We found my rabbit Lola 3 weeks ago, put up flyers and no one called so we took her in and found out later that our neighbor let her go. She absolutely loved it here. Did binkies every day and loved to play with us. Then she got a UTI. I didn't know much about rabbits so i took her to the vet and he gave me some antibiotics. i had to syringe feed her and well, she hated it. Ended up having GI issues and now shes almost normal. She would be if she would eat her hay. I have bought 3 different kinds and shes just not into it. She also stopped eating fresh herbs which is what got her healthy again. Now all she wants to eat are pellets and some fruits until she gets sick of them and i have to change the fruit. She also basically hates everyone now too. She never binkies anymore and when ever we come to see her she sits in a corner and waits till we leave. How do i make my bunny a happy healthy bunny again?!?!?
I need help! - Eating habbits, stasis, bunny happiness
- Thread starter krtchik27
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ilovepets
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what kind of hay are you buying? i get my hay from the barn i am at. it is cut and baled locally and it is the real deal. my rabbit will not eat any of the store bought hay, and i dont blame her (becasue it is expensive,dyed, and chopped up into little peices. find a local farm store that sells 2nd cutting hay. some of the tracor supply stores are selling hay now i believe. if you are in new england, Dodge Grain Co sells excellent hay. if you are really deperate, you can contact a bording barn and see if they can sell you a flake just to try.
as for not eating anything but pellets, there is a way for you to sneak some things in-provided that she will eat homemade treats. i mae my own rabbit treats. it is simply pellets ground up in the blender and then put in a seperate bowl. then i blend banana, apple, carrots and herbs as smooth as i can get it. i add water if i have to. i slowly add the puree to the ground pellets and mix until it can hold a shape. then it is into the jerky gun with a round tip (sometimes i will use the flat tip) and i make rows of treat sticks in the dehydrator and i let them dry at about 135*F until they are dry in the center. of course you can make these with veggies, herbs, and a little fruit to make them healthier since she might need them as a "full" diet so she can get the nutients. my rabbit loves them (at treats)!
have you tried taking her into another room? maybe she need something new to explore. you could also try re-boding with her. i bonded with my rabbit buy sitting on the floor in her room while she ran around. soon she started having an interest in me. now when i walk in and crouch to the floor and call her, she usually comes running!
i hope some of this helps, keep us posted!
as for not eating anything but pellets, there is a way for you to sneak some things in-provided that she will eat homemade treats. i mae my own rabbit treats. it is simply pellets ground up in the blender and then put in a seperate bowl. then i blend banana, apple, carrots and herbs as smooth as i can get it. i add water if i have to. i slowly add the puree to the ground pellets and mix until it can hold a shape. then it is into the jerky gun with a round tip (sometimes i will use the flat tip) and i make rows of treat sticks in the dehydrator and i let them dry at about 135*F until they are dry in the center. of course you can make these with veggies, herbs, and a little fruit to make them healthier since she might need them as a "full" diet so she can get the nutients. my rabbit loves them (at treats)!
have you tried taking her into another room? maybe she need something new to explore. you could also try re-boding with her. i bonded with my rabbit buy sitting on the floor in her room while she ran around. soon she started having an interest in me. now when i walk in and crouch to the floor and call her, she usually comes running!
i hope some of this helps, keep us posted!
I would eliminate the fruits. They are mostly sugar and aren't contributing to her health-wise. Pellets and fruits are usually going to be more "tasty" to any rabbit. It sounds like she has you trained.
Stop the fruits, offer only the pellets and greens and hay. Once she realizes that you are not going to cave in and offer her more of those sugary fruits, she should start eating what is good for her. If she's over 6 months, try not to overfeed the pellets either. Often rabbits will refuse the hay if they have too many pellets. You'll need to go slowly in reducing her pellets because of her history with GI. But reducing the pellets usually results in more hay eating.
Another trick too is to put a new handful of hay in a couple times per day (even if she hasn't eaten what is already there). The act of putting "fresh" hay in can encourage them to investigate and then eat it.
