Need Some Advice on a Rabbit With a Serious Appetite Problem

Hi All,

I have a perplexing problem with our rabbit where a few weeks ago she just decided to not eat her nuggets and hard food like mix. She started to decline into stasis so after getting her to the vet's and having her teeth done, and with some Zantac and Simeticone treatment for gas, she started to get back to normal in terms of her stomach movements and noises and quality of her poops. We were syringe feeding her ground pellets. Her kidneys were at an elevated level but we've been to the vet's again today for an ultrasound scan and they've started to return to normal (her levels were 18 now down to 11 and 205 I think now back down to 165) and the scan showed nothing like a lump that might be obstructing her. The vet did admit though that she couldn't promise there was nothing there and she didn't have a really snazzy machine to show everything possible, but, there was nothing obvious. The vet gave her an anti-inflammatory and recommended we bring her back in another couple of days.

However, she's still eating sparingly. No nuggets, no mix, she'll eat some hay, dandelion leaves, grass, broccoli and celery but not in any amounts to maintain her body weight. We've been really syringe feeding her the past couple of days with some baby food and ground nuggets but there doesn't seem to be any real change. She even chewed at her willow ball yesterday and started eating bit of it, as well as chewing at the rubber underneath the kitchen cupboards! So, I can't see her teeth being a problem. She had a peak bodyweight of four kilos and she is now three. Annoyingly she'll go to her bowl but just nose around the nuggets and does nothing!

I'm very frustrated now and don't want her to waste away and have to be put to sleep, but we just can't keep syringe feeding her like we've been doing forever. Has anyone had anything like this before and can anyone give any recommendations such as alternative foods, preferably concentrated?

Thank you all in advance,

Goodness, how worrying! I must admit that I've never heard of a bun going off food without an obvious teeth/tummy issue. Is she behaving normally? Did the vets take a blood sample? What's her water consumption like. It might sound silly but have you checked her water bottle is working properly? It might be if she's not drinking that she's become dehydrated so she doesn't want to eat her hay etc. Offer her a bowl of water as well as a bottle, just in case.

How does she like the taste of the recovery food? Try offering it to her in a bowl and see if she'll eat it for herself. It'll be less stressful for both of you if she does. While fruit isn't very good for rabbits a bit of mashed banana each day might help to keep her going. Porridge made with plain oats and water can help an ailing bun too.

Im by no means an expert, but what you have said cries teeth problems to me :?

As Hoppit suggested, try mushing her pellets in water and offering to them in a bowl to eat for herself.

Also, oats are good for getting weight on an underweight bun. You can either feed "raw" (although not too many as they swell in the tummy) or make bunny porridge by soaking the oats in some boiling water and serving when theyre cool. I do this for my bun Timmy who is very small, he loves it plain but at first I mixed it with some banana to get him into eating it :wave:

Did she have her Dental treatment done under GA ?

What are her poos like ?

Is she still on Ranitidine ?

How old is she and is she spayed ?

I'm wondering if it might be tooth root issues? Where the molar roots are elongated or deformed this can cause pain when eating but would only show up in an x ray. Try feeding pellets that are soaked and softened in water. Also has the vet given you painkillers/anti inflammatory to take home? Perhaps if her teeth were bad but sorted by the vets she might still be in some pain from ulcers afterwards? And the only other thing I can think of is maybe an abscess?

I would try regular painkillers first and soft food like the softened pellets and porridge and see if you get anywhere with that. Discuss with your vet first of course.

Everything you have written there screams dental issues to me.

Have you had a skull xray performed at all, it may be tooth root elongation, where the tooth roots push up into the eyes/nose area, which is excrutiatingly painful for rabbits. It's impossible to diagnose without a full skull xray.

If you aren't sure if your vet is rabbit savvy or are looking for a 2nd opinion, pop another thread up in 'Rabbit Chat' and ask for 'Rabbit Savvy Vet in <your area here>'.

Could you, at least, ask your vet if you could have some metacam to give daily at all? A vet should be happy to give out metacam at least for a week to see if it helps, although if tooth root elongation is the issue, the metacam may just keep her ticking over, but it won't cure the issue.

Yep, it screamed dental issues to me, but she had her teeth filed and neatly done under GA by a local rabbit savvy vet who has been a vet for rabbit welfare. We've mushed her pellets and she's shown no interest at all. A quick ferret with her nose, but nothing. The weird thing is that she munches on wood, her willow ball, furniture, peoples slippers and chews her grass and some hay down so I'm at a total loss. I could suggest a skull X-ray to the vet to rule out tooth abscess problems I suppose. The vet hasn't suggested that, but she said she'd expect her not to be gnawing on anything like she is doing if it was tooth related. Giving her some metacam to see the effect might not be a bad idea. The vet didn't want to do that previously though owing to her elevated kidney levels.

She is four years old and she was spayed years ago.

Her water bottle is working, but she's drank less over the past few days probably because because we've been syringe feeding her. I'm trying to lay off the syringe feeding for a little bit because it's so intensive, but also to encourage her to eat and drink herself so I can properly see what she'll do by herself. The banana and oats is interesting, thanks. I'm just trying to come up with ideas to get her to eat under her own steam.

Her poos are a lot better than they were, where she had very little a few weeks ago, but sometimes they'll be a bit smaller than usual. There is stuff going through though, but not as much as when she was normal.

Otherwise, the frustrating thing is she still looks OK generally. She's up and about, her ears are forward, she hops about in the house wanting to sample various things she shouldn't and she's certainly not slumped in the corner looking sorry for herself. We give her cuddles as much as we can and although she doesn't like it she's a gentle soul when we syringe feed her.

She's had some grass today and has munched through some celery and broccoli. Still no nuggets though. She's produced some poops that look promising but she's still looking thin and bony.

