Gut stasis

This is a little sad. A friend of mine just lost her sweet German Angora buck this week. I/we thought it may have been gut stasis at first, because he'd stopped eating. It turns out that it wasn't, since our vet didn't see any signs of intestinal problems in the necropsy. The vet thinks the rabbit may have contracted pneumonia, but we're really not sure.

Anyway, in the initial oh-my-goodness-the-rabbit-is-sick-what-does-it-have research frenzy, we learned some interesting things about gut stasis. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, gut stasis basically means your rabbit's gastrointestinal system shuts down. Food is passed through the gut too slowly, allowing bad bacteria to multiply. The bacteria produce toxins, which poison the rabbit's liver. The rabbit's tummy often bloats up with gas too. It's a pretty serious condition, but I was happy to see that there are some things you can do to pull your bunny through it.

(I'm also slightly morbid about rabbit diseases. They speak to my inner mad scientist.)

So, if you also are morbidly curious about bunny diseases, here's some links for more info on gut stasis:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
http://www.lopsandcavies.com/woolblock_fur_block.htm
http://www.mybunny.org/info/gi_stasis.htm
http://cottontails-rescue.org.uk/gutstasis.asp