TIP – This is a condition you have very little time to decide on what to do & if left untreated will most likely result in a severe painful death. Do not delay & take a course of action immediately. If in any doubt about what to do take your bunny to a vet immediately.
A rabbits guts are very delicate & are easily upset. This can cause:
- GI Stasis
- Bloat
- Gas
All of the above are connected.
Gastrointestinal Stasis (GI Stasis)
This is where the digestive system slows down or stops. Bad bacteria builds up in the guts & because of the lack of motility it causes gas to build. This in turn causes severe painful bloat. If it is not treated your rabbit may die within 24 hours or less. You must see a vet immediately.
Causes of GI Stasis
- High starch & low fibre diet. Examples are a diet that is muesli based, a high fruit diet or not enough hay.
- An illness. It doesn’t have to be related to the digestive system.
- Stress. Could be a change in food or environment. Losing a bonded mate.
- Lack of exercise. The rabbit has a limited exercise area & housing.
- Temperature changes.
- Sudden change in diet or some new food added in a large quantity.
Symptoms of GI Stasis
- Not Eating.
- Restless.
- Uncomfortable.
- In Pain – sat hunched up & grinding the teeth.
- Small Faecal pellets or non at all.
- Cold Temperature.
- Lethargic.
It is worth mentioning that GI stasis can cause hairballs. The hair becomes compacted because the guts are not moving. Rabbits cannot vomit because the muscles at the top of the stomach close so tight that they will not open to allow food out. As you can imagine this significantly adds to the problem.
Treatment
Get your rabbit to a vet immediately.
My Experience
I have had a lot of experience of GI Stasis. Fortunately, through my experience I am able to recognize the symptoms early on. This means I usually catch them at the stage where their guts have started to slow, not stop & gas is just starting to build. In these cases I initially treat my rabbits at home by:
- Administering the correct dose of Emeprid, a gut stimulant. It acts on the fore gut (small intestine).
- Administering the correct dose of Cisparide, a gut stimulant. It acts on the hind gut (large intestine).
- Administering the correct dose of Infacol. The dose should be obtained from your vet. I would only use Infacol if I didn’t have any Emeprid or Cisparide in stock. It is an anti-foaming agent that reduces the little bubbles in the stomach/intestine so doesn’t work as well as Emeprid or Cisapride. There is also no known literature behind it for use in rabbits, I did appear to have reasonable success with it. Although I cannot prove it.
- Administering the correct dose of Metacam. Erring on the lower side as Metacam can lower a rabbits temperature. The dose should be obtained from your vet.
- Immediately set up a basket in a warm room of the house. Not a hot room. Room temperature is usually between 16-20 degrees Celsius.
- The basket consists of a heat pad, hot water bottle if necessary, comfy blankets & a water dish. I use a water dish that can hook on to the side of the basket. Stops any spillages.
- I usually place a blanket/sheet around 3 sides of the basket to keep any drafts at bay & make the rabbit feel safe in a different environment.
- I make regular checks on the rabbit to make sure they are not getting over heated & are not deteriorating.
- Sometimes I gently massage the tummy.
Most of my rabbits after the above treatment have returned to normal within 3-4 hours. Some have taken a little longer but only an hour or 2 later.
If the rabbit was deteriorating then I would take it to the vets immediately.
I do not recommend you take my action if you are an inexperienced rabbit owner or have doubts about what you are dealing with. I am not a vet, I just know what I am looking for & know my rabbits well. It is not worth the risk of losing your bunny. This condition can accelerate at an astonishing speed giving you very little time. Rabbits can deteriorate so quickly so get to a vet immediately.
My Experience
I have not always been so lucky with GI Stasis. Early one morning I had fed the bunnies & everyone was eating fine & looking good. When I returned several hours later after work one of my male rabbits called Parsley was ill. He looked very uncomfortable & when I picked him up his tummy was like a little barrel. The tummy was hard to the touch too. I immediately rang the vets & got him booked in but on the way he died in the car. I never found out what caused his GI Stasis but I do know that it killed him. At the time I was very shocked at how quickly things had progressed not having experienced GI Stasis before.

From my experience I honestly do think it all comes down to how quickly you spot it & what course of action you take as to how quickly they recover & survive.

My latest experience has been Tilly. She is an old girl now & has a chronic illness, being her arthritis in her hind legs. On the run up to Christmas 2022, Tilly had two bouts of gut stasis over two days. I did manage to get her over them within a few hours but two over two days is too many for me. I took her to the vets & I wanted a full Mot of her & in particular to check she had no blockage. The vet did a thorough check & there was no blockage & she seemed well enough. The only thing was her guts weren’t making a lot of noises which was to be expected given the last two days. I was sent home with some more gut meds just in case she had another attack but in the meantime I had to continue her on the gut medication Emeprid & administer Cisapride if needed. This was just for a few days or until I deemed I thought it was safe to stop.
The day after she was fine but on Christmas morning she was ill again with her guts. She looked uncomfortable & wasn’t interested in any food. Immediately I gave her the gut meds & her Metacam. I also opened her pen so she could have a mooch about the shed. My aim from this was to get her moving in the hope it would help get the guts moving too.
Within three hours of the medication she was back to normal. I checked her faeces & she had done a blow out, which was great as I felt confident things would be back to normal. Usually after a blow out, I find any bunnies who have gut stasis return to normal. The blow out faeces are usually wetter, smaller & softer than normal faeces. Just to be on the safe side I did carry on with the Emeprid for another day & to date she still has her little plays around the shed everyday. I think with her back leg issue she wasn’t keen on moving about in the cold snap that we had at the time. Her heat mat probably also encouraged her to stay put being so nice & warm.
Through my experience I know which of my bunnies is most likely to have a bout. The older ones or ones with a chronic illness are most likely. My late Rumble was more susceptible because of his allergy. When his allergy got bad it caused him to sneeze up to 40 times in one session several times a day, this in turns tired him out. It is then I found he was most likely to start developing the GI Stasis. So I watched him like a hawk so I could spot the signs early.

My First Aid Kit for GI Stasis





My hot water bottle is quite old but has served me well for the last 2 decades & suits my purpose. Nowadays you can buy hot water bottles specifically for pets.
Reviewed: Jan 2023.