Excessive chewing due to an illness (Randy???)

[Maureen Las]

Oxbow organic diet isn't supposed to be given alone without hay or veggies. ??
If people aren't buying it is is because it is very pricey...

 

[tonyshuman]

Oh ok. I guess I was just confused.

 

[Amy27]

I think the Sweet Meadow Farm might actually be better. I was comparing all 3 pellets mentioned in this thread and Sweet Meadow Farm has a lowest calcium percentage. At least the min is the lowest, the max is about the same. I think that might be better for Chase. I printed out all3 analysis and will take them with me to Chase's appointment tomorrow. I really want the vet to be on board with me about this. So I am open to letting her pick what pellets she feels is best out of the 3 analysis I printed.

 

[BethM]

Amy27 wrote:

Beth, I am glad you posted your experience. I am happy to know Nick settled down after sometime. It is also nice to know my bun isn't the only one who has acted like this. Do you have any ideas of why Nick did it?

I really don't have any idea why he was behaving like this. At first, I thought he was just acting up, to show how displeased he was for the meds and handling and all that was associated with his stasis.
Now, I'm not so sure.

 

[Flash]

I hope you find out the cause of Chase's behavior if infact she is missing something in her diet. I bought the Oxbow Organic pellets for Sophie and he loved it. I only sprinkled some into his BBT to see if he would eat it but it is very expensive, $12 for 5 lbs so I decided not to continue it. Flash loved laying in the sun that came thru the window which I thought was very unusual for a bunny to do. My cat and dog would do that but he was my sun bunny.

 

[Amy27]

Beth, It makes you wonder. If only bunny's could talk. Then they could tell us what is wrong.

Thanks Flash for telling my about your experience with Oxbow Organic. That is expensive. I didn't even look at the price. I would probably give Chase a very small amount everyday so hopefully if I go with that brand, it wouldn't be too expensive. I will start Little Bunny on the same pellets. She hasn't been on pellets since she was like 8 months old. I wonder now, how she even got what she needed when she was so small. But I was following a vets recommendation.

 

[BethM]

:bunnyhug:

 

[tonyshuman]

As a starting point, I give my 4-5 lb bunnies 1 tablespoon a day each.

 

[Amy27]

Thanks Claire, I am taking your advice and will just start with a tablespoon a day. When I spoke with the vet, I am only going to give them 1 ounce a day so it shouldn't take long to work them up to the full amount.

When I took Chase into the vet they did blood work and said her Sodium and Chloride were both a little low but nothing to be concerned about. Hopefulyl the pellets will help bring that up and I am giving her a salt block to lick a few times a day.

I asked the vet about testing for vitamin D and she said that they are not able to test the blood for vitamin D.

She said with Metaboilc Bone Disease she would have seen it on Chase's x-rays by now, if that was the reason for the calcium issue. Her first bladder stone was almost a year ago.

The vet liked the Oxbow Organic Rabbit the best even though Sweet Meadow was lower in calcium. So far both bunny's love it. It was funny watching them trying to figure out the bowl thing. They haven't gotten anything but water in a bowl for years so they seemed really confused that I was putting this food in a bowl. But it didn't take them long to figure it out.

So we will see if this stops Chase from eating my house.

 

[Maureen Las]

I'm glad that you have a plan and hope it works. if this does solve the problem it will be valuable info for all of us...


((Hugs)

Maureen

off to the shelter now....

 

[Amy27]

I hope you had fun at the shelter Angieluv. You should make a thread about your shelter and post some pictures. I would love to see it.

On Friday and Saturday when I offered Chase the salt lick she went crazy licking it. Today (Sunday) when I offered it to her she took a couple licks and then rubbed her chin on and then had fun throwing it around. Makes me wonder if she got what she needed and didn't need to lick it today. That is assuming that rabbits are drawn to what their bodies need. This was also the 3rd day on pellets.

She has started to chew less but it seems almost to soon for the salt lick and/or pellets to be contributing to that. The vet said it would take about a week if she was chewing because she was missing something. But whatever the reason, I will take it.

 

[tonyshuman]

Sounds good

 

[Amy27]

I wanted to update this thread. As I said in my previous reply, Chase went crazy over the salt lick for 2 days and then licked it a little the thrid day. She hasn't touched the salt lick since even though it has been available.

She is loving her pellets still and getting 1 ounce a day.

The great news is....the crazy chewing has stopped. It probably stopped within a week of offering the salt lick and starting the pellets. Within that week I was able to allow her free roam of the house again and have had no new carpet holes or holes in the wall.

I don't want people to read this and think it has stopped Chase's chewing 100%, it hasn't. But she has stopped the excessive compulsive chewing she was doing on really weird things. She is acting like she was before this all started.

I don't know whether to contribute it to the salt lick, the pellets or just time. But whatever it is I will take it. It will be interesting to see if her Sodium and Chloride levels are normal at her next vet visit. If they are normal, I will assume that the chewing was because they were low.

 

[tonyshuman]

That's great. I think she really had some nutritional deficiency that was driving her to eat strange things. I've never heard of a bunny needing a salt lick, but maybe it was a great thing when it was new and now that she has the pellets she doesn't need it.

 

[Amy27]

Thanks Claire. In the 4-5 years I have had rabbits I have never used a salt lick. But I wonder if the Lasix Chase is on may her need a salt lick for a few days. I can't wait to see what her blood results will be in a few weeks.

I really appreciate the forum supporting me that there was something wrong and it was possible Chase was missing something nutritionally. Because the vet kept telling me everything was fine and I don't know if I would have pushed as much if you guys didn't tell me it was possible. So thank you everyone for that.

 

[BethM]

Whatever the reason, I'm glad she's stopped her crazy chewing on things.