I'm not saying they are bad people or purposely giving wrong advice, it's just not their job. They are not pet store employees or veterinarians.
What does "8 or 10 pieces of hay' even means? A rabbit should eat his body in hay everyday. If he doesn't, try another hay. Or grass. Give less pellets (you shouldn't give garbage like walmart pellets anyway - your logic about the walmart thing is like saying everything in supermarkets is good for your health because someone put those things in there).
Use your common sense: what do you think rabbits are eating in the wild? Pellets? Of course people who produce and sell pellets are going to tell you it's what best for your bunnies - you have sellers who know and care nothing about rabbits in front of you, they only learnt a short selling speech during their first week so that they could sell as much things as possible to gullible and uninformed people. NEVER take advice or buy an animal in a petshop, you'll only end up with a sick or dead pet.
From what you're saying, it's urgent you change your rabbit's diet quickly or he won't see his next birthday. As several people recommended, you have to go read all the house rabbit society website (who is written by people who know rabbits, manage rabbits' rescues and successfully keep them alive for decent amounts of time), especially the diet article:
http://rabbit.org/category/care/diet/
It's your choice, but you came to ask the opinion of people who have had rabbits for a long time (I've had my current bunnies for respectively seven and half a year and three years they never had any problem linked to their diet). If you choose not to change anything and that your rabbit comes down with stasis again and ends up dead, which seems like a probable outcome from what I've just read, don't say you weren't warned. Doing the right thing by your rabbit is really not hard, you just have to read a few articles and change a few habits. If you've got more questions, you can ask them here afterwards.
Use your common sense: what do you think rabbits are eating in the wild? Pellets? Of course people who produce and sell pellets are going to tell you it's what best for your bunnies - you have sellers who know and care nothing about rabbits in front of you, they only learnt a short selling speech during their first week so that they could sell as much things as possible to gullible and uninformed people. NEVER take advice or buy an animal in a petshop, you'll only end up with a sick or dead pet.
From what you're saying, it's urgent you change your rabbit's diet quickly or he won't see his next birthday. As several people recommended, you have to go read all the house rabbit society website (who is written by people who know rabbits, manage rabbits' rescues and successfully keep them alive for decent amounts of time), especially the diet article:
http://rabbit.org/category/care/diet/
It's your choice, but you came to ask the opinion of people who have had rabbits for a long time (I've had my current bunnies for respectively seven and half a year and three years they never had any problem linked to their diet). If you choose not to change anything and that your rabbit comes down with stasis again and ends up dead, which seems like a probable outcome from what I've just read, don't say you weren't warned. Doing the right thing by your rabbit is really not hard, you just have to read a few articles and change a few habits. If you've got more questions, you can ask them here afterwards.
BlackMiniRex
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rabbits should get UNLIMITED hay! it helps their gut with out it it can cause GI stasis, you said your rabbit is prone to GI stasis, wonder why? rabbits NEED hay/grass.
of course your rabbit won't eat the hay, because it knows it can get something better, like katiecrna said, a kid is not gonna eat his vegetables when he knows he can get candy. Please change you bunny's currant diet it's making him sick! what type of pellets are you feeding him? please don't get the ones with fruits and seeds, rabbits will pick out the tasty ones, and it just so happens that the tasty ones are the bad ones.
of course your rabbit won't eat the hay, because it knows it can get something better, like katiecrna said, a kid is not gonna eat his vegetables when he knows he can get candy. Please change you bunny's currant diet it's making him sick! what type of pellets are you feeding him? please don't get the ones with fruits and seeds, rabbits will pick out the tasty ones, and it just so happens that the tasty ones are the bad ones.
my rabbit seems to be in stasis again. he hasnt pooped for 2 days and wont even move. Not sure what is causing this.
You have to be joking. The GI stasis is caused by you feeding your rabbit the wrong diet. Period. Take him to the vet ASAP before he dies.
Not necessarily. My first rabbit was in and out of stasis almost weekly. She died at the age of 3 and we fed her the best diet you could think of. She was the litter runt and her digestive system was simply underdeveloped. That's the best medical explanation we got. But yes take your
Rabbit to the vet now. Hopefully it's not too late.
Rabbit to the vet now. Hopefully it's not too late.
I'm sorry but this person has been feeding her rabbit an improper diet all along while avoiding the advice given here. So I am pretty sure her GI stasis is caused by the diet which is a complete lack of fiber that she has been feeding her rabbit.
If someone told you to jump off the bridge would you? There are no trained veterinarians in Walmart. Look at any professional rabbit website and all of them say rabbits need unlimited hay and limited pellets if any pellets at all. You can't believe what everyone tells you. You need to do your own research and educate yourself. Because there are no mixed messages or confusion on what to feed your rabbit on PROFESSIONAL rabbit websites.
I really hope your rabbit is OK. You need to bring him to the vet ASAP. I am for you not against you.
BlackMiniRex
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What do you mean he didn't die yet?
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@dsuis don't give up hope yet. Your rabbit may pull through this. Don't get down on yourself. Mistakes happen, that's life. The important thing is you learn from them and don't repeat them. Like I said before I have made the same mistake. I fed my rabbit only pellets and a small amount of veggies and when she got sick I couldn't afford to take her to the vet either. And she died. And it was traumatizing so much that I couldn't get another pet until 10 years later. Which is now. I learned from my mistakes and I am the best bunny mommy now because of what I went through before. Don't be too hard on yourself. Sh*t happens.
Well I know I have been feeding him the right diet. All he needs is the $4 bag of pellets and mixed nuts and fruits from walmart. because that is what the veterinarian working in the Walmart pet aisle told me. I know this isn't my fault. He doesn't even like hay. I put 8 or 10 pieces in his cage and he doesn't touch it. I've had the bag of hay over a year because he doesn't eat it. It's just his time to go I guess.
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