05/29/2026
This is an excellent post about what to do if your rabbit stops eating. Rabbit’s guts are very sensitive and if they stop moving for 24 hours or more they are in danger of dying so them refusing food is not something you want to take a “wait and see” approach to.
If anyone in the Hoppy Tides community would like more information on GI stasis in rabbits please let us know and we will be happy to provide you with more information.
Sanctuary buns Snow & Spritz are at my house because Spritz was refusing food this morning. He is bright and alert and not lethargic and I’ve given him fluids & all appropriate meds but I figured this is a great opportunity to remind everyone what we do and do not recommend doing when a rabbit is refusing food. Folks often refer to this as stasis. Stasis is always a SYMPTOM of something else going on and pretty much every bad condition will present as stasis.
What to do :
Get to a rabbit savvy vet ASAP for X-rays and bloodwork. Yes always do X-rays and bloodwork. These two diagnostics can tell you a lot about what’s causing your bunny to not eat.
If you can’t get in right away -
provide a heating pad on low(especially if you’ve confirmed with a thermometer that the rabbit is hypothermic)
Encourage them to run around if it doesn’t stress them out too much. This will help break up gas bubbles if that’s what’s causing the anorexia.
What NOT to do:
Ask strangers on Facebook what to do(way too much misinformation from well meaning folks)
Force feed critical care, this can cause a lot more harm than good if a vet has not ruled out an obstruction.
Run for the baby gas drops, these don’t work on the type of gas rabbits produce and in the time you are waiting for them to work, your bunny could be declining.
Abdominal massage, if your rabbit has a torsed liver lobe or other organ or another structural issue, this can do additional damage.
Feed pineapple or papaya, these do nothing beneficial for rabbit gut motility and the high sugar content can make things much worse
