We woke up Saturday morning to find River not feeling well. She just did a dramatic bunny flop when I placed her breakfast in front of her--not a good sign.
I tried to tempt her with oats and managed to get her to nibble at it a bit, but she kept trying to press her belly into the floor or would sit hunched over in her litter box (both signs of belly pain). This had all of the hallmarks of colic and GI stasis, which is life-threatening within 12 hours if the bunny doesn't eat (not knowing when she last ate, I was getting desperate).
I decided to let them both out of their cages to see if getting River to move around would help stimulate her appetite and get her gut active again. Here, we find them both hanging out in the big cage with Simon trying to comfort River...the box is a bit small for two buns to fit, but he made do.
Simon would hop around the apartment and explore for a bit while I would give River tummy rubs trying to help her colic dissipate. He'd keep coming back to lick River's face and snuggle.
Simon kept trying to eat River's breakfast...caught him red-pawed. I closed her cage after his first attempt at a second breakfast. Apparently, Simon operates by the principle of waste not, want not.
By this point, I was trying to think of any way to get liquids into River so she wouldn't dehydrate and came up with the idea of making some peppermint tea and diluting it with cold water. Her favorite herb is mint, so this was my sneaky way of getting her to drink.
This was when we discovered that River uses Simon as a taste-tester. We also found out that Simon really, really, really likes mint tea. Here he is in the process of licking his lips. He became a little mint tea piggy and kept nudging River's head out of the way when she went to get some too. I had to relocate the bowl and scoot him away so she could drink. Simon just kept coming back like a little furry boomerang. We were thrilled that River was drinking again!
River likes mint tea so much that she didn't even care that her ear was in it. After her drink, I think the mint helped to stimulate her appetite and she started to nibble on some hay. Yay, progress!
It took us about 4 hours, but River finally started eating again and going to the litter box. I don't think there have been two people so happy that their bunny was eating and pooping again. Hooray for no emergency vet visit!
Now that we know that River is somehow more susceptible to GI stasis and colic, we're going to be watching her like a hawk from now on since we still don't know what precipitated this. I'm happy to report that she's doing much better now and seems to be back to her old self! We've been giving her lots of fresh mint and greens with her hay to help prevent a relapse.
