Not eating and subdued rabbit

Hello, I am a little worried about Poppy, she is a female Dutch Rabbit and is 8 months old. She came to us at 3 months and has been happy and healthy.

We don't handle her too much as she is timid and she is an outdoor rabbit.

We have trained Poppy to come back to her hutch in the evenings when we put her away and we have done this through use of raisins, she is completely addicted to them!!!

Today Poppy wouldn't come out from under the chimnea in the garden, she snubbed raisins and was more timid than usual, letting me give her a proper stroke without protest (usually she moves a bit further out of picking up range before she lets me stroke her).

I finally, after a pat on the bottom, got her out from under the chiminea and she seemed fine, had a play in the garden and was as curious as usual but still not keen on raisins. I tried dried banana and carrot and couldn't tempt her.

I got her into her cage and left out a carrot, some banana and raisins and she hasn't touched a thing! She did go upstairs but doesn't look to have eaten and when I went out to check on her she lacked her usual energy and curiosity when I opened the cage door. I have managed to coax her to eat some dried dandelion and a bit of grass but am a bit concerned.

Are dental problems common at 9 months? I have tried to encourage her to eat hard foods to wear down her teeth but she isn't really enthused by them and only showed a momentary interest in the carrot stuffed log treat I bought (what a waste of money!). She developed a bit of a double chin at age 6 months and I worried it was dental issues but wasn't not hard like swelling so I just tried to cut back on the treats. I did some research and found it was a common thing for female rabbits and called a dewlap (else I would have taken her to the vet immediately!)

She is a generally happy, healthy rabbit. She has free reign of a secure garden from about 1.30pm till 8.30 pm every day (observed by my partner who works from home through the web cam) and she has more time at the weekend. I try to spend as much time with her as possible in the garden in the evenings and she is usually ok.

Could it be the weather - we are expecting a thunderstorm and its a bit damp and foggy.....?

My partner said she did gorge on banana at lunchtime, she had at least three pieces as she got her head in the tub, could she just be full?

I will keep an eye on her but worried now!!!

Any advice welcome, thank you. Helen x

Hi :wave:

A rabbit that is not eating should be seen by a vet ASAP.

When did she last eat ????

Dental problems are certainly possible at 9 months or younger, particularly as her diet sounds rather low in fibre. She may also be going into gut stasis as a result.

I would bring her indoors as if she is poorly she won't be able to maintain her body temperature and you also need to monitor her pooing and weeing as well as eating and drinking.

She will definitely need to see a vet. If she is not doing all of the above or she seems weak or floppy she will need to see one tonight. If she is eating pooing etc you might be able to wait until the morning but she will need to see a vet tomorrow nevertheless.

I hope she is ok xx

She last ate about 20 minutes ago - some dried mix of dandelion, lemon balm and plantain.

She also ate grass whilst out earlier and banana at about 1pm. It's just odd that she isn't eating raisins (usually she will do anything for them!), carrot or banana......

She has energy but seems a bit less curious than usual (usually she stands up to greet me when i come to the cage but she just stayed sat). I opened the door and she wasn't interested, still just sat there but did eat some of the dandelion mix I proffered.....

When I got a torch and went and sat down she got a bit more curious and was trying to get out the open door (as usual) and not like the first time.

My partner (who spends a lot of time with her) says she is fine.... I am just not sure. She seems in a funny mood............... hence my thought it may be the weather.....?

Is she pooing?

Yup, she is pooing.

I may just be being paranoid. I did chase her out from under the chimnea earlier (because I was worried) so it might just be that she is in a mood with me for violating her space?

Just going to go check on her again x

Yayhelen said:

Yup, she is pooing.

I may just be being paranoid. I did chase her out from under the chimnea earlier (because I was worried) so it might just be that she is in a mood with me for violating her space?

Just going to go check on her again x

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I doubt it is moodiness or the weather.
Rabbits are prey animals and will try to hide illness or pain so if they seem 'not right' in most cases there is something very wrong.

Hurrah! She has eaten the raisins!!!!!!!!!

She seems fine, probably fed up of me hassling her! She even got up on her hind legs to greet me.

