elluche
New Member
I hope someone can help. Our rabbit is a lionhead lop, at least seven years old (rescue rabbit, so cannot be more specific) and has over the last few months not been himself.
We took him to the vets initially when he was in clear distress from mouth pain. Having had his teeth sorted out, he returned home but never really got back to normal. About two months later, the vets diagnosed a severe chest infection, requiring a week stay at the vets and a course of antibiotics (Baytril). On returning home, he was a little better, but again never got back to normal.
Our current state of play is that Bertie now barely eats anything. He appears to get excited by the food, but when he comes to eat it, he changes his mind and just sort of snuffles at it. When he eventually decides to eat, he seems to chew the food for an age.
His diet consists of pellets, hay, 1/3 shredded wheat per day and occasional carrot tops etc. The vet thinks the reluctance to eat may be due to some residual lung damage following the infection leading Bertie to be worried that he will not be able to breathe whilst eating.
Either way, over the last couple of months, his weight has dropped slowly (lost 200g), although his general demeanour is still very chirpy. He is a house rabbit that lives in our bedroom and he still has the strength and desire to jump up onto our bed.
So, we're pretty confused after all this - we don't know if he's still poorly or still recovering. The vet insists his teeth are fine - does anyone have any ideas on what might be ailing him?
Thanks in advance
Luke
We took him to the vets initially when he was in clear distress from mouth pain. Having had his teeth sorted out, he returned home but never really got back to normal. About two months later, the vets diagnosed a severe chest infection, requiring a week stay at the vets and a course of antibiotics (Baytril). On returning home, he was a little better, but again never got back to normal.
Our current state of play is that Bertie now barely eats anything. He appears to get excited by the food, but when he comes to eat it, he changes his mind and just sort of snuffles at it. When he eventually decides to eat, he seems to chew the food for an age.
His diet consists of pellets, hay, 1/3 shredded wheat per day and occasional carrot tops etc. The vet thinks the reluctance to eat may be due to some residual lung damage following the infection leading Bertie to be worried that he will not be able to breathe whilst eating.
Either way, over the last couple of months, his weight has dropped slowly (lost 200g), although his general demeanour is still very chirpy. He is a house rabbit that lives in our bedroom and he still has the strength and desire to jump up onto our bed.
So, we're pretty confused after all this - we don't know if he's still poorly or still recovering. The vet insists his teeth are fine - does anyone have any ideas on what might be ailing him?
Thanks in advance
Luke
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