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probiotics and digestive problems, advice please

carolinej

Young Bun
hi, i took my rabbit Jasper to the vet this morning as he has had some digestive problems and i assumed it was his teeth. she said his teeth are not bad and it may be more of an intestinal imbalance. she has given me some probiotic powder to mix with his food for 5 days.

he has a fairly good diet usually of some hay, science selective and vegetables. he has never been a good hay eater, though he does eat a bit when he fancies. the vet suggested i sprinkle a bit of ribena on the hay to encourage him to eat it! has anyone hear of this?!

so my questions are..
1. what else can i do to improve digestive issues. i know hay is the main answer but he just isnt that keen
2. ribena??
3. how effective is the probiotic treatment?

any other advice greatly appreciated! thankyou
 
allow bun to drink some pineapple juice its the best thing for guts its used as an anti inflammatory, produces good bacteria and breaks up furballs.
Ribena wont harm its just for encouragement of eating hay.
we had bad case of bloat with winnie other week and we were told he can have as much pineapple as he can drink usually we only give them a little once a week.
Def worth try
 
great. thanks!! sorry if this sounds like a stupid question.... pineapple juice from a tin?? just put some in a bowl??
 
It has to be pineapple juice that is whole juice, with no added sweetners etc.
Im sure the tinned stuff has stuff added.

I think you can get cartons of pure pineapple juice.
 
im currently trying to get my rabbits gut back in order and its been suggested.. no fruit, cut down on veg and pellets so that hay intake rises. ive also been given some bramble leaves to give as a treat instead of the bad stuff.. so far so good he is now drinking more because of the lack of veg and he is definately getting more fibre than he was.

good luck with your bunny i hope you get the balance back soon, its so stressful trying to get it right :(
 
yes that is what i have been told too really. my other 2 rabbits are really good hay eaters but Jasper is not so keen. i cut down pellets and veg but it doesnt seem to have altered his hay intake so now i worry he isnt eating enough. will he eat hay if he is hungry or will he just stop when pellets are gone?!

anyway i sprinkled the prebiotoc on his pellets earlier and now he is not eating those either! great!!
 
yes that is what i have been told too really. my other 2 rabbits are really good hay eaters but Jasper is not so keen. i cut down pellets and veg but it doesnt seem to have altered his hay intake so now i worry he isnt eating enough. will he eat hay if he is hungry or will he just stop when pellets are gone?!

anyway i sprinkled the prebiotoc on his pellets earlier and now he is not eating those either! great!!

im really not sure about eating hay when hungry. i dont know if rabbits can be forced to eat hay if they really dont want to :(

you could try a different pellet that isnt alfalfa (sp) based, i think alot of people buy the timothy hay ones by Oxbow.

im new to the wild diet but if you can find some still growing (away from car fumes and weed killer stuff ofcourse) i deffo recommend bramble leaves, Alvin seems to be thriving right now that im not giving him naughty foods :oops::oops:
 
I use Oxbow Bunny Basics T as it is highest in fibre (one of mine is a non-hay eater). Expensive but good.

One of mine still has tum problems. He has a mixture of perfect golden ones but sometimes the others are not formed :mrgreen: We are currently trying to cut down on the veg and also supplementing with Pro-Fibre from the makers of Fibreplex (which you could also try). It has pre and pro biotic.

With regards to pineapple juice, I just buy a fresh pineapple, cut a slice, squeeze it by hand into a glass and then syringe some - they love it! You could also put it into a little bottle and spray it lightly over some hay (I tried this but it did not work :roll:)

Be very careful re flystrike at this time of year and the summer - think about some rearguard for him.

Good luck.
 
i tried the oxbow T and although other 2 love it he would not touch it! typical. so hence the SS and excel (mostly SS now as cut right down on excel).
I will try pineapple juice and go searching for brambles!
what is pro-fibre and where can i get it from??
 
Pro fibre comes in a tub. I got my vet to order it in. It is about £14 a tub and they love it. You can get it off the internet too I think but you would have delivery on top.

Mine did not like the Bunny Basics at first and we had to end up just leaving them there so it was them or nothing (we had tried the chaging over slowly option), they soon started to eat them when they found out nothing else was coming their way. They love them now.

You could try some fibreplex too (instead of pro-fibre).
 
I give Joe the Pro-C Vetark Probiotic powder (available from pets at home for about a fiver) and put it in his water, i've also got a bottle of plain water that is on Jess' hutch and funnily enough they both drink more of the one with the probiotic in so it must be tasty :) You just put one scoop in per 200mls so for a big bunny bottle thats about 3 scoops.

Joe's not a big hay eater either, never has been, but recently i have severely restricted his nugget intake and it took a day or two but now he seems to be permantly nibbling on his hay :D it does feel mean cutting back on their nuggets when they like them so much but it's for their own benefit (god i sound like my mother lol) so we're doing them a favour really.
 
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