Rabbit has swollen stomach and is limp???

[Willow's Meadow]

My rabbit has a very swollen stomach that is like puffed out and I guess bloated. She is lethargic and is limp when you pick her up. She won't sit up and she just lays their. Why is her stomach swollen? How can I reduce the swelling, enlargement of her stomach?

 

[shadowpaints]

i dont know much about rabbits, so i thought i would just let ya know im prayin someone will know what to do!!!

have you called a vet maybe?

 

[therealsilkiechick]

does it have diarrhea or mucus poops? u can give it baby gas drops for the painand bloating and massage its belly. keep it hydrated, pull feed for 24 hours and feed only hay and oats and water and after 24hours ween it back on the pellets.

 

[Orpygal]

Is the rabbit eating anything? It sounds like stasis where the gut shuts down. It happened to our rabbit a few years ago. We did antibiotics, a med to increase his appetite and syringe fed him for a couple days. It's pretty serious, like colic in a horse.

 

[NellaBean]

You've posted 3 different topics about your rabbits rapidly declining health over the last 2 days. You need to either get the poor thing some treatment or put it out of its misery. It does sound like GI stasis which i am not overly familiar with......but have you contacted a vet? considering it has gone downhill since yesterday, sounds like you need to either get the bunny some treatment or make some decisions.

 

[dntd]

At first you could have tried baby gas drops. I fear if she's limp she needs help or needs to be put down.

 

[Akane]

It's stomach is swollen because it's intestines are full of gas and not moving. If it's been days it's too late. A rabbit's digestive tract only has hours to start treatment before it becomes too damaged. Page 13 of this document has info on treating GI stasis http://www.columbusrabbit.org/chrsbooklet.pdf . Simethicone is the ingredient in medication for gas in humans. You can get it as a plain liquid for infants to give to rabbits. It breaks up the gas bubbles and helps them pass out of the digestive tract. If the intestines get too distended or remain that way for too long permanent damage is done. Pain medication can also be needed because rabbits in pain do not eat well and not eating is a death sentence for a rabbit. Their digestive tract is designed for lots of fiber all the time and will stop functioning long before they starve to death. It will die a slow painful death if you don't do something besides making numerous posts on a forum.