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Reduced appetite - stress?

T

toffee

Mama Doe
Melanie & Prince were a bit funny last night. Prince refused treats of a strawberry and fenugreek crunchies. Melanie was stamping for hours and looked really frightened. I have no idea what upset her. She was eating but not as enthusiastically as normal. Prince ate a little bit but not much.

They wouldn't touch their salad at bedtime but by morning it was gone. This morning they were eating breakfast (pellets) but stopped half way through. I don't know if they finished them during the day as I'm at work.

I don't know what's going on - why would both be off colour at once (the other 6 - who live separately - are as normal)? Could something have stressed them out? I thought about the heat but it was cool in their room and they were not excessively hot (Melanie's ears a bit warm but not overly so).

They had a similar episode about 2 and a half years ago where they both stopped eating at once, but again we did not find out why.

Apart from that they're very healthy.

Any ideas? If no improvement this evening they will be off to the vet.
 
toffee said:
I haven't had mice before. There are some pretty big spiders in the "rabbitry" though.
Click to expand...

I am not sure if spiders would freak them out.
I ask about the possibility of a mouse as a few weeks back my Hamster, Freckle, made a break for freedom. I soon found out where she'd gone as in one room everyBun was going crazy, thumping and totally stressed out. Freckle was sitting in the middle of the room terrorising 8 Bunsters :roll:
 
Ah. All my 8 live in the same room and none of the others were affected. Mel & Prince are at floor level in the corner of the room and they do get spiders living down the side of the cage. Other possibilities for stressors that I thought of were cats (Prince was already stressed and not eating before they went outside last night but Melanie started stamping when they came back in), cat/dog/fox smells from outside (their window is open all day), heat.

Does stress cause reduced appetite without it being stasis?

I had considered teeth as I've had 3 buns (1 being treated at present) with tooth problems exhibit similar behaviour re reduced appetite (does not explain the stress though) but I think it would be very unlucky if both were suffering teeth problems at the same time.

Having said that, I did change their dry food about a month ago to Wagg Optimum which is a smaller pellet than their previous food. Could this cause teeth problems?
 
Have their poos become a lot smaller ?

If you think that Dental problems are a *possibility* then I'd get the Vet to take a look.

As for the smell of Foxes/Cats, I would think it'd effect all the Buns not just 2 of them if it was that :?
 
I'm going home now so I'll see how they are when I get there. Hopefully they just had a bad day but we'll see.
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I am not sure if spiders would freak them out.
I ask about the possibility of a mouse as a few weeks back my Hamster, Freckle, made a break for freedom. I soon found out where she'd gone as in one room everyBun was going crazy, thumping and totally stressed out. Freckle was sitting in the middle of the room terrorising 8 Bunsters :roll:
Click to expand...

Sorry Jane but :lol: Naughty hammie :no:

Toffee, mine have behaved like this on occasion to a lesser degree when there has been noise or movement outside the window (our sitting room is on the 2nd floor and you can get to the garage by going underneath) when couriers have been leaving boxes etc, are they near a window where they could have seen movement such as shapes, cars, planes etc? But I would expect the not eating to be far more transitory unless the stress was still present for some time. It's not the other buns in the house freaking them out is it?
Hope you get to the bottom of it x
 
prettylupin said:
Sorry Jane but :lol: Naughty hammie :no:

Toffee, mine have behaved like this on occasion to a lesser degree when there has been noise or movement outside the window (our sitting room is on the 2nd floor and you can get to the garage by going underneath) when couriers have been leaving boxes etc, are they near a window where they could have seen movement such as shapes, cars, planes etc? But I would expect the not eating to be far more transitory unless the stress was still present for some time. It's not the other buns in the house freaking them out is it?
Hope you get to the bottom of it x
Click to expand...

If anything M&P freak the others out!!

All is well - they're tucking into their veg quite happily. Will keep a close eye on them for a couple of days. Must have just been a bad hare day!
 
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