too excited to eat?

[Pipp]

What kind of water set up does he have? He may find the water to be different and is drinking less and a lot of bunnies won't eat if they can't drink.

Just a thought.


sas :clover:

 

[Sabine]

He is certainly drinking and there is some pee in the hutch but not a single poop after the night and the pellets untouched. he seems rather unresponsive this morning and I am worried this might be the onset of stasis.
he is booked in for a neuter on friday but if things don't improve in the next hour or so I will take him to the vet in the morning.
I found some baby gaviscon which i am just dissolving in water. i am going to give it to him in case it is gas. he did eat some grass yeaterday and maybe his system can't handle it. He has plenty of different types of hay but I can't tell if he is eating any.
I also wonder could it be hair blockage. i had to do intensive grooming and he started grooming himself. maybe he ingested some hair?

 

[dquesnel]

Hi Sabine, it could indeed be alot of things, I wonder if he was overwhelmed with his new living situation and it has upset his GI system. That makes me think that may be the case, especially with the softer poops. The grass could also have been a factor as well, maybe it was all too much at once. You shouldn't feel bad about it though, sometimes these things just happen.

Maybe if you take him to the vet it could be considered a pre-neuter appointment, as it needs to be decided if he will be healthy enough going into the procedure.

What I would do right now is leave him quietly in his pen and monitor him for a while. If things don't seem to be improving, and he starts looking uncomfortable etc. It could be a good idea to bring him in. In case his GI is upset this week I don't think it is a good idea to put him through the neuter, as the procedure can cause more GI slowdown and upset.

 

[Sabine]

It's St. patrick's day tomorrow and everything will be shut and i also have to be at work by two. I will probably have to make a decision in the next hour or so.
I did put him in the run for the moment and he first moved very stiffly and was stretching and not hopping properly. Now he is running around again! i don't know if it was the gaviscon I syringed him. In the hutch he looked like the sickest bun on earth... I won't leave him there for much longer just needed to see how he'd move

 

[dquesnel]

Yes that might have helped with gas, do you think he will eat anything? Actually I wonder if he will eat or drink in the run if you put a bowl in there for a few moments. Exercise helps to get the gut moving so he may feel a bit better when he goes back into his pen. Can you hand feed him some pellets or hay? See what he does perhaps.

Edited to Add:

It may be a good idea to call the vet, let them know the situation and that you may be coming in. See if the vet recommends bringing him in as well, they may be able to give you an idea or two.

 

[Sabine]

Just rang the vet and made an appointment for 10.30. i will put some food in the run. he is not as wild as the previous days but looks like a normal bun now.
I am also going to check with the pet shop if they were feeding their rabbits hay. To be honest i can't remember if I saw any in the cage or not. The chances are that all he ever got were pellets

 

[paul2641]

Sabine wrote:

Just rang the vet and made an appointment for 10.30. i will put some food in the run. he is not as wild as the previous days but looks like a normal bun now.
I am also going to check with the pet shop if they were feeding their rabbits hay. To be honest i can't remember if I saw any in the cage or not. The chances are that all he ever got were pellets

Doubt the fed hay, Because there is only one pet shop in Limerick that feed hay, and that is the pet shop I got suki. I really hope Oskar is OK you don't deserve all this fright after saving a buns life. I have been quite lucky with all my rabbits they just take to the new food and eatting hay the minute they get into there new homes, I really think you should take away the old pellets completely, I think you might start to get an improvement.

 

[Sabine]

Just back from the vet. i typed a lengthy reply but the system just lost it

Basically the vet suspects spurs but will need to put him under general anasthetic to check properly. I will get back to her on wednesday

 

[Maureen Las]

Well that's not a happy way to start out with a new bun but at least you are helping him. ; you may need to do some syringing of fluids and food for awhile if he has spurs.

 

[Sabine]

Oh dear, what food should I syringe? My vet never mentioned anything about that although she agreed he looks skinny and now with most of his fur comed out it is quite obvious.

 

[tonyshuman]

You can syringe him a slurry of pellets--let them soak for a while. Also, when Mouse_Chalk's Dotty was ill after her spay she fed her pureed veggies in what she called "bunny pesto," I think. Pureed veggies of baby food or pureed pumpkin would be good too. I assume Critical Care isn't available? Another good choice could be Nutri-Cal.

 

[paul2641]

Can someone explain what spurs are? Sabine I think You have a reason to report this pet shop and get them closed down now, Also I'd get them to pay the vet bills.

 

[tonyshuman]

So rabbits have the front teeth you can see easily, and "cheek teeth" that are farther back. These teeth do the grinding of food and you can see them in this pic:

The teeth wear against each other, and if grinding isn't done properly, points can build up on parts of the cheek teeth which are called spurs. They can cut into the cheeks or the tongue, and it can be pretty painful.

