New to Rabbits | Is this poop right? + Is this food right?

[Lollirot]

So, I have no know-how on Rabbits. I admit that straight off. We never planned to have a Rabbit; or any indoor pet. I have all my life owned Dogs and Cats and, I know a whole lot about those as we even did rescue for a while. . .

But recently, my boyfriends sister came home with a few week old bunny. Unannounced, after taking a little leave from living here. For her to stay, she demanded also her pet stay. But - guess who does most of the care giving? The animal lover, me.

Right now I feed the Rabbit a Pellet mix. It includes also some seeds, and some dried bits. I noted the bunny is more fond of eating out the seeds first than anything else. She gets a little bit of carrot and dark green leafs off Romane lettuce during the day also. She has shown no interest in any offered fruits over the past weeks. [Though I know those would be treats on lesser occasion.]

I am worried her pickyness is preventing her from getting all she needs, including fiber? It seems like she is not pooping too often now, and when she does it's A LOT at once over a period of a minute or so. It's not like her original few every so often.

Should I change her food? Do I NEED to invest in hay, since I noticed it listed before but know I had not gotten her it yet. [I looked for it the other night but I was at a different store than usual, so didn't manage to get it yet.]

She is also chewing anything now, which she didn't do before. I had gotten her 'organic' wood sticks for bunnies, which she gnaws also but not only them. Her wicker ball also is often left alone. I tried even the cardboard paper towel center bit, she doesn't pay it much mind either.

She is very loving. She enjoy being loved on, and kissed. She gives little licks of our skin back and clicks + boggling eyes which I know is good. But the eating seems a bit off and the popping.

 

[Bindi]

When you say a few weeks old, approximately how old are we actually talking here?

Personally I think the all in one pellet foods are a lot better. Not only do they prevent selective feeding, but I think the muesli mixes are created to look appealing to our eyes and so different colourful but perhaps not entirely healthy items get added to it so we think it looks nice.

As for the wicker ball, have you considered stuffing food into that? Even if you managed to poke hay or grass into it that might make it more interesting. If you can, you could even poke through some pellet food so she has to work to get her dinner out.

Hay is a MUST. 85-90% of a rabbit's diet must be hay/grass. Everything else is a supplement to that diet. If your rabbit doesn't have enough hay/grass in the diet, you run the risk of digestive problems, overgrown teeth (which can cause a world of problems and even kill the rabbit), obesity, diabetes, etc. The amount of pellet food advised varies- certainly no more than a handful of pellets per day for an adult rabbit (personally a handful every few days is my routine). A baby can be allowed more as a growing body, but encouraging it to eat the hay should always be the highest priority- I once had a rabbit who didn't eat hay and that was really not good for him or my bank account!

 

[Tauntz]

Hi & welcome!
Glad you found RO! We have allot of information already available to help with the new little bunny as well as wonderful, knowledgeable members ready to help. I still consider myself a learning first-time bunny parent myself.

First, yes, definitely get some hay. If it is a very young rabbit it should have some alfalfa hay. Timothy hay is another good hay & great for adult rabbits. Orchard grass is excellent as well. You can find Timothy & Orchard grass at most pet stores. Hay is THE most important food in a bunny's diet. It should be available at all times. It provides them fiber & helps maintain their digestive tract.

Second, a good quality rabbit pellet is a good idea to help with nutrition in its diet. Oxbow Essentials is a good pellet. It is available in young & adult formulas depending on age. There are others available but Oxbow is usually available at most pet stores &/or Walmart (I believe). Seeds/grains are not good for rabbits & should not be fed. Plain hay. Plain pellets & at the proper time plain rabbit safe herbs & vegetables.

Here is a link to more nutrition/diet info:
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f28/feeding-your-rabbit-10492/

Personally if he/she were my bun, I would not be giving him/her any fruit at this time. Fruits should only be given in very tiny portions & only as treats & not too often.

Vegetables, not knowing the age of the bunny or what it has been eating prior to your getting it. I would go slow with the vegetables. A rabbit has a very delicate digestive tract and requires new foods to be given in small & gradually increasing amounts to prevent digestive problems.

Next, I recommend you take him/her to a rabbit savvy vet. It sounds like he/she may already be having some gastrointestinal problems. Here is a link to find a bunny vet near you:

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f21/

Other more experienced members will be here shortly, I'm sure to share their advice. In the meantime, I would recommend you get him/her some hay as soon as possible. Proper pellets with no "fun/colorful" additives. Water always available. Check with a bunny savvy vet as soon as possible to avoid gastrointestinal problems which could without proper care be fatal. Please forgive me if this sounds scary or like I am trying to frighten you but I recently (at least to me), had one of my rabbit's fall ill due to her gastrointestinal tract slowing down. Fortunately, I caught it in time & she is now a healthy little girl. Hope you & this little bun will do well.