Stop the fruits, offer only the pellets and greens and hay. Once she realizes that you are not going to cave in and offer her more of those sugary fruits, she should start eating what is good for her. If she's over 6 months, try not to overfeed the pellets either. Often rabbits will refuse the hay if they have too many pellets. You'll need to go slowly in reducing her pellets because of her history with GI. But reducing the pellets usually results in more hay eating.
Another trick too is to put a new handful of hay in a couple times per day (even if she hasn't eaten what is already there). The act of putting "fresh" hay in can encourage them to investigate and then eat it.
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I would suspect that her change of behavior and pickiness with her food, is due to an underlying health issue. Sudden changes of behavior and eating are almost always signals for something being wrong. Most likely reason with those symptoms, would be that due to her recent stasis and not eating properly, she has developed dental problems. Rabbits teeth can overgrow very quickly if they aren't consuming the proper roughage to wear the teeth down. She probably has a molar spur rubbing the inside of her mouth when she chews, which would make it sore and painful when she eats particular foods. Pellets and fruit may be causing the least amount of pain to chew, which is why she is probably still eating them. Signs of dental issues can be selective eating, dropping food, drooling, tooth grinding, digestive problems, increased thirst, loss of appetite.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Differential/D_problems1.htm
Though dental issues would be the most likely with the symptoms you are seeing, it's also possible that it's not dental issues but some other underlying health issue. Due to her recent bladder problems, it's possible that there is still something going on there related to the prior UTI, such as bladder sludge, stones, kidney issues, uterine cancer if unspayed , or even rabbit syphilis is a possibility. So if the vet doesn't find a dental problem, this might be the next thing to investigate. Have you noticed any other irregularities with your bun, such as increased thirst/urination, straining to urinate, red urine, taking a long time to urinate, dribbling urine, urine stained fur? Is your buns fecal poop much smaller than usual or mushy?
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/urinary.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Differential/D_problems1.htm
Though dental issues would be the most likely with the symptoms you are seeing, it's also possible that it's not dental issues but some other underlying health issue. Due to her recent bladder problems, it's possible that there is still something going on there related to the prior UTI, such as bladder sludge, stones, kidney issues, uterine cancer if unspayed , or even rabbit syphilis is a possibility. So if the vet doesn't find a dental problem, this might be the next thing to investigate. Have you noticed any other irregularities with your bun, such as increased thirst/urination, straining to urinate, red urine, taking a long time to urinate, dribbling urine, urine stained fur? Is your buns fecal poop much smaller than usual or mushy?
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/urinary.html
I don't think its dental just because its only been 4 days since the vet checked her teeth, also she still chews on her edible chew toys which are harder then the hay. One is made out of different kinds of seeds, the other is a dried up cob of corn, and theres one more thats shaped like a carrot but i don't know what its made out of.
her poops vary in size. she will have normal looking poops but they are soft and sometimes little ones that are also soft will pop out. When she was eating her herbs she had firmer poops. its been a few days since shes tried eating hay that i have noticed. And for some reason she isn't interested in the herbs anymore. I've given her about 8 different varieties to eat and she doesn't want any now when the first two days she couldn't get enough. even with the fruit she only wants them for a little until she stops and i have to change the fruit.
As for hay, i have two different types of fortified Kaytee hay and a sweet grass timothy hay. She doesn't seem to want any now. she use to love the Kaytee hay i had and stopped after she got sick from the antibiotics. I thought her poops were soft because shes not eating hay.
Also I sent in a urine sample on Sunday and it came back clean for UTI. so unless its something else i cant think of? Her pee has been red-ish since yesterday. I looked it up online because i freaked out but it said it could be from the herbs i gave her. the pigment in them can change the color. I also told my vet and he said its common for their pee to change from yellow to orange to red to brown. Is this incorrect?
her poops vary in size. she will have normal looking poops but they are soft and sometimes little ones that are also soft will pop out. When she was eating her herbs she had firmer poops. its been a few days since shes tried eating hay that i have noticed. And for some reason she isn't interested in the herbs anymore. I've given her about 8 different varieties to eat and she doesn't want any now when the first two days she couldn't get enough. even with the fruit she only wants them for a little until she stops and i have to change the fruit.
