Gut Stasis Again!!

Backlog...

Finally its time to blog about the illness that every rabbit owner dread. GI Stasis or Gut Stasis (read it here).

The rabbit's stomach is very delicate and they constantly have to have food in their stomach to keep it moving. This is why rabbits are constantly eating and pooping. They also cannot vomit so are unable to get rid of the fur that they are constantly ingesting due to grooming. When rabbits have Gut Stasis, their stomach system shuts down and food and fur is unable to be passed out of their body causing a massive jam and will lead to death sometimes in a matter of hours. That was also one of the cause of my Baobei's death (of course he had other illnesses which lead to the Stasis - doc suspect liver cancer).

So naturally I was extra careful now with my 2 current bunnies. In January, while trying to bond them, they had a massive fight so I quickly separated them. The next day, I realise that my Girl has lost her appetite and I could hear loud noises coming from her stomach area (gas which is very painful). As it is already night time, I almost did not sleep the whole night with her and in the morning, I called the vet (my regular vet and not the one who saw my Baobei) and brought her there. Their schedule was full but I insisted that she needs to see my Girl and I will wait there until she can see me. The doc confirms that she has gas and prescribed painkillers and drugs to get her stomach moving again. Plus Critical Care which is emergency feed for bunnies.

We went home and I tried to feed her the critical care but it was so disgusting!! The smell made me lose my appetite as well. No wonder my Girl refuse to eat it and struggled while I try to force feed her with a syringe.

This happens for a few days with me not sleeping most nights giving her critical care, water and also massaging her stomach. As she hates the Critical Care, I bought her organic baby food and also baby juice. She preferred the juice but there was not much improvement (no appetite and no poo) and I was getting really worried.

On the 3rd or 4th day, finally she pooped out this small mess. It was a really smelly poo. Den after that it was small poo and finally she was ok!! My Girl made it through the stasis!! I am lucky coz a lot of bunnies do not. Now I am quite paranoid and will listen to her stomach two or three times a day before I go to work and when I come back home. Crazy mama...

I suspect that it is because of the fight and she became stress so it caused her the Stasis so I am not bonding her with my boy now. Their enclosure remains the same but I am not letting them out together.

I would like to thanks Dr Chan from Namly Clinic for taking time to see her and most of all Adeline from HRSS for the advise on how to take care of Morticia. Many many thanks!!