Eating help.........

Earl is eating constantly- when we got him he was overweight and he has lost a little.

We only feed him about 3 small handfulls of science selective (half morning, half night) and 3 or 4 pieces as a treat several times throughout the day. He is a dwarf lop with no front teeth.

We give him veg as a treat every other day and he has access to hay constantly.

Problem is he is ALWAYS eating- and i mean literally. This evening he has been munching hay for 4 hours straight- not moving just sat there eating hay. He poos like a machine (more lately that i have ever known) and is very very agressive at feeding time.

it is hard to tell how much water he drinks as his bottle drips, but he gets through half a bottle a day (about 100 mills)

Is there a chance he has worms? I asked at P&H as they now have panacur in and he says if he has worms i would see them in his poo. There is a very slim chance he has caught them here as he lives indoors.

Please help because im worried im not feeding him enough SS or that he has worms or something.

He is still eating now..........

god

Actual worms tend to be very visible in the droppings and are unusual I believe.
If it's any consolation - my buns eat ALL day too - non stop. I don't feed pellets however so they are eating hay all day long to get enough calories.
In addition to this mine have a huge plate of veg between them every evening and often other bits of veg/herb/plant matter during the day in the garden and will graze grass if outside for hours at a time.

I expect Earl is just eating normally for the quantity and type of food he is offered. Can you not feed him more veg daily perhaps? (built up slowly of course)
It's actually very good for a bun to be eating all day especially hay - it keeps the teeth nicely worn and keeps the GI tract functioning on full speed - as you are witnessing - this is good!

As long as he is maintaining his weight i'm sure he's ok, and what I mean is a 'healthy weight' if he was overweight and has since lost weight then this is good. It may be that as he loses the weight his metabolism is adjusting to his new diet temporarily. If you are at all concerned then pop him to your vet but he sure does sound ok to me.
I would offer him a bowl of water as well as a bottle as buns that eat lots of dried matter do need ready access to plenty of fluids.
Don't forget also that rabbits are crepuscular and are often more awake and active during the evening.
I should add....that if his teeth are not perfect (and he is missing his incisors) this can mean it can take dental buns longer to eat the same proportions of hay as buns with good teeth. I have one bun with perfect teeth and another with wonky incisors - he spends a lot longer eating the same amounts as she does.....it just takes him longer. If you had two buns you would perhaps notice this difference....so try not to worry. :wave:

Oops i've just seen you have more than one bun! Well you know what I mean anyway....that he just 'appears' to be eating more - but in fact it could just be taking him longer due to his dental issues. Buns who have incisors extracted often have molar spurs and the best way to maintain these is eating lots of hay - so he's doing really well in my book.

prettylupin said:

Oops i've just seen you have more than one bun! Well you know what I mean anyway....that he just 'appears' to be eating more - but in fact it could just be taking him longer due to his dental issues. Buns who have incisors extracted often have molar spurs and the best way to maintain these is eating lots of hay - so he's doing really well in my book.

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thank you thats really helpful. Yeah i have the 3. My other two dont touch hay if they can help it. I will feed more veg from now on. I just worry about it as we have to chop it tiny as he cant get his mouth around it an he is so greedy he just swallows it an im worried he will choke. i think maybe ill supervise veg.

Thats interesting about the water. Thanks for your help il get started!!!