She had eaten all the dandelion and raisins.

Please give me advice on how I can get her to eat a more varied diet. I give her fresh hay regularly but she doesn't seem to like it. She eats a special food mix from my LPS. I supplement this with (wait for it................raisins!), carrot, grass and dandelion.

I will continue to monitor her for the rest of the night and tomorrow (will be wrecked at work tomorrow but she is worth it!) and if there is even the smallest sign of her being under the weather I will deffo get her to the vets first thing.

Thank you for all you help. I will keep you posted!

Try a range of different hays til you find one she likes. My Beau won't eat meadow hay or timothy hay, even really nice fresh farm hay, it has to be oat hay :roll: A few companies (e.g. thehayexperts.com) do sample packs where you get a little bit of a few different hays and you can see which your bun likes, that's how we found out

Thank you! I will have a look, I had bunnies when I was younger but Poppy is my first rabbit that was just my responsibility (hence my concern!).

I want to do things right but its difficult. I have tried to ensure that she is kept engaged with toys but she doesn't really seem interested......... going to buy her a rope pull for her cage as she loves trying to move big things. We have a giant bucket with rope handles and she loves chewing, nudging and biting them to rock it back and forth. Bless!

Any suggestions for toys? I have a carrot rattle and chew plus have tried cardboard rolls. Not really much interest, she gets bored quickly!

Thanks for the advice. Will deffo post again tomorrow to update everybody on how she is doing x

PS, my long term plan is to get Poppy neutered and ask a bunny shelter to bond her with a companion x

Will be doing this in the next 6 months, I have been trying to ensure I have enough money for two buns!

I'm glad she sounds a little better.
However you really need to do something about her diet, to prevent obesity and lifelong dental problems.

It's not surprising she doesn't want the hay when she has so many other tasty treats. If you spent all day scoffing chocolate and chips you wouldn't want to follow it with a plate of salad would you?

A healthy medium sized adult rabbit needs lots of hay and grass, with about an eggcupful of pellets (you could give slightly more than this for now until she is one year old then gradually reduce the amount) and some leafy greens for variety. Most fruit is high in sugar but banana and raisins are particularly so. If you want to give fruit I would swap these for a tiny sliver of apple or pear and restrict carrot to around 2-3 cms per day.
Apple and willow tree branches are great as edible chew toys.

Hopefully hay and grass will seem more appealing when there is less choice

Thank you so much for your advice.

On the advice of the pet shop I was filling a small ceramic bowl half to two thirds full of food. Far more than an eggcup! This means when I have thought she wasn't eating enough she was actually eating plenty!

She eats grass consistently between 1-8pm every day as she 'grazes' in the garden and destroys my lettuce!

We give her 4 raisins to get her back into the hutch and usually 2-3 pieces dried banana (this is per day).

In addition she may have up to another 4 raisins a day. I have been giving her far to much carrot at once, often giving her half a carrot!

I feel awful now how irresponsible that it has taken 8 months for me to figure out I am leaving out too much food - gah!

I will endevour to be a better owner, poor Poppy x I try to ensure she is really and happy and healthy, making sure she gets lot of running about time.

Hx

Yayhelen said:

Thank you so much for your advice.

On the advice of the pet shop I was filling a small ceramic bowl half to two thirds full of food. Far more than an eggcup! This means when I have thought she wasn't eating enough she was actually eating plenty!

She eats grass consistently between 1-8pm every day as she 'grazes' in the garden and destroys my lettuce!

We give her 4 raisins to get her back into the hutch and usually 2-3 pieces dried banana (this is per day).

In addition she may have up to another 4 raisins a day. I have been giving her far to much carrot at once, often giving her half a carrot!

I feel awful now how irresponsible that it has taken 8 months for me to figure out I am leaving out too much food - gah!

I will endevour to be a better owner, poor Poppy x I try to ensure she is really and happy and healthy, making sure she gets lot of running about time.

