GI stasis is the most common life-threatening emergency in pet rabbits. Understanding the causes, warning signs, and preventive care is essential for rabbit welfare and can save lives.
GI stasis causes significant suffering - rabbits in stasis experience pain from gas accumulation, discomfort from reduced gut motility, and the distress of not eating. Rabbits hide signs of illness, a prey species instinct, meaning owners often present late when the condition has progressed. Dental disease - extremely common in rabbits fed inadequate hay - causes chronic oral pain that reduces hay intake, setting up a cycle leading to recurrent GI stasis. The fundamental welfare problem is that pet rabbits are commonly kept and fed in ways incompatible with their physiology, with inappropriate bedding, housing, and diet creating preventable suffering for millions of rabbits.