Bunny won't eat anything...

[Shakers Mommie]

I bought Shaker from Pet Lovers this pastSaturday. Yesterday was the first day he pooped. He had only drinkinabout 4oz of water. I read where dwarf's before the age of 4 mos canonly have Hay & water. Yesterday I put his water in abowl and he drinked the hole bowl full. But will not eat. I alsooffered him pellets before I read about the hay, because that's whatwas in the bowl at the store. Shaker is about 8 weeks old. My lastdwarf I had was over a year old when I got him. He lived withme for over a year and had a heart attack out of the clearblue sky. Can anyone suggest anything or point me in the rightdirection? Thank you so much..

Shaker's Mom

 

[Rowena]

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=7329&forum_id=1

Id go through that and definately read the cheat sheet.

Were the pellets the same ones from the pet store? Are you sure he isnteating any hay? What kind of hay are you feeding him? Are you sure itseasy for him to get water out of the bottle? It might not give himenough when he goes to drink so he doesnt want to. Did he have a bottleat the pet store or a bowl?

Im not sure about dwarfs, but from my understanding, baby buns needunlimited access to pellets and alfalfa hay. Then as they get older,you can reduce that and change to a timothy hay.

Read the cheat sheet for rabbits in the link above. There is a ton of info in there!

Virginia

 

[Shakers Mommie]

I've read thru the cheat sheet. I didn't seeanything about feeding them just hay at a certain age. But I will mostdefinately read it again. The pellets that were in the store were HUGEand there were only a few and about 10 bunnies.. I don't know what theywere. This store does not take care of there animals. I shouldn't havegotten him because I know how the store is, but when I seen him myheart just stopped. I had to have him. I tried to give him some haylast night and he turned away everytime. I only put a little bit of hayin his bowl so I could tell if he touched it. I'm feeding him alfalfahay. It's easy for the water to come out of the bottle, but the thingwas he wasn't licking it like my other bunny did to get the water, he'ssucking it. But now that I've got his bowl of water in there he's doingvery good with the water. He had a bottle at the pet store. A lady atthe vet said to put water on the pellets to make it moist. What do youthink about that.

Thank you for your time,

Shaker's Mommie

 

[Carolyn]

Welcome Shaker's Mom,

You might try getting some NutriCal, ShakersMom. Just a bitwill do. 1/2 inch or so. (Here's twolinksto what NutriCal is so you can get an idea of how it ispackaged.http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3635292&cat=227517&type=1&dept=5440&path=0%3A5440%3A202073%3A227517http://www.millpledge.com/preparations/nutrical.htm)

It can help to boost their immune system, increase their appetite,gives them the nutrients they need when they go off their feed, and hasa bit of laxatone in there for going poop.

Making a pet slurry - the moistenedpellets with water couldn't hurt!

Keep us posted.

-Carolyn

 

[Carolyn]

Sounds like the poor little one was taken fromits mother much too early. Check the post above to all newand old members. In there, there's a link from Conception toWeaning. It might help you to understand a bit more of whatyour little one may have missed out on, in case you're not familiarwith the process.

Bless your heart for rescuing the little babe. Will say aprayer he/she starts eating soon. I'd get the NutriCal assoon as I could. You can usually pick it up at a petstore. It's advertised for Dogs and Cats and I would stronglysuggest you get that and not some other type of vitamins if they don'thave it.

-Carolyn

 

[Shakers Mommie]

Carolyn wrote:

Sounds like the poor little one was taken from its mothermuch too early. Check the post above to all new and oldmembers. In there, there's a link from Conception toWeaning. It might help you to understand a bit more of whatyour little one may have missed out on, in case you're not familiarwith the process.

Bless your heart for rescuing the little babe. Will say aprayer he/she starts eating soon. I'd get the NutriCal assoon as I could. You can usually pick it up at a petstore. It's advertised for Dogs and Cats and I would stronglysuggest you get that and not some other type of vitamins if they don'thave it.

-Carolyn

Thank you. I will go and get some of that. My husband and Iboth believe he was taken to early from his mother. It makes me so madabout some of these pet stores. Once again thank you for your help.

Shaker's Mommie

 

[northerndancer]

Hello shakers mom,

I just wanted to add that when my lop bunny wouldnt eat but wasdrinking a lot from her bowl, it was because her teeth were overgrown.She was 2 years old at the time and maybe your bunny is too young tohave overgrown teeth but I thought it is always something else to checkout if this problem continues.

Hope he gets better soon

ND

 

[JimD]

Shakers Mommie wrote:

The pellets that were in the store were HUGE andthere were only a few and about 10 bunnies.. I don't know what theywere.

I'm feeding him alfalfahay.

Welcome to the forum Shaker's Mommie!!

The large pellets sound like the alfalfa-based pellets for young bunnies that we had for Copper.

Alfalfa is important for the little ones so the alfalfa hay is best offered to them.


~Jim

 

[Kricket]

JimD wrote:

Shakers Mommie wrote:

The pellets that were in the store were HUGE andthere were only a few and about 10 bunnies.. I don't know what theywere.

I'm feeding him alfalfahay.

Welcome to the forum Shaker's Mommie!!

The large pellets sound like the alfalfa-based pellets for young bunnies that we had for Copper.

Alfalfa is important for the little ones so the alfalfa hay is best offered to them.


~Jim

Agreed on the alfalfa. My little buns wouldn't eattimothy hay so I switched to alfalfa and they LOVE it! Thoselittle buggers dig through it for the best pieces. Sillywabbits!

 

[Pet_Bunny]

This might be helpful.........We cut our hayinto smaller pieces so Pebbles doesn't have to struggle with the longstrands. This way it fits in the bowl alot better too.

Rainbows!

 

[Kricket]

Pet_Bunny wrote:

This might be helpful.........We cut our hay into smallerpieces so Pebbles doesn't have to struggle with the longstrands. This way it fits in the bowl alot better too.

Rainbows!

AH! Great idea. Less messy too. Mine liketo pull and throw those long pieces around. Goofballs!

 

[Rowena]

I had the opposite prob, since Chinny never hadalfalfa before and picked through it for the grass I was mixing in forthe first few days!

Virginia

 

[cirrustwi]

It sounds like you've gotten good advice, but Iwanted to give another suggestion for Nutrical. My rat wasnear death last week, and he is doing so much better since I startedgetting the Nutrical into her.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Jen

 

[Shakers Mommie]

Thank you for all the help. It was mentionedabout his teeth maybe to long. Well he gritts his teeth alot. I put apeice of wood in his cage but he refuses to chew it. But he chews myshoes. Last night my little boy had his school notes on the floor andShaker decided he needed to eat some paper. So he grabbed the papperand when my liitle boy picked him up to put him in the cage he stillhad the paper in his mouth. Do you think the teacher wouldbelieve him when he says "my bunny ate my work?" LOL

 

[Carolyn]

If he's grinding his teeth, that's usually asign of pain. Would take him in to a vet and have those teethchecked. They can teach you how to trim them if needbe.

Wouldn't delay getting him there. He needs his nutrients andfoodto keep his system flowing in order to be healthy.

Rabbit ate homework?? I don't think so!

-Carolyn

 

[Shakers Mommie]

I am happy to Report that Shaker is eating his hay now. So he his eating and drinking. Thanks for all the help.