 

[Hkok]

redo
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/drop/Drp_en.htm

 

[JBun]

What does her poop look like? Is it all about the same size, or are there any that are extra sm/lg or irregular shaped? Is she pooping and eating her normal amount, or has that decreased at all?
http://imgur.com/a/5N4lD

One thing, if you do change pellets, make sure to do it slowly over 2-3 weeks. Start by adding a small amount of the new pellets and gradually increasing the amount each day, while you decrease the same amount of the old pellets. This gives your buns GI flora time to adapt to the new food, and helps avoid digestive upset. You'll want to keep an eye out for mushy poop, as this might indicate that the pellet switch is being done too quickly.

 

[Lollirot]

She has grown straight / steady. She is obviously bigger; but less so to us as we are always with her. So it is happening gradually - I assume that is good. :]

She poops the same size about, all the pellets seem same shape range and size range. She just was letting them all out at once in MASS AMOUNT rather then a bit at a time.

She likes to pee in the same spot normally, though. She will jump back into her housing to go to the same corner for that; unless unable to get there, [i.e. We have her somewhere else.]

The only Hay I could find tonight was Timothy; which she seemed pleased to have. We gave her a small dose to start, a strand or so at a time to nibble slowly. Though she devoured it. So she obviously had needed it.

Veggies are limited. Mostly every few days or so she gets one baby carrot chopped in coins; and a few bits of dark romane to nibble. She won't eat the paler middles.

She had no wanted any fruit, so we stopped attempting it. :3

The pellets we have are: Kaytee Gourmet Receipt. Is that an OK brand? It was literally the only one at the store near us. I can drive further if I need to to get what is more acceptable.

Since the intro of hay a few hours ago, she seems FAR happier and regular.

As for age? I am unsure. When she came here, she fit in the palm of a small hand. So I expected within 20 or less days old . . . Again. She was gifted to my Sister-In-Law; and it was not the wisest thing for her to come home with. But I will not cause the bunny any suffering for it. I am only going to learn to care for her right.

 

[JBun]

Her pooping actually sounds pretty normal. Usually when they are marking territory, they will leave individual stray poops everywhere. When they are actually going potty, they will leave a pile. The fact that she is leaving less stray poops means that she is feeling more comfortable and doesn't feel the need to have to mark her territory as much.

The trick is to get them to leave that poop pile in the litter box. You can do this by having their hay in a rack above the litter box, or in a corner of it that they don't usually pee in. Rabbits potty while they eat. I prefer to put my buns hay in the litter box corner, as I feel they eat their hay better this way, but some of it usually does get peed on.

Timothy is just fine for the hay. That's what I feed my buns. The Kaytee Gourmet food isn't really good for rabbits, as it has all that grain, seeds, and fruit in it that can lead to obesity and sometimes digestive problems in rabbits. You want something like this that is just plain pellets. http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1543



And then you want to stick with that pellet. It's best not to always be changing their pellets, though if you do, just transition slowly to the new pellet.

 

[Bindi]

I really really hope she wasn't less than a month old, or that is really irresponsible of the person who gave her to your sister. The recommended age for a rabbit to be separated from the mother is 8 weeks, 6 at the very earliest if for a good reason. At 20 days I expect she might have had trouble eating an adult diet though, so hopefully she was older than you think she was judging by that. A rabbit separated from the mother too early can have issues later on, either from lack of mother's antibodies, nutritional issues, behavioural issues if they didn't have time to learn from the mother, or difficulties knowing what to eat on an adult diet (my rabbit Sealy being the case there, he had to be separated from his mother because he was a sick baby and he never learned to eat hay until he was three years old and bonded). I hope she is all well.

 

[Aki]

There is no need to introduce the hay slowly, the bunny needs lots of it and fast. She should always have a lot of hay available or she will have serious stomach (the hay fibers helps to push things out of the stomach, not having enough can lead to fatal blocage) and her teeth won't be correctly worn which could lead to dental problems which can't be cured and will necessitate regular visits to the vet for all of the bunny's life.
I looked at the composition of the pellets you use and they are no good, they contain salt, artificial color and peanuts which are bad for rabbits. I think you should buy your bunny products by internet, which is a lot easier than to try to find them in a store.
For a baby bunny, I recommand the Bunny young :
http://www.zooplus.com/shop/rodents/food/rabbit/bunny_greendream/197535
It's got a lot of fibers, lots of protein, no pesticide and about 42 different plants. I compared every rabbit pellets for baby rabbits and it's the best one in my opinion as most contain molasses or salt.
If you change the rabbit pellets, begin by giving him one or two pellets from the new kind and increase progressively. The transition should be done by 10-15 days all the while being very careful of how the rabbit reacts (stop everything at the first suspicion of diarrhea as it could kill a young rabbit).
Vegetables should be introduced very slowly and first easy to stomach vegetables, like carrots, carrot tops, endives, celery... Always just one piece of a new vegetable for two or three days and then a bigger portion if everything is fine.
It is not necessary at all to give her fruits, as they are too rich in sugar and will make her grow fat as an adult.
You didn't speak about water, but I generally prefer a bowl over a bottle as it is more natural for the rabbit to drink from it and it is also easier to clean.
Anyway, it's really nice of you to take care of your sister in law's bunny.