Boarding bunny at work... Looking for a little weight gain/diet advice!

Hi guys!

Firstly, many apologies as I seem to have turned into one of those members that only ever post when they need something, sorry!

Secondly, I know this should probably go in the Health section but I'm about to openly talk about a boarding rabbit at work so if it's ok, I'd rather keep it in a more private section of the forum. The owner and my boss are both fine about me seeking advice but better to be safe than sorry. :lol:

Getting to the point...

I have a boarding bunny to look after at work. She is a nethie cross, spayed female, about five years old. We don't normally take in boarding rabbits but her owner is going away and the rabbit seems very poorly and she didn't think she could leave her with a friend. The rabbit has been to the local Pet Doctors (for anyone that's seen my posts before, you'll know I don't think much of their rabbit knowledge!) several times and the owner's spent £500+ since June on veterinary treatment.

The rabbit is incredibly thin. She weighs 1.13kg. She's got a very messy bottom and her poos are pretty much liquid (she had a 'proper wash' at the vet the day before she was bought to us but she was still filthy), she's not eating a great deal and she's been apparently dropping weight since June.

The vet treatment she's had so far seems quite basic, she came in with Metacam but no one seemed to know why so we've stopped that as we think it's going to make her poos worse. She's had her teeth looked at and apparently they look fine. She's had fibreplex. She's been fed critical care. Her normal food is Burgess Excel and Pro-Fibre pellets. Her green food's been stopped. She's not interested in hay. Snuffles was mentioned but she doesn't have a runny nose and I haven't seen her sneezing or anything.

She only came in yesterday. I really want to get her eating something more hay-ish so I popped home and picked up my 'herby mix' which is readi-grass with several different types of dried leaves mixed in. She seemed quite interested in that so that's good. I haven't force fed her anything like critical care or fibreplex as she is feeding herself, allbeit a little reluctantly. I have started Panacuring her.

I think that's pretty much all the information I've got... Basically, can anyone suggest anything to get her weight up a little and help with her droppings? If she continues to drop weight or starts to flag, of course she'll be straight off to our vet but I'd like to get some ideas from you guys as well if at all possible. You've helped out with my own rabbit's so many times before, I'm sure one or two of you must have some good suggestions! :wave:

Thanks guys

:wave: Hello, nice to see you although sorry you have a poorly bun in your care.

Hope someone more experienced can think of a suggestion. The only thing I know of to keep weight up is oats, and not sure that would be appropriate with this little bun's various problems. :?

I'm having weight related problems with Eddie at the moment. (Vet cannot find a reason for it, despite blood tests, poo tests etc.) He doesn't have a messy bum and is pooing normally, but is emaciated.

What's working for me is giving him a teacup of porridge a day (They're wide so he can eat it straight from the cup with minimal mess....and he likes to keep up a high standard :lol:) He also is getting three barley rings a day and some grated carrot, along with his usual hay, pellets and greens.

It's working and whilst I don't weigh him he's feeling a lot chunkier today than he was yesterday.....I was starting to think we were losing him, but today he's given me hope!

I put two handfuls of porridge oats into the teacup and cover them in boiling water filling slightly over the line of oats...then wait 10 minutes and it'll have shlooooped up all the water and will still be lukewarm, ready to be nommed. Eddie takes bites of porridge and the occasional slurp of water, so have water to hand. I used to feed him off the spoon, but he finds it far easier to just have the teacup himself.

Thanks guys! :wave:

Oooh, I have some barley rings in the shed, I'd forgotten all about them! I'll pop out and get some porridge too. I think getting some weight on her is probably a little more important than the pooing issue at the moment so I'll give any food a go! At least if she weighs a little bit more, we'v got more medical options to sort the pooing out!

Sending this little bunny, putting weight on vibes!!! :thumb:

Dropping weight can sometimes be an indication of internal problems like a tumour, pasteurella abscess, or organ failure (kidney/liver). There isn't a huge amount you can do about any of these conditions though, so I think you're doing the best by panacuring her and giving supportive measures like extra food.

If I was the owner, I'd want blood tests doing to check for organ failure and x-rays/scans to check for internal growths/tumours, etc.

Good luck

Thank you's! :wave:

I've just popped into work (it's my day off) to check bunny's ok and take some barley rings in. Gave her a bit of a bath and a blow dry as she'd got herself into a bit of a pickle overnight. I soaked a few barley rings and she wolfed those down so I think I'll give her a few every so often in the hope that she'll put a little weight on. She seems ok.

I asked the owner if her vet had taken any x-rays and they said no. Hopefully if we can bulk bunny up a bit, she'll be strong enough to be sedated and x-rayed. I don't think anyone would dream of sedating her at the moment.

It'd be so nice if the owner could come back to find her in at least a slightly better state than she's in now. The poor lady was so upset. She seemed quite convinced that bunny would pass before she got home.

I'm on a right mission to help now!

Georgie, would pro-fibre for rabbits be available to you? (i know your island is like the middle of nowhere for mail-order sometimes :lol

I just wonder if getting some additional fibre (you say she doesnt eat hay?) could really help settle her tummy into a more stable place. Excel pellets are also (as im sure you already know ) known to occasionally cause upset tummys etc also, so is it viable to wean her onto something like SS ?

Just throwing some random ideas at you

GrahamL said:

Georgie, would pro-fibre for rabbits be available to you? (i know your island is like the middle of nowhere for mail-order sometimes :lol

I just wonder if getting some additional fibre (you say she doesnt eat hay?) could really help settle her tummy into a more stable place. Excel pellets are also (as im sure you already know ) known to occasionally cause upset tummys etc also, so is it viable to wean her onto something like SS ?