I'm surprised our vet hasn't recommended a skull X-ray but I think that might be the only option now. Can't think of anything else. We need to get her eating a lot otherwise she'll just waste away.

This might sound really odd, but try this;

Leave the bottle there, but put in a BOWL of water as well. Rabbits find the bowl a much more natural source of water (and i believe whoever invented the water bottle for rabbits should be questioned!) as its more natural to 'lap' the water up.

If she's suffering from dental pain, put in luke warm, barely warm water into a bowl, not fresh ice cold water. It may help to sooth it a little, like us, if we have sensitive teeth, and put icecream on it, you know how much it hurts etc.

Also, if she has elevated kidney levels, whilst long term metacam can cause issues, my kidney failure bun has been on long term metacam for a good time now and hasn't suffered negatively.

If her kidney levels are up, has she had other tests to check for kidney function? Kidney pain can cause all manner of problems.

Re the syringe feeding - mush up the pellets into a mush with the water, and leave it in a bowl. She might be up for eating on her own with it like that, rather than being forced :wave:

Continued vibes for your bun.

Tried the mashed pellets and water but she's not touching it.

Not looking too good this afternoon. She's pretty mopey, lying down and she's pooped on the floor which isn't like her. She always goes to her tray.

Might try and get her to the vet later. The vet seemed pretty reluctant to prescribe painkillers for some reason.

segedunum said:

Tried the mashed pellets and water but she's not touching it.

Not looking too good this afternoon. She's pretty mopey, lying down and she's pooped on the floor which isn't like her. She always goes to her tray.

Might try and get her to the vet later. The vet seemed pretty reluctant to prescribe painkillers for some reason.

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Please please try another vet in that case, rabbits hide pain so well, if it starts showing, that rabbit is in a dire state

segedunum said:

Tried the mashed pellets and water but she's not touching it.

Not looking too good this afternoon. She's pretty mopey, lying down and she's pooped on the floor which isn't like her. She always goes to her tray.

Might try and get her to the vet later. The vet seemed pretty reluctant to prescribe painkillers for some reason.

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Unfortunately my vet is the same with painkillers, I have had to really push for them on occasions :roll: It really does sound like your bun is in some pain somewhere though

The vet I'm at was a rabbit welfare vet and is generally recommended. She did seem to be up and about OK yesterday and didn't look in any pain and was eating this morning, but she just looks wrong this afternoon.

I'll be getting her back in later. I don't think there is much else we can do. I'm reluctant to put her through GA again as well.

segedunum said:

The vet I'm at was a rabbit welfare vet and is generally recommended. She did seem to be up and about OK yesterday and didn't look in any pain and was eating this morning, but she just looks wrong this afternoon.

I'll be getting her back in later. I don't think there is much else we can do. I'm reluctant to put her through GA again as well.

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Poor girl I do hope the vet can figure out whats wrong. At this point I really dont know why he/she wouldnt try painkillers so hopefully he/she will.

Tons of vibes xxxxx

If she is not regularly eating it is pain or nausea. If kidney trouble probably nausea. If pain could be anything (cancer?) but teeth most likely. Sounds like you need more tests to me and/or a referal to an exotic vets with an interest in rabbits. If you let us know where you live then maybe someone can recommend one. Not sure whawt you mean by a 'rabbit welfare vet'.

I suspect the unwillingness to do a skull Xray may be due to bun's anorexia and not wanting to put her under a GA in this state. Perhaps you could ask? and perhaps the unwillingness to prescribe pain relief that you can give at home is due to the elevated kidney function, in which case oral NSAID's are not really appropriate. Perhaps an alternative pain killer is needed instead, but this may require admission or opiates which can usually only be given by a professional. :?

When you say the vet is a rabbit welfare vet - do you mean on the RWAF's recommended vet list, or was actually the vet consultant for the RWAF and thus an exotics expert? There is a huge difference.

segedunum said:

The vet I'm at was a rabbit welfare vet and is generally recommended. She did seem to be up and about OK yesterday and didn't look in any pain and was eating this morning, but she just looks wrong this afternoon.

I'll be getting her back in later. I don't think there is much else we can do. I'm reluctant to put her through GA again as well.

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Yes there is. Admission, further investigations, 2nd opinion and/or referral, analgesia and fluids. :wave:

She went downhill this afternoon and started looking floppy and a bit jittery. The vet gave us the alternative to keep her going with fluids etc. but we took the painful decision to have her put to sleep. She simply wasn't looking like she was going to eat and get her body weight back up enough and this afternoon was the worst she's been. Legs flat out and not pooping or weeing in her tray - something she never does. She was always really clean and even held in poops and wees until she could get to her tray.

It had been going on for a few weeks, we'd had various things to get her gut moving and she has looked like she was picking up and eating but she's always went back. Refused nuggets no matter what we did. I wonder if it was teeth, but the vet thoroughly checked them out and she was biting into willow balls, wood and other hard things. I have a feeling there was something unseen going on and we just didn't want to put her through any more. The most important thing was to get her back eating normally but she just hasn't managed it and there was no indication that she would.

It's been pretty emotional because she was a really great rabbit - scrupulously clean, friendly and she always came over and nuzzled into your face.

I'm so sorry

Thank you. There was just something different about her this afternoon where we just knew she had nothing left. I think everyone has probably experienced that. Even when she's been bad she's always been up and about and having a go at things, her ears upright and forwards. We had to consider whether putting her through yet more treatment after the weeks that she'd had going backwards and forwards to the vet, syringe feeding and hospitalisation was the right thing for her, not just for us.

This world is really not meant for pure souls like hers and we're thankful she's been a part of our lives. She went off to join El-ahrairah's Owsla with all the love we could give her.