Lots of updates + Pen & GI tract problem.

Wow, I got rid of my blog for a while because I didnt have time for it, but it seems I can try to make time for it. Things are going great here at the rabbitry. Lots of new rabbits that are coming from the Butler PA show & the Lionhead Nationals. We are getting some VERY promising stock and I cannot wait to see what our rabbitry is like in a few months to a year. By next year at Nationals I hope to have much better bodied rabbits.... as well as work on rabbits that keep their senior mane. This is a goal that every lionhead rabbitry strives for, of course. But i am so excited to be taking such huge steps to that goal. I cannot wait to see what these next few months bring. As well as lionheads, I am also into HOlland lops. We are starting out small and right now have 5 breeder does and a buck. I did run into some problems and I'd like to explain them for reference for myself later as well as if anyone ever gets in a situation like this when a rabbit have a blocked GI tract and cannot poo.



Rabbit w/ a blocked GI tract: What worked for us.

I'll try to be as concise as possible. Email if you have any questions... Well, i had an experience from which I learned a lot that I'd like to share. I got my holland lops about 2-3 weeks ago. The one doe I got from Krys @ Spring Lake was bred to her Ruckus. Well, when i got her, I feed my rabbits with water bottles. Not even considering that she may not feed hers with water bottles I put one in. The next day it seemed she was drinking but just not much, i figured it was stress. On the third day i realized she was not eating her food and got worried. I asked Krys and found out she does not drink from water bottles. And she had not drank since being at my house and is used to croaks. Here, the water out of the water bottle was just from dripping. She would not eat or drink from me. I had to feed her water with a bottle and syringe. I gave her some milk supplement (like pedialyte)... and got her enough energy to want to eat Kale *her favorite* from me. She also nibbled celery. Well the next day goes by and I'm still force feeding her water & food. She is only a week away from her pregnancy and i am getting very nervous. I find out that she is also not pooing either. So with help from My friend Niki @ boulder creek rabbitry we realized that she much have a huge blockage from the food and not getting any water in there. For days I battled with penelope. It was not a few days after she had not pooed and we were about to lose her. We were rubbing her stomach, feeding her a ton of greens, lots of water. Trying to get her to poo. Still nothing. Then we read to use an electric massager/vibrator. Also another option was giving her an enema. This was to be our last option, but she was very weak and we were going to lose her within a few hours if we didnt try something. So we gave her two enemas in a small syringe that we inserted 1 inch into her. The enema had mineral oil, epsom salt, & warm water. Still she was not pooing after two of these. Later that evening after we used the electric massager we got her to go a tiny bit. I was so happy! But she was not out of the woods yet. The next day she decided she would not even swallow water, nor would she take anymore greens or nothing. She rejected EVERYTHING. We were about to lose her. So we gave her an enema again but this time with more mineral oil than recommended to coat it. Then i gave her more massages with the electric massager. In about an hour i checked her bum, there was poo there but it wouldn't come out. Well, we had to pull it out. We pulled about 4 inches of hard poo out. About another hour later, she went a LOOOOT by herself. By the next day she was pooing normal circle size rabbit poos. We read that this problem can take weeks for a rabbit to regain regular GI movement. So everyday, even though she was still going we gave her the electric massage a few times a day to help keep the GI tract moving. It is a week later from when she had these issues, and she is completely better. It took her time to eat and drink again on her own, but with patience we were able to keep up with her and finally get her to eat & drink on her own. She is 100% better now! We are so happy we were able to save our Pen. The day we gave her the enema was also a saturday during easter weekend, there were no vets we could take her too. I DO NOT recommend that you do what we did. But they are ideas if you have no other options, as we did. I am not a vet and am just explaining what worked for us in a desperate situation. It saved our PEN! :)