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Off Food

:wave:Our rabbit Frank is a 3 year old part wild rabbit who has since this time last year has on a regular basis gone off his food. His teeth have been filed down twice since then, he is in today for the same thing even though the vet has said the burrs were not really bad and would not have caused this problem. The vet is doing some blood tests to try and find out what the problem is.
Frank is an indoor rabbit with access to the garden and all he can eat out there. His diet consists of fresh greens some home grown and dried food with thyme and alfalfa stalks, etc, we are at a loss as to what is wrong.
Frank will take the Recovery formula via a syringe with no problems, he is eager to take food this way.
Any help would be appreciated.
Many thanks
Peter and Frank
 
It could be gut stasis.....may I ask as to the condition of any poops????
(BTW,welcome to the forum!!!:wave:)
 
Sorry to hear your bun is poorly, but glad to hear he is at the vet, this is the definitely the right thing to do with a poorly bun, they can deteriorate so quickly.
I should think dental pain, especially as he has a history of dental issues, is the most likely candidate. Some buns have a lower pain threshold and dependent on the location of the spurs (i.e on the side with the tongue) can find the discomfort significant enough to put them off eating, even if under examination the spurs do not look as bad as they might in other rabbits. I should think burring these spurs off would be sensible and helpful to rule out, provided bun is up to a GA, which if he has not been eating, he may not be.

The other things I can think of in relation to 'time of year' are any plants that sprout up in the garden around now that he should not have access to (poisonous) that he may have eaten? If bun has free-range in the garden, althogh wildies know what to eat and what not to, domestic buns have to some extent lost this instinct and bunny-safe plants ONLY should be accessible, anything toxic should be removed or fenced off ideally.

Buns also moult heavily at this time of year particularly, so a heavy moult may have been sufficient to slow his GI tract down enough to cause ileus and a loss of appetite. I hope Frank feels better soon :)
 
I should think dental pain, especially as he has a history of dental issues, is the most likely candidate. Some buns have a lower pain threshold and dependent on the location of the spurs (i.e on the side with the tongue) can find the discomfort significant enough to put them off eating, even if under examination the spurs do not look as bad as they might in other rabbits. I should think burring these spurs off would be sensible and helpful to rule out, provided bun is up to a GA, which if he has not been eating, he may not be.

Thats exactly what I was thinking.
 
Franks droppings look normal, round, hard and sometimes darkish grey or nearly black and sometimes deiiferent at night.
He certainly has not lost the natural instinct on what to eat and not to eat, for example he will not go anywhere near Foxgloves and a few other plants.
We have just heard that he is coming round and should be ok to collect around 18.00hrs.
He is moulting at the moment so maybe this could be a trigger to what is happening, he takes the Recovery supplement with no problem from a syringe, in fact he sits up and begs sucking on the end of the syringe and can't get enough of it. He loves corn on the cob, dog biscuits, bread sticks and will only eat English Watercress, we've tried him with others and he jsut turns his nose up at them, well so do I if such things are not British grown, so he can't be in bad company.
 
He loves corn on the cob, dog biscuits, bread sticks

So pleased to hear he has come around and you can pick him up soon. :)

Errr... you might want to exclude the above items from his diet! Rabbits being obligate herbivores and hindgut digestors require a diet very high in fibre and low in nutrients. Too much starch/carbohydrate and protein in the diet are all big risks for caecal dysbiosis which can and does have an adverse effect on gut motility as part of the feedback system and I *suspect* these unhealthy non-rabbity items of his diet could be giving him gas from an unbalanced caecal flora and leading to gut dysbiosis and stasis - why he has stopped eating.
The best food for bunnies is hay, hay and more hay (and grass and veggies) I really would avoid feeding any human or other animal food. Corn is extremely starchy as is bread. Dog biscuits may contain meat and goodness knows what else which isn't good for his little tum. Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh... but i think it could be linked to his anorexia today. :wave:
 
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