Just throwing some random ideas at you

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She came in with Pro-Fibre pellets and along with the barley rings, I just took in a bag of SS for her to replace the Excell. Great minds eh?! :wave:

georgie_f said:

She came in with Pro-Fibre pellets and along with the barley rings, I just took in a bag of SS for her to replace the Excell. Great minds eh?! :wave:

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If she has really liquidy poops, thats going to be dysbiosis, so she may need to come off all foods bar hay, but then she doesnt eat hay :? What an awkward situation.

I think its best she gets a bit of weight put on, then bloods and xrays if needs be under GA. Her teeth may be a mess under the hood

Keep us informed on this one eh? Would be lovely to hear about bun.

Oh and an obligatory picture, so we know who we are helping

georgie_f said:

I asked the owner if her vet had taken any x-rays and they said no. Hopefully if we can bulk bunny up a bit, she'll be strong enough to be sedated and x-rayed. I don't think anyone would dream of sedating her at the moment.

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Quite a lot of sick rabbits don't require sedation for x-rays. It would depend how lively/jumpy she is.

My initial thoughts when talking to the owner were the same Gray, but her lack of appetite for her hay is a bit of a problem Why are some buns so blimmin' picky?! :lol: She's not particulary wriggly (no energy, bless her) so I suppose she could go in for x-rays awake. I'll mention it to my boss. :wave:

We've only got her for ten days so I think my mission's going to be to get some weight on her and gather as much information as I can to give the owner when she comes back. We'll get our own vet to have a look too - he's in for routine checks every monday.

I'll stick a picture up if it's ok with my boss too. She's a pretty little thing. Nethie-ish and magpie/harlequin sort of colour.

What hays has she tried? Spenser was an awful fuss-pot when I first had him, and I spent a small fortune trying to please him. :roll: Disinterest in hay is often due to dental problems ... but not always.

Keep us posted with how the wee girlie gets on. :wave:

With my vet hat on I'd be tempted to start again from the beginning:
- ultrasound abdomen and "bunogram" x-ray (whole body inc skull and spine)
- bloods for haematology and biochemistry
- proper dental exam under sedation or GA (admittedly risky at her current weight and state)

treatment wise now definitely high fibre diet - grass, herbs, hay, etc; SS or Oxbow T rather than excel would be better but i'd switch over very very slowly because of her current state
no fruit or veg
Probiotics in her water - bio-lapis or similar
fibreplex - if she likes it she can consume it herself in a bowl etc rather than force feeding

I agree with you in terms of trying to keep weight on her and improve her condition for now while her owner is away. Depending on what the vet investigation finds she may need metacam, antibiotics, steroids etc but as you say, if you dont know why she has metacam and doesn't have any obvious signs of pain i'd stop it and see how she does.

Keep us posted, hope there is some improvement xx

VikkiVet said:

With my vet hat on I'd be tempted to start again from the beginning:
- ultrasound abdomen and "bunogram" x-ray (whole body inc skull and spine)
- bloods for haematology and biochemistry
- proper dental exam under sedation or GA (admittedly risky at her current weight and state)

treatment wise now definitely high fibre diet - grass, herbs, hay, etc; SS or Oxbow T rather than excel would be better but i'd switch over very very slowly because of her current state
no fruit or veg
Probiotics in her water - bio-lapis or similar
fibreplex - if she likes it she can consume it herself in a bowl etc rather than force feeding

I agree with you in terms of trying to keep weight on her and improve her condition for now while her owner is away. Depending on what the vet investigation finds she may need metacam, antibiotics, steroids etc but as you say, if you dont know why she has metacam and doesn't have any obvious signs of pain i'd stop it and see how she does.

Keep us posted, hope there is some improvement xx

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I can't really add to that!
I would be tempted to say that there might be tooth root issues if she doesn't want to eat hay. Perhaps the painkillers were for that? And I agree with blood tests for organ failure.
If she were my rabbit I would want a GA done and x rays taken, I would then want the dental exam and her teeth filed right down which would help with spurrs and root issues if those are issues. But with her so light and the owners away I'm not sure if it's a good idea.

The poo issue is probably down to lack of fibre but may have other reasons possibly including megacolon? For diet to put weight on I agree that porridge is brilliant. Dry oats mixed with the food has always helped Grim but I know some people don't like to feed oats dry as they swell in the stomach. My opinion is that the swelling is minimum, my rabbits have never had issues, but I need to mention it. Otherwise it can be made up with water. For fibre can you get hold of some other natural sources like brambles or plantain? I'm not sure how available they would be at this time of year but perhaps you can buy some dried ones.

Grimlock has a pellet only diet as he is unable to eat hay due to his teeth. I have had some lovely people send me various things to try to get him to eat more fibre like plantain and hawthorn but to no avail. One thing that has helped him, and this is going to be very controversial, is bread. Bread is generally a no no for rabbits but when he's only been eating pellets and his stomach is very gurgley he seems to crave bread and will 'ask' for it. It doesn't help with the poos though, he does some very squishy ones. :?

I think I would go for putting weight on and getting more fibre into the diet and then try and check the skull and teeth for issues like spurrs and root malformation and also do bloods if you can for any underlying issues.

Good luck little bunny.

Edit: Someone on another thread reminded me: Shredded wheat!

watching this thread closely as i have a bun with similar issues, however hes battling Snuffles