Bunny Blog

Tag Archives: gi stasis

New Articles

We’ve recently added a couple new articles to our collection.

The first one describes the potentially deadly condition, GI stasis, and discusses causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention.  If you’re a bunny owner and unfamiliar with this condition, it’s an important read.

Veterinarian holding a bunnyGI Stasis in Rabbits: A Deadly Condition

One very serious, fairly common health issue pet rabbits face is gastrointestinal stasis. GI (or gut) stasis is a potentially deadly condition in which the digestive system slows down or stops completely. [Read more]

The second article serves as a beginner’s guide to growing your rabbit’s food yourself. It will depend where in the world you are if the timing is right to start gardening – for me in New England, the gardening season will probably wind down in a month or so.  But, for those who are new to gardening who want to give it a try, the article will provide an introduction, giving examples of vegetables that are fairly easy to grow.  And when the time is right, you will be able to get started on your very own bunny garden.

Bunny jumping from cardboard castleBunny Gardening for Beginners

One of the great things about owning a pet rabbit is that you can grow a lot of their food yourself in a backyard garden. In fact, you don’t have to be a master gardener or own a huge plot of land to grow a few of your bunny’s favorites. [Read more]

Health Scare: GI Stasis

CosetteWe’ve had a very scary last few days here. Cosette had to go to the emergency vet over the weekend because she had stopped eating and pooping and looked quite hunched. After an x-ray, the vet found that her stomach was extremely distended and she had two large gas bubbles. The diagnosis was GI stasis, and her prognosis was guarded.

A dental exam showed that her molars were unevenly worn, which most likely led to her digestive issues. They filed her teeth that night, and during her stay at the vet’s, she received motility medication, pain medication, IV fluids, and force feeding of Critical Care.

Sunday morning, her condition had worsened, and the vet was not optimistic about her chances of survival. With dull, droopy eyes, a hunched, tense posture, and a visibly bloated stomach, Cosette looked like she was experiencing a lot of pain.

Sunday evening, she started perking up a little, and she managed to eat a little on her own and finally excreted some soft stool. We brought in more greens and she ate some cilantro with encouragement by us. This morning, she excreted formed stools and had more of an appetite, so she was allowed to come home this evening. Coco was very excited his friend was finally back.

We will continue her motility medication for the next few days, and if necessary, we may need to continue syringe feeding Critical Care to supplement her diet as well. She is not quite back to her old self at this point. She doesn’t have quite the appetite, and her stools are quite small. But I was pleasantly surprised that her litterbox habits appeared to remain in tact, despite having quite a stressful weekend. (And of course, that she was actually going to the bathroom again, and her digestive system was active again.)

I wanted to share this story so that other people could learn from our scary experience. For example, it’s so important for your bunny to get regular checkups, including a dental examination. Even rabbits with a hay-based diet, who show no signs of pain, can have molar spurs. And this condition can lead to potentially deadly conditions like GI stasis. For more information about GI stasis, see Dana Krempel’s article, GI Stasis: The Silent Killer.