Noobie Will Be Just Fine!

I want to interrupt my daily posting to post this very important post.

Just about less than a week, Noobie will be due to kindle. I was in for a rude shock this morning when I found her litter tray squeky clean just like how I have left it the night before. It was very obvious she has not been pooping and peeing the entire night! The only thing that struck me was GI Stasis! Having lost Unix to GI Stasis, I do not think I could handle this happening to my Noobie!

It was only the night before that I was agreeing with D over MSN how we can't accept the death of our beloved buhnies.

The thing with GI Stasis is that, like AIDS it does not discriminate. This is proven by the fact that although your rabbit is put on a stringent diet of Hay and good pellets, sh*t still happens. When it strikes, you better prepare for the worst. But I am not about to prepare for that! It is just too much to take away from me!

After realizing that she has not been eating her pellets and hay, I quickly put in some alfalfa hay for her and she started munching away. Off I went to work and while at work, my wife helped me chop some green vegetables for her (she took half the bowl) and my wife informed me that Noobie has peed in her litter pan. I was relieved, at that moment.

I was surfing the net for more information. Most of the information has been read and forgotten so I needed to refresh my failing memory. I got to know about Pedialyte which sadly is not available in Malaysia. Pedialyte is a an electrolyte solution that is used to rehydrate children that has lost too much fluid due to vomiting and diarrhea. I also found out a good alternative for it is Gatorade but I try not to use it since the Gatorade that we have in the local market is either lemon or orange flavored. When a rabbit goes into GI Stasis, it is important to keep them hydrated while they get out of harms way.

Please bear in mind that I AM NOT A VET. And The reason I am writing all these is for the sake of our rabbits. We know it only takes a few hours for us to react and sometimes in hours when a vet is not available, these are the least that you can do to help your poor rabbit. And also, even during broad daylight, there is very limited expertise in the local vet market. By the time some vets take their guesses, your rabbit may well be 6 feet under. Sorry to say this but I am totally faithless in the local vet except a few reputable ones which I have highlighted on the REFERENCE page. The reason local vets could not careless about rabbits is because treating rabbit does not fall under the upscale group where the money is. Most of them only care about dogs and cats where more can be earned. I bet if you ask a regular vet what is the staple food for rabbits, he/she may say CARROT!

Another drug that I keep in handy is Simethicone. When GI Stasis strikes, the stomach stop working and no peristalsis is happening. There will be a build up of gas and rabbits unlike other animals cannot burp or fart. So in order to help them cope with the gas, they need the help of any drug with the active ingredient of Simethicone and the one that is available in the local pharmacies are names like Mallox or Zellox-II. I personally went for Zellox-II. The dosage to give for an adult rabbit would be 1ml an hour apart for 3 hours (3 doses in 3 hours 1 hour apart). Thereafter every 8 hours.

Most importantly keep those syringe in handy and pump clean drinking water regularly.

Back to Noobie. I checked on her the moment I stepped into the house and it did not look good at all. She only had one puddle of pee in her litter pan and the poops were those from morning. Not good at all. I started panic and text messaged, our dear friend over at FurryButts. How can you live without a fellow bunny enthusiast at times like these!?

I am truly grateful to have known SB because when I panic, I just go blank! Especially when it comes to the most feared situation for a rabbit.

SB reminded me all over again about rehydrate, administer Simethicone if there is gas and keeping Noobie warm. She also mentioned about giving pineapple juice which I have done earlier. I just needed all the information that I lost when my brain crashed after accessing the situation. I really really appreciate her help a lot! Most importantly she asked me to calm myself since my rabbits will be able to detect my emotion.

So here I was pumping all the drinking water into Noobie and also administering the first dose of Zellox-II. I place Noobie in the kitchen and she was acting quite normal. I gave her some alfafa and she started chewing on some straight away. After a few syringes of water I decided to put her back into her cage.

And there, right after stepping into her cage, she "released" a huge puddle of PEE and proceeded to hop onto the litter pan to deposit some small black cannon balls.

But I am not taking any chances. She is pregnant and needs a lot of fluid for her kits and herself so it will be a sleepless night for me being awake to ensure she is fully hydrated at all times.

All friends of Tru-Luv Rabbitry, please pray for me. Let us all pray that 2008 will not end with a bad note for TLR. That's the last thing I want happening in Meadow Haven.