Flopsy has a mouth problem - food help

Hi all,
Over the weekend we noticed that flopsy wasnt behaving right and wasnt walking right (walking with bum in the air). at first we suspected claws as with the dark mornings and nights and the recent rains, they havent been able to run outside as much so we thought they might need a clip.

we gave her a clip and she didnt really walk that much better, but she got out in heavy rain/hail/sleet and got soaked to the skin so we brought her in to dry off as it was cold too over the weekend. she was eating fine, her underside had a small amount of stuck poo that we removed, and she was drinking.

the next morning rach found her huddled and shaking, something we havent seen before, so she brought both of them (as womble gets stressed without her) into their indoor cages (for fireworks night and extreme cold weather) and she picked up really quickly. rachel kept an eye on her and she was again eating hay and veg, wee-ing and poo-ing but not in great amounts. she was still walking with her bum in the air, so i called the vet from work, he said to just keep doing what we were doing and give her downstairs a clean, even if there is no poo stuck on her fur. vet said if still walking funny on monday, bring her in. i got in from work and this we did the cleaning and she was walking ok. even though eting we monitered her food and she wasnt eating as much as she should, or pooing as much as she normally would. our buns have pellets due to selective eating. she then stopped the funny walking and is back to normal.

so this lack of eating pellets but eating other stuff like carrots and eating loads of hay, rach took her to the vets. her gut isnt blocked or hard, weight is normal, is active and has no leg problems, so the vet inspected her back teeth which she said were quite sharp and there was a slight swelling so it looks like she is avoiding hard foods as she might have a bit of pain. she gave anti-biotics (oral with syringe) incase the was infection in the swelling and asked us to monitor her eating

she is still eating a lot of hay, is eating veg but will not touch her pellets. we are getting some normal food for her tomorrow (the one that looks like a yummy breakfast!) and seeing how she goes with that, and in the meantime, shes got veg.

anyone have any tips to keep her on the pellets if she has a slight sore mouth?

and as she has a history of selective feeding, does anyone think that this ignoring the pellets is starting to be more than a sore mouth but selective eating as she is holding out for veg?

Don't switch her food - it will really upset her tummy, any food changes need to be done gradually.

Did the vet suggest any dental work on her? Rabbits are ok without pellets as long as they are eating lots of hay - but the vet really should be considering helping the pain - did he give any pain relief?

Have you been given pain relief to give to her? Will she be having her spurs burred down?

vets said they wasnt bad enough to be burred, she was more concerned with a very slight swelling in her mouth. we have been given nothing for pain relief for her.

as for changing her food, they normally have pellets in their bowls and veg treats, but she is just nailing the veg and the hay at the minute and ignoring the pellets. she also runs to the food bowl when we open the fridge now as she has realised thats where the veg lives!!! (usually they live outisde so they dont get to see where food lives!) this and the fact she will still eat carrot crunch treats (which are as hard as pellets) leads us to believe that she may now be selective eating. if we do get the other food it will be mixed with pellets

How much veg does she have? If she is selectively feeding (aside from the swelling) maybe she is eating too much.

Rabbits diet is recommended 90% hay and 5% pellets (avg egcup full - varies from bun to bun) and 5% veg/greens.

Eating lots of hay can keep down dental problems (not in all cases of course).

My feeling would be that she really needs some pain relief, for the swelling and potentially the spurs too. It's not possible to fully check all the mouth when the bunny is awake and so she may have longer ones that can't be seen. Equally, some bunnies can not tolerate even minor spurs.

Hello there, welcome to the forum :wave:

I would suggest going back and insisting on pain relief. If you've ever had dental pain you'll know how bad it can get - if not I assure you it'a awful! Pain relief is often under-prescribed for rabbits and has to be asked for. Females are routinely sent home after a spay with no pain relief, can you imagine the outrage if that happened in humans? Buns react differently to pain too, some can stand fairly large spurs whilst others can't even handle little ones. It's possible that your vet may have missed some other dental issue as it's very difficult to fully examine a bun's mouth while they're awake.

How much hay does she actually eat? Compared to the amount of veg? If she gets a lots of veg, cut it down and see if it encourages her to eat hay and pellets. :thumb: It's possible that she's gone back to selective feeding but most of the time a change in food habits indicates a problem. I would not change the pellets to mix as it can upset their delicate tummies, and is actually more likely to make her selective feed. You could try softening some pellets in warm water - that way you can see if it's the taste she objects to or the texture.

she is eating an awful lot of hay but i wouldnt say its 90% of her diet though, how much is hard to say. we dont think she is in pain as she is eating Wagg carrot crunch treats and is looking for more straight after finishing the last. i have had a bite myself of the pellets and the crunch and they are the same hardness.

Rachel says the vet was able to really examine her mouth well whilst awake, she used one of those things that doctors use in to look down ears... and flop enjoyed chewing it!

i think what we will do is cut the veg back a bit as i think we are partially to blame giving her a bit more than usual under the impression eating something is better than nothing, and now she is expecting veg all the time.

with regards to pain relief are there any over the counter pain reliefs we can use? or is it back to the vet job?

Rach&Dan said:

she is eating an awful lot of hay but i wouldnt say its 90% of her diet though, how much is hard to say. we dont think she is in pain as she is eating Wagg carrot crunch treats and is looking for more straight after finishing the last. i have had a bite myself of the pellets and the crunch and they are the same hardness.

Rachel says the vet was able to really examine her mouth well whilst awake, she used one of those things that doctors use in to look down ears... and flop enjoyed chewing it!

i think what we will do is cut the veg back a bit as i think we are partially to blame giving her a bit more than usual under the impression eating something is better than nothing, and now she is expecting veg all the time.

Click to expand...

Rach&Dan said:

with regards to pain relief are there any over the counter pain reliefs we can use? or is it back to the vet job?

Click to expand...

I bet that was tasty :lol: Ohhh, you'll fit right in here! :lol:

As long as she's eating lots of hay, that's the main thing, people do feed different amounts of veggies to buns so you can just cut back a little at a time. What kind of veg are you feeding as this may make a difference - buns are like children and love the things that are bad for them, like carrot (high in sugar) kale (high in calcium) and lettuce (gives the runs). Better foods are spring greens (which are very cheap) and other dark veg like broccoli and spinach. Fresh herbs like basil and parsley go down a storm and are cheap to grow yourself. If you are feeding a lot of sugary veg cutting back on that might reduce her appetite for it a bit and encourage her to go for the pellets. In the meantime obviously keep an eye on those spurs as you don't want them getting too big.

Pain relief is a prescription only job I'm afraid, so you'll need to et in touch with your vet. The standard one is called Metacam, it's labelled as a dog medication, there are very few meds licensed for use in rabbits so most meds made for other animals. Just in case you were to get it and go 'Eh? Dogs?'

she usually has a carrot as a treat, but we have been guilty of giving a little more than usual as it was one of the few things she was eating. she mainly has cabbage of brocolli as her veg.

as an update, she is still eating hay and is only nibbling at the pellets, not wolfing them down like she would normally do. we cut back on the veg in the hope she would turn to the pellets, but she hasnt. we did get some of the normal food and mixed it with the pellets and she has picked it all out.

we dont think the spurs are hurting her as she will still eat the carrot crunch treats and she is now having a go a treat bar (that dangles in the cage).

we are struggling now to get her to eat the pellets, any tips?