As for hay, i have two different types of fortified Kaytee hay and a sweet grass timothy hay. She doesn't seem to want any now. she use to love the Kaytee hay i had and stopped after she got sick from the antibiotics. I thought her poops were soft because shes not eating hay.
Also I sent in a urine sample on Sunday and it came back clean for UTI. so unless its something else i cant think of? Her pee has been red-ish since yesterday. I looked it up online because i freaked out but it said it could be from the herbs i gave her. the pigment in them can change the color. I also told my vet and he said its common for their pee to change from yellow to orange to red to brown. Is this incorrect?
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Oh please ditch those edible chew toys asap! No seed or corn cobs for rabbits!
I have the same problem with my rabbit, who is shunning hay for the most part. His vet said he has the "most perfect" teeth she has seen, so no issue there. I tried all hay (orchard, bermuda, meadow, etc) except mature oat hay (golden) which is supposed to be ideal for picky hay eaters and is very high in fiber. I have just bought some, hoping it will help.
http://store.binkybunny.com/mini-hay-bale---oat-mature-p8.aspx
He only nibbles at other hays even if I reduce pellets slightly and limit treats. I am taking him to get an x ray to make sure he isn't hiding any partial blockages and the like. He did pass a large sticky mass of fecal matter (no hair or mucous) in September, which was likely caused by too much paper ingestion.
The red urine can be normal, but it could be a sign of something serious, so please have her checked for bladder stones, uterine cancer, etc. as mentioned by JBun. My brother's rabbit had red urine shortly before she died of an endometrial aneurism (horrible). She was only 2 years old, which is apparently the average, whereas unspayed females can get uterine cancer as young as 4 years. Spaying is the only treatment option.
A culture and sensitivity test for a UTI can result in a false negative. Did your vet examine the urine under a microscope for signs of blood and white blood cells?
As for the seeds and corn, I agree with the above poster. Seeds can cause impaction if not chewed properly and corn is fattening with no health benefits. You'll want to avoid too much sugar and protein; focus on only high fiber treats. I'm trying to put this into practice myself. Mac loves Oxbow barley biscuits and digestive support tabs atm, and I just bought some slippery elm bark (shredded) for him to try. Dandelion root and Plantain are great too.
http://store.binkybunny.com/mini-hay-bale---oat-mature-p8.aspx
He only nibbles at other hays even if I reduce pellets slightly and limit treats. I am taking him to get an x ray to make sure he isn't hiding any partial blockages and the like. He did pass a large sticky mass of fecal matter (no hair or mucous) in September, which was likely caused by too much paper ingestion.
The red urine can be normal, but it could be a sign of something serious, so please have her checked for bladder stones, uterine cancer, etc. as mentioned by JBun. My brother's rabbit had red urine shortly before she died of an endometrial aneurism (horrible). She was only 2 years old, which is apparently the average, whereas unspayed females can get uterine cancer as young as 4 years. Spaying is the only treatment option.
A culture and sensitivity test for a UTI can result in a false negative. Did your vet examine the urine under a microscope for signs of blood and white blood cells?
As for the seeds and corn, I agree with the above poster. Seeds can cause impaction if not chewed properly and corn is fattening with no health benefits. You'll want to avoid too much sugar and protein; focus on only high fiber treats. I'm trying to put this into practice myself. Mac loves Oxbow barley biscuits and digestive support tabs atm, and I just bought some slippery elm bark (shredded) for him to try. Dandelion root and Plantain are great too.
^^ Corn can also cause impaction as the hulls are indigestible.
Zosia, have you tried eliminating (not just limiting) treats to encourage hay eating?
Zosia, have you tried eliminating (not just limiting) treats to encourage hay eating?
