Elder rabbit weight gain

[lovedbunny]

So if you saw my other post, we took our bunny to the vet to make sure his lip was okay. Thank goodness it was! They commented on him being skinny. I thought he was a bit lighter too, but now it’s confirmed. He is about 10 years old. He eats Timothy and orchard hay, Martin mills adult Timothy pellets and little vegetables like lettuce. Too much greens and he gets diarrhea! A little treats too like the rabbit cookies, a few blueberries etc. He eats on his own but maybe a bit less? He likes to lay down and is lazy more than when he was younger but he is like 10 years old! But otherwise normal poops, normal behaviour. Drinks lots of water, Loves to chew on his rabbit toys so no teeth problems (and they’ve been X-rayed too). He doesn’t show any signs of pain. I know he has some arthritis in his back from the X-rays but they said that’s like age related.

Vet suggested to switch to oxbow senior adult pellets which I will do today. Not sure what else we can do to make him gain weight? I think he sleeps more in day than when he was younger but he has an older rabbit so what do we expect Lol. Our other lop used to sleep all day long even from a young age, she was always lazy! But he still walks around and is active. He goes nuts on his blankets all the time, digging and pulling at them and straightening them out lol, so he can do that and doesn’t show that it hurts him!

Thank you!

 

[JBun]

Can he tolerate his pellet portion being increased, without getting mushy poop?

 

[lovedbunny]

He has a whole bowl full of pellets. So he just eats how much he wants which has never been the whole bowl. We never had to watch how many pellets we gave him to be honest because he never would eat the whole bowl!

 

[JBun]

Alfalfa is high in protein and good for weight gain, but it's also high in calcium, which can lead to bladder or kidney issues for some rabbits. Which is why I couldn't give much of it to my elderly buns. Though I did give a small pinch of it to some, as a treat mostly.

Regular rolled oats is another option. I tried them with my 10 yr old bun, but it gave her mushy cecotropes, but some rabbits don't have any problems with them. Plain canned pumpkin (or fresh) may also be an option. Or cooked sweet potato.

Instead I gave black oil sunflower seeds to help with weight gain. That seemed to work pretty well for her and didn't cause mushy cecals. They do need to be limited to a small amount though, as rabbits can be prone to developing liver issues with too fatty of a diet.

Also, you might want to start looking into treatments for the arthritis. One member on here, had significant improvement with his elder bun, with adequan injections. It was too late for my bun for preventative treatments to help much, so she was on daily meloxicam to reduce her spondylosis discomfort. Which did help a lot but didn't stop the deterioration, and eventually she lost use of her hind limbs. So just something to start thinking about before it progresses too far for your bun.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Arthritis
http://www.disabledrabbits.com/supplements.html
Weight gain diet for underweight rabbits

 

[lovedbunny]

I mentioned rolled oats today but vet didn’t like that idea at all. I heard it can upset their gi systems?

I will look into the seeds and pumpkin.

And also into the injections. Of course something popped up about a dog dying after the 4th injection. It always scares me about the what ifs. Like treat one thing but then cause an early death. I had a family member that had cancer and the surgery to remove it actually worsened it and spread it and she died and we often wonder if they had decided a less aggressive treatment if she would have lived longer. so I’m so cautious now with fixing one then aggressively with some treatment to cause early death. Ugh. My bunnies are like my children so I weigh everything so carefully when making health decisions for them.

 

[JBun]

The oats did cause upset for my bun, but I know other people give it to their buns and they don't have issues. I would say that if your bun has a sensitive digestive system, particularly to carbs, probably oats would cause problems.

It's true, things definitely can go wrong. You just have to go with what you feel is right and best for your situation and your rabbit. If you look at that arthritis link, there are other supplements mentioned that might be a better option for your bun, if and when you feel the time is right.