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Bunny weight loss and when to be concerned

angeleyes

Warren Veteran
Maddie has been looking a bit skinny recently so i have been regularly weighing her.

At the start of the year she was 1.6kg then when she went in to have her dental a few weeks ago she was only 1.3kg, her teeth wern't that bad there were only small spurs but i thought that after the dental she might put some weight back on which she did up to 1.5kg 2 weeks ago but its slowly going down again she is now 1.3kg and looks skinny again.

She has been eating all her food and her hay (i have been watching her eat!) and i have been passing her a couple of extra pellets as well.

I know the weight loss doesn't seem like much on paper but she looks skinny now, anyone have any thoughts or ideas?
 
Poor Maddie. Hope you get it sorted. The only thing I can think of is she might need another dental :?

Thanks i thought maybe another dental too but she hasn't stopped eating and her teeth wern't actually that bad when they were done :? Might be another trip to the vets!
 
My vet says as a rule of thumb, any 3 weight losses in a row, or any time you get to a loss of 5% of the 'normal' weight is time for the vet. Hope everything is ok xxx
 
Is she one of a pair? How old is she?

My little nethie Joey (around 7yr) has dropped from 1kg in Sept to 0.88kg yesterday.

I've been watching him today and although he shows initial interest in food he walks away from it too quickly leaving his great big frenchie woman to hoof the lot.

I've just given them pellets in the shed and I saw him come out in the run so I ran down the garden with some pear for him. I sat guard whilst he ate most of it but as soon as my back was turned BB had come out of the shed and was running up and down with the pear in her mouth like a trophy:lol:.

I'm going to try giving Joey little extras every time I go down to them to see if his weight increases over the week.
 
Yes she is one of a pair but she is definately getting lots of the food i watch them until its all gone! We are not sure how old she is, i guess about 2 but i could be way off the mark!
I will continue to give her little extras as well and se what happens.
 
No simple answer then if she's eating well.
I wonder if rabbits have a thyroid gland as thats a common cause of weight loss in cats.

Maybe try giving her little extras for a week or so and see how she goes
 
Well, Katie, I would indeed be rich if I knew why my lot keep weight gaining and losing.

Maybe stomach compaction so that anything going in doesn't come out and get re-eaten and hence the nutrients aren't processed.

I know of a few buns like this and it seems to be an ongoing problem.

EC of course.

I currently have one bun who has both a sluggish gut (compacted) and is being treated for EC because he's got a wet bum often. (He's on pain relief too to see if that assists). One of the Wickham 12 so it could be any number of things.

Not much help I know.

I do hope that you find out what it could be soon and you can sort it out.

Vibes.

(p.s. sorry about this morning!)

Helen x
 
Our Hoops has lost a bit of weight recently - only about 100g or so. We were at the vets with one of the other buns and discussed it with her. She said to weigh again in 3 weeks and if she's still losing weight to go back to consider blood tests. In every other respect Hoops is fine - eating, drinking ... binkying :) x
 
Well, Katie, I would indeed be rich if I knew why my lot keep weight gaining and losing.

Maybe stomach compaction so that anything going in doesn't come out and get re-eaten and hence the nutrients aren't processed.

I know of a few buns like this and it seems to be an ongoing problem.

EC of course.

I currently have one bun who has both a sluggish gut (compacted) and is being treated for EC because he's got a wet bum often. (He's on pain relief too to see if that assists). One of the Wickham 12 so it could be any number of things.

Not much help I know.

I do hope that you find out what it could be soon and you can sort it out.

Vibes.

(p.s. sorry about this morning!)

Helen x
The stomach compaction thing sounds interesting do they not produce cacel poo's with that? Maddie is the only bun i have never seen eating any, i realise she could be doing it when i'm not looking but i have seen all the others at one point or another.

I might give the vets a call tomorrow and see what they think.

Don't worry about this morning, it was nice to get a phonecall even if it wasn't for me :lol:
 
My bun has been losing weight too. She has an infection in her mouth. She may need a GA to get a closer look of her teeth, so the vet wanted me to try and get her weight up whilst on the first set of antibiotics. I have been feeding soaked oats and some of the junior pellets and it has been working quite well.

Have you treated with Panacur to be on the safe side?
 
Katie, I've had two buns now with compaction. This last wee boy has had a bit of a series of problems, but when Ivan the vet felt his tummy last week he noticed that neither part of his intestines was as it should be with some compaction.

We are doing the Panacur and pain relief with lots of running around for a bit and then in a few weeks he might have to have a scan or xray to see for sure.

Jo at the Little Warrens also battles with a bunny losing weight on and off and so does Nix (on here). They'd be good people to PM.

With Gulliver, he is now so skinny that he is described as a head on a stick, but his appetite is constant and can eat for England. I have never, ever seen a caecal poop from him, but his 'bumbles' :oops: are much smaller than a normal poo should be and they are very dark.

He (his weight) hasn't responded positively to junior pellets, oats, or Critical Care either so we are at a bit of a loss as to how to help him. He's a happy little camper in every other way, but he has got a wet behind, which sounds different to your lovely bunner.
 
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