(view looking down the mouth)

This is usually a genetic condition or caused by too little fiber in the diet. Some hays can wear down points, but some bunnies are just prone to them. Here in WI, it happens a lot with Dutches (myheart's Luna and Patrick, for instance). All over, bunnies with shorter noses are prone to it, such as Holland lops and Netherland dwarves. It can require frequent tooth trims (every 4-8 weeks), which require sedation of the rabbit and grinding the spurs down.

This is a really great site: http://www.mybunny.org/info/dental_problems.htm

 

[Sabine]

paul2641 wrote:

Can someone explain what spurs are? Sabine I think You have a reason to report this pet shop and get them closed down now, Also I'd get them to pay the vet bills.

Well, I guess I didn't have to by this bun and if I complained they may offer to take him back and that would be the end of him. A bunny being kept like that for a proplonged time will sure suffer health problems, so I'm not totally surprised. But I know I can fix it. Once this is sorted he'll have aproper diet and hopefully those problems won't re-occur

 

[paul2641]

Sabine wrote:

paul2641 wrote:

Can someone explain what spurs are? Sabine I think You have a reason to report this pet shop and get them closed down now, Also I'd get them to pay the vet bills.

Well, I guess I didn't have to by this bun and if I complained they may offer to take him back and that would be the end of him. A bunny being kept like that for a proplonged time will sure suffer health problems, so I'm not totally surprised. But I know I can fix it. Once this is sorted he'll have aproper diet and hopefully those problems won't re-occur

Will he need his teeth tended to every 6-8 weeks? When you bring him back from the vets I recommend you completely take away the old pellets that he was on and just put him on the good quality pellets you have your other buns on, also give him some sunflower seeds to help put on the wieght.

 

[mouse_chalk]

tonyshuman wrote:

You can syringe him a slurry of pellets--let them soak for a while. Also, when Mouse_Chalk's Dotty was ill after her spay she fed her pureed veggies in what she called "bunny pesto," I think. Pureed veggies of baby food or pureed pumpkin would be good too. I assume Critical Care isn't available? Another good choice could be Nutri-Cal.

I heard my name!

When Dotty wasn't eating I mixed basil, carrot tops, and water I think, with a hand blender until really smooth, and then syringed it. I called it bunny pesto because the basil made it smell like pesto. I mixed it with the infacol as well sometimes, because the infacol has a horrible smell, so I can't imagine it tastes good either. You could use other veg though- doesn't have to be those. They were just Dotty's favourites at the time...


I don't know if you guys get Oxbow Critical Care in Ireland (we have it over here) but Burgess Excel make a similar product called 'Recovery' which might be more readily available- vets should stock it themselves....

I'm sorry to hear Oskar might have to have an aneasthetic. I'm glad he's with you now though, so he can get the proper care he needs

My Snowy is going through the molar spurs at the moment too. She had hers filed down last July, and they've just started forming again. I don't know if maybe they sometimes grow back quicker in some bunnies than others? Because I know someone who has to send her bunny in every 6-8 weeks, whereas Snowy's have been quite slow to reform.....

Tonyshuman, that was a brilliant diagram and explanation of spurs! I was about to go looking for a picture, so I could have a better understanding of them, but now I have one! Thanks!

 

[Sabine]

We took Oskar inside for the night and he is quite excited about he's moving and shifting everything around and chinning every item in there. I've seen him eat bits and pieces even a small bit of hay. he seems to like the dried herbs i put on top of his food bowl. He is drinking fine. i'll watch him for another while before i start syringing anything. I'll ask the vet for critical care too. Hopefully it isn't spurs at all and he is just adapting to the change. Love to see him put on some weight though

 

[irishbunny]

Are spurs something a bun is born with or do they develope through a bad diet? Just wondering because I'd be worried about my rabbits since their pellets are crap, though they get hay and veg aswell.

Oskar is really lucky he went to you though Sabine, if you hadn't bought him he could have ended up being bought for a child and they mightn't cop that something is wrong with him and he would have died, lucky him

 

[Sabine]

I think I'm lucky to be able to help him. He's been nibbling on some carrot and sampling some banana. I also placed an order with zooplus for some pellets for bunnies with eating problems. that might get him started,
I am surprised I managed to resist his blue eyes so long since I had visited him quite a few times and we had even named him Frankie. I guess at the time I was trying to be sensible. Now I wish i had got him out of there earlier. in the shop he never stood out by his personality. he used to just sit there with guinea pigs climbing all over him. it was more his looks that attracted me and since he got home I realised what a playful personality he has, he was running in and out of the toy tunnel and even playing with the ball.he is so much fun to watch

 

[irishbunny]

If he is still playing then he couldn't be too hungry or in too much discomfort or pain, it sounds like he is just eating enough to get by. You would think if he was in so much pain that he couldn't eat then he wouldn't be so lively.