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Urgent Rabbit not eating

G

GinaG

New Kit
Hi my rabbit won't eat. She always had a history of teeth problems and has had a dental yearly for the last 3 years and we thought this might be why she'd stopped eating this time so she had her teeth done last monday and this has not solved the problem. A week later and she still won't eat her pellet food, and we are struggling even to get her to eat greens. the vets have got her on pain killers and a fibre based food that we are supposed to syringe feed her and shes still not responding. She's 8 years old so i know she's an old bunny but we don't know what else to do or what to try. If anyone has any ideas at all please let me know.

Thanks
Gina
 
Is there any sign of abscessation relating to her Dental Disease ?

Is she a spayed Doe ?

Is she drinking ?

What is her fecal output like ?

Apart from pain relief what other medication is she receiving ?

Did she have any pre-op bloods taken ?
 
Is there any sign of abscessation relating to her Dental Disease ? No the vet looked and her mouth and teeth are fine

Is she a spayed Doe ? yes

Is she drinking ? yes

What is her fecal output like ? poor

Apart from pain relief what other medication is she receiving ? fibreplex

Did she have any pre-op bloods taken ? not this time they didn't think it was neccessary.
 
So she has not had any gut motility stimulating meds- ie Metoclopromide and Ranitidine ?

What pain relief is she on and what dose ?

Is she stressed by the syringe feeds ?

Have you tried offering her her normal pellets made soft by soaking them in boiled water and then allowing them to cool ?

Sorry for all the questions !!
 
So she has not had any gut motility stimulating meds- ie Metoclopromide and Ranitidine ? no she hasn't.

What pain relief is she on and what dose? metacam minimum dose 5kg

Is she stressed by the syringe feeds ? she doesnt seem to be

it's so frustrating because she runs up to us wanting food, shes interested in food yet she just won't eat.
yes we've tried soaking the pellets in boiling water, even in apple juice and she still won't eat them.
 
I had the exact same problem with one of my elderly Dental Rabbits.

I would ask the Vet about her having some Ranitidine (Zantac). A Rabbit's stomach is very acidic and if Bun is eating very little GI ulceration can occur. Metacam is also more likely to cause gastric irritation if food intake is poor. A useful side effect of Ranitidine is that it increases the rate of gastric emptying.

Is it the Dog Metacam ie the 1.5mg/ml strength ?

How much does she weigh ?

A shot of Vitamin B can act as an appetite stimulant so perhaps the Vet could try that too ?
 
she weighs or did weigh around 2.6kg and yes it is the dog metacam.
Will ask the vet about those options.
thankyou for your help, its just so frustrating, watching her and not being able to help her or know why she won't eat. If you don't mind me asking did your dental rabbit overcome it?
 
GinaG said:
she weighs or did weigh around 2.6kg and yes it is the dog metacam.
Will ask the vet about those options.
thankyou for your help, its just so frustrating, watching her and not being able to help her or know why she won't eat. If you don't mind me asking did your dental rabbit overcome it?
Click to expand...

Yes she did. It took at least 6 days during which time she ate nothing for herself.I had to syinge feed her watery weetabix which was the ONLY thing she would swallow. Everything else just trickled out of her mouth. Also she passed NO faeces for all of the 6 days !! :shock:
 
Tinker likes weetabix so thats an option i may try. Thankyou for your help i'll just have to see how it goes.
 
I had this same problem after a dental - rabbit rushing up then looking sad.

He had metacam and gut motility but was still displaying same signs - in the end we had to let him be out under GA again for another check and they found a small dental spur that they had missed before.
 
thankyou everyone for replying i will keep all options in mind :) i'm hoping it doesn't come to another GA as she's quite an old bunny now.
 
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