Brood doe not eating pellets every day...

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

My 6-month old Mini Rex doe, Chancey, hasn't been eating her pellets every day. She eats all of her hay so I don't think she's sick, but she will leave her pellets for about 2 days and then she will eat them up. It started with her not eating them for maybe a whole day, and then it just kept getting longer. Now she will maybe take a couple bites when we put her food in, but won't touch the rest for a few days.

I was just curious about this, because we are planning on breeding her on Tuesday (The 24th) and I was wondering if her lack of pellet consumption would harm the babies growth? Do you think she would pick up eating the pellets once she's pregnant, because she'll be hungry? Is there anything I could put on the pellets that would get her to eat them? Like stated above, she has been eating all of her hay.

She's not overweight...I don't know exactly how much she weighs, but I can get that tomorrow. And she's only getting half of 1/3 cup. Fresh feed at each feeding, as well. So the pellets in her dish aren't old.

Some of the other rabbits are doing the same thing, except they have most of their pellets finished by the next feeding.

Wasn't sure where to put this, since I don't think she's sick, and since it has to do with breeding, etc.

Emily

 

[TinysMom]

How long has she been doing this? Are you either using a new bag of food - or at the end of an older bag of food?

Does she normally eat all her food?

Also - has there been a weather change at all in the last few days - or a weather change coming? (I'm not trying to be a smart mouth here - but sometimes mine will change their eating habits and then I'll notice that the weather has changed a bit...and the next thing I know - they're eating again..).

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

She's been doing this for a few weeks at least...but just recently started waiting longer between days to eat the pellets.

She normally would eat all of her pellets, yes. It just got to the point where she was leaving more and more, and now she's leaving them for days.

Well we have been getting colder weather quite earlier than normal. The snow level was at 500 ft. the other night, and that usually doesn't occur until late December. She was born in May, so do you think the winter is just being harsh on her?

Even at State Fair and County Fair she ate all of her pellets - not right away, but within a few hours. And I'm sure that was just because she was nervous/stressed out from being in a weird place and around strangers.

Emily

 

[BlueGiants]

I'd check the food for bad smells, maybe the start of mold? (as Peg said) how old is the food? She may be sensitive to smells or mold. If you pour some of the pellets from one container to another, do you see any really fine "dust" or powder rise up? Is it a new feed? Different kind? New bag? Old bag? Are any of the other rabbits being picky?

Try cleaning out her feeder/bowl. Maybe it got a funny smell in it. Try mixing a bit of oats in with her pellets to encourage her to eat.

I'm not sure I'd breed her until she is eating normally.

 

[naturestee]

If it's not the food, it could also be her molars. If you don't find anything wrong with the food I'd bring her to the vet for a good, close look at her teeth. The pellets might hurt to eat, so she leaves them until she really, really wants to eat them.

 

[TinysMom]

naturestee wrote:

If it's not the food, it could also be her molars. If you don't find anything wrong with the food I'd bring her to the vet for a good, close look at her teeth. The pellets might hurt to eat, so she leaves them until she really, really wants to eat them.

Why is it that when I'm in the rabbitry area - I never think of the same things we'd suggest in the infirmary? :?

THANKS for this suggestion - it makes a lot of sense!

 

[irishbunny]

I think it sounds like it could be a teeth problem too. Maybe it hurts to eat them, so she will wait until she is really hungry before she does. If it were me, I wouldn't breed her until I found out what was going on. In case it's something health related.

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

Does she eat all her Hay? Because maybe shes eating all that and then just not touching the food?

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

She ate all of her pellets from last night!

The food is brand new, not dusty at all. Will check it, as well as her molars. I will also have my 4-H leader take a look at her tomorrow.

Will let you know if she has eaten all her pellets from this morning.

And yes, she does eat all of her hay.

Emily

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Just got back in from feeding the bunnies and she had eaten all of her pellets from this morning. When we gave her new, she started eating them, but as soon as her hay was in there, went to that. I think it's just a matter of her preferring hay over pellets more, but she will still eat the pellets.

I tried checking her molars, but I don't know exactly where they are and couldn't really see them. I will still bring her with me to the 4-H meeting and have my leader take a look at her.

If she has eaten her food in the morning, then we will breed her, but not until after the 4-H meeting, and if my leader says her teeth look ok, etc.

Emily

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Chancey ate all of her food this morning. I think this was just a short phase that she was going through or something - I know some of our other rabbits have done the same thing before, where they will hold off on their pellets, or just eat their hay first.

Emily