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please help :(

T

tracymac87

New Kit
Hi ,
ive had my gorgeous boy for over a year and a just love him to bits. He is completely house trained and just does his own thing. Couldn't have asked for a better bunny. However he is a nightmare with food!! :( HE WON'T EAT HAY. I've tried every type of hay i can find and he is not interested in it. I have even left him 24 hours with only fresh hay and water and he still refused to eat it (totally broke my heart starving him). Last month when a was checking his mouth his teeth looked to long and were not meeting his bottom ones. He went to the vet, cost me a fortune, got his teeth shortened and got told to go back in a month. The vet said that Alfie would benefit from getting all his teeth took out as its constantly going to be a stress for him. However within two weeks his teeth have got worse. He is going back to the vet tomorrow but am not sure if he is not eating his hay because he has sore teeth?? a really don't want to go down the root of getting all his teeth out because what standard of life will he have with no teeth!! please any advice would be great.
Thanks xxx
 
Although bunnies are supposed to eat tons of hay, 2 out of my 4 bunnies will not touch the stuff... no matter which I try!
Their teeth are fine tho so maybe your bunny would have had teeth problems even if he ate hay?

Hope he's ok? xxx
 
Loxxy never used to eat much, until she had a large litter tray with hay in. Now she sits and noms hay all the time!!! Maybe, if you don't have such a tray, one might help encourage nomming! Good luck :bunny:

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P.S. Have you tried offering apple sticks? They go down a treat too!
 
Thanks

Everywhere a read it says HAY HAY HAY. Am starting to get stressed. Its the first bunny i've ever had so am scared incase am causing these problems. A really don't think he would have much a life with no teeth :(
Thanks for your advice x
 
I use a layer of wooden cat pellets from Pets at Home, or Megazorb. If I use Megazorb, I have to put a thin layer of newspaper to stop Loxxy digging it all out! Then on top of that the hay.

I tend to use the cheaper big bag of hay all over, then stick nice stuff at the end she eats from.

Before I used such a big box, she wouldn't touch her hayrack, etc. but she even uses that now! I guess she's got the taste for it, hope you can convince yours, there's some really good stuff out there. You could try those hay sample packs from Hay Experts, where they send you small bags of different types of hay? Loxxy's favourite seems to be Burns Welsh Meadow hay so far!

Oh, and Tesco or Wilkinson are both good for those under bed storage boxes (really cheap)
 
What sort of hay do you give? Mine absolutely love stalky hay from dust free hay company, and they also like the excel forage stuff with dandelion/ chamomile etc. in it.
In my litter trays they have wooden cat litter pellets and then a layer of hay. They do love to sit in and chomp it, but they also have hay racks.
How are his incisors? it may just be that they need taking out as they are malocluded (misaligned). Also, how knowledgeable is your vet about bunnies?
 
thanks

i am waiting on they samples from the hay expert. Have tried all they hay brands oout of pets at home and acorn. For all of one minutes he ate WOODLANDS hay (something like chamomile in it) now he won't look twice at it.

Also i have cut his pellets down to an egg cup amount as i was giving him to much :( He loves all his vegetables. He won't eat apple sticks or alfalfa treats. Hates anything with dandilions in it :( He is a wee terror.

Its his front teeth thats grow far to long, felt terrible when a seen his teeth. But they are worse this time in the space of two weeks. Will give vet benefit of doubt and see what he says tomorrow. Just dont want him to get another anaesthetic because he wasn't that great after he got neutered. :(
 
tracymac87 said:
i am waiting on they samples from the hay expert. Have tried all they hay brands oout of pets at home and acorn. For all of one minutes he ate WOODLANDS hay (something like chamomile in it) now he won't look twice at it.

Also i have cut his pellets down to an egg cup amount as i was giving him to much :( He loves all his vegetables. He won't eat apple sticks or alfalfa treats. Hates anything with dandilions in it :( He is a wee terror.

Its his front teeth thats grow far to long, felt terrible when a seen his teeth. But they are worse this time in the space of two weeks. Will give vet benefit of doubt and see what he says tomorrow. Just dont want him to get another anaesthetic because he wasn't that great after he got neutered. :(
Click to expand...