Hx

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Keep an eye on her tonight, it sounds to me like she had a little 'gastric' episode or pain related episode of some sort, be it teeth or tummy related it is hard to tell, these can come back if the underlying issue is not resolved so I would set your alarm and pop out to check on her a few times in the night tonight to check she is still eating and pooping. Glad she is a little better already though.
Pleased you are intent on finding her a bunny companion, i'm sure she'll love this
You are a good owner! Bad owners don't even ask what they can improve on or even care!! My girl bun is called Poppy too :wave:
I think she is very lucky to have such a conscientious owner.

Thank you so much x

I got a bit upset really, thinking I was a bit rubbish and irresponsible. I have checked her again and she seems fine. I have thrown away her food and tomorrow morning (when it's light) I am going to empty the hutch of food things and start again with fresh hay, a small bowl of food and no snacks till hometime (I will have to take a hard line with the OH as he is such a softie!)

Deffo going to keep checking and I will post tomorrow to confirm x

Really appreciated the forums help this evening. I cant believe I was so ignorant though I bought a book and read all the care sheets from my LPS and internet care stuff..........

Boo!

I am sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad about her diet, you were only following the advice you were given when you got her, and most of us have done that.
it is not a good idea to make an sudden changes to her diet, particularly if she is off colour, just gradually wean her off some of the sweet treats and swap them for other healthy snacks, such as a dandelion leaf or some herbs. If you change her diet too suddenly there is a danger of upsetting her tummy or her refusing to eat the new diet altogether!
Rabbits are difficult pets and sometimes you feel like everything you do is wrong but I'm sure you are a great owner

Thanks for your support.

Poppy seems fine today, I have emptied her food bowl, given it a wash and dry in nice hot water and refilled it with an egg cup sized portion of fresh food.

I have topped up her hay and will try to wean her off treats this week. Will aim for the usually 8 raisins so 6 for the next couple of days, then 4 next week.

My pet shop sells a premium alfalfa mix, (she is on a pea mix at the moment) do you think it's worth switching over?

I will do what I have done before by serving her a mix until the old food runs out and try to put less old food in day by day - the alfalfa mix might be a bit better fibre wise?

Thanks again. My OH will continue to check her today. It's raining and we don't usually let her out the cage in the rain as she gets sooooooooooo wet

Yayhelen said:

Thanks for your support.

Poppy seems fine today, I have emptied her food bowl, given it a wash and dry in nice hot water and refilled it with an egg cup sized portion of fresh food.

I have topped up her hay and will try to wean her off treats this week. Will aim for the usually 8 raisins so 6 for the next couple of days, then 4 next week.

My pet shop sells a premium alfalfa mix, (she is on a pea mix at the moment) do you think it's worth switching over?

I will do what I have done before by serving her a mix until the old food runs out and try to put less old food in day by day - the alfalfa mix might be a bit better fibre wise?

Thanks again. My OH will continue to check her today. It's raining and we don't usually let her out the cage in the rain as she gets sooooooooooo wet

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Hi there! Glad to hear Poppy is feeling better. I learnt LOADS on here when I joined so feel free to ask as many questions as you need.

It is always best to feed a pellet food such as excel or Science Selective. That way, bunny does not pick out the bits she likes and leave the bits they don't. A pellet mix always ensures they get the necessary nutrients. They also have a better fibre content. As was mentioned earlier, do this very gradually, especially since you are cutting back on fruits etc. She won't know what's hit her bless her! Any piccies?

I will have to get the OH onto picture uploading duty, she looks very similar to your Frank!

On this thread there are some baby pictures of her.. awww...........

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=171483

She now is bigger x Update is that as we speak she is happily gambling around the garden on her usual mission to eat all available grass, a task that - despite the size of the garden - she seems undaunted by!

Bless her x

Hi I am glad to hear that Poppy is back to her normal self.

You asked about toys... well my 2 rabbits love it if I stuff a cardboard tube (toilet or kitchen roll) with hay. They throw it around and dig at it and eat the hay too.

It took me ages to get Billy to eat hay but now I have bought Excel herbage which both of mine love. He also prefers it if I leave clumps of hay around his hutch and especially in his litter tray for some reason. He likes to nibble whilst on the loo! He won't eat out of a hay rack but Barney will only eat his hay out of a hay rack.

Hope this helps, Billy is currently throwing his hay tube around and eating it as I type!