I hope you get it sorted hun, I forget how lucky I am with my four hay monsters! If you want some readigrass sending over just let me know :)
 
tracymac87 said:
i am waiting on they samples from the hay expert. Have tried all they hay brands oout of pets at home and acorn. For all of one minutes he ate WOODLANDS hay (something like chamomile in it) now he won't look twice at it.

Also i have cut his pellets down to an egg cup amount as i was giving him to much :( He loves all his vegetables. He won't eat apple sticks or alfalfa treats. Hates anything with dandilions in it :( He is a wee terror.

Its his front teeth thats grow far to long, felt terrible when a seen his teeth. But they are worse this time in the space of two weeks. Will give vet benefit of doubt and see what he says tomorrow. Just dont want him to get another anaesthetic because he wasn't that great after he got neutered. :(
Click to expand...

It would be best to have them removed, but I understand your concern about GA. However, best to have the GA once and remove the problem than to keep doing it to burr his teeth down.
We had an incisorless bunny for 8 years and he managed very well with his front teeth and never had a problem with his other teeth.
 
youthnovels said:
I hope you get it sorted hun, I forget how lucky I am with my four hay monsters! If you want some readigrass sending over just let me know :)
Click to expand...



Where did you get that hay from, ive never heard of it?? am just hoping ifa find a hay he will like it will help his teeth and he wont have to go to the vet all the time. What do you put in your litter trays? x
 
tracymac87 said:
Where did you get that hay from, ive never heard of it?? am just hoping ifa find a hay he will like it will help his teeth and he wont have to go to the vet all the time. What do you put in your litter trays? x
Click to expand...

I use Auboise and then pile hay on top and scatted a handful of readigrass on each day. It's basically freeze dried grass, smells amazing - I always want to have a munch on it myself! :lol: Mine go mad for the readigrasss, wiggeling their bums and clambering over each other to get to it first :lol:
 
Which teeth would he have taken out? If it's the incisors that is common and he should cope fine without them. I don't think it's possible to remove the molars?? It can be dangerous as far as I've been told.

I have a rabbit who won't eat hay and who has also had his incisors out. He won't eat hay because his back teeth hurt when he does. The roots are too long and push at his jaw. They can't be taken out but as he doesn't eat hay they grow too long as he's not grinding them down, so every few months have to have them burred (filed down) at the vets under GA.
 
My Spenser has only recently started eating hay better. He was neutered last week, and x-rays show he also has dental trouble. His is more with roots and back teeth, but since he's been on pain relief his hay-eating has improved a lot. I undestand your concern about GA as it's riskier with rabbits. I certainly wouldn't want Spenser to need a dental too soon. Even when he wouldn't eat hay Spenser did like dried dandelion and plantain - anything your bunny likes mixed in with hay might get him round to the idea of eating it.
 
Its his front teeth that are over grown, however now you mention it a don't feel as if the vet could have had a proper look at his back teeth because Alfie is not a fan of the vets :p Maybe a should just bite the bullet and ask the vets to give him a GA and check his back teeth and remove his front teeth. Do you think his bad teeth are caused by him no eating hay??
 
They hay won't help the front teeth if they're not lined up as they won't be rubbing together to wear each other down. It will be affecting his molars at the moment I would think, as they probably won't line up either. The hay will certainly help with his molars and is essential for his diet.
Our Squidgy wasn't much of a hay eater, but he did love readigrass and grass from the garden.
 
tracymac87 said:
Its his front teeth that are over grown, however now you mention it a don't feel as if the vet could have had a proper look at his back teeth because Alfie is not a fan of the vets :p Maybe a should just bite the bullet and ask the vets to give him a GA and check his back teeth and remove his front teeth. Do you think his bad teeth are caused by him no eating hay??
Click to expand...

I think you should do this :wave:

I recently took on Grace a bunny who was having her teeth clipped as they were growing too long. This tends to be a genetic problem and even if they eat hay it won't help as it's normally because their teeth just aren't lined up properly, so you couldn't cure him with hay eating unfortunately :(

Grace eats so much better without her teeth, including hay, and is much more comfortable without them. It has definitely improved her quality of life

To encourage hay eating I would just mix everything he likes to eat in with it - veg, pellets, herbs, etc. Have you tried a few different types of hay?
 
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